Low impact forestry services in Devon and the South West

[Big J]

8 hours ago, IronMike said:

Is that a winged creature flying above the timber stack mate?!

It is Mike. We've had buzzards following us around for weeks now. They feed on the worms from the ground that we disturb. I walked up to take a picture and it flew off. It's funny, but you can get much closer when in the machine. About 10-12ft is as close as I've got

[woodwizzard]

Well, it is called Buzzard Woodland after all ?

[Yorkshire Brummie]

It is Mike. We've had buzzards following us around for weeks now. They feed on the worms from the ground that we disturb. I walked up to take a picture and it flew off. It's funny, but you can get much closer when in the machine. About 10-12ft is as close as I've got [emoji4]

Took an injured one to a vet once a few years back in Warwickshire. It had come down in a stubble field with an injured wing. Managed to get it into a dog box in the back of the pick up, it wasn’t too accommodating/impressed/grateful! What struck me, apart from being an impressive looking species was how relatively small it’s body seemed to the size of its wing span.
Cheers
I

[Big J]

Having a lot of fun on a Douglas Fir clearfell/thinning near Honiton. Finally out of the horribly muddy valley near Tiverton, and on dry, rocky ground. Also, no brutally steep slopes or winching. 

 

Spent much of the week on the tractor myself, but yesterday had a young lad on his second day on the tractor and me on the forwarder. The distance to the extraction point isn't that far (400-800m) but the combination of me on the forwarder putting the logs ride side, and the tractor hauling them to the landing bay was superb. It quadrupled Ed's extraction rate and was even 50% more than I was able to do with the tractor. The forwarder is so much quicker nipping between the trees on the thinning, and you can just chuck it around on the slopes with wild abandon, whereas the tractor with the roof mount won't tolerate any kind of side slope.

 

Anyway, we'll have felled and extracted 300t this week. If anyone has a need for oversized DF (minimum 30cm top diameter, but could work to minimum 40cm top), I could do a load or two next week, maximum length 5.5m.

 

 

 

[Big J]

The way that one of my cutters put it was "the tractor is doing all the hauling, but the forwarder is taking all of the strain off the cutters as it's moving all the brash, the chipwood and making life easier for the tractor too"

[Khriss]

On 07/02/2019 at 18:54, Big J said:

Yeah, not so low impact when you think about it! It's only the main drags that are bad. You can't easily tell where I've been in the stand. I'm going to be getting the ruts on the main track back filled when we are done. I've not been asked to, but I don't want to see tyre ruts in a woodland.

..... You need a Skyline contractor mate k

Edited March 23, 2019 by Khriss
Being sourced n designed as we speak ?

[Big J]

2 minutes ago, Khriss said:

..... You need a Skyline contractor mate k

I just don't want to get into skylining if I can.

[Khriss]

5 minutes ago, Big J said:

Having a lot of fun on a Douglas Fir clearfell/thinning near Honiton. Finally out of the horribly muddy valley near Tiverton, and on dry, rocky ground. Also, no brutally steep slopes or winching. 

 

Spent much of the week on the tractor myself, but yesterday had a young lad on his second day on the tractor and me on the forwarder. The distance to the extraction point isn't that far (400-800m) but the combination of me on the forwarder putting the logs ride side, and the tractor hauling them to the landing bay was superb. It quadrupled Ed's extraction rate and was even 50% more than I was able to do with the tractor. The forwarder is so much quicker nipping between the trees on the thinning, and you can just chuck it around on the slopes with wild abandon, whereas the tractor with the roof mount won't tolerate any kind of side slope.

 

Anyway, we'll have felled and extracted 300t this week. If anyone has a need for oversized DF (minimum 30cm top diameter, but could work to minimum 40cm top), I could do a load or two next week, maximum length 5.5m.

 

 

 

Looks a lovely Stand there- my old 266 is itching now ? k

[Khriss]

1 minute ago, Big J said:

I just don't want to get into skylining if I can.

Course not - with yr setup, but it's been making me think a lot abt them of late. Some good but eco-sensitive sites near me that any tractor operation would foul, so am looking into a road tow setup.  K

[Big J]

2 minutes ago, Khriss said:

Looks a lovely Stand there- my old 266 is itching now ? k

It's a joy to work in. Nice big trees and my two main cutters are doing upwards of 25t each a day. The trees are anywhere from 1/2 cube up to about 4 cube, 100-120ft tall.