Highland Forestry

Just heard on the news that the global spead of swine flu is now a pandemic and is now classed as 'unstopable' BUT people generally get over it without even knowing they have it or without treatment.... SO.... what a fuss for something that is only as bad as the normal flu we get every winter..

Aye, the losses are mounting up... must be devastating for friends, families and relatives. My brother in law has recently returned from Afghanistan, he's in a recce platoon royal highlanders/regiment of scotland but was on the warrior tanks out there.... some of his stories really wake you up a bit.

Thismorning my FB ads are for Vodka and Diving Instruction....???

wellie boots and baby oil?!?

In forestry applications, we treat stumps, conniferous or decidious with urea..... not glyphosate. The stumps will rot by themselfs, the urea keeps out infection to co-joined and grafted root systems. The glyphosate will do exactly what has been described, and kill adjoining trees, simply because that's what it's supposed to do. BUT in this case, I would think you must have put one hell of a dose down to kill a mature beech...... and you may find that it will suffer this year but come back strong next year.

maybe they're trying to tell you something John

Thats how I understand it to be... Technically, all PPE should be regularly inspected as part of PUWER regs... by a competent person..... and so employees, be they employed or self employed should always have adequate PPE regardless of who supplies it, and as long as the correct PPE is in place and fit for purpose, the insurance companies should honour the policy, and the HSE will be happy too.

Congratulations Frank.... the very best of wishes to the three of you!! Great news..... ours will be along in December, being a daddy for the first time is a scary thought!

Yep, looks that way..... shame really.... they always ban the stuff that works well. I was told the other day that it has always been ilegal to use it in a cocktail.... ie, mixed with glyphosate, but we have always done it like that. FSC set a big bench mark for most commercial forestry owners, and so if they dont like kerb anymore, it will have a stigma attached to it and we wont get clearance to use it anywhere... so..... have to find some other residual now.... the chikara is good but really need a liquid.

yep, get an arbtalk ad on my facebook page every time I check..

If I was you, I would mix up a 25l drum at a time....and keep a couple mixed up so you can pour it straight into a knapsack... It will keep fine for a week in a drum...... not sure how lon you could keep it but up to a month would be easily safe IMO. When mixing..... put the chikara into a big mixing jug (like a 3l jug etc) and mix it with a stick or similar into a couple of litres of water, then mix that solution into your drum or knapsack... it's hard to mix it properly with such a small ammount of granular powder to such a large volume of water.

Kerb is a good residual herbicide to use..... I use it alot with glyphosate for chemical weeding around tree shelters.. May be worth mentioning that the use of Kerb has now been banned for use on FSC certified sites as of this week! But still fine to use anywhere else. try these guys CSC Crop Protection Ltd :: Home we use CSC alot for all our pesticides.... they have a branch near us called sprayrite. Take care with the chikara... easy to over-dose especially if you are mixing it knapsack by knapsack.

Have you got any photos?

Surely it would have been easier for them to re-pollard it back to where its been done before rather than bugger about up there to leave it looking like that???

I should say now would be a good time to do a full time degree etc as the recession may well be over in three years time..... but.... theres already too many people to fill the jobs.

Yep, was struggling to get staff last winter, advertised locally and online and couldnt get anyone..... am getting sevral calls and emails a week now with guys looking for work, and most of them are graduates or college leavers.

Was given 100 HV bullets last year to shoot at rabbits on a local estate.... hated them and doubt i'll ever use them again.... most of the bullets went straight through on impact and I found allot of the rabbits got away with a hole through them or would run for a good distance and then drop. I use winchester subs, and CCI subs before that, I think the winchesters would take alot of beating IMO.

I like the knock down power of the .270, but it is deffinatley overkill for roe.... it smashes them up too much, but then i'd rather have meat damage and get the beast than loose it or wound it, but look at the exit wounds.... .270 deffinatley on the large side for yearling bucks! A friend of mine uses a .25-06 for roe/red and he swears by it, flatter trajectory than the .270 and very suitable for both species. With the .270, I like the fact that when you shoot it, the first thing that goes through your head after pulling the trigger is ''I'm so glad I'm not on the recieving end of that!'' Hard to explain, but when you pull the trigger you know you've fired a .270, and even more so with a .308 and the bigger calibres, but with the smaller .22 CF calibres, all the kick and noise are lost, even without a mod. I always find it strange when shooting my BRNO .22 RF - it feels like a toy, absolutley no recoil, hardly any noise and very light... take the moderator off it or use HV ammo and it's a different story. As far as legislation goes regarding calibres for roe, I think it has alot to do with ballistic energy, and ensuring that the minimum calibres have enough energy at sensible ranges to humanley kill the deer, but we all know that a .17 and the .22 are more than capable of killing roe... I was told about a keeper once that used to shoot stags with a .22!!

Not sure which sound mod to get..... the T8's are good, have used them before, but I want something a bit different.. Anyone use anything else??

Yeah, totally illegal to use a .22 RF on deer, but as said above the .22 centrefire calibres are legal. Rifle pictured is a .270 BSA shooting 130gn normas. It is way over-kill for roe, but I shoot well with the rifle. I prefer head/neck shots for deer, but when theyre in woodland, I generally go for the shoulder shot as it tends to drop them where they stand and I can find them easily - does waste a bit of meat though. I'm taking my CZ 550 .243 to get cut and threaded ready for a sound mod shortly, will be better for the roe, and nice and quiet.

Dinner is served! (Well... almost) Have recently taken on the stalking in a local wood and have been out twice this week.. The freezer will be full for a wee while now.

Have dismantled steel buidlings with the gas axe once or twice...

If any experienced climbers, with thier own kit, saw etc want to come and work for me full time, i'll put in a bid of £70 a day....

it'd make a nice riette!

By the way..... the midges are deffinatley biting now...its that time of year again. I was out stalking last night, got eaten alive whilst gralloching a roe - the lumps that have come up today are huge.. this seasons midges obviousley mean business! Avon Skin So Soft - take some with you to the west - you'll need it!