Jackalope

The OP probably wishes we'd all take a Pike.

Damnit Spud, now I'm invested in the latest mysterious saw saga. I'd be interested to know if "a couple of months" was actually more like eighteen?

Recently I heard about a lad with a big sycamore blocking a lovely view through a wee valley. He waited until a stormy night, nipped out with the saw and bowled it over whole tree. It did a wee bit of damage to an old wall but he got away scot free! Might be worth a try. If you used an electric saw and tidy it up quick I doubt anyone would even notice in the morning.

Tbh I'd have thought that would come down itself if you off root it. Always difficult to do anything with something that rotten but personally I'd take that rope off it, put a token gob in* and then back cut it from the right to left or just standing on the left of you've a big enough bar to reach. There's a fair bit of weight in that stem, I'd expect it to pull itself down once loose at the butt. * not too much in case it pinches your saw.

A lot of the rewilding is no good because the only thing so called conservationists will kill are deer. They won't touch the corvids or ground predators like foxes or stoats so the breeding success of ground nesting birds is appallingly low.

It's Scotland on Bonfire night, we don't need any more reason to have a good ol' tear up.

I do the vast majority of my cutting work as a self-employed/freelance cutter. Tend to avoid working for the likes of FLS/Tillhill/Euroclowns and go direct to the smaller (but still not insignificant) semi local contractors. Generally less faffage and paperwork with those lads than the big boys. Not a notable difference in the day rates. Aside from that I'll work directly for local estates, usually with their in-house forestry/farm/digger driver and that can be great. There's loads of cutting work out there, you just need to tap into it. Word of mouth/an email to likely estates & contractors/ adverts on FMOJ have all worked well for me.

Then you're not doing it right. 🙃

I think Ash. The cambian layer looks too thick for Sycamore imo. Doesn't have the heart wood you'd expect in Oak

Well catching up on that thread was 10 minutes of my life I'll never get back. Anyone know why the saw was stripped in the first place?

Stump that high points to a culprit with a sore back. Still can't fathom why anyone would want to fell that tree though.

The height of those felling cuts is criminal if nothing else.

Personally I think Airbnb is a blight on small rural communities. Last time I visited Skye there were lots of happy tourists walking down from their self-catering accommodation into Portree looking for supper. They were to be disappointed when many of the restaurants were empty, closed, and locked by 8pm. The reason? A lack of staff to work in them.... because no one can afford to live on Skye due to the shortage of accommodation following the rise of.... You guessed it; Airbnb. Fair enough if you don't live in your house but personally I think renting to someone who'll live there is the socially responsible thing to do.

Can someone change the record please? I think this one is stuck on loop.

Let us know what the eventual outcome is please.