Big J

I think it's a combination of a number of pressures and issues: Climate change. More regular extreme weather events. Whilst we've not had consequential flooding here where we are in the South West, we have had over a metre of rain since the second week of September. That's more than a typical year here. With that level of ground saturation, it doesn't take much to overspill. We had 29mm of rain in a few hours yesterday morning and all the back roads were flooded. Population pressure. Increased population, without the planning law change to accommodate them. It's still incredibly hard to build your own house, and as such new building is left entirely in the hands of large developers who frequently build on unsuitable sites, such as flood plains. Lack of investment. 10 years of austerity, with sustained cut backs of public services and reduction of investment in flood defences. Upland land management methods. Continued use of uplands for grouse shooting (with associated burning) and lack of aforestation accelerates the passage of rainfall into rivers, exacerbating flooding issues downstream. We need to plant the hills, ideally with spruce. We import 80% of our timber at present, and to establish upland forests would kill many birds with one stone. Bugger native broadleaves. They are useless squirrel food until we eliminate the greys. The issue is that the guidance is at present that only NBs can be planted in most upland areas in England (Dartmoor, Exmoor, Bodmin, to use the local examples). Public attitude. Some places flood. They aren't defendable. Either adapt your house to occasional flooding or move.

I don't know about hardwoods, but softwood is presently about 20% down on October.

High speed rail is best suited to countries where geographical distances are a limiting factor for the economies, where populations are widely distributed and countrysides that aren't cluttered with centuries of historical development. The UK is a tiny country. It takes very little time to drive from one end to the other. I did Edinburgh to Devon just after new year in 6hrs 45min overnight and that was just about sticking to the speed limits. High speed rail requires long, straight lengths of track. England is the most densely populated country in Europe (as a misanthrope, quite why I moved here is beyond me!) and trying to cut an unyielding straight line through two millenia of civilisation is going to be staggeringly expensive and massively unpopular. The 20th century was the age of personalised transport. I have my car/van on my drive, I get in it, I go to where I want to go and get out. My vehicle is still there when I want to come back and I don't have to share that space inside the car with anyone not of my choosing enroute. That convenience is absolutely unbeatable when compared to the public transport alternatives. The investment needs to be going into hugely upgrading the road network. I know I bleat on about it, but the roads here in Devon and the South West more broadly are horrendous. They are the cause of very slow average speeds, very high emissions and frequent, avoidable accidents. The two closest towns to Cullompton (where we live) are Tiverton and Honiton. Tiverton is only 4.5 miles away, but the main road is so bad (ie, 50% single track) that they don't recommend you go that way at all and redirect you via the M5 and the North Devon link road, which is 12 miles. Similarly, the Honiton road has frequent pinch points that are only a fraction better than single track. My point is, no one in their right mind is going to give up their car to use high speed rail, and the only people that HS2 makes sense to are people in the London bubble.

We are working on bog at the moment with the Logbullet, and I'm testing out some new tracks on the machine. They are working well, though I still get stuck sometimes. I've had the tracks for ages, but the issue was the guides that deflect them around the guide motors. That's sorted now, so front tracks will be fitted next week too. The ground is so soft that they'd overtop your wellies sometimes. It's mainly alder, with areas of ash and norway spruce. Thank goodness for the spruce, as it's all I can use for brash matting. Still though, you'll pass over an area that seems OK a couple of times, and then suddenly sink a foot, as the photo shows. Good fun though. I much prefer titting around with this, and letting a driver clear my clearfell area for me with the Komatsu. Apologies for the blurred first photo:

Ach, that'll buff out Gary!

It's not. ? It's the photo that's wonky (if you look at the trees in the background).

If you're worried about sap on your saw, you're in the wrong trade! This is my cutter's 372XP which at the point that the photo taken was 2 weeks old. He'd been cutting sitka.

The thing is, I've not actually heard anything from anyone that wants HS2 except for politicians. It's appears to just be a massive vanity project for egotistical buffoons.

I agree. My brother is an engineer and has been working on HS2 related projects for ages. I don't object to investing that quantity of money in public transport, but this represents extremely poor value for money.

One thousand times that. Approximately £3257 for every working age person (excluding the unemployed) in the UK.

What a collasal waste of money. At a cost of £200,000 per metre, it's the most expensive high speed line in the world by a massive margin. This article from the Telegraph uses a lower estimate of £42 billion for the construction cost, and given that it's now expected to cost over £100 billion, you can extrapolate that our HS line is costing 25 times as much per kilometre as in Europe: Revealed: HS2 'abysmal value for money' at 10 times the cost of high-speed rail in Europe WWW.TELEGRAPH.CO.UK HS2 is the most expensive high speed project in existence, according to new analysis undertaken by The Telegraph. And I'd bet my left nut that the £106 billion figure won't stand. They'll get to that point, with the project 50% complete and demand the same again to finish it, throwing good money after bad. I realise we have compulsory purchases to pay for, but how does it cost 25 times as much? The French can build TGV for a fraction. In fact the new TGV Méditerranée line cost £11630 per metre and includes huge viaducts and tunnels: Where exactly does the extra £188370 per metre go on HS2?

What he said

That's made my day with the swamped Masserati! Anyone who buys a poser-mobile like that and expects to be able to ford floods deserves what they get!

Outstanding! I love brown oak

I'm only relaying what I was told. I haven't verified the price.

I checked with SV Tech. It's only the rear axle assembly that's required. It is infact only the internals of the diff, but it's generally cheaper to get a new rear axle. A new one is £800-1000 plus labour, less for a second hand one.

Chipwood makes pretty good money at the moment. I was asking about location as it'll influence the price a bit. If you were local, we might be able to help with the harvesting or point you in the direction of customers. Larch makes superb firewood, but getting firewood customers to take it is the issue. There would be sawlog material from the stand too.

That is a ridiculous condition, and I don't know anyone commercially planting larch. To do so is madness with the endemic status of phytophthora ramorum. Anyway, if the site is to be mulched, ground impact isn't going to be an issue. I'd just get a harvester in and clear it out in a few days. It's going to be the most economical way of doing it. Whereabouts is the stand?

Just speak to SV Tech. They'll be able to tell you. Infact, I'll give them a call today and I'll let you know

I don't know. Best to speak to SV tech about it. You looking to tow around a 2.7t machine?

Not quite. It's uprated to tow 3000kg, but I couldn't go to 3500kg without changing the rear diff, which wasn't economical. I think that the trailer/forwarder combo runs at about 3100-3150kg, and it handled that fine, though the hills (1 in 4) around here are tough going with 160hp. It's got a lot more power than a stock 313.

Incase anyone is interested, my very lovely 2012 4x4 Sprinter is on eBay now. I'm just not using it, so it's for sale. You'll not find a better example, and studies have shown that such a vehicle makes you at least 34% more manly ?

Exactly. I'm not doing any more for this house. Now that I'm running a forestry business it makes no sense at all. It's better to sell it at roadside and fill the oil tank. I'm completely sick of stoking fires, to be honest.

24 loose cube of ash so far this winter (16 stacked cube). It's burned quicker than the softwood from the previous winter. 20kw Woodwarm and badly insulated house.

Superb!