Chalk grassland restoration on the north downs

[Gollum]

Looking really tidy there and seems a very nice site to actually work with the open ground at the base of the slope giving decent access.

 

Are you removing all stumps?

 

I personally hate burning it just creates so many other issues, but very hard to price against a box of matches!

 

I'd have thought that site would have suited a bit of old style Track Loader work on the slopes putting the tractor and at least one 360 machine out of work, but you don't see them about now setup with a decent fork/grab and rear winch.

Finding a decent operator would be another issue entirely.

 

Eddie.

 

Thank you

Yes we are removing all of the stumps.

what issues do find a problem with burning,

as opposed to not burning ?

[LGP Eddie]

Most of our work is wetland stuff, so obviously we don't drop too lucky with the actual material to burn but there are a few points that usually steer me away if possible.

 

Safety is an issue, and the simple fact that it could cause major insurance headaches if a machine was to go up whilst loading a fire.

A brand new CAT 320 went up around here whilst on fire loading duties and was completely totalled!

 

We have found issues with clients wanting constant supervision of fires, and some place restrictions so tight on getting things extinguished you'd be lucky to get 6hrs burning a day in.

This can be magnified on sites with public access.

 

Site damage is another, from the obvious fire spreading to the consequences of having something like peat a fire is stood on actually getting going and being difficult to extinguish.

 

Removal of Hot Ash is another, as it's surprising just how long a good big fire base can retain heat for.

 

It's all horses for courses, but in our own case the hassles surrounding simply stacking and burning can sometimes lead us to other methods that have surprisingly proved quicker when it's all worked out?

 

As I say it's very difficult to price against so we have to do it occasionally, but I usually use a converted skip that keeps things a little more contained and makes the ash removal easy.

 

Can't beat it on a cold day though with a few spuds in the ashes for dinner!:big grin:

 

Eddie.

[Ian88]

Looks ace, you have got a great set up there. How many of you are cutting to keep up with the machinery?

 

Massive amount of brash there, couldn't see another feasible way other than burning. Looks nice and dry as you would expect from chalk grassland so minimal impact from machinery. With what looks like about 6 or so fires over 6 hectares its a small area of damage in the grand scheme of things. That soil would be well and truly sterile and packed with nutrients, even with the ash removed I expect it will be nettles, docks and thistles coming back first but that's just some thing to sort with management in the future.

 

What methods have you used that have been faster and not leaving the site 50% habitat pile?

 

I do like your idea of a skip for big fires, when I have been doing work of sensitive sites in the past I have used tin sheets under the fire but to be honest it doesn't do a lot.

 

Ahh I miss winter winter scrub days, and yes, the potatoes. Bacon on the trangia tomorrow if I can get on site

[LGP Eddie]

Where we can we switch to the chipper especially on Willow, but it's a lot to do with the root disposal and time constraints etc.

 

Ok if we could simply pile the stuff up the go back when it's all dried out a bit, giving it a good shake to get the soil off the roots and burn the lot but it never works out like that.

 

However we generally now pull everything out roots and all, remove the root and get everything into manageable size for the chipper.

Anything oversize goes for firewood and always plenty of takers for whatever it is.

 

We then chip (handy work on wet days) and again disposal of chip is never a problem.

 

We seem to get so many constraints on supervision of fires plus not leaving any impact at all on sites that the time it can take to actually get material burn then clear up ash, that it simply takes longer.

This is despite having a pretty well oiled system now that involves the skip and a tracked dumper?

 

Basically we burn in the skip on tin sheets to contain any ash spilt from vent holes and the skip is easily fenced off at night and contained.

In the morning (or even several times in the day) we can safely move the skip by loading it straight into the tracked dumper sort of hook loader style but with a machine either straight to the next burn site or direct to a suitable ash stockpile.

 

This all works extremely well, but we much prefer the chipper route.

 

As I say horses for courses and what works for one doesn't always suit another?

 

Not the best pics but it'll give you some idea of how we sometimes do it.

 

Eddie.

[Gollum]

we had 1 to 2 chainsaw operators for the big stuf. the rest was clear with the 360s.

 

I like the idea of a skip for burning on smaller sites,

but the amount that we had to burn we would have needed 50 skips