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Paul in the woods

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Everything posted by Paul in the woods

  1. Paul in the woods
    I have a sort of love/hate relationship with these phrases. Basically it's just a plant that flowers for a month or so when we are likely to have a frost. You don't hear the phrase "goat willow winter" or "celandine winter" etc? Anyway, I note the ash is out before the oak, so we're in for a soak. Good job as it's been dry for a month or so.
  2. Paul in the woods
    I don't think that's a tick and see them about meself without knowing what they are. A quick search suggests Trombicula autumnalis / Harvest Mite / Chigger? As for ticks, even here in the UK they seem to be about all year. Took one of our Lab in January.
  3. Paul in the woods
    Being a rare beast that reads my insurance documents and queries details with my insurance company it seems normal practice for most of the insurance companies staff to not have much of an idea of what they insure. Normally you have to know more than them and ask a specific question, then point out the answer they give is rubbish before it's past onto a dark room where the underwriters live. You may, but only may, then get a decent answer. Looking at the insurance document all I can see is "Keep any trees and shrubs near your home well - trimmed" which would prove my point. What does near mean, what does well trimmed mean?
  4. Paul in the woods
    Is Aspen 4 and Stihl HP Ultra cheaper than ready mixed Motomix? I thought they are about the same. I've gone over to Motomix now as it's easier to get hold of round here (Mole Valley sell it).
  5. Paul in the woods
    Yep, ash flowers.
  6. Paul in the woods
    First of all ensure you have a working CO monitor. Try plain logs. Do you know where the smell is coming from, the back wall next to my burner can smell a bit if the fire's not been lit for ages. By the sounds of it you suspect the paint of the fire is giving off the smell. Sounds like you need to get a good stove person in to see what they say. Perhaps someone has used an unsuitable paint? If the paint is ok I thought they needed to get suitable hot to cure but your stove person should be able to advise.
  7. Paul in the woods
    Willow, Syc, Ash I think are all reasonable suggestions. I would have expected the buds to be out if goat willow by now, especially as the prunus is flowing in the picture. Even Sycamore buds are opening up now.
  8. Paul in the woods
    I've no idea to be honest. They've come through the winter ok and surely must be able to deal with this sort of weather?
  9. Paul in the woods
    I bit of a guess as I've not seen them but Glanville fritillary? We just get the silver washed around here.
  10. Paul in the woods
    They look like rare plantain munching overwintered caterpillars. Are you on the south coast?
  11. Paul in the woods
    Yep, that's an older version of the slime mould posted up a few days ago by @Paul Cleaver . So, Reticularia lycoperdon or false puffball.
  12. Paul in the woods
    Holm oak is an evergreen and the leaves are smoother around the edge. Does the leaf have a stalk? If it doesn't it could be English oak, aka pedunculate oak ( Quercus robur ). It they have a stalk it could be a sessile oak ( Quercus petraea ). If it produced acorns and they have a hairy base then it could be Turkey Oak (I think the leaves would be longer as well). If it goes bright red in the Autumn then it could be a Red Oak.
  13. Paul in the woods
    Serious question, how do you know? For example, bats can roost in ivy but I doubt anyone would thoroughly check?
  14. Paul in the woods
    Will the price change at midday?
  15. Paul in the woods
    I know if you have clubroot infecting your soil and brassicas then it is suggested you keep it alkaline (pH 7.5). I also thought adding lime helps reduce fungal canker in apples and pears.
  16. Paul in the woods
    Time for a thread resurrection with some beetle porn. (Oil beetles to be exact)
  17. Paul in the woods
    Yep, looks like Reticularia lycoperdon. Common and it'll gradually go grey/brown.
  18. Paul in the woods
    Thanks for the bump on this Beau. I'll watch the videos tonight as I keep mulling the idea of making charcoal. No it's hard to sell small batches of logs making small batches of charcoal might be more suitable.
  19. Paul in the woods
    Links work fine, someone's got too much time on their hands and facebook makes my eyes bleed. You standing in the new elections?
  20. Paul in the woods
    I wouldn't mind if the excuse was real but even some of the worst scare stories doesn't show C19 damaging trees.... Anyway, between chopping some fresh beech logs and sharpening me saw I looked at our parish council minutes and they're have loads of problems with the county highways dept. It's even got to the stage where they're going to write to our MP and complain that highways are wasting so much money, not doing work they've claimed they have etc. I'll not hold my breath. Speaking of parish councils, did you find out why yours raised its precept? Mine did the same thing, voted on a 0 rise but there's 1.3% in the new bill. I assume they regard something like an inflationary rise as zero?
  21. Paul in the woods
    I have gone to the top of the highways dept, and the lady in question reports directly to the CEO. She did half sort out a previous problem but this time is much less helpful. Partly I expect down to the fact the councils have been allowed to blame COVID for problems they've always had.
  22. Paul in the woods
    Probably not, but it's the forth time in four years they've done something. I now need to fell the remaining trees and fence of the area but I expect they'll damage the fencing in a couple of years time.
  23. Paul in the woods
    I was expecting someone to suggest contacting a suitable councillor as well but in both cases not worth it. The MP doesn't seem to reply to letters and when I last spoke to a councillor they seemed more interested in what I could do for them than helping.
  24. Paul in the woods
    Going back to the original post. As someone who's recently tried to get someone in for a job I'm surprised how hard it's been. There's not a local tree business I'm aware of and those that are a bit further out don't seem to have a web site and just rely of facebook/mobile. I've spoken to a couple of neighbours and they ended up getting people in from 30 miles away which seems daft for small jobs. It's not a wealthy area but there's lots of second homes and a good number of large roadside ash showing signs for dieback. Plenty of work for someone with a MEWP I'd have thought.
  25. Paul in the woods
    Does it though? I've been a net saver since the financial crisis and I don't think anyone at the time would have thought interest rates would have stay so low for so long. You would tend to think the the current government borrowing can't last for ever but many seem to think it can. Perhaps a big fall out with China is more likely but who knows.

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