Matthew Arnold

It does make working alot easier when everyone gets along and has a good joke around. A few times the joke can go a bit too far but then it come full circle and everyone is having a good laugh again. One of the guys i work with has ADHD so some of the stuff that comes out of his mouth isn't suitable so we have said to him afterward about what is acceptable. Some of the stuff that does come out of his mouth is absolute 8ollocks. The best story was he has driven a Bugatti Veyron, Ferrari FFX and a Pagani Zonda F. He apparently has driven every tractor and combine on the market today. Big load of 8ollocks. He is very possessive of powertools as well. The 362 is "his", the polesaw is "his" and the 17 hp mower is "his". Sadly this isnt the case it is everyones to use and everyones responsibility to maintain them. We maintain tools on a monthly rota basis. I am currently on maintaining the Chipper, Stihl MS 341, FS 550, and L200.

We've used Daniel and seen his mahooossive chipper working. Its scary when you see them put a whole tree go through within minutes. We felled about 3 acres of Western Red Cedars and cut them in half. The trunks/stems went for biomass and the tops n branches went for composting. The ony issue he had was the tractor was drinking fuel. He got through almost a full tank by lunchtime so had to go off and fill up again. We got a deisel tanker left on the "landing" for him so he could fill up on site as the nearest petrol station was 15 miles away.

The best one we do is throw a very small "hissy" fit. If a member of the public (taxpayer) tells us to stop working or making so much noise then we just shut down n pack everything up lol. The look on their face as they get onto their high horse only to be dealt a massive blow by the boss who is normally on site checking trees for further works is an absolute picture. Sadly on 4 occasions we have had to phone for the local plod to come out n sort out the mess. On 3 of those occasions physical contact was made between the agressor and my colleagues. One of my colleagues on one occasion had to go to the local hospital because of a broken nose.

In our line of work we can never win. If we fell a tree, it has been been there for 150 years even though there are only 30 growth rings. If we remove a patch of brambles we are destroying a wildlife mosiac, even tho there are loads of patches of brambles everywhere else. And most people are very agrro about what we do. a good example was we felled an 80+ year old Ash with lots of Dryad's Saddle growing out of it backside. It had a massive sucker limb growing from the base which was only 20 years old but the same width as the 80+ stump. We felled it because of a large split running almost into the crown. Lots of people were upset but when they saw the brackets coming out of the stump and the amount of rot i nthe base they were happy we felled it. Also we has lots of Common Twayblade and Dog violet come up soon after. Now we are fighting againt bramble encroachment to keep the area clear for Silver Washed Fritillaries.

Going to do alot more cycling to keep fit. Going to be cycling 16 miles tomorrow on my xmas pressie from the parents. Got a 2011 spec Hardrock Specialized mountain bike. About £700 worth.

Happy New Year mate. Have a good one. I'm currently resting my right knee after twisting it during a shoot day. Don't want any ligament/tendon damage as i did same one two years ago and snapped my crutiate ligament.

At the begining of the month we were felling a few trees and had our TW150 running as we were cutting stuff and feeding it. As me and my colleague were dragging branches we were aware of a scuffle near the chipper. It was one of my colleagues and a member of the public having a physical fight about the noise coming from the chipper. I quickly jumped over the pile of woodchip and turned the chipper off and yelled from our supervisor who was helping us drag n chip. The young lad (20-30) was arguing with my colleague because we had apparently disturbed him and his missus making love. The fight began because the young yad made a lunge for the chipper keys so my colleague held him back and ended up getting lumped very hard in his temple. He was slightly concussed but still held him back. The lad was cautioned for ABH. Two days later back at the same site we had the chipper running and and old boy (70-80) came out and asked if we could make the chipper quieter as he couldnt hear the tv over the noise. We turned the chipper off and then explained that we couldnt chip without making lots of noise. We cant burn on the site because of the proximity to houses so we have to chip. He was fine with that and then offered us cups of tea and biscuits as we delivered 10 wheel barrow full of woodchip for his garden.

I have a very strange music taste according to my colleagues. I can go from Korn one day to Apocalyptica the next and then to Santana then back to Korn lol.

Sounds very dodgy but if you had the chipper running on idle whilst you put the silicone sealant around the bearing to stop crud getting in there. Would the nut clear a gap big enough for it to have a bit of play?

The biggest fly tip i have ever had to deal with was about 60 ton of tree tops of various species. We borrowed a pto chipper on the back of a jcb fastrac. We had another contractor turn up with his massive john deere and a grain trailer. We filled the grain trailer twice which he took back to his farm to use as animal bedding. Our boss said it would have been easier to just load it into the trailer as is but there would have been alot of air in between so chipping would have been the more efficient option. Only cost us £50 quid as well which isnt bad for two big tractors, fuel, equipment and haulage. We had what logs were there. To this day we still cant figure out how so much fly tip built up over a week. It had all be tipped out by a tipper type van judging by the double wheels on the back axle.

We had a large fly tip of the stuff (8 trailer loads in total all compacted). The tip wouldnt take. Our fire pit was full to bursting. So a quick 5 min phonecall later and we took it to a local shoot and left it in a barn for the keeper to use as extra cover in his woods. It made a massive difference. He had the logs as well and aparently they burnt very well. He attempted to split them too but gave up after the 10th hit on the first foot long log.

When we were in Majorca this year for our family holiday we saw a block replastering his balcony base on a table. He was stood on a couple of beer crates and wearing sandals. No hard hat, no goggles, no steel toe cap boots. Nothing. What scared us even more was they didnt stop and let people cross at zebra crossings. A couple of weeks before we arrived a family of 4 were wiped out by a taxi just up the road from our hotel. Was very scary trying to cross what was effectively a dual carriageway on nothing more than a zebra crossing.

This is the Portman Hunt meet. Not as big a turn out as last year but still approx 1200 people.

This is a campaign video that my dad took part in. The police officer who is talking is a close family friend of ours. My dad is the paramedic who is dealing with the patient. Dorset Road Safe, Road Safety Dorset, Dorset Casualties, Dorset Partnerships, No Excuse Dorset, Safe driving dorset, dorset speed limits, dorset road maintenance Sorry for putting it up at this time of year. But it just shows how quickly tragedy strikes.

Not sure if ur other but thats a Redwing. Britains smallest migrating thrush.

My dad and i have got sledges in our defender in case we get stuck. Got allsorts of stuff in the back as well. Never needed it yet (touches wood). Weve only used the sledges once. But then again we have used the defender and a 1.5 ton sled. I've been doing my bit for my comunity by clearing the footpaths to the corner shops. Gonna be going around in my tractor with the bucket on the front clearing the COUNCIL owned car parks as nothing has been done. Only gonna do it after the hunt meets tho.

Because the footpaths and roads are so lethal around my way i have resorted to wearing cricket shoes as they have little spikes in them. Very effective still ended up on my year a few times. Before i put them on i managed to slip walking down our driveway and slipped a disc in my back. I'm walking around like i have a broomstick up my backside.