Paul in the woods

Just mix it with tonic and, if you're feeling posh, a dash of Angostura bitters.

Thanks for that. Good to see the screens as I hope to do something similar. As you say, the crates do look interesting, I wonder how long they would last with firewood in them?

That's rather harsh. I've lived in the country most of my life but that doesn't stop me from having an allergy to silver birch (discovered when living in a town with a silver birch planted stupidly close to the house!). Hasn't stopped me buying a packet of birch seeds though. Anyway, to the OP, this may have been covered in your other thread but I thought tulip trees are low allegen? Does you son only have symptoms when it's in flower or all year round? Have you tried air filters in the room at all? Tried asking on a US forum where the trees originate? Before I splashed out on tree reports and cost of felling I would try and discount other possibilities. Are there more cats in that area for example, is the house more dusty etc, etc.

@tcfengineering were posting here late last year, hopefully they'll see you post.

Anyone for a bit of KLF? https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbsEHtpoQxyWVibIPerXhug/videos

Yew got me. (Actually I know dogwood very well, I was humorously referring to what you may call dog rose when you catch the thorns.)

I think you're confusing dogwood with dog rose. Anyway, I hope they catch the thieves and give them a good birching. I know some will say that's harsh as they probably didn't have any Elders to look up to when growing up.

I own a few acres acres around our house which are on a fairly steep south slope and a few acres a couple of miles away that is fairly flat. Both to the NW of Holsworthy. Both quite different although both are likely to need restocking with something after a fair bit of ash is removed. Something I can get a harvest from within a decade is certainly appealing.

Thanks for the offer and I would love to see some one day. I have intended to plant some Eucs before you mentioned Nitens so don't need convincing. The site might be less than ideal so if I do plant it up it may be of interest to you and the nursery to see how it does. Have you posted up their details at all or can you PM me them please? And AHPP, this would all be done with my own money purely for their practical use. I could see similar people to me (smallholders) being interested in them as well. On that note, does Nitens have any other uses? Is the wood rot resistant at all for example?

It's just a few acres of amenity woodland, not a plantation. But it does highlight many problems. I'm not convinced pine martins are the answer to grey squirrels everywhere, they may well eat them but they also eat a lot of other mammals, birds, eggs etc. Also not sure how many decades it'll take to eradicate greys from places like Devon. With regard to fire, even it wet Devon you do get extended dry periods where fire does become a worry when you're living on the edge of woodland. Not sure if Euc is any worse than gorse and pine though. I'm seriously thinking of putting in a acre or so of Euc, just for our own firewood. Something to diversify away from the ash that's coming out elsewhere.

As someone with a few acres of young oaks and a few beech I can second this. Before the canopy closed I selected a few dozen good looking oaks to try and prune the stems up a bit. Sadly most have now been badly damaged by grey squirrels so it will be lucky if much firewood is produced let alone anything more useful. I do control them, more out of principle than any thing more constructive as there's hoards of the critters on neighbouring property waiting to move in. It's a puzzle why they aren't regarded more like rabbits or rats and legislation put in place to force people to control them. Sadly the opposite seems to be true and most people regard them as cute wildlife that shouldn't be touched. If we are going down the rewilding route, then doesn't that mean leaving mature trees to age, fall naturally and decompose rather than harvest them? And surely for areas to be wild that would mean reduced public access? Most people round here for example seem to regard woodlands as dog toilets and areas to let their hounds chase anything that moves.

Did anyone cedar the thieves in action? I expect they are leylandiing down for a while.

That's Sods Law.

On a serious note, this is why it's so important to plant mixed fruit hedges. ... the police are guaranteed to come out if they hear a Damson in distress.

I expect a laurel effort went into planting the hedge so I hope someone called the copse.

I was also going to say Oysters, but then I clammed up. Actually looks like it would provide many years good pickings if the thing doesn't come out.

I find it useful to give the cutters a quick sharpen every now and again whilst working. I find it's quicker than changing a chain and speeds up cutting. I also don't have a bench of blunt chains to deal with...

The Aspen site summarises the reasons here: https://aspenfuel.co.uk/products/aspen-fuel/ I use it or Motomix as I don't use the machinery that often and I've never had a problem starting something after several months. I also don't use a vast amount of fuel so price is less of a concern.

You could ask @shavey @doobop @wicklamulla @Youngstu (I don't know if any of them mill but they might know of someone in that area).

Well, round here our council has declared a 'climate emergency'. However, if you ask them what it means they can't tell you and if you push them they get stroppy and refuse to answer unless you submit a FOI. They have been having climate meetings for about 10 years by the looks of what I can find out, but they've not produced anything other than extra CO2 from all the meetings. With regard to the rubbish. I think theory and practice of what councils do is far removed. Ours insists on some separation but then paper is put in an open plastic sack and has to be put out the night before. So, in a fairly wet part of the country all the nice paper is often soaking wet so I assume is not reused. They have 'invested' a great deal in nice shiny collection vehicles at great cost to the tax payer. However, they are too big for many roads so insist people drive the recycling to collection points and drive there again to pick up the containers. So, that's 100 short journeys they expect people to make which will be great for the environment. 🙄 Interesting to read the comments on the amount left after incinerating. Our council proudly boasts nothing goes to landfill. I assume they simply ignore the ash that's left. I'm not sure our local government will adapt, it'll just find more wool to pull over people's eyes.

Wait until spring and eat it! https://pfaf.org/USER/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Phyllostachys+nigra

It would be interesting to hear an update on your progress. Has the coppiced ash survived rabbit attack and ash dieback? Some areas and possibly even some stock does seem more resistant than others. I also note that down here in Devon the rabbits in many areas have been hit dramatically by yet another disease and in places the numbers wiped out.

Looking at an enlarged version of the first photo of the end grain it looks ring porous.

Doesn't sound normal, mine might take a minute to warm up and get going but by the time I've cleared the ivy of a trunk she's ready to fell. Has it always done it or has it got worse? Mine did suffer from dust getting into the carb until I put some vaseline around the base of the filter. I wonder if the carb needs cleaning?

So not horrible at all but useful. "The hatched larvae live under the bark of both dead and living trees, feeding on smaller larvae until they are ready to pupate." From the first photos they looked more like flesh eaters than vegetarians. WWW.WOODLANDTRUST.ORG.UK