Paul in the woods

I understand you now Woodyguy. Yes I'm aware a felling licence will cover all my holdings, not sure about the fine detail when you purchase some more woodland. I doubt I can use the limits on my current application as it's site specific. I do still get a 5 cube per quarter allowance though. I will have to see how I get on with the power company. They seem to be currently working in that area but as I don't own the house I don't know if they will speak to me.

There is no felling licence application for these overhanging trees. How much would a power company cut back? Would they fell a tree that's 1 meter away from a cable (if they were asked) or just trim any close branches?

I've currently got a felling licence application in for a different woodland and I would like to avoid doing another. There is also a time issue as I don't own the house and they can take months to approve. I don't think I would be covered by an exemption if the trees were felled, but there may be some ways round it. I had thought about staggering the work but with an electrical cable running close to the trees that will be quite difficult to get the work done as I assume the power will need to be cut off each time work is done? Contacting the power company will be my first step. I'm not sure how much they will trim back but at least it will be a start.

I'm looking to buy a house that has a few acres of mature woodland attached, that's the good news. However, along one side of the property there are several mature trees, beech and ash, that are part of an old hedgebank at the edge of the wood. At a rough calculation they are about 25m tall and are leaning over the road. They also lean over an electricity and telephone line and, most importantly, a neighbouring house. The road is a very quite country land and the cables only go to the house I'm looking at so less of an issue. I think I have several options that I'd like some advice with choosing which way to go. 1) Do as little as possible. However, if a tree falls and causes damage I assume I would be liable as the land owner? Would an insurance company be happy to pay out or would they expect roadside trees to be professional inspected? If so who by and how often? 2) Fell the trees. I do like trees and plant a fair few but I'm also realistic and the trees would make excellent firewood. The problem I have is if all the offending trees were felled I'd probably need a felling license based on my initial calcs and that would be a pain. One possible option would be to pollard to under the cable and fell at a later date. 3) Trim the trees and actively manage them. Although with electric cables running through I can't see this being an easy thing to do so I'd rather get the work done all at once. 4) I gather the power company will trim some of the trees. However, seeing some of their work they have only left a 5cm or so gap between the tree and the cable. Does anyone know if I can discuss the issue with the power company and will they be happy to trim the trees back further? 5) Any option I've missed? Thanks!

That's what I thought but the WES has a lower power output, 1.39kW vs 1.50kW, according to Echo UK. I've been considering a CS-360WES for coppicing work so would it would be good to hear how you get on with yours simsimo or anyone else with one.

I bought a few acres of woodland. The companies that buy up large woodlands and sell small parcels also restrict what you can do, so you may not be able to run a log business of any sort from it. I found my patch by noticing a couple of fields for sale that had a bit of woodland attached. I managed to get the woodland on it's own for a much cheaper price than you tend to see advertised. It is good mix including hazel that needs to be coppiced for the fist time and old hazel stools that have been neglected for many years. I would have thought that you may be able to find a local farmer or land owner that might be willing to sell off a small patch. Would it be possible to buy a larger patch and break it up into smaller lots yourself?

With Premium bonds they are underwritten by the UK government so fairly safe. However, the prize fund is based on an interest rate, currently 1.35%. So, simply, you would expect a return of around 1.35%, but not guarenteed and your chances of wining a large prize are slim so the interest rate is going to be less than 1.35%. Worth having for security and the monthly fun of seeing if you've won something but not a guaranteed return.

Is it not possible to get the numbers of rabbits down or will even just the odd rabbit cause too much damage? I've noted that rabbits seem happy to nibble the bark from brash left from a bit of thinning rather than attack the trunks of mature ash trees. Just wondering if a bit of rabbit control and leaving brash would avoid rabbit damage on shoots.

Has anyone tried those Dremel chainsaw attachments? They seem to get mixed reviews but at least you can run them at a slow speed.

I think woodyguy is closer to the mark, but don't forget your other responsibilities such as ensuring no harm to protected species. I would look through this: Felling Licences (England) and work out some numbers using this guide: http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/140606TreeVolume.pdf/$FILE/140606TreeVolume.pdf That should confirm if you need a licence and if you keep a record of your measurements and calcs you can refer to them if you get any queries.

I'll stop you there, it was Labour not the Conservatives that bailed out the banks. I expect they would have done something similar but then labour would have raised VAT as well.

They have councils, an MP and MEPs acting out their policies so they are being implemented as they currently stand. Yes it's good they are debated but most people I know who've voted green don't have much of a clue about most of their policies. I'd also like to the policies costed as it's very easy to promise stuff if you're never going held to account. When that's done I expect they've be much more similar to the current parties.

I don't think it means that as that's basically the current arrangement. I think they mean gun clubs have to have all the firearms kept on site and that idea was floated a few years ago and was dropped when people realised how daft it was. Again, clarification is needed which leads to the conclusion it's rather pointless producing large number of policies if they're open to interpretation.

Does it? That's a different sentence so I'm not sure and for many woodland owners selling off stalking rights to people who do it for pleasure raises essential income and manages the population. A fair bit of new woodland is currently planted for game cover. It's also going to be hard to shoot pests if private ownership of guns is banned.

Nope It also just doesn't add up. Their forestry policy looks great initially, 8% woodland cover goes up to 25%, yey! Their farming policy also looks good, less pesticides and artificial fertiliser, great I'm pro-organic. But how are they going to grow all the food? I expect they also want to import less food as well.

I do wonder if people who say they'll vote green have actually read through their policies. There's plenty to like but also plenty that'll just cause all sorts of problems. From a forestry point of view they wish to stop shooting, so what are you meant to do about deer, squirrel or rabbit numbers if you have a problem - talk nicely to them?

It's the sap that's coloured so in freshly cut wood it comes to the surface. If the wood is seasoned less or no sap will come out and the wood stays quite light. So, if the wood in the photo is alder it's probably been slit when it's mostly dry, hence less of an orange surface than if it was cut when fresh. In my experience that is, I've only cut fairly young alder.

Yes it goes very orange when cut/split if it's fresh but when it's seasoned and then cut/split it doesn't go orange. (Sorry, I wasn't clear in my post). The wood from trees on my woodland don't go orange after seasoning and items made from seasoned alder that we've bought aren't orange (it looks almost like birch). I'm not sure about burning it green either, it'll have a very high moisture content when fresh, especially as it grows on wet ground. Agree that it semms to season quickly.

If it's very light then I'll change my mind to alder. The bark doesn't look quite right to me for mature alder but it is a very light wood when seasoned, and it doesn't go orange when split either.

Another vote for oak. IT should smell a bit oaky and tannic, especially when freshly split or cut.

Thanks for that Eddy. I had assumed as a novice I would need a bar the same length as the diameter I was felling. Even with that a 12" bar would cover over 90% of my felling, so 1.5x would give 18" which would cover virtually everything. Until I get some more woodland of course.

Does anyone know any more about these grants? The most up-to-date thing I can find on the FC site is this: http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/Grey-squirrels-policy-and-action-plan.pdf/$FILE/Grey-squirrels-policy-and-action-plan.pdf I can't find any hard facts about the "£100 per hectare per year for five years".

Agree with that. I had quite a few thin dead alder in my woodland a few years ago but the woodpeckers tend to dig for grubs at the base of the trunks and have felled most of them. On the bright side the squirrels are doing their bit to provide some more dead wood.

Noted, although I currently use a Silky Masaru.

As a novice I was a bit afraid to ask about the max felling size for a bar length, so I looked it up. I'm working on about 2x and even with a 10" bar that would cover me for virtually everything. As my local Stihl place doesn't have too much stock in I'm going to have to travel to a larger store and they'll have a good range of Huskies, Stihls and Echos for me to compare.