nepia

Gloria was the love of Stevie's life for a while some years back - an on/off kind of relationship: one minute she could do no wrong, the next she was gone only to be back months later. I think it was a classic case of couldn't live with her, couldn't live without her. I hope things worked themselves out in the end. Gloria was a Greenmech CS100 ?

To answer just one of those numerous points: you won't manually push/pull such a machine up ramps onto a pickup on your own. My Jo Beau M300 weighs ~140kg and I manage fine pulling it with a rope. I couldn't manage an 18hp Greenmech CS100 @190kg. But a chipper with a 25hp engine isn't 'wee'. I wish it was; I'd be home for lunch every time!

Morning Squaredy. Nostalgia isn't what it used to be...

Never seen anything like it. Could the fluff be parasitic fungal mycelia perhaps?

Squaredy, I'll try and replicate that cedar pic for you.

Not when you pollard it into a hedge it isn't!

Well I thought you gave the reason in your original post - under valued! But as you ask... Field Maple is far from common enough as one of our native species, being hugely outnumbered by damned foreigners!. It's a lovely tree to look at. The timber of a mature specimen is awesome - such swirling grain and often pippy too. I believe it does, or at least can, form the food for many larvae. And it's adaptable; it makes a fine hedge as well as a stand alone tree. I took a line of unnecessarily tall ones in my own garden (~18') down to 5' years ago and now enjoy an 8' hedge. Your choice of Leyland is interesting - and enlightened. The trees aren't wrong, it's their management that goes awry. A mature specimen in its own space is a graceful thing. I bow to your knowledge on the timber for functional use, I like it to burn. I'll get you a pic of the Caterham cedar next time I'm passing. I can walk to it in 15 minutes. What was your experience of it? Jon

Field Maple.

Try the Cornus test. Carefully pull a leaf stem apart; as it separates look for a very thin strand of latex-like sap. If it's there - Cornus.

I think the phones went red two or three weeks ago for many; certainly the guys I know experienced it. I even got it myself, a part-time (doesn't feel like it) one man band.

I first found it unworking the day before yesterday. It wouldn't recognise my own postcode but provided a dropdown of ~half a dozen nearby ones. It's fine now.

...there's no shortage of dry ground down here just now so a concentration of birds shouldn't be a surprise. Plenty of the better off have garden ponds though. Well done flooding ground though that will be rare need with you I expect.

Having seen just three swallows so far this year, the first on Apr 20th, I was really pleased to see these martins in the yard of some light industrial units near Gatwick on Wednesday. Pete W - I think your photographic supremacy is not at risk! 20200527_161822.mp4

It seems that females and immature specimens are brown bodied. All the ones I saw were brown so I'm guessing a fresh hatch of probably mixed sexes (using the assumption that 6 out of 6 won't all be the same sex).

There were half a dozen of these buzzing about the small wood I was in this morning. Broad-bodied Chasers I think.

You're going back a few years with that one. I miss Mick and his advanced skills in diplomacy ?

That was my point but by draining the cavity the water would run away and not linger to cause activity with the air; the cavity would stay dry. It worked with my Tulip. Unfortunately the included union didn't during the winter of '13/'14.

I've drilled a hole before now to let a major branch union drain. It worked for years. It was on a Tulip tree which is probably more vigorous than a maple but worth considering if the water's a problem. But water without oxygen - i.e. under the surface of a pool - is no biggie for nature; it's water + oxygen that gets active.

Al it's a straight run from SE22 across Crystal Palace to West Wickham and on to Greenwaste Recycling & Landscaping | Highams WWW.HIGHAMSFARM.COM

Same. I lay the thing down upside down and with the business end off patios, paths etc. I transport it on a pickup so the sharp end goes in a back corner of the buck and the (empty!) battery end goes over the roof. The leakage when upside down is miniscule compared to right way up; have you tried inverting?!

And when you get it to the truck...?! I'm sounding too negative here for my own liking: every situation is slightly different and there's certainly no one-size-fits-all solution or we'd all be doing it. Dragging chip to the truck instead of brush makes perfect sense (having tried to persuade the client to let you chip on the ground by the tree and leave it there of course!) but getting the chip into the truck has to be a consideration.

I carry my 536LiPT5 upside down just for that reason; it pisses oil for fun and has done from new. I don't suspect a fault, just over eager lubrication; could it be the same with yours?

I remember running into the garden to tell my mum that a gang of gorillas had broken through the fence between Israel and Palestine! Obvs Palestine was a haven for gorillas.

So he did; I missed his post. Sorry tomo ?

Well yes - ish. But filling a wheelie bin takes 2 minutes and then you've got that long drag to empty it. Been there, dumped the idea; I live with the drag where it's needed.