woodyguy

I guess having two stems means the roots are being fed by the left hand normal stem which are then keeping the ring barked stem alive.

Yes but much tastier than a squirrel.

Go onto old os maps (find via google) and you will find 1:2500 maps with acreage on them. Very accurate as modern OS maps are from them.

No idea what the questioner is asking about. But they're biological organisms, so all they are doing is reproducing.

What size chain does it take???

It doesn't matter whether you are in the business. If you are a tax payer then you are a victim of people who avoid tax. He isn't suggesting sending the boys around to break their knees. He is doing what the tax office ask. That you inform them of possible instances of people avoiding tax that they have a legal duty to pay. They may then get investigated. So he's not judge jury and executioner but doing his civic duty. As I would do too in this case.

Bit big for elder althought the bark is right. Possibly Elm.

Used to have mine on movement detectors. Changed them to dawn to dusk with sensor to power them all. Now very exposing if people wish to steal things. Much nicer now for legit visitors who aren't suddenly blinded by light. They're different approaches but I prefer the constant light level.

Overgrown hazel needs to be cut to the ground. leaving high means poorly shaped regrowth.

I have 140 species and varieties in my wood (which may be carrying it too far). In reality though many of them are only single trees or groups and the bigger numbers are mainly natives and pseudo-natives that will grow and find a place long term. Wood piles are much better because they allow a build up of habitat for beetles and insects. Fungi thrive and nesting birds love them if you put brash on top. That hazel of yours is seriously over grown and needs to be cut back soon so that it can become coppice plants again. I've just planted 400 hazel and 100 sweet chestnut coppice this winter as like you I don't have much understorey. Nettles are easy with professional strength glyphosate and will be killed in one application. Once they've gone you can establish some proper shade tolerant trees such as hornbeam. Lots to do!!!

MS241 very pricey but very good. 211 not as good but miles cheaper.

I'd go for a Stihl ms211 which is ideal and robust.

So when I resume use of land with a crop on it, the leaser has an opportunity to harvest that crop. So they could cut the trees down, dig them up or whatever. Once it is back in my control, they have lost their rights entirely ie they are my trees. How else could you manage it? Right to come back and harvest "their" oak trees in 120 years???

Would seem very bizarre owning trees on land that was no longer yours to rent. Doesn't make any sense to me.

Wood mainly dries through the end grain. So the shorter you cut them the quicker they dry. Splitting them into smaller pieces will also increase their surface area, so a month in a warm dry place when split as kindling should have them below 20% mc.

Wow Ambisawrous, now I'm jealous. That's a lot of wood and a lot of interesting habitat. I'd suggest, if you're not an expert, that you get some advice and draw up a proper management plan. Sounds like you already have some outlets and directions you wish to go in, which is a good start. Keep us posted on how it goes.

I grew up with axes and chainsaws, largely unsupervised but sadly have the scars to prove it. So not sure really and certainly didn't do that with my kids. My youngest daughter's 23 if that helps!

In the past, I've never really got the land ownership thing. I've owned many houses over the past 35 years but moved every few years and passed it on without any real sense of loss. Owning a wood and doing things that will only be appreciated by my grandchildren (or two generations on, anyway) is a new thing. I've come to respect the connection with the land that that approach brings. I was quite moved last year when my daughter suddenly announced that seeing as I'd be old and infirm soon, she had better learn how to handle a chainsaw, as nobody else was going to be keeping the wood safe and in shape when I was tucked up in my armchair with a rug, cocoa and zimmer on hand. She's been logging up and learning felling since then, so she obviously "gets it like I do". Great to hear you learning from and appreciating your grandfather.

"What I also like is the fact that 'my' wood has been untouched in fifteen years, and yet its just been happily doing its own thing all that time. " Interesting observation. When I first bought my wood it was neglected like yours. I gradually realised that there were many different directions I could take, all of them valid. Being a bit bigger, I have taken different approaches in different areas, eg coppice hazel, larch plantation, etc. I love the way that if I dropped down dead or stopped working there for a few years, it would just carry on blithely without me. Its like a super tanker on auto pilot. So I can steer and adjust it in one direction gradually but it has a huge inertia of its own. I guess I really like the sense of being a custodian of it but not really owning it. Interesting you saying how "woodlike" the new bits you visited were. When you get into woodland more you may find that you can see and appreciate the differences and understand why ancient woodland eg pre 1600 is so special. You can look after it but you can't make it.

Diamond needle file, find them on ebay cheap.

Stop it, blasphemers !! There is only one tree website and its name is Arbtalk and Steve is its Prophet.

Except he has no vehicle access to get it out.

That's exactly what they did for red squirrels in the early 20th century. You got paid per tail that you handed in.

I find that they're really easy to catch in traps using almost anything eg peanuts for bird feeders. I can wipe them out in my woodland for a few months but then they return and I catch perhaps a dozen over a fortnight and we start again.

If you can't tell an Elm from a Hornbeam (clue, one of them is dead), then you've got a steep learning curve. I would agree that a walk around from somebody knowledgeable would be a great start. A bit of a reading list (start with anything by Oliver Rackham) would also be invaluable.