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Paul in the woods

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Everything posted by Paul in the woods

  1. Paul in the woods
    Yes, their life-cycle is the same as wasps. A mated queen will over winter somewhere warm and start a new colony in the spring. In late summer/autumn virgin queens will be raised that'll mate in autumn and overwinter again. The main nest will die off each year although it may be active quite late in the year if we don't get a cold snap. I gather the Asian hornets are more susceptible to cold but in the south at least we've not had it that cold for a few years so I can see them surviving easily. One thing I've noted bee keepers doing where Asian hornets have settled is make traps for the queens early in the season to catch as many before they form a nest.
  2. Paul in the woods
    Something very concerning if you're a bee keeper is the arrival of Asian Hornets in the UK as they're more aggressive and more likely to raid honey bee nests than our native hornets. I thought it would be worth a mention here as there's a chance of finding a nest in future. If you do please can I ask you contact [email protected] as they're trying to destroy them before they get a foothold in the UK. More details available, including how to recognise them, form the National Bee Unit here: Beebase - Beekeeping information resource for Beekeepers Alert poster PDF: http://www.nationalbeeunit.com/downloadDocument.cfm?id=1224 ID sheet PDF: http://www.nationalbeeunit.com/downloadDocument.cfm?id=698 This I believe is some photos of the nest they have found in the UK: Asian Hornet Nest Found – Adopt A Hive I doubt you'd want to be topping that tree while the nest is active!
  3. Paul in the woods
    Are the 400 trees spaced over the whole 1.5 acres? If so I assume it's not a replanting condition on a felling licence as the density is too low. I'd be tempted to only clear part of the area and write off some of the trees. Do you have much other open space? Have you thought of keeping bees, if so you don't have weeds only forage for the bees. (Sorry if that's not funny but brambles, rose-bay-willow-herb etc is great for bees and sometimes areas of scrub is just as important than trees in a wood).
  4. Paul in the woods
    With the webbed redish stem and staining I wouldn't say it's a brown birch boletete but one of the rarer inedible/poisonous ones. Hard to say exactly which one.
  5. Paul in the woods
    Do you play the lottery at all? 67 days.
  6. Paul in the woods
    Has anyone done a breakdown of costs of turning say a fallen oak into saleable beams/boards? I keep pondering a mill of some sort, or getting someone in, as I use a fair bit of wood and get fed up with buying poor quality stuff. I even saw a very simple small oak fireplace that was little more than three oak beams joined together and it was selling for over £500. I wonder if there are people out there who would use a milling service but have no idea such things exist?
  7. Paul in the woods
    Was the felling and replanting subject to a felling licence application? If so that may have stipulations/restrictions on it. If there's any rare plants animals there they should (well may) have been identified. I'd also avoid any herbicide if possible.
  8. Paul in the woods
    From my experience there's loads of help and info out there but pulling it all together took a fair bit of time. Also the various government departments and advice doesn't always match up! A knowlageble pro would certainly save time. Anyway, some other useful sites if you've not alread seen them. First, the governments Magic site, very useful to see what designations your land has and to see what's going on around you, grants etc: Magic Map Application And this might be useful as you may need to identify any heritage details on your woodland (so you don't damage them etc): HeritageGateway - Home There's also loads of info on the FC site such as: Ancient woodland (England) although you'll have to search for your Scottish equivalent.
  9. Paul in the woods
    You can write your own management plan and produce your own felling licence application (or work out if you do need one) using this free tool: https://sylva.org.uk/myforest/ I used it to do my plan for a 10 acre wood, it took a fair bit of time but I learned a fair bit. With only 2 acres and planning to thin you may not need a felling licence at all, no idea about the ancient woodland restriction. You might get away with asking the FC round to advise if a plan/licence app is required, it'll depend on you local FC chap as to the help you get.
  10. Paul in the woods
    It's a pain if you don't have a local dealer that near and the one's you do have don't even know Stihl sell the saw you're after. Interesting to see Amazon selling them, that shows there's no safety issue with selling direct.
  11. Paul in the woods
    I'd agree with Stubby, I've got some similar in some of my trees and I've assumed they're porcelain, or similar, electric fencing insulators.
  12. Paul in the woods
    That's the problem, it seems hard to kill all of the pests and they do multiply rapidly once they get going. If you're thinking of binning them then you can try giving them a very hard cut back before the new growth in spring. I removed virtually all my lemon's leaves and it's grown back well. Still got scale though. Perhaps a prune and then a spray?
  13. Paul in the woods
    That looks more like a scale insect, I get them on my lemon tree. I only try and rub them off and clear the sooty mould of the leaves with a damp cloth and not tried the controls. Leaving the plant in the rain during the warmer months seems to help. More details on the RHS - https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=788
  14. Paul in the woods
    Your permission would be required as you can't shoot over someone's land without permission (unless you're in the police/army etc). I expect most culls will be done one large farms that have livestock and active badger setts. As for knowing if you have them, do you have any signs? Larger recently worked burrows, freshly dug holes with fresh droppings in them (look more human like than most animals and at the moment full of blackberry pips!). Funnily enough I have badgers on my woodland and I enquired about vaccinating them but no one was interested.
  15. Paul in the woods
    It depends on your breast, or rather take care you measure the correct height from the ground. Forestry uses 1.3m but I thought other people use 1.4 or even 1.5? It can get more complicated if you're on a slope, have multiple stems etc but this is an easy guide (for forestry): http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/15-Diameter-DBH-Assessments-June-2014.pdf/$FILE/15-Diameter-DBH-Assessments-June-2014.pdf
  16. Paul in the woods
    I was going to say it's been posted here: http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/general-chat/102308-ox-truck.html But yes, looks an ideal truck for some for tree work - I'd love one.
  17. Paul in the woods
    I'm quite far from Liskard but I'll keep them in mind if I'm down that way. I'm currently trying to visit various local stove stockists to see what they have and what they think. On that note the dealer I mentioned earlier didn't like Esse at all and I've also seen mixed reviews. The Ironheart isn't really an option as I expect to spend a fair bit of time cooking on it and I'm not keen on the need for a heat screen. I'm not keen on the Rayburn 'look' either but I do want to be able to see the flames. Has anyone here actually got a Lohbrergh stove? They're closer to what I'd like but I'm struggling to find details on their efficiency. I'm also stuggling to find a way of comparing different stoves as there seems to be various ways to measure their efficiency.
  18. Paul in the woods
    Anyone seen the new Stihl compact cordless saw yet? I've finally tracked down a local supplier that's seen them and they seemed to think it was as good as the more expensive MSA 160.
  19. Paul in the woods
    I'm going to install a wood burning cooker in our kitchen and I'm currently looking at what's available. Although I have my own wood I'm after one that's as efficient as possible and one that's well built. I'm currently thinking of one that's just a cooker and not a water heater. A local stove installers today told me of these people: Wood Fired-Aga range cooker alternative, 3 oven, T3 Patented Now, I'm not a huge fan of the style but an 85% efficiency sounds pretty good. Cost is a bit eye watering and I'll need a twin wall flu fitted. Has anyone heard of them? Can anyone recommend anything else that's efficient and reliable I can compare it with? Thanks
  20. Paul in the woods
    BASC cetainly do: https://basc.org.uk/membersoffers/basc-motoring-services/
  21. Paul in the woods
    They need light to fruit well, perhaps thinning some of the branches and you could try "brutting". More pruning info on the RHS: https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=602
  22. Paul in the woods
    I thought it was more like at least 90% of ash will die meaning they're not sure how many will be resistant. I thought it was likely to be a much smaller percentage. Also, the signs are not always obvious are they? Some trees might seem fine for a few years and then die. If you need a wind break and you have a choice of thinning an ash tree or something else then I'd probably go for the ash now. That's my current plan for my mixed woodland, until something yet another serious tree disease spreads.
  23. Paul in the woods
    Like rural Devon then. I noticed the OX in the news today as well and it appears to be the sort of thing I'm after. I don't want a complex new car, or an unreliable old one and I need good ground clearance but not necessarily a full 4x4. The load capacity would be ideal for moving wood about as well.
  24. Paul in the woods
    Best to wait until the leaves have dropped.
  25. Paul in the woods
    You could start by having a link to in in your profile. http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/profile.php?do=editprofile

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