Saw-sick Steve

From own experience - Negative - Aarrow, Hunter, Villager. Positive - Woodwarm (Fireview), morso, Charnwood

Yes, thats one i can remember, Oxford Uni. Wildlife Conservation Unit - didn't realise it had been trashed? Had similar info. from Vincent Wildlife Trust fairly recently. Also, anecdotally I can relate from personal experience. The river I grew up alongside used to be living with Mink when I was a kid. Playing in the summer hols, never fail to see at least 1 mink a day, usually more. Never saw an Otter. Moved away for 12 years, been back for 12, same stretch of water, not seen ONE mink - seen three Otters though. As to mink sprainting near otters, I once had a rat chew its way into the Ferrets cage - needless to say, that one won a Darwin award!

Glad to hear you enjoy the odd bit of swinging, I'm a fairly liberal sort of bloke myself, but I have my limits.

Plenty of evidence to suggest that Otters actually out compete Mink, and may even predate them. As for Parakeets, they oust native species by taking over nest sites, particularly Starlings and Great-spotted Woodpecker.

You use an axe!? Hats off to you, Sir, I wouldn't contemplate splitting commercial volumes by hand. Agreed about splitting green though, I've increasingly come round to the idea of logging green and seasoning in Heras panels. Alder should be fine after 12 months:thumbup1:

Which part, Graffo?

Birch is one of those woods with a relatively short 'window' of suitability for burning, by which i mean its either green or rotting, with little in between. Once it starts to spalt, its not long 'til the wood starts breaking down totally. I find if stacked with, say Oak for e.g , that by the time the Oak has seasoned, the Birch will be 'pulpy'. Stacked on its own, or with similar seasoning wood like Alder or Sycamore, it should be fine after 12 months. Just ensure its stacked off the ground on pallets.

Don't think the effort would justify it. At least Chestnut is a durable wood, hazel isn't and willow most definitely isn't, and i don't know if you could treat it. Those Hazel chairs that people love to make on coppicing courses only last if kept dry and treated with Danish oil or similar. Leave them outside and they'll rot in a couple of winters. Willow hurdles are worse, they may look intact but try handling them after a couple of years. Chestnut paling on the other hand lasts for years so Chestnut would be ideal for trellis. I made a really rustic frame for a Clematis out of Oak branches that were old enough for the sap wood to have rotted off. Heart wood like iron, but it doesn't half last.

Nah, don't you know theres a recession ? Its Newquay now!

And just as easy to hammer!:lol:

With trellis around the Landy, at least you'll be able to camouflage it quickly for when it inevitably breaks down. Nice work!

Years ago, gangs of Lancastrians used to travel down to Devon to cut Alder for clog making, supplying the mill workers during the industrial revolution. They were pretty rough and ready by all accounts, and lived in the woods during the cutting season in home made shelters, subsisting on whatever they could beg, buy, trade or steal, and supplementing their diet with the local wildlife. What little time they had for recreation was spent in local pubs, where they gained a reputation for fighting all comers. Northeners, eh?

Agreed, also the constant previewing of what was coming up so that when it actually arrived you felt like you'd already seen it a dozen times. Also, the jumping from one crew to the other every 30 seconds (or so it felt), meaning any narrative thread was lost. It could have been so much better, but like you say, the public wouldn't wear it. I lasted 2 1/2 episodes:001_rolleyes:

I wouldn't be so sure, oak in the round can take a phenomenally long time to dry out, especially if its being immersed in salt water twice a day. Will worm affect it that much? If it was in the water then yes, but thats been out 90% of the time. I love those drowned river valleys, ever been swimming round the oaks on a very high spring tide when the mackerel follow the whitebait up river? Magic:thumbup1:

Rabbits may not like it, but everything else seems to. Had some sheep get into a planting scheme back along, and they zeroed in on the Alder. My Highlands love it too. Often seems to be with fast growing species that animals find them especially palatable, Ash and Willow being 2 others.

Agreed, terrific firewood, seasons quickly and grows straighter than a lot of coppice wood down 'ere, which makes it nice and easy to process. Only drawback is the bog snorkelling involved in extracting it:laugh1:

Anyone young enough to be able to go, just do it. Personally, i preferred NZ to Oz - though Tasmania is stunning, and came within a heart beat of emigrating some years ago. Had two 6 month spells (visa issues!) and loved the place, the people, outdoors lifestyle, classlessness (by that i mean lack of snobbery, not that the locals had no class!). 3 things in the end swayed it - distance from family,(a +ve for some!), lack of built heritage and proper pubs (yes, really), and strange though it may seem, lack of deciduous trees! I never could get used to vast forests of snow covered Southern Beech - with leaves still on.

Cant say i agree about the repair issues, having owned and used both Hi-Lux and Defenders - I know which was the cheaper to run! Landy spares are cheaper than Jap, but not by the margins they once were. I run a battered 12 yr old Hi-lux that off roads nearly every day and in that time i've had to replace the propshaft once (my fault for missing a grease nipple ) and the contacts on the starter motor. Its as reliable as clockwork and has never let me down. If money was no object, and i had both time and desire to maintain one, then i probably would go for a Landy. There, ive said it:001_smile: But in my present situation i would only consider it as a second, hobby vehicle. Yes, they're better built, yes they're better off road, (no diff.lock in the Lux for starters) and yes they have more character, but for doing everything i need reasonably efficiently and economically, its hard to beat the Japs. I s'pose its the same as the argument me mate has about tractors. I run older gear in the woods and on the holding, he runs new. His point is why settle for an old Mf 135 for example, when you can get an all singing and dancing Jap or new Chinese model with 2-speed p.t.o, crawler box, live hydraulics etc.. for similar money? Ah, i say, but how many Yanmars, Isekis, or Siromers will still be running in 20, let alone 40 years time? ''Wont need it then'' is the reply. I'm beginning to think he might have a point...

Cant be doing with it, but for the people that like that sort of thing, i.d be pissed off with the beeb for putting it up against X-Factor. Is this sort of ratings war dick waving really a good use of license payers money? Right, pub o'clock methinks:thumbup1:

Dont know mate, I only speak from experience. Go up the Top End of Oz, and see how many Land Rovers you see compared to Landcruisers. Only thing rarer than a Landy owner, is a Landy owner willing to take you across the Territory:lol: These are people who have to rely on their vehicles, sometimes as a matter of life and death, and if they get stranded outback are a long way from anything or anyone and cant just whistle for backup. (unlike, for example, the Australian Army ) I like Landys, i really do, but i became tired of being an apologist for an ''over rated piece of pommy crap'' wherever i went downunder. From the dodgy Series 3 in Tasmania, to the petrol v8 110 in New Zealand,(which really was a pig), i didnt have one positive experience. ''Fine when they're working'' was the usual comment - trouble was, they often weren't. If you want to see somewhere where Landys are really held in high esteem, go to Darjeeling in N.E India. Never have i seen such a collection of series 1's , all dating back to when the Brits pulled out in 1947, all worn down to bare aluminium, and all carrying fantastic loads of people and/or goods up ridiculously steep inclines.If i did Land Rovers P.R., thats where i'd film my campaign to stress their longevity. But thats there advantage in a place like India - break down they might, but any village workshop can turn out spares. Now a Hi-Lux, theres a vehicle - Taliban ''Truck of the Year'' for the tenth year running, and not a Landy in sight....

Dairylea, squirt of Ketchup, put in a sandwich toaster - delicious!

When i worked in OZ, they had a little saying. ''If you want to see the Outback, get a Land Rover. If you want to see the Outback and return, get a Landcruiser''

You could buy a bleddy good County for Mog money, and have enough change left over to buy.... ....another County!

You are Melvyn Bragg, and i claim my 5 pounds.

Just done 4hrs on one this morning. Good little machine, especially for smaller diameter coppice wood, limited use on gnarly arb waste. Personally, I like a decent plate blade as Tct ones can be a bit ''snatchy'' and chainsaws a bit more wasteful. In tandem with our home-made splitter, we can handle most stuff thrown our way. One gripe is the absence of an over ride for the splitter, something been meaning to look at. Once the ram has been tripped theres no way of stopping it which can be a pain in the ass if processing logs of 8'' or less, as they often land on end in the tray and subsequently jam the splitter and ram, resulting in downtime. The Palax I use enables you to stop the ram as soon as you see a log presented incorrectly, avoiding this issue. On longer logs, say 10-12'', its rarely an issue. For an ''entry level'' machine i'd say its hard to beat, particularly as the price of second hand processors shows little sign of dropping!