Pine Marten

Totally agree with the comments - that's why I posted. Dried long enough you can burn about anything and given the current demand for firewood here in Mid Wales that's exactly what people are doing.

btw my favourite firewood has always been birch!

(thought to share!)

The Firewood Poem

Beechwood fires are bright and clear

If the logs are kept a year,

Chestnut's only good they say,

If for logs 'tis laid away.

Make a fire of Elder tree,

Death within your house will be;

But ash new or ash old,

Is fit for a queen with crown of gold

Birch and fir logs burn too fast

Blaze up bright and do not last,

it is by the Irish said

Hawthorn bakes the sweetest bread.

Elm wood burns like churchyard mould,

E'en the very flames are cold

But ash green or ash brown

Is fit for a queen with golden crown

Poplar gives a bitter smoke,

Fills your eyes and makes you choke,

Apple wood will scent your room

Pear wood smells like flowers in bloom

Oaken logs, if dry and old

keep away the winter's cold

But ash wet or ash dry

a king shall warm his slippers by.

I'm in!

Great works guys again this year for a terrific cause

Well done and good luck to all

Cheers

Bit of a long shot but we (National Trust - Pembrokeshire) had our grapple of our new Palm 470 forwarding trailer stolen sometime around the 23rd March 2010.

If anyone has been offered such an item for sale or has any information then I'd be grateful to hear

thanks

PM

Hi Ross

Yes that's the accepted method, certainly was in my Forest Service NI years!

2500 stems/ha at 20 years? 100% take on the initial stocking of 2m x 2m (10,000m2 / 2m x 2m = 2500stem/ha) Blimey you guys are really good!!!! LOL! 1700-1800 would be closer to the truth IMO.

BTS

You probably want to bang in a few inventory plots. Personally I would get my hands on FC Booklet 39 Forest Mensuration and use the worked example detailed on page 110 as the basis of your calculations.

Its not as daunting as it sounds and mixes circular plots (5.6m radius = 0.01ha) and top heights to obtain a tariff number obtained by species on table 11. (As long as the crop is not that variable!) Relascope work in 20 year old conifer is nigh on impossible in my experience, but heh, knock yourself out!

cheers

PM

Therse only 3 ha of woodland he's gonna have some cold winters:001_tt2:

Positively hypothermic! :lol:

3 dogs, I think its too small for rotational plots, and probably unnecessary with the client in question.

Thanks Brushcutter and 3dogs, the client has traditionally taken out 7 tonnes per annum (firewood personal use) since 1992 across the site, I'm simply trying to formalise this methodology into something coherent for the FC. The management seems a bit ad hoc, but looking at the site they don't appear to have damaged the long term sustainability.

Cheers SMG

I've just dusted down my old copy of FC Bulletin 62 'Silviculture of Broadleaved Woodlands' and it quotes 6 - 10 years to get material to 6-8m tall and 7-10cm diameter. Seems a bit hopeful TBH

Just as an aside I'm starting a new job in your part of the world soon!

I have a client with a mixed woodland of about 3 ha. The client has traditionally taken out 7 tonnes per annum through poaching timber here or there. He now wants some management and I have suggested 're-coppicing' in line with the grant scheme with the goal of removing sycamore and beech, marking final quality oak and ash trees and working around them, effectively a coppice with standards.

The question I have is given the mixed species composition Oak/Ash/Sycamore/Beech/Hazel/ etc and the wide age classes represented in the stand what would be a reasonable firewood rotation length? My guess is 7 years + but open to bidders! Coppiced firewood will also be a mixture of species

Cheers

PM

In a word WD40.......but obviously don't try this at home....

Richy

Basically what Charlie says, look into / speak to local FC Officer and see if they will subsidise the operation as part of the EWGS. The public value in this will be the creation / restoration of native woodland.

See this Forestry Commission - Woodland Management Grant

The above will allow you access to the WMG Calculator 2009. This may allow you a range of operational options such as Timber felling, trimming and crosscutting in uneconomic woodlands and extraction as well as subsequent site prep etc. Economic or not its worth a look

cheers

PM

Once you've gone through the excellent advice above take a look at the FC (Wales) Woodland Improvement Grant (WIG) Calculator page. It give indicative values for forest operations including average roading costs

Forestry Commission Wales - BWW - Calculating WIG

Cut and Extract to roadside for £7/t???

 

Not likley!

 

More like £9 or £10

:lol:

That's me! Always the optimist!!

I'm yet to measure it all but it appears to be decent quality 45 year old DF - will stick in a view plots and top heights next week when I'm passing that way. Thinking about it (and seeing your avatar) I'm wondering about adding value through milling?

At guess I would say your looking at around a cube a tree

Hi all

I've been asked to look at a 5ha block of Douglas Fir as part of a bigger grant application with a view to felling. A part from encouraging the landowner to keep stock out of the woods before or after felling I'm currently looking for ideas of current fell and extract prices. Its a decent site with good access on a slight slope so I don't forsee too many problems - my guess is about £7/tonne but open to ideas?

Also has anyone got an idea of current Douglas Fir prices either standing or roadside? Will make enquiries later today elsewhere but thought I'd ask here first.

Cheers

This should assist in the 'Chin Curtains' decision making process!!

Spotted this and thought I'd share! :lol:

Sounds like total twaddle mate.

forester definition

for·ester (fôr′is tər, fär′-)

noun

1. a person trained in forestry

2. a person in charge of a forest or trees

3. a person or animal that lives in a forest

4. any of a family (Agaristidae) of metallic-green or velvety-black moths

Etymology: ME < OFr forestier < ML forestarius

O.K. so this is the literal not legal definition but in my book its a broad church

try this link below which is as close as dammit and refers to Manwood's Treatise on forestry 1598

Definition of 'Forest'

Speak to your local CAB and seek legal advice, but frankly I can not see how they could make that one stick - the press would have a field day!

Richy

As Muldonach says speak to UPM etc. Lodgepole is notoriously hard to market but the local experts will know where to put it. A lot will depend on the site location, access, topography etc. I would suggest if its on a slope needing a skyline miles from a road you could be in trouble!

However assuming descent access etc then for sure contact the pros and see what they can do for you, then its their problem, insurance, hassle. If you where closer to Wales I'd take a look at it for you!

Hi all

Looking for work managing woodlands. Anything considered, help and advice given. Trained and approved Better Woodlands for Wales Management Planner

Powys/Shrops/Chester/Hereford/Ceredigion/Gwynedd - I'll travel anywhere in the U.K. if the price is right and Mrs PM allows me out!

Happy to get hands dirty or keep 'em clean!

Happy to tie up with woodland owners or their agents / assist contractors etc

Work includes:

Felling licences

Volume estimation for timber sales / inventory purposes

Mapping and surveys

Forest design / re-design

Feel free to PM me

Cheers

PM

Sent this one this a.m. No use to me thought I would simply spread the love!

Jobs @ Jobsite: Arboricultural Surveyors

cheers

PM

I agree with the above posts. There's a lot of 'snob value' in hardwood and totally agree with TCD the current hardwood production can not possibly keep up with an increasing demand. In areas of low forest cover in the UK such as N.Ireland they will have no choice but to use softwood as the quantities of hardwood simply do not exist.

As with everything its quality that counts and as long as you are selling good softwood at low moisture content what's the problem?

Hi Tommer

Firewood quality around Welshpool tends to be variable to say the least you could try these people Home Wood Fuel Wales - your one-stop source for wood-fuel information. or Powys Estate Sawmill (Telephone 01938 553785) they do bulk bags and I had a few delivered to Manafon when I used to live there (Church Cottages) but again the stuff was variable but O.K. if you wanted to build up a stock to season

If I come across anything better I'll let you know

You forget just how good / powerful timberjacks are. I'm getting all nostalgic now, I particularly liked driving a half track based on (from memory) a Ford 7000 its so long ago I can't remember how efficient /inefficient it was but it was certainly a lot of fun!

Lichen photographs

I'm sticking with ramalina farincea

The differences are the underside of oak moss evernia prunastri is whitish with green patches whilst ramalina farincea has whitish patches which look as if they been dusted hence farinose in its name.

But heh! It makes for a good discussion