80-90 Acres to thin South Wales.

[andrewmiskin]

Some one I know has purchased a woodland about 6 miles from Bridgend. He has no previous forestry experience and is looking for the best / easiest way to carry out thining. Could anyone advise / recommend any contractors who would be able to carry out this work. From what I have seen it's mainly western hemlock. There are no permits applied for as yet as still assessing options. Would it be better to sell as standing timber or pay a contractor to carry out the work? Any advice is much appreciated.

[Squaredy]

22 hours ago, andrewmiskin said:

Some one I know has purchased a woodland about 6 miles from Bridgend. He has no previous forestry experience and is looking for the best / easiest way to carry out thining. Could anyone advise / recommend any contractors who would be able to carry out this work. From what I have seen it's mainly western hemlock. There are no permits applied for as yet as still assessing options. Would it be better to sell as standing timber or pay a contractor to carry out the work? Any advice is much appreciated.

If you or your acquaintance hasn't already, it may well be worth speaking to Coed Cymru the timber charity.  Unless I am out of date they give free advice on woodland management and marketing in Wales, but also they are an excellent source of contacts.  If you can get hold of the officer who covers your area he or she will almost certainly know a number of local contractors.

[Squaredy]

22 hours ago, andrewmiskin said:

Some one I know has purchased a woodland about 6 miles from Bridgend. He has no previous forestry experience and is looking for the best / easiest way to carry out thining. Could anyone advise / recommend any contractors who would be able to carry out this work. From what I have seen it's mainly western hemlock. There are no permits applied for as yet as still assessing options. Would it be better to sell as standing timber or pay a contractor to carry out the work? Any advice is much appreciated.

Why does someone with no forestry experience purchase 80-90 acres of woodland???  That sounds a bit like me buying a jumbo jet!

[Stere]

I know  several people who have done just that.

 

Many just like the idea of owning a woodland and its a very good investment as prices have shot up same as houses

 

I get the impression  that wether they then decide  do any forestry or have much interest in the trees is probably not  an important consideration to many.

 

 

Edited April 19, 2023 by Stere

[petercb]

3 minutes ago, Squaredy said:

Why does someone with no forestry experience purchase 80-90 acres of woodland???  That sounds a bit like me buying a jumbo jet!

Because he wants a wood? Wants to do his bit for the environment? We wanted some woodland and ended up buying our neighbours 129 acre site. We had no forestry experience but we have learnt over the last 25 years or so with support from FC etc plus Arbtalk! We don't know it all but we have improved the woodland (paws) without ravaging it. It is a joy to see the dogs mercury, bluebells, primroses etc. spreading back throughout the site. Have planted 1,000's of trees to do our bit for the environment having done our share of trashing it in the past!

When life gets stressful working in or just enjoying our wood relieves a lot of tensions. Have organised walks so that less able people can enjoy the wood and have allowed people work experience. Also allowed a friend who had a bad car accident freedom to drive around the wood on the 4.5 miles of concrete rides to regain driving skills to enable him to get his licence back.

Some of the reasons why we bought our woodland with no experience.

[Squaredy]

1 hour ago, petercb said:

Because he wants a wood? Wants to do his bit for the environment? We wanted some woodland and ended up buying our neighbours 129 acre site. We had no forestry experience but we have learnt over the last 25 years or so with support from FC etc plus Arbtalk! We don't know it all but we have improved the woodland (paws) without ravaging it. It is a joy to see the dogs mercury, bluebells, primroses etc. spreading back throughout the site. Have planted 1,000's of trees to do our bit for the environment having done our share of trashing it in the past!

When life gets stressful working in or just enjoying our wood relieves a lot of tensions. Have organised walks so that less able people can enjoy the wood and have allowed people work experience. Also allowed a friend who had a bad car accident freedom to drive around the wood on the 4.5 miles of concrete rides to regain driving skills to enable him to get his licence back.

Some of the reasons why we bought our woodland with no experience.

Sounds like you have done a great job of managing your woodland.  It is a shame so many woods are simply neglected areas of farms that the farmer sees as an unproductive part of the land.

 

My local authority remove the woods from farms when the lets come up for renewal as the farmers do nothing with them.  But guess what?  Now the local authority do nothing with them.

[petercb]

15 minutes ago, Squaredy said:

Sounds like you have done a great job of managing your woodland.  It is a shame so many woods are simply neglected areas of farms that the farmer sees as an unproductive part of the land.

 

My local authority remove the woods from farms when the lets come up for renewal as the farmers do nothing with them.  But guess what?  Now the local authority do nothing with them.

Typical local authority mess I guess.

Fortunate enough to have been able to just buy another small woodland which had been neglected for 30 years starting to see flowers and fauna returning.

[andrewmiskin]

3 hours ago, Squaredy said:

If you or your acquaintance hasn't already, it may well be worth speaking to Coed Cymru the timber charity.  Unless I am out of date they give free advice on woodland management and marketing in Wales, but also they are an excellent source of contacts.  If you can get hold of the officer who covers your area he or she will almost certainly know a number of local contractors.

Thanks for the advice. I will try contacting them. This woodland has been neglected for a number of years. He lives a few hours away at present I'm trying to help him get started as I live near the woods. He's got some ideas what he would like to do with it. Only time will tell if they come to fruition.

 

Also considered someone like HW Forestry. Has anyone had any experience with them? 

[openspaceman]

On 18/04/2023 at 10:43, andrewmiskin said:

Some one I know has purchased a woodland about 6 miles from Bridgend. He has no previous forestry experience and is looking for the best / easiest way to carry out thining. Could anyone advise / recommend any contractors who would be able to carry out this work. From what I have seen it's mainly western hemlock. There are no permits applied for as yet as still assessing options. Would it be better to sell as standing timber or pay a contractor to carry out the work? Any advice is much appreciated.

Coed Cymru is a good shout for advice, my mate over in Maesteg is long retired now, but his son, Mark Filer,  who was a young tearaway when I last saw him, seems to run his contracting business from the old farm.

[slack ma girdle]

It's a shame that you are not an hour further west, i love being nosy around other peoples woods