benedmonds

£550 a day we've been quoted.

Job done and cleared up! After AHS had taken there 150 ish tons of chip we still had three transit loads of rakings to chip & 4 grain trailers of waste to clear up. Not to mention the odd hole to fill.

To be honest the client (a local authority) knows as little about forestry as I do. If my calculations are right 4 men 2000m2 a day that about 1/2 an acre (4046.85642 square meters in one acre). As to getting a forestry contractor it's pretty small scale. It would have been usefull for the client to mark some trees, to show what they want. I've got a pretty good idea what I think should be done and we've easy got the kit to do it. I'm just unsure of how long it will take, which is why I'm after advice from you lot. The client will get 4 quotes from local tree firms and pick the cheapest any how and as there is a "fluffy" brief another firm will probably quote less but do less. This has happened before on different jobs and I've been back to a site and found that they've ony done half what we would have.

I have looked long and hard for a decent helmet I've had the: - erin rock, which is too heavy - kong, which has poor ear defender attachments and is not easy to adjust size with just a velcro band - vertex vent, best of the clinbing lids I've tried but still don't like the chin strap..

Are you likely to be able to find a roost with a bat detector, presuambly you would have to be at the tree as the bat leaves or enters, the detectors can't pick up roosting bats...? or do bats echolocate while roosting...? If a climbing inspection is required, which it sounds like. What's a good, afordable endoscope and if you find bats, does the roost become protected. Or can you get a licence from English nature? How does that work?

I have a developer who wants a line of trees taken down on a site which does not yet have planning permission. Do I need a felling licence? It is in an urban area, but I don't think it qualifies under the exemptions..? I've never applied for one before. Has anyone had grief for felling trees without one? http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/INFD-5YGFRM

I think you've got your sums wrong: I might be wrong but I think: 20,000 m² = 2 Hectares or 4.94210 acre therefore 500m2 per man per day or a 2000m2 a day.. A football pitch is between 5,000-10,000m2 Hmm, we might do it quicker..

I have some trees to fell which have had a bat survey and the trees have been classed as having a high potential for bats.. I've yet to see the report but how would I cover myself if I was to get the job to take the trees out. I'm guessing it was just a ground survey, should I insist that a climbing survey is performed before the works are undertaken..? The client (a developer) suggested that leaving the logs on site for a day to let the bats fly off might be required... I'm sure that's not enough..

Looks familiar..... I remember it driving around being used by Dershire County Council, we copied the spout on ours, unfortunately its been sat in a shed for the last two years waiting for a new engine.. There can't be that many 222's out there will keep an eye out.

I had a work with the client who has given some further advice: "I would say that there should remain 1.5 – 2m between each same age tree with the felling of the poorer trees to ground level. Understorey species should be retained where it is not interfering with the growth of a retained tree." Still a wild guess at how long it's going to take? I'm going with 4 men 10 days... sound reasonable??

Could it not be: Rigidoporus ulmarius?? Not good for the tree either way..

I've walked the site, but never commercially done this sort of work before. The trees are all very closely packed together, you can’t easily walk through it. They are all suppressed by each other to some degree. I’m sure they don’t want to remove 80% of the trees which you would need to do to “allow a ring of daylight around the retained trees.” Should I be creating space round the trees to give them space for the next 5 years, 10 years.... or the life of the tree? Is it just a what feels right sort of thing? The conifers are not nursery trees just a big old random mix. What is the rational for it? It's a nature reserve so not for timber. Natural succession will weed out the suppressed trees why am I there to help? As to “pricing accordingly,” like all tree work quoting it’s an educated guess, I was hoping that someone with experience might help making it more educated- i.e. a 3 man team should be able to do x hundred sq m a day.

I've a quote to thin two areas of mixed broadleaf and coniferous woodland planting, about 15 years on an old old gravel pit. It covers about 20,000 sq m. Access is good and it's easy flat terrain. How much should I be taking out? Do all the self set saplings need to come out? How long do you think it would take? The brief is simply "selective thinning to remove suppressed trees and allow ring of daylight around retained trees"

Well what.... heavy, small.. Discussed it in a previous thread: http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=2831 The chip box is made of ply/angle iron with big tool box. Cheap and easy to build. The tool box is great. It is a bit small for most 3 man days/takedowns, but we thought we'd be less likely to overload it....and we have another transit. We'll normaly fill it with chip and put logs in the other. The weight is on the high side, but I don't think doing it in aly would save enough weight to make it worth while.. The signs make it look tidy.

What standing on the roof of the truck to put ladders away?

Explain?

Madness, you win some you lose some... I might feel a bit of guilt when I walk away with two days cash for one days work but I'm not going to give the client cash back. Give a quote before the job, the client knows what he's getting and you know what your doing. If the job changes the price changes.. otherwise live with it.

Do you need a BIG 4X4, our 1.8 petrol Mitzy Pinin will tow the TW180 fine, 30-35mpg. Room for kit if you don't have pasengers.. High and low ratio's and center dif lock. Great fun to drive.

I hope they get that chipped started soon........

Pholiota squarrosa - shaggy pholiota

Not the best photo's, found on Salix. My Guess: Pholiota squarrosa - shaggy pholiota

The mess..

I think this was number 4

Three men a tractor and a few chainsaws can make one hell of a mess. We started monday and had 11 down by the end of play wednesday. It would have been much easier is they hadn't planted trees under them and if it had't been blowing a gale the last two days. We also felled one that was supposed to be pollarded due to an error on the map ohps... Could do with a bigger saw really! AHS (Buzz) are there tommorow to clear up! so I'll add some more photos later