An Idiot's guide to Ancient Woodland management

[the village idiot]

3 minutes ago, openspaceman said:

Okay you need to sort this and it may well worry the owner that a formal agreement might appear to lose him some sovereignty of his asset, the agreement will make it clear you are not asking for a share, so your consideration should include payment  for the benefits you bring to the wood and hence the owners capital. You should be aware of what benefits you are doing for him, his consideration, and the tax position it puts him in is worth a lot more than you might think. Especially if it means his estate now benefits from being accepted as a commercial woodland, as it is then IHT free.

 

 

You could do with some input from a land agent that understands tax law, a brief google in fact suggests that the sale of timber is only tax free up to the point it is presented for sale in the round, so sawmilling, preparing Swedish candles, coppice products or even sharpening stakes becomes taxable as income.

 

In the same vein it looks like the costs of harvesting may not be deductible, better advice needed.

Thanks again for the advice, very much appreciated.

 

The owner is very approachable and I have a good relationship with him so an open and honest discussion on these points should not be a problem.

 

Thanks for the heads up.

[trigger_andy]

6 minutes ago, the village idiot said:

Thanks Andy.

 

The trailer is made by TCF engineering. They will make you one to your own spec. My trailer has beefed up axles for a larger payload compared to their standard model and slide in bolsters.

Thats a cracking website! Cheers! Booked marked that. 

[the village idiot]

1 minute ago, trigger_andy said:

Thats a cracking website! Cheers! Booked marked that. 

He's a great chap. I've got a few other toys that he has made up for me. Pictures in due course.

[mr kipling]

Finding myself looking forward to the next instalment best thread in a long long time, keep them coming, cheers Chris 

[The avantgardener]

A slight but not total derail.

I was chatting recently to a guy about a venture in the West Country that can loosely be described as a ‘Wood Bank’.

It started out as a group of volunteers working an unmanaged Woodland, some of the firewood created was delivered to isolated homes in the area owned by pensioners to help them through the Winter.

Turns out, a lot of these properties also have unmanaged woodlands attached to them, these are now back in rotation, surplus wood being generated is being moved on to other homes and the cycle continues. They have even received grant funding for chainsaw certification and now number over 40.

Great thread this, its like reading a good book.

[the village idiot]

12 minutes ago, mr kipling said:

Finding myself looking forward to the next instalment best thread in a long long time, keep them coming, cheers Chris 

Thank you Chris, that's very kind.

[the village idiot]

14 minutes ago, The avantgardener said:

A slight but not total derail.

I was chatting recently to a guy about a venture in the West Country that can loosely be described as a ‘Wood Bank’.

It started out as a group of volunteers working an unmanaged Woodland, some of the firewood created was delivered to isolated homes in the area owned by pensioners to help them through the Winter.

Turns out, a lot of these properties also have unmanaged woodlands attached to them, these are now back in rotation, surplus wood being generated is being moved on to other homes and the cycle continues. They have even received grant funding for chainsaw certification and now number over 40.

Great thread this, its like reading a good book.

Fantastic!

 

There is a long history of volunteering in Woodlands. I think people just like being in them.

 

The environment plus the physical activity plus the 'being useful' makes people happy.

[eggsarascal]

2 hours ago, the village idiot said:

WHEELS.

 

Now I had made a start in the Wood I needed to think getting some appropriate machinery to help with all the jobs.

 

This was a bit of a problem as I was not only short on money but am also terrible at buying the right stuff! I have a long history of purchasing completely inappropriate machinery.

 

The list includes an ancient crop sprayer, part converted into a massively heavy pick up type thing which was no use to man nor beast. An enormous chain swipe which was not only far too big for my tractor, but also too wide to fit over the small bridge, making half of the Woodland unmowable, and most recently a ludicrous sparkly blue Mercedes truck converted into a living van which I haven't slept in once!

 

 

 

This living van is actually up for sale if anyone is interested Eggs.

 

I can email a file with tons of photos. It even has a log burner!

 

What I really needed to get me up and running in the Wood was a low impact tractor and trailer. After a bit of searching around I settled on a teeny Alpine tractor and a small timber trailer originally designed for quad bikes.

 

 

 

Here it is with a new set of much more appropriate tyres:

 

 

I don't know anyone looking for a truck ATM, I'll save the pictures and post them on another forum I'm a member of if you like?

[the village idiot]

23 minutes ago, eggsarascal said:

I don't know anyone looking for a truck ATM, I'll save the pictures and post them on another forum I'm a member of if you like?

Thanks Eggs, its worth a shot.

[eggsarascal]

55 minutes ago, the village idiot said:

Thanks Eggs, its worth a shot.

What money are you looking for?