Paul in the woods

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)

What you are allowed can vary greatly on your county, some forces seem to be more understanding than others. Licencing is also being tightened up since Plymouth with the latest regs coming in last month, so forces may be more strict. It will help if you have evidence of experience, land access etc and can show a general understanding of what you intend to do. The current guidance (Chapter 12) is very helpful when sorting out your good reason, so vermin and AOLQ for a .22RF. If you're after a deer rifle I'd be mindful of the lead ban so wouldn't necessarily go for a .243. The easiest route, which isn't everyones interest I know, is to join a club and if all is well after a probationary period you can get a FAC. That's what I did and I then passed my DSC1 and got an open ticket after that.

I've had to deal with a few problems over the years and know of a few dodgy people in the area. I've found a suspicious dead own on my woodland about this time of year but when I looked into it it is not uncommon. Young owl fledglings can struggle to feed themselves and with the recent poor, wet, weather may starve to death. I'd look closely at the remains and see if there was anything in them. If someone has shot it I would guess unlicensed air rifle or catapult as I don't think owls tend to be persecuted. You could raise it with your local police wildlife crime officer, one I've met was very knowledgeable, but I've also dealt with other police (as a witness) who left a lot to he desired. Or a local owl charity. It would be worth getting to know your neighbours as they may well know what goes on in the area, legal or otherwise.

It does self seed all over the place so I would have thought it would be hard to tell if it was planted deliberately. At least it's not a bamboo.

I'm surprised by some of the comments as I didn't think it was that unusual for some neighbours to just be complete irrational g*ts, surely an experienced arboriculturist comes across this from time to time? I once had a neighbour wait until I went out one day can climb over the fence and fell several small trees in our garden. Thankfully I was renting and quickly moved on. So, my sympathies are with Lily. It does sound mostly a boundary dispute, which AAHP seems to have answered well. However, I can see the dodgy neighbour trying to use the TPO app as an excuse to cut the tree and claim the council has given him permission. I know the planning process allows someone to put in planning for property the don't own but would any permission make it abundantly clear that you must own the land before progressing?

The .GOV guidance seems clear. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/tree-felling-licence-when-you-need-to-apply#selling-land-with-a-felling-licence Selling land with a felling licence When you sell land covered by a live felling licence, any remaining felling permissions automatically transfer to the new owner (or other person with sufficient legal interest in the land). The same is true of any restocking conditions attached to the felling licence. Any conditions that have been engaged by previous felling will become the new owner’s obligation to comply with. Equally, if the new owner undertakes further felling under the licence, they will be bound by any further restocking conditions that are engaged. Enforcement proceedings for non-compliance with felling licence conditions can be taken against whoever is the owner of the land at the time that the conditions must be complied with. This may be the original licence holder or any subsequent owner of the land. Whoever is the owner of the land at the time of non-compliance with the licence conditions may be served with an enforcement notice under section 24 of the Forestry Act 1967. An enforcement notice places a duty on the owner to comply with the conditions of the felling licence. Non-compliance with such a notice is a criminal offence, for which you can be prosecuted. An individual may be served with an enforcement notice, even where the previous owner undertook the felling, and neither the previous nor current owner have ensured compliance with the engaged conditions. Further enforcement notices may be served on any subsequent landowners.

With my 352, so a similar saw, it doesn't have anything between the bar and plastic case. The gap between the oil hole and the chain channel can block so I give it a good clean and blow out. It's only a small saw so you don't get a great oil flow but it'll splatter a bit of oil from the top of the bar if tested.

It's a bit of a guess, so don't rely on it, but I still think it might be a slime mould. They can start off spongy and get firmer as they age. Something like Lycogala flavofuscum might be worth looking at but I'm guessing. Photos of Lycogala flavofuscum · iNaturalist United Kingdom UK.INATURALIST.ORG

Did you press them at all? A guess would be a slime mould and they would be squidgy/spongy.

You can twist in either direction. I'm surprised people still use heat or other substances on ticks these days as that goes against all advice which is easy to find. From the site linked in the original post: Lyme Disease UK Online Support - How to Correctly Remove a Tick LYMEDISEASEUK.COM If you find an embedded tick in your skin it's important to remove it as soon as possible, but just as important to remove it correctly.

Down here in Devon we get ticks all year round, you just get more in the Summer. I've had a couple this year and they've all been the tiny nymphs, one in my belly button and one somewhere where it is hard to see... They can scuttle off of me onto my OH who hasn't been outside - so worth checking everyone. I gather if you get them off quickly (24hrs?) then you're far less likely to get Lymes. I have found those tick twisters quite good at getting the tiny ones off, I don't pull but just twist. Worth mentioning again don't burn, freeze, squeeze, smother, show them the Mail; but pull/twist them out by the head to stop them regurgitating into you. I find special tick remover ideal.

Not me, I don't like using tree guards. I can't remember if you're posted up other squirrel damage before though, worth getting their numbers down if you have time.

Of all the trees on my woodland hornbeam is the one most likely to be attacked by squirrels. I only had a few trees and they have been the first ones each year to be stripped and most have been killed. I'd guess once the bark has gone the wood has split in the dry weather we've had in the last month or two.

Let us know how you get on with withholding council tax, I thought it's basically a wealth tax and has no link to the services you may or may not get. I don't think legally you can withhold it but I'd love to be proved wrong. If the missed collections are down to illness or breakdown I wouldn't mind. We got to the stage where we had half a bag of refuse a month, the rest was recycled. Then the council stopped our recycling because it was too difficult for them (they bought bigger lorries that don't fit down narrow country roads). Everything now goes to landfill but they also made the refuse collection very difficult for us and often don't collect it for over a month. They do seem to have an endless number of staff and middle managers who can come up with poor excuses though. At least our money goes somewhere.

Sounds like ask bark beetle, if you peel off some bark you may see galleries but no damage to the wood. They are very, very common and will not harm anything else.