Paul in the woods

I need to replace a ball joint in my Ford 4x4 and I'm looking to buy one of those press / service tool sets that look like a G-clamp. I'm a bit overwhelmed by the choice, the prices vary from about £20 to well over £100 for something that looks the same. Does anyone have a recommendation for a brand or shop? Most of the names I've never heard of and I'd like something robust considering the forces involved.

I suspect it's a Tabanus sudeticus also known as the dark giant horsefly, if you google it there's plenty of pictures. I've seen a few around this year, often hear them first.

I find my springer air rifle a very tricky gun to shoot accurately, the zero changes a fair bit if it's held or rested for example. Although it's near the legal limit I wouldn't want to shoot a rabbit or squirrel past about 25m. A PCP air rifle is much easier to shoot but then it's more expensive and you need a method of filling it with air. Personally I wouldn't wish to shoot a 22LR out to 150 yards either as the drop is something like 10". Cost wise I think you're more likely to spend £4+ for 50, not expensive but the costs are rising all the time.

If that's a lime in might be Horse Chestnut scale: RHS Advice

I'd like to know if there's any good grippy palm chainsaw gloves as well. I stopped using my leather ones as I felt the slipperiness was more likely to cause and accident that needed the protective pad! I now use some nice and grippy gloves. I must admit as a novice I'm surprised there aren't some better gloves on the market.

Looking at if from a different way, I assume the same applies to a tree that naturally sheds a limb or two? Does it mean that those trees become even more likely to fail?

Looks like a hawk moth caterpillar, possibly a poplar hawk moth?

If used properly - I wonder how many people do use them properly and how many burn wood that's too wet, try and leave a fire in overnight etc. Wood smoke has been killing people ever since we've discovered fires, especially bad in less well off countries where open wood fires are still used for cooking etc. The reason for the latest consultation is the fact they've found harmful particulates in peoples lungs, and they seem to have traced it to wood burners. Perhaps you could find flaw in the research but I bet if you put some clean cloth over a chimney of an 'efficient' wood burner it would show soot. If I was selling firewood I'd be thinking about selling a drier product at a better price and hoping (lobbying for) any law changes stop some of the cheap, wet mush being sold. It's also not just about wood smoke, I gather they're also concerned about the ammonia given off by slurry spreading as it can react with other pollutants causing even more problems. I bet some will argue cow manure is natural but large slurry lagoons arn't

They're not really selling the concept, are they? A masonry stove is something I'd be interested in but I'd like some basic numbers first. I understand the efficiency of wood burners is often net, i.e. they ignore the heat used to remove any moisture. (So, 85% efficiency becomes 70%) but that's the same as a masonry stove. The difference is that a normal wood burner has to keep the flu hot and if you're not careful heat from the house also goes up the chimney at night. However, what is the difference if you have a well insulated chimney and let the fire die down at night and close it off (or have an outside air feed)?

That reminds me of my favourite book: Farming with Dynamite Great for stumps and other landscaping.

Funnily enough I saw my first dragonfly of the year this morning and it was very similar. As Mick says, possibly a broad chaser lady - https://british-dragonflies.org.uk/species/broad-bodied-chaser

I was also going to suggest goat or grey willow, looks like the old flowers on the branch.

Looks like sea buckthorn, or something similar.

Contact details are here: http://www.tinytachuk.com/tinytachuk.php

Best wood - free. And dry. I also like a good mix,,birch, alder, pine as well as ash, oak and beech etc.

Yep, put my first earlies in pots a couple of weeks ago as their shoots were getting too long and the ground was still too cold. They need to be planted out now, at least it seems to have warmed up a bit now.

It seems to be out to me, as far as I can tell from the photo. Just a small gob.

Is that not the cheese at the front of pic 3? Still, assuming it's going for firewood there's less splitting required.

Battery life depends on what you're cutting, small 1-2" stuff it lasts for ages, larger stuff the life depends on how tough it is so 5" alder the battery still lasts ages, 5" ash a shorter life but still enough for several sacks of logs. Mine came with a smaller battery, Stihl make a bigger battery although I've not tried it. I bought the saw from a local dealer. I would suggest getting the smaller battery and then buying a spare if the life isn't long enough.

I've got the MSA 120 and use it a fair bit in the garden pruning woody stuff as well as cutting some decent sized logs. I've never noticed any kickback which I think is down to the very fine PM3 chain as well as the narrow nose, it is also less grabby that bigger toothed chains on thin material. I like the narrow nosed bar for pruning jobs, I would wonder if a guard might make someone more likely to have a problem if they catch the guard on another stem or something?

I understand what you mean now, sorry. The licence to fell does apply to the site yes. Your 5 cubic meter per quarter applies to the owner so if you own a few pieces of woodland you still only get one lot of exempted volume.

Depends on who you ask. I've been told it applies to the site but the FC web site states it applies to the owner. From: https://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/FellingLicenceFAQJuly2005.pdf/$FILE/FellingLicenceFAQJuly2005.pdf Which leads me on to the issue I have with felling licences. They may be easy if you have a large area of something simple but they can get complicated if you wish to work in an area of mixed woodland of various ages. And if you're only felling small areas some FC areas don't seem very interested. I think the allowance should be relative to the area involved rather than an individual.

Well, to answer my own question, yes they should be sealed. Stihl have confirmed this via email and are investigating. Annoyingly I popped into a different dealer only to find their cans of 2-stroke Motomix aren't sealed either but their 4-stoke stuff is.

Because it benefits the whole of society and may actually cost the land owner money with the loss of timber?

Interesting project Treeation, some of your handywork looks very similar to what the wildlife had done to my young woodland. The bored cavity looks similar to where deer have frayed bark and squirrels and canker have created similar scars and growth to your ringbarked pollard. I did have fair bit of standing deadwood due to some alders dying but they've been felled by the woodpeckers!