Matthew Arnold

I think they just wanted a good moan at us because we had recently taken out 5 trees that were blocking the footpath but becuase they didnt realise we shifted the arisings and took them off site they assumed that we chipped it up on the badger sett.

Got accused today by a member of the public for chipping onto an active badger sett. We can't get a chipper down there and we wouldn't chip onto anything active (not even a rabbit warren). After showing her the pictures of the trailer load of brash we had taken away she still wasn't convinced. So showed her the woodchip heap again and pointed out it had been wheel barrowed over from someones garden and they had recently just had a leylandii hedge taken out. Lo and behold it was leyandlii chips but they both ganged up on me and my colleague so we both gave them a card with our office number and left. Why is it we are council workers we can never win? We cut a diseased tree down we get complaints. We don't cut it down will still get complaints. Rant over.

MS171 that was accidentally dropped whilst running into a ditch full of water. Not sure if it just shorted out or if water got into the piston as air filter was soaked but no water in carb. Will strip it fully tomorrow to check the damage and dry it and spray with WD40 to get rid of the extra water.

I know exactly what ya mean.

I'm a volunteer ranger and have been for 5 years. People think i am mad.

During the week we were clearing a scrubby area of brambles and small trees. I picked out 167 bags of poo from the brambles got a picture and sent it to the dog warden. He caught a member of the public today winging a black poo bag into the cleared area. We are hopefully going back tomorrow to flail the area so no doubt i shall see more bags being flung in all directions.

We've got 3 female volunteers out with us at the moment. One today, one tomorrow and another one on thursday.

Would i have to put that into Kews database or is there another National/International one?

First job of the day was to clear a fallen "branch" from a willow as it was blocking a bridleway bridge. We brought everything just incase and we are glad we did. We had our walk behind flail as well as we did a bridleway clearance about 3 miles away. The van sank badly in the farmers field but we used our folding ramps to get us moving again. The farmer said for us to stick to the tracks where possible so we did and paid the price.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-15640104:sad:

I've just checked my picture with the pictures on the net and it looks like i may be onto a winner here. The pictures match on all fronts. And the description of the fungi matches also.

Thank you Gerrit

This selection were taken during the weekend. 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 - Oudemansiella mucida on fallen Beech deadwood. 10,11 - Unknown fungi growing from large wound on mature beech. 12,13 - Mycena sp growing in pocket of leaf litter in small butress wound 14,15,16 - Inocybe sp? growing on woody, mossy ground. 17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28 - Unknown large fungi (10-20cm across) growing on chalk grassland. 29,30,31 - Strange fungi found growing on chalk grassland. 32,33,34,35,36,37,38 - Bolbitius vitellinus growing on a 3 month old woodchip heap. 39,40,41,42 - Coprinus sp? growing on 6 month old woodchip heap. 43,44,45,46 - Hypholoma fasciculare growing on 8 month old woodchip and buried stumps. 47,48,49,51,52,53 - Unknown fungi growing on cedar bench top. 54 - Coral spot Nectria cinnabarina growing on cedar bench top. 55,56,57,58 - Mycena sp? growing on buried woodchips. 59,60 - Mycelial fibres in leaf mulch.

Our "small" fire today. Lots of very fine dogwood to burn up then lots of ash and sycamore regen.

This load of pictures have been taken over the last couple of days. I shall have a stab at IDing them all but if i get some of them wrong feel free to point me in the right direction. 1,2,3 - Calvatia ultiformis? growing on topped wildflower meadow. 4,5,6 - Agaricus? species growing on topped wildflower meadow. 7,8,9 - Collybia spp? growing on oak twigs under Quercus robur 10,11 - Massive Macrolepiota sp? growing under Ash. Camera case is for scale. 12,13,14,15 - Stereum complicatum growing on Oak stump 16,17,18,19 - Unknown species growing in mossy ground within 15 metres of two Douglas Firs and within 5 metres of Ash copse. 20,21 - Mycena sp? growing through moss under Cornus alba 22,23,24,25 - Coprinus sp growing on a woody humus rich bank. 26,27,28,29,30 - Unknown fungi found growing in the dripline of an Elder. They were growing next to an area of short mown grass.

I've just spoken to my cousins who drive through there at about 7.30 and they said it was thick fog. Visibility was to almost just infront of the bonnet. And it was raining at the same time.

BBC News - M5 in Somerset closed both directions by major pile-up

We have an old wessex flail on the back of our Kubota B2400. We had the belt drive removed and replaced with a chain drive with a very basic slip clutch system. If it hit a large object the force would spin the clutch and not transfer into the gearbox.

Oudemansiella mucida found on a fallen Beech deadwood limb. Will get better picutres tomorrow as light was fading fast this evening.

Got soaked first thing then stayed soggy for the rest of the day. Did 3 drive with kale ranging from waist high to above head high. Not much fun for us but some good pictures have been taken of the beating line buried in the kale with just flags showing.

These will happily chew through 5ft high Bracken, Tussocky grass and it loves rushes. The benefit over having a rotary over a flail is the rotary is less likely to clog. We have a BCS flail and it hates going through tussocky grass where our DR would hit the tuft and either cut it or rip it out. I have attached some pictures of the finish our DR leaves. It is the 13hp model. We paid £2,160 for ours but we also had a lawn deck with it. They are about £2,000-£3000.

DR do a towable version of their Field and brush mower. We've found that Logic flails are horribly underpowered and the drive belts overheat and stretch really quickly. We put it into 6 inch grass and it snapped the belt within 300 yards. We have a walk behind DR mower and cannot fault it. DR Power Equipment - Brush Hog / Brush Mower ? clear land / brush - mow saplings

Been cloudy and gusty all day. Now hoofing it down and judging by the weather forecast its in for the night with the second lot coming in tomorrow night.

We used to use bunjees on the work defender to hold timber down but after two items flew off the roof we swapped to some pull through straps. They have buckles with a pimpled pressure point with a very strong spring pushing on the pressure point. They have a braking strain of 600kg but safe holding strength of 375kg. So more than strong anough to hold 8 half round rails on one side and eight 3" x 3" posts on the other.

Hi josharb I know the way i put it sounds confusing but my dad and i's perception of challenging lanes is completely different to the "mud pluggers" perception of a challenging lane. We don't look for super muddy, easily chew up-able lanes and lanes that would damage vehicles because it is pointless and just gives the Ramblers Association ammo to get all Byways, UCR's, ORPA's, RUPPS closed to every motorised vehicle. We drive lanes that in our mind are driveable with care. We tickle along (10 mph max) the green lanes. The only reason we have a clod of mud on the wing mirror is it was flung off the shoulder of the mud terrains and it came through the gap between the wheel arch and mud flap. The grass on the towhitch was on a previous lane with large undulations and deep ruts caused by the mud plugger brigade. The lanes we drive are driven on a regular basis and are kept clear because of it. We use our common sense and if a lane looks very chewed up and rutted with the likelihood of our vehicles being damaged being rather high then we shall go to our next lane. We don't just drive down a lane because we want to. We drive down them to link us to the next part of the route. It also gives us an idea if any maintenance (clearance, rut filling, puddle draining,etc) needs doing. If it does then if it is quick we do it ( we cleared 4 fallen trees and 2 low branches on our travels), but if the lane is majorly overgrown, rutted or flooded then we contact the relevant authority.