Matthew Arnold

Severely cankered up ivy clad Ash split out a couple of nights back. The area where this tree has fallen has several big nackered trees with various defects (Fungi, splits, lots of canker, etc). We have planned 3 days of clearing, tidying up before we fell the remaining trees.

I took quite a few pics of various things as it was one of the few days recently where i could take some decent pics. Some of the fungi i took pictures of i recognise but others i don't. The ones i dont know are the first 6then after that its just the best pics that i took.

New series of Rude Tube is on Now Channel 4 and 4HD. Tonight is the top 100videos of 2010.

One of the big local estates i go beatin on just had upwards of 300 acres of Larch and fir plantations felled because the majority of the plantations had phtyo. Such a shame they had to fell and have the lot chipped on site. It all went for biomass even the branches. There is one pocket of firs left and they will only be felled if they absolute have to. Not going to hit anything other than more trees. And they are estimated to be 200 years old. Not sure what species they are but there is definately a massive Western Red Cedar in there.

Blandford and the surrounding area is generally posh but there are pockets of "scroats" around the town. It has got better over the years but there is still a few "junkies" milling around. And you can spot them from a mile off. We had them camping on one of our bits of land. We had 2 sharps boxes full of needles by the time we had cleared up. We quickly cleared out the thicker plantations so you can see if anyone is camping in there.

We always carry a line with us even if we are doing tree work or not. You never now if you have a quick emergency job to do before you get on site.

Official joke of the year 2010.... Two women were sitting quietly, minding their own business.

Although it is highly frustrating that a member of the public cut the stobs for firewood. We feel sort of rectified as he had completely destroyed 4 chains cutting through them. We know he had gone through 4 chains because the chains were left where the stobs had been cut. And from what cutters were left on them. The chains were fairly new.

Just before we broke up for xmas we were doing some tree work in a car park we manage. We put up laminated posters a week beforehand warning members of the public that we will be doing tree work and not to park in the coned off area whilst we are working. As my colleague made the gob cut on a leaning field maple, a gentleman moved the cones and parked his car well within falling distance of the tree. I kindly asked him to park in another space as we are about to fell a tree where he parked his car. He obliged and moved his car into another space that was well out of the way of where we were working. Whilst we were having a quick tea break he came back from walking his dog and asked if he could take the logs on. We said yes and they next day the logs had completely gone...as had the picnic bench tops, site board, fencing and "anti-traveller" stobs. We asked the same gentleman if he knew anything about the picnic bench tops and various other bits that had suddenly dissapeared overnight. No knowledge at all. During the second day we had a very irate member of the public come over and had a massive go at us about the excessive noise we were producing in the countryside with the chipper going through branches. I explained that the chipper cannot run quietly unless it is turned off. He was fine with that but i had to explain why we were cutting the trees down and he was fine with that. Out of curiosity I asked where he lived in relation to the site. He lived in a vilage about 5 miles down the road. The area he lives in has two large shoots on either side of the valley. He then asked why we had put wire and a steel rod down inside the anti traveller stobs as it blunted his chainsaw. We knew straight away who had cut the stobs. No biggy with him cutting the stobs for fire wood they were very rotten and were going to be replaced anyway.

Just thought of a flaw with that idea. If you burn green woodchip it burns less efficiently so you production would be reduced. We are just about to start using bio-deisel in our chipper.

Same ere mate. I know exactly how you feel!

My mum's cousin husband has a few motorbikes. Mainly scramble/motocross bikes. He has a Honda Twinshock 600cc, KTM 550 cc and Yamaha 850cc. He has a couple of quads too. We normally go up there to have a play around in his little paddock. Not much grass left there anymore. It is also where we store our "scuffle" trucks.

How near bath you talking? We are doin a big bit of hedge laying in Sturminster Newton. We did about 200 metres in 2 days. Lots of clearing out to do before hand.

My New year res is still holding up. I cycled 18 miles this afternoon. Did it in just under 2 hours. Not too bad going as the last time i cycled any real distance i was in Majorca. My dad and i cycled about 120 miles over 3 days. The further we did was 60 miles and on the hottest day of the hol. We drank about 5 litres of water each. But when we got back to the shop we headed straight to the local bar and got rather drunk. And that was before the evening had even begun. When its 1.75 a pint whos gonna argue.

I'm 21 and the lad with adhd is 19.

I understand have posted negative things about someone with a learning difficulty. I apologize if this has upset alot of people. But this is only a couple of silly things that he has done and he has known that he did something silly. Other than that he is a fantastic worker and just gets on with the job. We all have a good laugh with him and we dont just keep on at him. We all make big mistakes and i have made one by posting stupid things about a colleague with ADHD. Same again i apologize for being a moron for posting these daft things.

We keep em for about 6 years although my boss had his l200 for 8 years as there was a delay with the ford ranger. They go off for auction normally. But if they are well and truly nackered then they get stripped for parts and those parts go for auction. I still see our old K reg 110 hanging around. Its suprising it was stripped for parts as the chassis was 2/3 plate.

It ticks all my boxes as well. I wasnt expecting Corey Taylor to come out with this but damn was it funny. My mum n sis didn't like me when i turned it up loud on the tv. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=od7GUy9XS7c]YouTube - Corey Taylor - X-M@$[/ame]

I dunno wot happened there lol. I put uploaded em twice but for some reason as soon as i clicked post reply they went. Stupid computer.

These are pics of my work truck. Its had a 2 inch lift kit put on all round. The engine instead of kicking out around 143bhp is now on 192 bhp so it is able to tow heavier loads. Just had a new set of boots n brake pads and it had just done over 42,000 miles. The first pic is of it in the council yard where we are based in Feb 2010. The second pic is of it after it spring clean. The third pic is of it in Oct 2010 after almost getting stuck on a hillfort access track. The fourth pic is of it relatively clean in Nov 2010 when we were doin flooding checks on a new section of trailway. 8 months before that pic was taken it was a boggy mess at the bottom. The fifth pic is of it at another hill fort taken in Dec 2010. The tyres on it are now Cooper Discoverer ST-C. Even they couldn't handle the thawing chalk clay mix soil. We got out but only because we needed to get towed out by the farm manager.

Damn i was gonna put that . Also its good to get a third/fourth opinion about trees on our sites. Its also a handy place to let off steam about work related issues. And is one of the few places with a stolen equiptment section.

Oh yes. We saw both his main forest mulcher and he had one on that massive claas. We were watching the claas one from 200 metres away and it was still throwing stuff nearly to us. Some of the stuff he has is amazing. He helped one of our contractors out by shifting the logs from a big beech clearance job. He had a cool little tractor and was bringing them up 6 discs at a time and loading them into the grain trailer.

I don't like the super duper modern stuff there are far too many buttons n switches to go wrong. We have an old John Deere 6060 series. It is much easier to use than the new stuff. I was trialing a John Deere 8080 and was lost with all of the buttons and touch screen stuff. I switched back to the 6060 and just went back to baling the hay. In the new stuff you have about 3 buttons or switches to engage the PTO in our 6060 it is just a lever and away it goes. I've forgotten the amount of times we have had a new fan belt put on the 6060. I know the fuel pump has failed twice and the transfer box has gone atleast three times since we've had it. It isnt abused. My favourite bit of kit that goes on the back is the forest mulcher. We have a gearing system that speeds the barrel up. I think it something like 1:5. For every rotation the pto makes it turns the barrel 5 times and it send the shreddings forwards to stop it jamming up.

There are people in the world that are a few crumbs short of a cookie. The trouble with my colleague with ADHD because he has worked in the agri industry he has a very agri minded approach to everything (If it breaks, buy a new one). We dont like his way of starting a fire either. He uses paper and kindling as normal but soaks the paper in deisel coz aparently it light quicker. The worst thing that he did whilst i was around was he poured petrol from the fuel tank of our blower to get the fire going. He was given a very stern rollocking from both me and the boss with a few "F"s thrown in. He didn't think he had done wrong as the fire was going. He then proceded to fell a dead tree that left several sizable dents on the brand new 10 plate Ford Ranger we have. He didn't think it would reach the truck. Well it did and it was off the road for 3 weeks being repaired. It was mostly comestic but it had taken out half of the fuse box, damaged the suspension on the front and needed a new windscreen.