Paul in the woods

A google image search comes up with several direct from China links and a few places selling something similar. Such as these people: https://www.stovemaestro.co.uk/anglesey.html

The Forestry Commission list green ash as 32% moisture wet basis, the stuff I've cut comes up around 35%. https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/fr_bec_wood_as_fuel_technical_supplement_2010/

Have you tried a fresh battery and trying a fresh cut log? I expect there's always going to be a duff one from time to time. My cheapie seems surprisingly good, I use it to test the moisture of fresh cut and split logs and then again when seasoned so I'm comparing it to itself.

Did you push the pins in as deep as you could? They could both be wrong of course... Edit to add, the 32 reading sounds most likely as that is around 25% wet basis, so part seasoned.

I'd trust my own instincts. Firstly you're not using it correctly, you need to split the log and read across the grain. My cheap meter needs to be pushed firmly into the log as well. As for the reading, if the logs are fresh then 32% looks likely, if seasoned for a while then I'd expect something a bit lower.

And don't forget if you're selling in less than 2 cube amounts you need to be registered with Woodsure which is likely to wipe out most of your profit. I'm not saying you can't sell without it, like many small producers do, but if someone grasses you up you may get fined or forced to pay up. (On that note, does anyone know of any woodsure fines yet?)

Round here agricultural land can be much more expensive than woodland. I don't know about the current grants but the older ones had fairly strict obligations for looking after the trees, replanting failures etc and I think public access? Worth checking any future woodland purchase to see if any grants are running as you may have obligations passed on to you.

I went through this a few times over 10 years ago and know other woodland owners. I don't think anyone does it for an investment, they own them because they like being in their woodland - camping, cutting their own firewood, conservation, a bit of shooting etc, etc. As you've mentioned you quickly realise that woodlotted woodlands can be an expensive and restrictive option (with good reason). I looked at large woodlands that were sold and then woodlotted so I got to know the prices. I looked at woodland / land agents such as John Clegg and also looked at many of the agricultural estate agents / auctioneers in areas we were interested in. Sometimes farms and estates are sold in lots and sometimes the lots can be woodland. In the end we found 10 acres via the normal property sites but that was very lucky and cheap! I think some people can make a living from a decent bit of woodland but not by selling logs or timber but by adding value (apologies for that phrase) to the products and other activities such as keeping bees on the wood. Not easy and something you must really want to do. It might be getting slightly easier to live on the wood if you can make a living, or just do what many people do and live on it regardless of the laws and hope for the best. Don't forget all the other costs and downsides, purchasing costs obviously, insurance, other obligations such as track maintenance, fencing, replanting, pest control and dealing with stuff you can't do yourself. For help with management and getting some numbers on the volume of wood something like the myforest site should help you https://myforest.sylva.org.uk/ it could help with many of your other questions once you find somewhere.I If you just want a woodland as a pure investment then I can't be much help. The main thing would be to hope the prices keep on rising but when you sell it you may be in for a hefty tax bill, CGTax allowances are being reduced and I expect more taxes on land owners.

I'm not defending the trespasser just suggesting who it might be and offering a solution. Working with your neighbours is often best. Do you have a rural police contact? I went to a presentation given by our one and he openly admitted poaching is often not taken seriously. You may get some advice from yours and they may tell you how serious they will take it. But it is worth remembering many crimes don't get much of a response. There's plenty of people who have equipment needed for work stolen who dont get much help so you may not get much sympathy here. On the other hand, perhaps your poacher will shoot your fly tipper.

A bit harsh although I agree, what @Johnboysevern is doing on their land is irrelevant. If someone is using a shotgun on their property without permission then thats illegal (and a police matter) regardless of the land use. I am curious about the sporting rights, when I bought my property it wasn't straight forward to know if sporting rights were held as it isn't common to have any mention in the deeds. I have also come across people who claim to have been given permission by someone many years ago etc which is why I suggest asking locally. You mention your neighbours are sheep farmers, do you know if they want foxes controlled? It could be someone has controlled them for years and assumes they can still access your wood.

How do you know there's poaching going on and what are they poaching? If it's a woodlotted wood is it likely to be your neighbours and have you spoken to the company that sold it to you? (I know some have restrictions on what can be done). Sadly unless you get something like good CCTV or catch people in the act there's not much that can be done. Your signs might also encourage people. In my case I've escorted a couple of well to do game shooters off my land, politely obtained the details of the shoot and reminded them of their boundaries. The local fox hunt was more of a challenge but once I got hold of the main person running it I've not had any trespassers with shotguns about. Basically getting to know the locals.

Not sure there are enough woodland owners here to have a whole section. A thread in the woodland management section might be useful. I'll add illegal fox hunting, trespassing game shooters to the list and the worst of all the local council damaging trees whilst fly tipping on private land.

I agree they look like two different species of tree. The pale one on the right looks like my mature strawberry tree and the bark doesn't look too bad to me. With mine I removed a thicket of brambles and roses from the base and the bark looked quite pale. The tree has survived and sent up shoots from the base and along the stems, it seems quite hardy. I would also remove the lights if you wish to keep the trees.

That's a shitake joke... As for the question, I've only grown shiitake on fresh oak, the dowels should keep for a few weeks a fridge if you're likely to get some oak in a few weeks. Out of curiosity, I had a bit of a search and found a US paper that says sycamore and sugar maple can be successful. So might be worth a go on field maple. Birch and beech also seem worth a go.

It's self identified as a cotoneaster? Is it multi-stemmed as it could be more than one plant. I also gather holly can be hermaphrodite.

If it was willow I'd have thought it would have a higher moisture content and the hawthorn I've cut turned orange on cutting. Pics of leaves would certainly help, or a description if there tree was growing outside your house. Sweet chestnut leaves are very different to locust!

Hornet?

I think they are in Maryland, US. The marks don't look like deer or squirrel damage I've seen in the UK but I've no idea what damage they do over in the US, or things like bears or porcupines etc. So it might be worth asking on a more local group. A bit of a google suggests it could be a bird, a yellow bellied sap sucker or similar?

Google images suggests "Ficus racemosa, the cluster fig, red river fig or gular". Your fruits don't quite match but it's a start. Worth trying google images.

What's the question again? Firstly I'm not convinced the wood sample has lost all it's water as I would expect willow to be greater than 40% water when felled. Perhaps it had started to season before your experiments. Assuming it has lost all it's water then the log was 61.8% dry matter and 38.2% water. 468g of dry matter and 289g of water so a 780g wet log. To get down to 20% moisture you would need 468g dry matter and 117g of water so a 585g log. (To check your numbers just feed them back into your calculation). I think that's right. Cheap moisture meters will only give you an approximate idea as well. They will be dry basis and you'll get different readings depending on where you push the pins in and how far. Just cut, split, stack and leave the logs to get the sun and wind during the spring and summer and they should be under 20% by next winter. (And back up to 30% if we get another autumn like this one with endless rain, mutter, grumble...)

If you look carefully at the roots you may see balls of orange nodules which is how the alder fixes nitrogen (along with a bacterium).

I would have said alder, did it go orange once cut as alder does this. Burns well once dry, quicker than many hardwoods but haves a nice scent if used on an open fire.

I also thought a Viburnum, possibly tinus although it doesn't look quite right for that to me. Anyway, have you looked at the brown specs using a good magnifying glass and good light? A bit of as search suggests thrips as a possibility. https://www.rhs.org.uk/biodiversity/glasshouse-thrips

Well, as someone with a few acres of woodland that has plenty of deer, grey squirrels and dormice about the place it's something I think I'm qualified to talk about. One the biggest problems I think we have is the average person doesn't understand woodland or woodland management. I note the Guardian story about dormice refers to felling large trees, but your average Guardian reader would object. Same for squirrel management, not many people seem to like the idea of their cute bird table tree rodents being greeted by gun. (On a serious note about shooting, with the banning of lead shot I can see less people controlling squirrels and more steel shot in timber). The matter becomes worse when I have to deal with officials who don't seem to know anything about the country side other than it's somewhere to dump stuff or play in. By the way, I'm not keen on pine martins as they will take rare birds and mammals and won't limit themselves to greys. (Anyone know if the eat dormice?). And whilst brambles can overwhelm a woodland they do provide food for dormice and seem to be controlled by deer, you just don't want too many deer.

Thank you for all the replies. I probably used the wrong word in pollard as the trees would basically be topped. I hadn't realised the FC guidance allowed 'topping' although I would need to check their exact definitions. In an ideal world I would simply ask my local FC officer but I expect I would be told to put in an application and then have to chase it endlessly. I'm also not keen on completing a management plan for various reasons. Past experience has also taught me to keep quiet. The reason for topping is to get them under the power cables in one go as the power will need to be turned off. I would then fell the rest over a course of a year or two so I'd be well within my exemption. I'm not worried about the trees dying as they've been cut back a few times on one side by the power company for line clearance. There's already rot pockets and fungal activity in the trunks so the trees are not in the best condition, but I couldn't claim they are dying or dangerous. As for replanting, I'll be doing that anyway, but they will be kept as a hedge.