Paul in the woods

They look like very old puffballs or eathballs, possibly stump puffball Lycoperdon pyriforme.

Do you know the thread size? When I needed a nipple for my smoothbore .58 I ended up ordering a few from an Aus bookshop via ebay, these bods: https://viceroybooks.com.au/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=Nipple

The cocoon looks like Vapourer moth, but the caterpillars are not a plain green, they do have yellow/green hairs. https://www.rhs.org.uk/biodiversity/vapourer-moth The control method might he the same, pick off cocoons and caterpillars when seen (and move to another plant).

It looks like a Pholiota, possibly Pholiota squarrosa the Shaggy Scalycap

I'm not sure what the latest proposals are or if they will make much difference but... We heat our house with a woodburner and it is loaded up and burnt hot. Glass hardly has no soot on it after weeks of use and having burnt 50% leylandii that only had a year seasoning last winter the chimney had hardly any soot in it. I know a few people with woodburners that are only used to add ambiance and lit for a few hours of an evening and they soot up and smoke continuously regardless of what's used as the owners don't want heat but 'a look'. I'm not sure if new laws would help much but look forward to the papers moaning about police raids on people who've posted a photo of their fires on social media. I hope they also go after the farmers who still burn their silage plastic or all the bonfires that people leave smoulder for hours on end.

We're talking about a small piece of amenity woodland, not a prison camp or large block of commercial timber. Rather than adding razer wire, trip wires etc I'd take a good look around a prospective plot as problems are best avoided to start with. So, in no particular order: Check for foot paths or public access nearby Check for any public access on the land, even permissive footpaths. Check the state of boundaries, damage etc. Check for properties nearby, try and talk to people to see if they know of any problems. Look around the woodland, check for signs of dog mess, litter etc. Check for signs of fly tipping, rubbish invasive plants etc. Check for signs of livestock, sheep especially leave fleece on brambles etc. Try to speak to neighbours When speaking to people try and work out if they might cause problems - for example one woodland I looked at someone felt it was his right to shoot foxes in the woodland but there was nothing written down. Check for sporting rights etc. I found visiting several woodlands for sale gave me a good idea of what to worry about, one didn't have any problems but access was terrible which is why noone went near it.

Having spent the last couple of days clearing blackthorn and bramble I'd recommend thinking twice before planting anywhere where you need access, such as along fencing if you need access to maintain it. But if you want impenetrable, without wire, the humble honeysuckle growing through blackthorn took some hacking back. With the added bonus it's good for dormice. Anyway, does anyone think the OP is coming back?

There should be a consultation, which will take several months, and if enough people reply the results will take longer to produce. (If it's like the other resent ones they'll ignore most of the replies). So it shouldn't affect renewals for a year or two. The negative news around it will affect the 2nd hand market on shotguns though as even more people give up. I've already got a cheap spare safe for cartridges so ready for the changes.

I'm not a fan on unnecessary barbed wire, I've found a dead roe buck that probably died from an infected stomach gash that I think was probably due to barbed wire. In the two pieces of woodland I own I've not had problems with the public. The land around our house does suffer a bit from stray livestock as many farmers down here don't seem to believe in fencing. Personally I find it amusing to have a small heard of horned cattle including a bull, cows and calves in our woodland but not everyone does. It will depend greatly on where the woodland is and what you want to do with it. I tend to like a more natural feel, so blackthorn, hawthorne or gorse along with a mix of bramble would be my choice to keep people out. If you want the woodland to look like a carpark or suburbia go with pyracantha etc.

To be honest, your post sounds like an ideal customer of the woodlotting companies. 3 acres isn't a big patch and I would guess the prices will be similar to woodlands. It is worth looking around their web site as they provide some useful info. I bought a piece of woodland well over 10 years ago now and looked at some of the woodlotted plots and spoke to some of the woodlotting people. They offer a service and price accordingly. You could always buy a much larger area than 3 acres and sell off what you don't need. I ended up looking at much larger areas, I even viewed some large woodlands that were subsequently woodlotted so I got a good idea of prices. If you have an area in mind then trawl through all the estate agents of that area and track down the ones that deal with agricultural land, fields, bits of woodland etc. The piece I ended up buying was almost an afterthought on some paddocks for sale for horses. Sometimes farms are broken up and a suitable bit of woodland can be found. I think for such a small piece the price will be be dependant on the area and it's hard to give even a vague idea of price, it's likely to be far more than a commercial forestry price. I'd look at smallwoods magazine for ideas on insurers, I could dig up the details if you need them. I ended up extending our house insurance to cover our woodland.

That may invalidate your insurance, I know of someone who has been told by their insurance company not to turn 'safety' systems off such as lane assist. I gather some manufacturers systems are better than others and I hope they improve. Personally I found lane assist unsuitable for the roads around here as you tend to frequently drive over one side of your lane to avoid potholes, debris and emerging cars etc. The car I drove had a tendency to violently steer you into something it couldn't see. I know of a couple of people where the emergency braking has been applied for no reason.

What pines do you currently have? I like Scots Pine and have quite a few in my woodland but they are a squirrel magnet. Some of mine have grown very tall and the squirrels nest in the upper reaches making them hard to control, they also provide ample food for them so support a large population of them.

I like the fact you're using AI to moan about AI! Did you see the story of a student who had her work thrown out by a university as they claimed it was produced by AI. She won her case as she didn't use AI but the uni used an AI tool to check for AI and that tool was flawed.

I'm grateful the rats round here don't carry crowbars. I've managed to get the rats around our house by baiting up an area for several days then shooting them with a normal scope at dusk as they nip out to feed. That has the bonus that I can guarantee a safe backstop. I'll get a night vision setup at some point.

Looks more like an Albert to me, or Bertie to its mates. (A good clear photo of the bark, leaves and buds would help you getting an ID; also a backstory can be of interest - it's causing subsidence, it's in the way of an extension, it's run off with your wife etc)