Big J

It is raining again, just incase you're wondering 😝

It does put it into perspective somewhat. Whilst I fully appreciate that this newer strain is much more transmissible, if only 2.5% of people succumbing to it (extrapolated from those daily figures) have no preexisting health conditions, why lock down an entire country? If you're over 70, regard yourself as being in lockdown/tier 4 until you've received the vaccine If you have preexisting health conditions leading to a higher risk of death with covid, same as for the over 70s. If you're overweight, seriously limit social contact until your weight is within the normal range and you are fit. This cannot be considered as the same as people over 70 or with serious preexisting conditions, as 95% of adults with serious weight issues really only have themselves to blame for their size. I also appreciate that long covid is a consideration, but how does it compare from recovering from serious flu? The twice I've had flu in my life completely floored me for a week, and took over a month to get back to full strength afterwards. Perhaps a good use of government funds in the face of this pandemic is to spend less on funding people to stay home and more on say, buying them a treadmill/indoor bike/rowing machine? Much like a car, when properly serviced and cared for, there are far fewer breakdowns.

It's worth noting as well that Pekka at Logbullet treats breakdowns as development opportunities. So instead of "well why did you overload it and break it?" it's "well that bit could be stronger, I'll make it stronger and send it out to you, FOC". This has extended past the end of the official warranty too

It is cheap, but then rates tend to be a bit lower down here. We enclosed a 23 acre field with 6ft deer fence and if memory serves it was between £8-9.

You're looking at around £8-9m, depending on specification and terrain. That's for a 6ft fence, with gates extra. Can be a touch more or less depending on spec though.

I can't disagree with that.

Some size of bridge to have to fell 540 trees 😲 Anyway, I'm sure you'll shift the timber easily. Not so much oak is being felled at the moment due to ash dieback work, so less on the market.

Apologies. I'm a couple of years out of date with ASHS now. Is it a windfarm? Seems like it might be with the hilltop location.

Out of curiosity, how did you manage to get a licence for that? There is almost no chance they'd grant a licence for an oak clearfell down here. The quality looks to be fairly mixed, but you'd expect that in Scotland. Get in contact with the Association of Scottish Hardwood Sawmillers - they'll be able to take it. I wouldn't be surprised if Jim at Scottish Woods took a fair chunk - lovely chap to deal with too.

The weather this month has been awful. There is a chap 600m from our house who's a senior forecaster at the Met Office. I'm able to access the weather station data at his house. He sees considerably less rain than us as we're a bit higher up. Either way, we've had only one rain free day in the past 23. That was Christmas Day. In addition to that, we've had a total of 152mm of rain recorded by him (will be about 20-30% higher with us). I'm really rather envious of all the snow pictures.

I disagree. I fail to see how the oak tree is negatively affecting the house. I'd bet that it's a stand out amentity feature on the road, and that the neighbours would be very sad to see it go. It has ecological value too, and will help with solar shading in summer. It would be no more expensive to perform a well considered and sympathetic reduction which would bring it down to a more appropriate size for it's setting, whilst maintaining the amenity and ecological value of the Oak tree. The last thing a modern housing estate needs is a reduction in the number of mature trees.

I can't say that it's to my taste, but as the others say, if it's something you like, go for it I do love a good car search though - what is your criteria? What is your budget? There are loads of interesting cars at that price point. An original A6 Allroad 2.5tdi is pretty comparable. Mpg is similar, though it's a touch slower. Very comfortable and 4x4 is useful. A W211 Mercedes E-class would have been a contemporary, and very smooth indeed. A Lexus GS is again similar, with Toyota reliability. I do totally appreciate the appeal of an old school cruiser. The V10 Touareg I have fits that bill nicely, though it's possibly a bit too brisk to be considered relaxing. Somehow, it's only £255/yr fully comp with business use too

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No public access just yet at Ausewell. A bit more to do in there. I'm low impact working in there, which unfortunately wasn't how last years operations went. Please don't blame me for those 🤣 Some softwood/broadleaf respacing and pine thinning this year. There was supposed to be a couple of hectares of spruce first thinning too but that block was missed from the felling licence.

The saplings are being sold through Bryan Elliot at Eucalyptus Renewables. We work with him a lot. I don't think that it's especially rot resistant, but it's a really good fuel wood. Happy to show you the euc plantation whenever - I love walking around there. It's forestry on steroids

I'd forgotten that you were there. I'm working at Ausewell Woods and Hembury Woods after Christmas.

Yep. As far as I'm aware, it's mostly glaucescens that is being planted up north. There are plantations springing up around Scotland too.

I'm not going to go into forensic detail here. But yes, the carbon is one of the primary driving factors for planting now. It stands alone (without carbon) very favourably as a crop, but the addition of the carbon revenue means that we can put it on the most productive (ie, highest value) sites, maximising tree growth. I'm sick to the teeth of harvesting on ground that is second rate, stupidly steep or has terrible access. As such, we only plant on drivable, lower level, fully accessible sites.

Not intentionally so. Just a little pressed for time and it's a longer topic. The woodlands we're establishing are investments. People wanting to diversify income, rather than just straight agriculture. They derive income from the carbon, the harvesting and the amenity value. It's multifaceted, but they are being planted for economic reasons.

Happy to show you some of the plantations if you like Paul. I don't make anything out of the actual planting, but we have invested in a local nursery which is growing nitens for us. An acre of nitens would easily do your domestic firewood needs in perpetuity, with first thinnings at year 4.

It's a crop that fulfills several key criteria. Firstly, it produces a crop very quickly. Secondly it sequesters carbon very quickly and thirdly, it's a nice amenity. 10 year old nitens is a nice place to be. You can't say the same for 10 year old broadleaf or sitka. We planted 55,000 eucalyptus this year, mostly nitens.

Various plots planted for various reasons. Carbon offsetting, wood fuel etc.

This was a Forest Research block, so not planted for economic reasons, though management has reverted back to the estate that owns the land now it's 10 years old. I'd hope a lot of it ends up in the firewood market as the ash won't last long. Also the sawlog market, for fencing, pallets etc.

That would be the lowest roadside value, I'd hope. I'm hoping to be able to put it into the firewood market, and some into log. The sawmilling market for eucalyptus in the UK needs development though. Not sure that's a risk here - it never stops fecking raining. The primary issue with the plantations there is lack of demand for the product, so they aren't thinned as often as is needed, resulting in a lot of standing deadwood.