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Matthew Arnold

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Everything posted by Matthew Arnold

  1. Matthew Arnold
    Our camping friend is being evicted this week but he didnt go far. We found more needles behind one of the river water pumping stations in the town.
  2. Matthew Arnold
    Off out again for another play out on the lanes of sunny Dorset. With the rain we've just had there should be a few patches of mud here and there. Going do some little fords too just to break it up.
  3. Matthew Arnold
    Lawrence is the boss of the West dorset team. The boss of both North and West teams is based at our office in Blandford. If you get 5 minutes check out the North Dorset Trailway. There are a few pubs along the route. And now back to the tree....
  4. Matthew Arnold
    Some shots of Oak Bracket (Inonotus dryadeus. The trees are well known carriers and have adapted to it. They are just starting to show signs of the fungi taking hold in the crowns but the current management of the trees is to fracture prune the deadwood out (for bugs and beasties) and reduce the dying back crowns but only to the healthy growth below. Pic 1 - This years growth just showing its face Pic 2 - Last years monster bracket Pics 3 + 4 - Buckling on neighbouring roadside Oak. Pics 5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15+16 - All taken on same tree. It has a very thin lateral crack making its way up the trunk.
  5. Matthew Arnold
    We spent the day at our most northern reach of our sites. It was only general maintenance but became a full day of just knocking back hedgerows and various other bits and bobs. One of the Rowans had been attacked by a dog but we decided to leave it as it was a small tree and the wounds were already starting to heal. We checked the records about an Oak on a site known as Rolls Bridge (where all of the pics are from except the last two). We thought it was about 100 years old it is infact nearly 300 years old. The last two shots are of a small section of footpath in Sturminster Newton we mow/strim whenever it needs it.
  6. Matthew Arnold
    Here is a link for Thorncombe Woods. There are normally rangers around the woods who can give you a breif talk about management of the woods and species in there. There is a big interp board at the car park. Thorncombe woods - dorsetforyou.com The other site to check out is Hilfield Hill Hilfield hill - dorsetforyou.com .It has some of the best views of West Dorset. Just out of interest how long are you in Dorset for?
  7. Matthew Arnold
    Have you walked around Thorncombe Woods near Dorchester? We have loads of Beeche trees in there as well as some massive Sweet Chestnuts. You can tell we did a massive amount of Laurel and Rhody bashing last winter.
  8. Matthew Arnold
    A ticking time bomb waiting to go off. Already had 2 trees fail due to the weight of the fruit. We generally wait for them to fail before dealing with them as it gives chance for members of the public to remove the fruit. (I've already taken a bin sack full).
  9. Matthew Arnold
    Got bitten to death this evening whilst out controlling the local coney population. got atleast 4 bites on my neck, 2 on each wrist and one on my nose. They must like me for my sweet tasting blood.
  10. Matthew Arnold
    Our apprentice finished today. He starts his new job on Monday as a Parish Lengthsman (general maintenance person) in a town about 20 minutes away from our base. Forgot to take pictures of the morning job. Felling 14 small Ash and clearing up a flytip of leylandii. The afternoon job was good fun. We had 2 massive willow stumps lodged in a load of large ash stumps. We used our ranger to wrench them out. The first one came out without a fight. The second one required some revs and wheel spinning to get him out.
  11. Matthew Arnold
    Will do. Cheers.
  12. Matthew Arnold
    Had an exciting but also nervous start to the day. We got to the start of the jobsite and had a member of the public frantically come over saying their dog was stuck i nthe river. Before i knew it we were all down by the river. My two colleagues jumped in boots and all to save a very frightened and tired Cocker Spaniel puppy. At the end of it we all got multiple cups of tea for helping out. The two pics are of my colleagues both very wet but also very happy with what they had achieived.
  13. Matthew Arnold
    On our rounds today found 2 lots of flytip. One of the heaps has been there for a few weeks. The other heap had been scattered across the site. Also whilst checking our Dormouse boxes for activity i found one of them was being used. It is the same on as last year and it is built in the classic dormouse fashion. The last pic is of dog poo that was within 15 metres of a poo bin. We going around our sites and spray any dog poo white with marker paint which lasts 2 months. The main reason is to bring to member of the publics attention to the dog poo problem we have on our sites.
  14. Matthew Arnold
    We are currently having scientists control burning one of our larger sites to see the effects of fire and also to gather data about humidity, water content of fuel, wind direction, extent of burning, speed, etc ,etc ,etc. The original plan was to burn Stoborough Heath (or areas of) but Natural England didn't get the licenses in time. BBC News - Dorset heath land to burn for fire research BBC News - Dorset heathland burning for fire research
  15. Matthew Arnold
    Alot of farms around me use old ones for straining/hanging posts. Must play havoc for the poor chainsaws going through them.
  16. Matthew Arnold
    It is sickening what people do. I have no problem with them when they are in peoples/council house shooting up but when they are on heavily used public sites where children and dogs are present it gets my hackles up something cronic. I've had dealings with the current offender over the last couple of years and not too long ago we had to get the police and RSPCA involved as his dog (American Pitbull) was set upon me by him as i was strimming around his camping area. It will be the first and last time i shall ever use a strimmer in self defense against a dog. Glad i was using nylon that day rather than a triblade.
  17. Matthew Arnold
    Pic 3 is of a torn can used for boiling herion/crack. Pics 4 and 6 are of needle wrappers.
  18. Matthew Arnold
    Whenever we have a report of needles we don our steel based boots, thick trousers and welding gloves. Its such a shame they use our sites for it too:thumbdown:
  19. Matthew Arnold
    And todays job...... Had an answerphone message from the local police that they had shifted some druggie campers from one of our sites. Sadly they have only moved to another site o nthe other side of the river. I've been a volunteer with the ranger service for 5 years and i have never seen a drug problem this bad ever. In the last month we have filled 8 small sharps boxes:afraid:. The police are building a portfolio of drug related problems so they can get an exclusion order for the druggies. The next smiley is what i would like to do to them.
  20. Matthew Arnold
    We had a nice job to do on Friday which we decided to do as it was a nice easy relaxing job. We had a hand rail to put in on a set of steps and remove vegetation from the edges of the steps and remove the ivy from the top of the bridge.
  21. Matthew Arnold
    Wish we could trade it in for a Hilux but got a contract with Ford so any new vehicle will be a 3 litre Ford Ranger.
  22. Matthew Arnold
    Sadly not as it was only designated photographers who were allowed to take pictures. We werent even allowed to take pics on our phones.
  23. Matthew Arnold
    Went to the CLA Game Fair today was a good day and a fantastic turnout. It took us just over 2 hours to get up there from Blandford. Traffic was very light until the A34/44 junction. Didnt buy much as was very expensive. I paid 4 quid for a pint of "lager" and 6.50 for a sweet chilli baguette!! Was expecting it to be expensive but not stupid prices.
  24. Matthew Arnold
    Thats where i was gonna be going funnily enough. just to do some Rights of Way work on the top of the hill they use as a range. Obviousily didnt make it.
  25. Matthew Arnold
    Van died proper style today. Got 100 yards up the road from where we park the vans each night and it died completely. It would turn over but wouldnt fire. When i got it running after 30 minutes of trying the engine management light was on amber so i got hold of the boss and asked him to book the truck into the garage ASAP. The truck is now in the main dealer as it looks like the ECU has gone pop. I got it down to the dealer in limp home mode (1,500 RPM) and got a courtesy car for the trip back. Fingers crossed it shall be ready by Wednesday next week.

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