spandit

Good for tool handles, I'm told. Might be a bit small and short for longbows, unfortunately

You've inspired me to get out there and mulch some trees that have been struggling. I have a pear that was growing near a big leylandii hedge and was leaning out to try and get some light. The hedge is gone now and I've had it strapped up to a post to stop it falling over altogether. Hopefully it will stay more or less upright now (not entirely vertical) but I've surrounded it with a sheet of cardboard that is weighed down with logs and then covered in wood chip (goat willow) Did the same to a Chinese dogwood that nearly died during the drought - found a tunnel underneath it (presume vole) so shoved a load of soil around it and then put some weed membrane down, again weighted with logs and wood chip. Third tree is a black mulberry that I thought had died - still hasn't made it out of the top of the tube (after 3 and a half years) but since planting comfrey around it as a chop and drop mulch it looks pretty healthy - nice green leaves just under the top of the tube. Chopped the comfrey down again and added a load of cut dock leaves too - no shortage of them in the field but as dynamic accumulators they do some good where the soil is compacted

It's a domestic residence but an old farm so access is good and space isn't an issue. I'll take any arb waste although if it's large amounts of brash you must be prepared to deliver it directly to a habitat pile. Chip I can spread out and logs I either process for burning or dump somewhere for wildlife. If you don't have my number, please message me on here first as we have electric gates so someone will need to let you in and tell you where to tip.

I’d be impressed if you managed to kill it. The willows I have here (predominantly grey) get savagely hacked back to stumps every couple of years and they come back with a vengeance

The latest one is quite close to a pond so hopefully the newts will find it. It's all willow at the moment but I have a load of conifer I can add (not ideal, I'm told). Not a huge amount of other hardwood yet but it's a start

Get off the fence, Mark Tree surgeon dutifully turned up with the chip and logs so we went to neighbour who then said he couldn't take any of the logs but could take the chip, so we drove back to mine, unloaded the logs (up in the woods) and then he drove back to my neighbour to dump the chip (which was good stuff, no leaves). Not a word of thanks from the neighbour. Maybe there's a reason my woodland has won an award and his hasn't

Another very generous member on here has offered me some logs and as I am quite flush at the moment, I offered them to a neighbour. He says (despite having 8 acres) that he doesn't have the space for many so I said it wasn't a problem and I'd probably just pile the rest up for habitat. He replied: "Environmental equivalent of a paperweight" First I've heard of this - all the advice online (and from the ecologist I had round the other week) is that they are good for invertebrates and small mammals - can't find any evidence to the contrary and my dogs always seem interested in the smells that emanate from them

Tried it with a coppiced willow - stem fell over and now it's a sprawling bush again

Bought another one in Aldi today

We use a stove fan - you can feel the draught when it's running and it definitely pushes the warm air into the room

Assuming the whole of Wales is over 300m with 1.5m of rainfall, I calculate about 90PJ, just under half the energy of the Tsar Bomba.

I stopped watching his videos after he started banging on about Jesus for 10 minutes in each one

Could you not put some goats in there?

Not cheap are they?

My MS181 dies when I press the trigger. Think I'll order a new carb too

Sell it as fire pit fuel. Bang on about how sustainable it is and whack the price up for townies

"Apple wood burns clear and bright, So does every other wood, goodnight"

I agree - the area I was dragging the trunks out of was really boggy before. Ground is pretty loose and I dug a few holes in the dust trying to make progress - wouldn't even attempt it in the winter (it's a friend's property and access isn't great - he was asking to borrow my roller but no way of getting it into his field without towing it down the road - it's a ring roller so that wouldn't make me terribly popular with highways...

Was using my Ford 4000 to drag some large oak trunks out of a woodland yesterday. Carrying an 18 foot length on the loader forks was interesting but it coped better than I'd have thought

Just had to replace c.160m of water pipe after a massive bill for a leak. Turned out we had iron pipes. At least now we know where the water runs and have various shut off valves to isolate bits of the system

To collect an acres worth of clippings is quite an undertaking but I understand your frustration as we have a four acre field that the farmers don't want to bother with. You could rake up cuttings with a spring tine harrow behind a compact tractor. Not going to be beautiful mulch overnight, mind. Sheep wouldnt need to push wheelbarrows as they wouldn't be leaving clippings to carry! Electric fencing isn't too expensive and you might find someone willing to do it just to give their livestock some new pasture.

Best thing I've learnt all week!

I'd be interested to know how old it is if you can get a good section through it. Good for bows if long enough. I'll post this on BCUK to see if you get any more replies

Get some sheep

No further questions, your honour