sandspider

Think I saw one of those in our paddock the other day (or similar - noticeable red wing "shoulders"), couldn't find it using the power of Google. Thanks.

Same thing happened to a drone my brother in law got, vanished to the North and was never seen again! Wonder how well drone planted trees fair, without shelters, mulches, weeding (apart from (inaccurate?) weedkiller sprayed by drones perhaps) etc.

Good use of drain grid. I've got a couple of old.fire grilles saved up.in case the weights alone aren't enough!

Just to add, I've never tried keeping either in overnight. I imagine the Heta would do it with coal (it's multifuel), but probably not wood. Can't see the Burley doing it - it's quite hungry as it has a big firebox - but as said, I've not actually tried.

I got two stoves installed last year - a Burley 8KW and a Heta Inspire 45 5kw. The Heta feels better made, but the Burley burns more efficiently, will take a bigger log and really punts the heat out. Also the Burley has some better design elements - for example, ash falls out of the Heta when reloading onto a ledge beneath the door and clogs the door. Ash that falls out of the Burley (which really isn't much, don't think I've emptied it once yet!) falls on the floor out of the way. The Burley was also a bit cheaper. The Heta is a good stove - especially if you just want a small fire to look pretty (though it does heat well for its size). The Burley is a no frills stove for if you want a lot of heat. I've not found it to be too sensitive to what wood I feed it either - but maybe that's because I only feed it dry wood!

Cheers Rowan Ended up getting 40KG of (new) gym weight plates for £30 posted. Can't complain at that. Just need to figure out a heath-robinson-tastic combination of bolts, cable ties and strapping to hold them on securely.

Cheers gents, did wonder if a battery job would be up to the task. Doesn't sound like it. Found this: 52cc Petrol Garden Grass / Brush Cutter Strimmer Looks to be similar to the Florabest option (and a similar price), but available all the time rather than twice a year. Seems to get good reviews too.

Hi all As mentioned on another thread, I'm not having much luck with my old Stihl 2-stroke strimmer - can't get the bugger to run right. And it's too old to be worth spending more money and time on it. I was thinking of getting a Florabest 2 stroke strimmer when they come into Lidl next (decent budget machines according to the word on here), but was also toying with the idea of getting a battery strimmer. I quite like the idea of not having another noisy, fumey 2 stroke machine needing fuel, servicing, draining etc. Strimmer would be for home use only, but I do have a couple of acres, at least the edges of which will need strimming. This includes brambles, bracken, scrub, not just nice grass. (I'd guess 5 - 10 hours use a year perhaps?) So, would a battery strimmer be up to the job? (Could probably manage with thick strimmer line, but the option of a brush cutter blade would be nice). Will the battery last a reasonable amount of time? If battery strimmers are worth considering, what's a good one to go for? Budget fairly limited - given the florabest 2 stroke strimmer is £80 odd I think, I wouldn't want to spend too much more on a battery alternative. In fact, I see that Florabest do a battery strimmer too. Has anyone tried one, are they any good? Thanks.

Cheers all. Concrete could work, not bothered what they look like and ive got some cement somewhere... Will try the spwcilaists mentioned too, I'm already looking on eBay. Thanks paper rustler, where are you? I don't mind if they don't fit my tractor (yanmar ym1600) exactly, happy to fix them.on with cable ties, wire, baler twine etc!

Hi all Anyone know where I can get small tractor weights for a compact tractor, ideally cheap?! I need maybe 50 -75kg, and I can only find expensive big weight blocks (500kg ish) meant for much larger tractors. My front tyres are too small to be worth filling with water, and gym type.weights tend to be too.small! Milk bottles full of water wouldn't do it either! Any thoughts or suppliers I could try? Cheers.

Link won't work for me without a FB login...

Had a jackdaw trapped in our fireplace a few months ago. Big up close! Managed to catch it and encourage it outside wearing welding gauntlets. (I was wearing the gauntlets, not the jackdaw...)

Saw this on the internet (comments on a news site), not sure if all true: 1 - the block of flats was run not by any council but by KCTMO. This body is made up of 8 TENANTS, 4 councilors and 3 independent members. 2 - Labour hold the seat that the block is situated in. 3 - Labour run the London Council who manage the under funded London Fire Service 4 - incidentally Emma Coad the sitting Labour MP for that ward also sat on the KCTMO. 5 - the advise to stay put which Sadiq Khan has been so vocal about was given by the London Fire Service. 6 - the decision to change contractors during the refurb was made by KCTMO. 7 - the decision not to spend a paltry £138k on fitting sprinklers again KCTMO. 8 - the decision to create ALMO organisation such as the KCTMO was made under the Right To Manage legislation passed in 2002 as part of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act. 9 - this was put in place to give leasehold tenants a greater say and the ability to self manage, which has clearly proven to be a disaster. 10 - and which Govt was in a charge when this law was passed? Yup you guessed it Labour. 11 - Sadiq Khan as mayor of London Produced a report to say that the fire service did not need further funding. 12 -Emma Coad elected Labour MP was on the board of the Tenant Management group who are being accused of not listening to tenants. Further, a friend who inspects properties in the area for gas safety compliance, confirms that so-called 'government cuts' had nothing to do with the decision of the KCTMO to choose sub-standard cladding. I quote her now: ''cladding wasn't the only work done on the block ...New kitchens new heating systems ..New flats created in the void space at the bottom of the block plus complete refurbishment of the amazing boxing gym / club within the block .....hardly slum housing eh ?''

Nice to see over time, and appreciate how slowly trees do grow. Thanks.

I quite like the looks of that! And for only £2.90 postage too... Then I read the description and changed my mind!

Thanks. I assume that's normally everything right up to the house...? (Asking as a customer, not as a tree surgeon!)

Does this apply to small power lines feeding individual houses, or just the big high voltage pylon type power lines? Thanks.

I'd leave them personally, nice to see.

No, just dismantled it and lots of carb cleaner. However, it did run for a bit after cleaning, to the extent I could do a bit of strimming with it.

Sorry guys, I still can't get the bugger working! Any.more suggestions please? I reset the carb to default settings (that may have been a mistake!), but after some tweaking I can only get it to run very briefly (a second or two) on WOT. Same whether choke is on or off. Spark plug is new, air filter is clean, fuel lines are solid, carb is rebuilt and cleaned. Fuel appears in the primer bulb, and stays there. A little.bubble.of air at the top of the bulb. If I push the bulb again it may run for another stroke.or two.but not much difference. Fuel is fresh. Any more thoughts before I chuck it and buy a florabest?! I can't remember exactly where the carb screws are in the end, but it doesn't seem to make much difference anyway. I tried a couple of local service places, and the only.one to get back to.me.is a six week wait and 35 quid.minimum.just to look at it!

Hi all As above. I'm looking for a good local place to do the bits to chainsaws, strimmers, mowers etc. that I can't or won't do! Google isn't very helpful, and I'd rather have recommendations. Cheers.

Black / false locust is Robinia pseudoacacia. I've got a load in pots at the moment, which will be going out in to my paddock soon for eventual firewood coppice. Certainly seems to be fast growing, and is an attractive tree. Should also be reasonably OK if temperatures increase in future. But it is non native and spikey, and apparently suckers quite vigorously.

Makes sense, thanks OSM. Will try a few different approaches...

Might give it a try and see how it goes.