Jump to content

Log in or register to remove this advert

Paul in the woods

Veteran Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    1,652

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Everything posted by Paul in the woods

  1. Paul in the woods
    A few more crumbs of thought for you. I have an Echo 352ES and use it as my main saw for firewood for 7/8 years. The ES makes it very easy to start and I've never had a problem starting it. I've not had a problem with vibes on the saw but it is sold with a VXL chain which I find can be a bit catchy and adds vibration. It did have a 5 year warranty but then I needed to pay £100 for a 2 year service which I could have done myself. The main downside is getting hold of parts online and the lack of a good local dealer.
  2. Paul in the woods
    If I had a picture I would try an bring the thread back on track with a photo my 303 SMLE. It's newish to me but well over a century old and I often wonder what it got up to in its earlier years. It's also good fun to shoot, if a little expensive these days.
  3. Paul in the woods
    Yes, lime bast is still used by some for cord and rope making, some examples here: https://bushcraftuk.com/community/threads/twisting-in-the-sun.88894/ I've planted some large and small leaf lime on my wood, mainly for their edible leaves. Last year was the first year the ones I grew from seed started to flower which was quite pleasing. Not the easiest plant to grow from seed.
  4. Paul in the woods
    I'm not sure what you mean, I'm not aware feeding sugar has anything to do with varroa. If anything removing all their honey makes it easier to treat. Also some of the more drastic bee keeping methods can lead to less varroa. I think you could get less If you allow a 'wild' colony to frequently swarm (which they are very likely to do if they don't have a large amount of room to expand) but you're unlikely to get much honey.
  5. Paul in the woods
    I have a similar view, I'd much rather not have to treat for varroa. The numbers don't sound like others I've seen though. I am aware of reports that treating for varroa can be harmful and can kill queens, and as you often treat in winter it's not surprising to see reports of killed colonies. However, a high varroa load can kill colonies through the year so you want to see numbers for the whole year. I don't have a strong view on then matter, I've not lost a colony through treating so far.
  6. Paul in the woods
    Sounds about right, on a good year I would expect you could take more than two thirds but we have had a bad year (two winters ago, a very long and wet autumn) when I took nothing and had to feed some fondant. One of the reasons I like ivy is it's a very good late.season nectar supply which helps the bees stuff their hives just before the winter. Having said that our bees were out in good numbers today on the gorse so it could be a short winter here.
  7. Paul in the woods
    I would tend to regard farmed bees as honey bees selected to produce large amounts of honey which is then stripped off and the bees overwintered on some form of man made fondant. Queens are often imported from abroad which will produce more productive colonies, which some argue are less suited to the UK. Some would also argue this leads to the importation of pests and diseases like varroa and possible small give beetle in the future. Personally I've stuck to my locally reared queens and I over winter our bees on their own honey. I'm more of a bee small holder than farmer...
  8. Paul in the woods
    Going a bit off topic but do you live remotely? If not aren't you just going to get a domesticated swarm of bees that will become overrun with varroa and die out? I'm just a hobby bee keeper, so I don't farm ours, but if they were not treated for varroa I doubt they would last long.
  9. Paul in the woods
    I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with bluebells. On the newly planted woodland they are slowly appearing and it's good to see the wood gradually becoming more diverse. On the ancient woodland I have they are so invasive that little else seems to grow and they also spread into the fields.
  10. Paul in the woods
    On the range I just use ear plugs under my ear defenders. Works well just as long as the person in the next lane doesn't have a muzzle break.
  11. Paul in the woods
    I don't know what the police are like over there but I would consider reporting it if it has rounds in. That's a 25 round mag that's often used for practical target shooting in the uk. I don't think you can see the follower, it's the back you can see so it may be loaded.
  12. Paul in the woods
    If you're after something the pages may still be available in the way back machine : https://web.archive.org/web/20230000000000*/https://www.tree-care.info/uktc/archive
  13. Paul in the woods
    I've had a reply and I've forwarded it on to your email.
  14. Paul in the woods
    I've just emailed our local rural crime officer about Arbsafe and looked through our police's rural crime pages and found this register: https://www.secureassetregister.com/en-gb This is their rural crime page: https://www.devon-cornwall.police.uk/support-and-guidance/your-community/rural-crime/ And this is their page for machinery theft: https://www.devon-cornwall.police.uk/support-and-guidance/your-community/rural-crime/farm-machinery-plant-and-vehicle-theft-plantprotection/
  15. Paul in the woods
    Looking at the tiny number of convictions it's a shame they didn't take the opportunity to update the exemptions. If you rolled the 5 cube a quarter up into 20 cube a year then I expect over half the complaints could be dealt with very quickly. I'm my case I have to use the exemptions as the FC couldn't be bothered to approve my felling licence after I spent a fair bit of time and money applying for one. Not uncommon I gather.
  16. Paul in the woods
    If you use @BigRon he might get an email notification. And @BigRon you might want to add a phone number to your top site if you want people to call or text.
  17. Paul in the woods
    Yes, I would call it 'habitat' and pop it by the wildlife pond.
  18. Paul in the woods
    I'll email the officer next week and see if I get anywhere. If he wants to get in contact with you is the arbtalkmedia email address the best one to use? I better log a couple of my saws first to see how it works!
  19. Paul in the woods
    You might have more luck finding out if a force has its own rural crime officer. As part of the smallholders group I'm a member of we had a zoom talk by our local one and they were quite honest in saying much of their force didn't necessarily understand rural crime. I know saws and choppers are not just used in the countryside but you might get more luck dealing with them. It would be a PITA finding out every forces officer but I could dig out the details of our one for you Steve, it might be worth trying to talk to him?
  20. Paul in the woods
    I'd go with this, fresh cut face is too pink for syc and I can't see any syc leaves about on the ground.
  21. Paul in the woods
    I'm curious about the particulate detector, did you get it just for the fire? Someone else posted they had a Geiger counter to check their firewood, it thought the occasional jab with a moisture meter was enough.
  22. Paul in the woods
    Indeed, I listened to them a lot at the time and one of the few bands I often go back to. I was quite shocked when I saw the news.
  23. Paul in the woods
    We did the same, went through our stored apples and picked out quite a few that were a bit past it and put them out for the birds. Had to chop them up as we had a thuggish fieldfare that kept fighting off the blackbirds from his patch.
  24. Paul in the woods
    How long will the extension be and how close to your consumer unit? I run my 3kw splitter on a heavy duty 2.5mm extension plugged in a socket near the consumer box to minimise voltage drop. I've not had any issue but I'd expect any warranty would be invalid. These people list the voltage drop on their extensions: www.industrialextensionleads.co.uk
  25. Paul in the woods
    Do you use much for firewood? I've got about half and acre planted and almost ready to coppice which will provide plenty of material for more planting. I've just burnt my test log (turns out the fresh log was at least 55% water) and it lasted ok so worth cutting more for the fire. I've also found the long, straight rods make good bean poles of they are left for a few months to dry out to stop rooting. Just need to get the time to weave my own log basket.

About

Arbtalk.co.uk is a hub for the arboriculture industry in the UK.  
If you're just starting out and you need business, equipment, tech or training support you're in the right place.  If you've done it, made it, got a van load of oily t-shirts and have decided to give something back by sharing your knowledge or wisdom,  then you're welcome too.
If you would like to contribute to making this industry more effective and safe then welcome.
Just like a living tree, it'll always be a work in progress.
Please have a look around, sign up, share and contribute the best you have.

See you inside.

The Arbtalk Team

Follow us

Articles

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.