Rebel_Commando

Hi, could someone give me an ID for this fung please? I'm just getting in to fungi ID after reading a lot of the threads on here I've done some research and came up with a possibility, Armillaria tabescens? But not 100% sure It's on a Lilac, with root damage, with the main 10 inch stem definitely in decline but throwing up several suckers. Thanks in advance for your help

When I win the lottery,I'm going to have a Fall Guy truck, an A team van and the General Lee in my garage......with Airwolf round the back

I believe the Lantra training books are going to be revamped in the near future. I was given a rough draft of the CS 30 book and asked to give feedback on, by the guy Lantra are liasing with to update them. Also I believe the CS units are being changed slightly again. I recently did my CS32,which was medium trees but now it is medium and large trees combined and they are introducing a unit that will be called "directional felling with mechanical aid" or something along those lines. There are probably more changes but those are just the bits I was told.

The backs don't protect against nettles either!

My sister was long term unemployed.not due to not wanting to because even when she wasn't working she was doing various courses to help her get more employable, she can type about 50'000 words per minute blindfolded with one hand behind her back! (possible slight exaggeration ) Anyway to keep getting her money she had to do X amount of hours per week job searching (think it was 4) and have it logged and signed by a member of staff at the dole office. Then she got offered a work experience placing at the local college doing admin and she was told she HAD to do this to keep getting her benefits, she had to work 4 days a week for 12 months then at the end got an 18 month full time contract. Luckily one of the other girls in the office was leaving around the same time as my sisters contract was up and she applied for the position and got it Another thing I remember is that while she was on the training scheme the college principal wouldn't allow her to use the staff car park because she wasn't officially employed by the college! so on days it was lashing down with rain or other bad weather and she wanted to go in her car, to save waiting at the bus stop, she had to pay to park across the road from the college, even when she was working over the christmas holidays and the place was deserted

I'm sure I've seen the same thing but from a different mill manufacturer on a US site,think they were in the region of $180?

As far I'm aware the Blue Mountain have a goretex lining making them waterproof? I looked into both pairs when I bought my boots and went for the Blue Mountain.

I had it in my head that it was next weekend! I'll have to see if I can rearrange things so I can make it on Sunday.

Thanks for the heads up Rover, mine arrived today after ordering on monday

I drive down to Pembrokeshire regularly so drive close to 2 feeding stations. That one and theres one in Carmarthenshire. I've lost count on how many I've seen now! I even saw an Osprey last year too

It's one of those things I want to do but never seem to manage it due to either lack of funds at the time or get let down by mates. I did see Metallica in 1995 at Donnington, back when it was monsters of rock

When I was there for a holiday for 3 weeks I saw 4 red backs,a funnel web and a white tail, all in suburban gardens

Yep that's the place, I spent alot of time there playing as a kid. It may look a bit different now, after all the felling that seems to of gone on in recent years, It's a lot more open. Still a great place to go for some peace and quiet though

No not my trees, I'm not sure who the owners are tbh. The farmer who had the fencing done is a tenant farmer on the estate we live on but I think the hedgerow belongs to the farm the other side of us who have bought their farm from the estate. I came across some other fencing butchery too not too far away, that was done around the same time (not sure if it was the same company) but they had cut a row of hedgerow trees off a breast height for about a hundred yards then put the fence up! I think this is a bit of a grey area of when a hedge becomes a row of trees? It was originally a hedgrow but when you have regrowth stems of 12" I'd say it's definitely a tree?! Plus this "hedge" borders a NNR so might possible have restrictions on it?

This site was made a NNR in the early 90s. Most of the drier margins had been redclaimed for ag use years ago and the bog area was used for commercial peat digging. The peat company was draining the water off to allow for better access plus guaranteed every summer while they were operating there would be fires. 20-40 acres would catch and there would be fire teams from all over the country watching the site 24-7 for weeks. After the fires birch dominnated most of the whole area. Since they started the management plan the fires stopped the water level has risen, sphagnum moss is on the increase, adders and grass snakes are a more common site now plus other plants,bugs and birds that I know nothing about lol

Something I came across yesterday that annoyed me quite a bit,not quite the same but deliberate vandalism just the same. A fencing contractor recently put up a stretch of stock fence for our neighbour, just so they could keep the fence in a nice straight line they cut off buttresses from several ash trees. One of them is a lovely specimen with a trunk of 6' DBH

Well the site is jointly managed by CCW and Natural England, I'd originally tried to call the emergency number on a sign for the site manager but got an answerphone message with two mobile numbers for two other people,neither were obtainable! There was another half a dozen piles of brash waiting to be burnt too but hopefully that won't be happening now!

I went for a quiet walk this evening to the NNR at the back of my house (It's about 2500 acres of peat bog and scrub). The site has a strict no fires and no smoking policy due to how peat can burn for weeks underground and needing to be watched 24/7 if it ever catches. Anyway I came across an area that had been clear felled of the birch,alder and willow in the past couple of years. It looks like on Friday they had a team in stacking the brash with a medium sized tracked digger and burning it! That sounds bad enough but noticed two of the fires sites were still smouldering away, one had gone down into the peat by a foot or so and the other was starting to smoke quite alot when a breeze got up. To make it even worse about 6ft away from one of the fires was a bucket with a couple of litres of what looked like sump oil and red diesel mixed then found a full 20 litre drum marked as red diesel! I think the guys responsible need a right good kick up the backside!

I have got those same trousers as I was looking at getting my first set of PPE on a budget. I haven't worn them a great deal as yet but they are bulky and very warm! I wouldn't want to wear them in summer! As for boots, I got the Haix Blue Mountain for about £135 from F.R Jones,they are comfy and waterproof because they are goretex lined. Hope this helps.

Only a small fire but BIG flames! caused by an armful of dry pine brash.

I thought I saw one once, We were working out in a field by the edge of a woodland and one of my work mates shouts "look at the size of that thing watching us!" When we all looked up, we saw a black cat sat on a gate post at the edge of the wood,it looked like a domestic cat but was about 50% bigger than any domestic cat I've seen before and more muscular. Anyway as we were watching and talking about what it might be the old guy who used to farm the land rolls up in his tractor and we point it out to him. He looks at us and says "Dunna be daft that's just my old Fluffy,The old boy has just put on a bit of weight since he went feral!" lol But also where I live was apparently the last known location of the British wildcat in Wales, they used to live on the 3000 acre area of peat bog/scrub land and woodlands surrounding it. Unfortunately one of the local small holders blamed them for taking some of his poultry and shot one of the last surviving pair! According to my grandad this was back in the 50s. I did read an article recently on the Scottish wildcats where they found that of all the wildcats found dead on roads, only 12% were pure wildcats the rest were all cross bred with feral and domestic cats. So it seems possible that there are "wildcats" out there that have domestic colouration but with the wildcat size?

I got my 346xp for £465...that was the cheapest I could find

Hi, I'm booked to do my CS30/31 in a couple of weeks with Phil Dunford,based near Corwen,North Wales. I had a mail yesterday saying that I'm the only person booked for that week,so it's up in the air at the moment whether it will go ahead! So I thought I'd see on the off chance if anyone was loooking to do their CS30/31 and could make this week? Chainsaw Training with Phil Dunford : Welcome to Phil's Chainsaw Training Website

I'd say it looks more like L. Vulgare after a bit of googling? Thanks guys

Hi, Does anyone know what this is? It's located roadside of what looks like an ancient woodland site,if that helps? Also iirc it has black berries on later in the year that look similar to blackcurrants? It's been bugging me for a couple of years now on what it might be! lol Thanks