drinksloe

Cheers John, but i don't think 30/40 shots is an awful lot per bottle (assuming ur rifle has a buddy bottle) A few years ago when more rabbits about was not unusual to be shooting 50+ in a nite and not unkown to shoot 100+ Just seems a lot of faffing about about 40 shots when an extra box o bullets is far easier carried.

Have u tried lighter/different pellets? or getting a mil dot scope? (to help for holdover) for ur existing a decent pcp airgun should still be fairly capable at 40m. Possibly pracice a bit more at longer ranges so u learn the drop or if usually shooting at longer ranges alter ur scope zero for 35m and get a set of sticks if shooting standing/freehand I looked into the FAC air route last time i renewed but ended up thinking to much hassle/money for wot they are, are do i really need one. Still got the slot From wot i've been told ur realy looking for a 20 or 22 most generally run around the 25-30 ft lbs, the problem u have is the ammount of air u use per shot, so shot count can drop drastically. Possibly it might be cheaper for u to sell ur sub 12 ft air gun and buy 1 already FAC rated, i was told once fac rated u can not un register them to sub 12 ft, so tend to get them cheaper as smaller market Plus the boy in the gunshop said u can still get richocets even with an airgun, generally the slower heavier more solid bullets are more likely to bounce than a fast frangible bullet. U get CCI segmental 22lr which are designed to break up so lower any bounce With a 22lr u can pick a work horse up for 50 quid all scoped and mod'd, and with a massive range of bullets, got ur basic HV and subs foxes rabbits and u also get various other bullets that have different uses, from sparrow shot meant to be able to shoot rats with it inside sheds to low power rounds that are meant to be around the 40ftlb mark Always meant ot get some of these different runds and see wot there like but never got round to it

Cheers folks. Never thought about coppicing Oak or Beech, generally not a fan of beech as is shades out so much vege but be different when coppicing them. Do u have to let the stem get to a decent size (6-10?) before the first coppice cut for beech/oak? Imagine that will take a whie The other thing i was thinking was either cyprus/leyandi or SS/NS but top them low down to produce multiple stems, so really either coppiced or pollarded and keep them at a lowish hieght to create plenty of year round nesting/roosting cover. Good idea?

Alright folks. Just wondering wot u all consider to be the best mix of trees, bushes or shrubs for conservation? Mainly for general conservation but have quite a few Red squirrels but also bird, butterflies or insects. Ideally have some food value too, costing me a fortune feeding the squirels and birds the now. It's in Sw scot on a steepish banking probably about 100mx40+m wide. At moment got a few pretty large Sycamore trees growing which i will be gradually felling or reducing/pollarding over the next few years as worried about the size of them on such a steep banking, just asking to be blown over Was thinking of a mix of black/haw thorn, rowan, bird cherry, hazel, holly (sure i've forgot some since i sat down to write this) and mibee some Buddicea along top edge, where i may plant a wild flower mix or something similar or seed bearing, wild bird seed/insect rich mix etc Not really wanting anything that will grow to big or heavy for the banking. Open to any ideas folks and also any decent nurseries in southern scot or north eng? ideally not wanting any imported trees breed in europe Cheers

It's the sort of question u could ask 10 different folk and get 10 compleltely different answers and different reasons. Really all depends on wot ur shooting and where and likely ranges, 22lr is very cheap and adaptable but not as good at other at range or if hard ground conditons. If u do a lot of tree shooting for squirrels/crows u'd need to stick to an air for safety Also can cut 22lr barrels right down short so great for sticking out of van windows or handling/carrying in thick cover etc. Can be a pain getting longer barrelled guns in/out van windows sometimes

I hate wearing my chainsaw wellies and never do, just use the leather boots. For normal wellies i find boot sox things ideal as absorb a lot of the sweat and ur feet are bone dry at end of day. Really like them nice and cheap too. I used to wear yeti gaites a lot over some of my leaking walking boots, work great if ur boot leeak a wee bit. Usually have to cut the grips on sole to take the yeti's, also usually end up siliconing/aquasureing them to ur boot as designed for quite stiff hill boots, with softer more flexible boots toe usually slips off. Might not be so bad with chainsaw boots steel toes and metal sole plate Great things if u have an expensive pair of boots that leak, i've had years of use out of leaky boots and feet have been dry. Done a lot on the grouse with them and are pretty hardy for going throu heather as that is hard on things Duno how they'd stand up to chainsaw work thou?? Doubt they'd last long if in softwoods commercially, might be ok in more ground work/arb environments

I'm the oppisate of above and think the 17hmr is vastly over rated, it has its place but is it really that much better than a 22lr with HV rounds throu it?? And how often do u shot at thoose extreme ranges where the difference would be noticed? In the old days u really only had the 22lr and usually had 2, 1 for lamping with subs and 1 for daylight/foxes with HV rounds, still get quite a crack with the HV 22lr rounds. While the 17hmr will be more accurate u'll pick up a 22lr for peanuts and feed it very cheapily and they are indestructable, 17hmr's are dear to feed and can be fussy with ammo/cleaning Really it depends wot ur needing it for, quarry/vermin type and the sorts of situations ur shooting in. All the calibres have plus/minus points just wot suits u best for wot u need it for I was advised when u step up to FAC air to go to 22 as 177 can drill the animal a bit. Got a slot on my ticket but never got round to buying 1 too much money involved in them with all the gear u need.

Ploughing is more fashionable than ever in this area, any new plantion is done with the plough, can't think of ever seeing a new plantation done with dolp's. And been quite a few 'virgn' area planted in recent years all done with these fancier modern ploughs The reason they use dolp's is on a restock its the best u can do due to stumps brash matts etc

But how green and carbon nuetral is green energy? And who is actually brave enough to tell the general public the whole facts with no spin and let us make our minds up? The problem is with the internet we really are in the 'age of stupid' and more often internet campigns count more than scientific research, wich will only get worse. Totally agree about solar power there is immesnse power there to be harnessed, but are PV panels not really unenvironmentally friendly to make and dispose off? More into the timber game, i have a large boimass power plant near me originally it was meant to run on a high % of waste produce (baled brash matts and stumps from forestry + sawmill waste etc) they quickly discovered just how expensive it is to dig, forward, transport wash and chip either stumps or brash from wet scottish hillsides. Anyone could of told u that thou, not rocket science. They now burn almost only chip and pulp grade wood and sometime whole jobs are just converted for boifuel. Some of the small local fencing/pallet sawmills really struggle to get timber and the massive subsidies it gets pushes the price up. The icing on the cake for stupidity for that is, in scandinvia where these are common tend to be sited next to towns/hospitals so al the hot water is pumped round for free district heating. It is only fairly recently they thought about using the heat from there to dry timber next door in sawmills kiln. Absolutely scandalous that was not done and planned from day 1, no joined up thinking. Even ur smaller RHI scheme for boimass, great idea but completely bonkers scheme where it is in ur intrest to burn as much timber as u can as ur doubling ur money. I've heard there already importing chip from america. same as impoerting firewood from baltics/russia, makes finacial sense but environmentally bonkers And i'm not going to even start on the nonsense that is wind turbines. Biggest white elephant there is

Generally trees and 'spongy' soils don't mix, if trees can't get there roots down deep enough becouse of a high water table they just blow over, which does happen a lot. And why when first planted 1st thing they do is put deep drainage ditches in and then 'plough' rows to plant the trees on. Trees will probably dry soils long term, but that's probably a bad thing as soi cannot hold water the same so runs off quickier I would say commercial forestry will make flooding worse The problem u have with dams is at this time of year all be full anyway so any rain will just be running straight over the top so no real holding capacity. Unless they emptied some water before heavy rain was forecast. Plus building new ones tends to upset a LOT of people as u have to flood somewhere, locals, bunny huggers Building a lot of small mini/mico hydro schemes in my area the now, great wee things and u hardly evenknow the're there, usually the dams are tiny thou, while great for eleccy won't do much good to hold any floodwatr back

U are right althou they reckon forestry and the drainage that comes with it is often blamed for the increase in flooding dure to rapid runoff. It's really not rocket science to not build on fllod plains, but tey usually happen to be nice and flat and level so makes for easy groundworks/building. Also the present way of flood prevention is not working, building walls higher and channelising it cost a fortune, doesnae work and just puts the problem elsewhere. Carisle was badly hit again after spending millions to protect them from a 50 year flood event, lasted 8 years, possibly they;ll be fine for bext 42 but i doubt it The only way i can see it working is paying farmers to flood there land upstream. I know in my area during the 50-60's they straightened and build floodbanks along most of the middle streches of local river so they can use the decent farmland. If u designed and drained the land so it could be flooded in extreme floods but also drain away fairly quickly afterwards. Doubt it would cost that much as most floods banks already there and because u have water both sides does not have the same forces/pressure on it. Just need to either lower upstream bank (so it will not erode) or put a sluice gate in. As for houses already in flood areas, protection is not always possible but do it up to deal with the floods. A shop near me that floods anually (often more than once) tanked all the walls so water doesnae damage them, all plugs, light switches up high hopefully above most flood hieghts and sunk a sump into the floor so they can get a submersimble pump in easily. When it floods they just move the stock upstairs and just turn the pump on hose and disenfect downstairs and its back to normal. They hardly bother with sandbags now as chances are wouldnae do much good. Granted not so easy in a house

The digger and grab route or even a bucket sounds the way to go, a lot easier than doing it by hand with saws or brush cutters. Dunno where u are but RGL from moffat used to have 2 decent sized 360's with big mulcher heads on them.

I'm looking for a tractor myself too, for a house build and fencing/woodland/forestry work. I'd actually not bother too much about the age but more looking for a straight forward mechanical engine with as few electrics as possible. Electrics are just a nightmare, looking for something as simple as possible. For the OP u would be far better with a tractor rather than a handler, plus handler might not handle pto work as may boil as usually hydrostaically driven, also a lot of road work does not do them any good. If u have no issues with room/needing a small nippy tractor or lighter 1 for wet ground i'd just stick with a normal sized tractor. 1 of the fencers i worked with out in OZ would buy old scrapper tractors rebuild the engine then customise it for exactly wot he wanted, he had smalllish tractors with postknockers welded on just behind the front wheels. He usually had a tractor for each job and had them customised for exactly that job

That was my view on the mog vs tractor thing too. Almost normal for a modern tractor to have a 40/50km box nowadayys and better off road capabilities if needed. So are most of these tractors not legal then twisted? Most have air brakes and all sorts of things now, but like u say not usually independent suspension on rear axle I know the local agri contractor's had some bother with the polis a few years ago for red desiel etc as they had a bit of a clamp down. 1 bigish job a contractor was hauling muck about 10 miles from a shed to a field and dumping it in a heap. As he had the contract to spread it it was ok to run on red, but if he was only hauling it it would need to be white. A few of his tractors where stopped but he had it in writing from the head of traffic and managed to get a letter of apology of the local chief constable for the way his men were treated and attitude of trafffic officers

On a slight tangent but why would anyone want a mog nowadays? I could understand it when tractors only done 18mph, but now most are almost as quick with 50km boxes. Mog's were alwys pretty limited off road anyway, so if u need to be properly off road better with a tractor, esp if u do a lot of fencing. A chapper is useless unless ur can get it right were u need it. But like most thigs horses for courses and depends wot u want it for. Must admit i've never been a big fan off them

The planting squads are all busy done here and been busy for a while. As spruce pirate says around the 1500 mark over dolp depending how rough the ground is. Quite a bit of new ploughed ground being planted now too, should be pushing a good bit more on that. My old boss reckoned he was doing 2500-3000 a day back in the 70's and 80's on the plough

The FC in Scotland (possibly elsewhere too) are wanting everyone to have an EFAW with the +F part, even if u have the 3 day FAW course it is not enough if not got the +F added. That'll be more relevent to ground cutters/machine drivers than Arb boys but worth bearing in mind

Possibly combining the 2 might help. Mind i read an article written by someone that used to sit on the board/council of his local NP, he said it was a disgrace hardly any board members were actually 'locals' or even lived in the park. Would allow anything touristy related but turned down everything from 'locals' actually trying to live and work in the area they had grew up in Good luck with it

I may be wrong here. Is the land that is not forestry agricultural land? Would it not be easier to stock it and say u have to be there for the livestocks welfare and get ur planning under a secton D. Possibly easier to argue that stock needs u there more than trees do?

I dare say it all depends on how the letter is worded really. Althou it also depends on the motives of the landowner, nothing wrong with a landowner trying to make some income out of a piece of land but if u think he could be a bit of a 'rogue' fair enough. But livestock and trees have went together since we started having livestock, 1 of the main reasons for pollarding in the old days was so cattle can graze below ur timber product. Generally pigs and cows aren't too bad at damaging trees, some conservation charities use pigs to clean undergrowth with little woodland damage. Doubt nitrate or compaction will make any difference to trees only issue could be bark stripping, usually horses are the worst followed by sheep, yet i still know of hundreds of large trees in fields with sheep and horses in and no damage and no protection. But like most things will depend on the indivdual site, stocking density, natural food how much additional feed being fed.

From the rumour my brother was hearing is they reckon pV FiT could be getting lowered again in the new years possibly as low as 1p, considering it was 42p and 21p in its early days. He was looking at fitting more but not worth it now. If u've got heat pumps or a high elec use might be worth putting PV on for free elec even with no FiT Not sure about tank size? U will really need a plumber to access ur heating requirements for ur heating rads or UFH. For a 150m2 house insulated with UFH they were quoting a 1000-1500l tank with a 18 or 25kw LGB, and that was an oversized tank for system. I'd say 3000l is a pretty big tank (3T of water alone, bet tank will wiegh 1T itself) but if needing a lot of rads in an old unisulated house or high DHW demands u may be right enough

I've got the above insulated sheets on my garage and they're really good with no condensation on them, unfortunately put 2 insulated skylight sheets in, cost a fortune and designes for using with these sheets condensate like crazy. Look at some of the new mini/micro water treatment plants, the run off can go straight into a burn and no need for alll the soakaway sytems with a normal sceptic tank. For ur cabin i'd be looking at the common sense stuff like running ridge so roof is facing SW to catch most sun, the solar thermal water panelss are meant to work pretty good and work well with any of ur heat pump systems as they struggle to do Hot water. if ur going for a heat pump system possibly UFH as it works better with the lower temps than radiators. Big windows in south/west facing sides and not so much n north side to gather sun heat. Even a mechanical heat recovery system to move any excess heat from ur stove/living room/kitchen into other parts of the house

Cheers callum, dunno when u put ur boimass in, RHI was originally 12p for domestic when it first came out down to about 7p now. As i'm stripping house right to masonry and insulating they will likely give me the new build EPC so get little allowance. I think they estimate heat load per m2, for an old house it about 250kw/yr/m2 but only 50ish fore a new and 5 for a passhaus. Way i see it the now the extra 10+K could be spent on other things or would buy a lot of electricity/oil. In fact in the life of the boiler it may not pay back esp with oil prices so low at min. The more i look into it the less sense it makes financally in both short and long term, but interrested in wot other users think

I'd get a few prices first but make sure ur sitting down. I'm about to start renovating an old ruin, was going to put a Boimass system in but not any longer, for a large 2 bed house u were looking at 12-14k just for the LGB and thermal store and some pipe work but not any plumbing. The RHI is not worth claiming now for boimass, couple of renewable 'experts' i've spoke to recently wouldn't even quote for a boimass system even with me having free fire wood and were on;y intrested in Heat pumps. Also from wot i have been told ur looking at 1-2 services a year so 2-400+ quid a year. Know of 1 farmer who it has cost him a fortune to fix as the previos owner never cleaned or serviced it right. How are those who have LGB finding the servicing and maintenace? Anyone had any major repairs yet? And wot age is ur boiler? I'm now probably going to go to an old fashioned back boiler log burner system, probably with an oversized accumultor tank so will have hot water next morning for heating. Plumber say's it should not be any bother but i'm using UFH. I'd consult a decent plumber and possibly renew ur stove with a higher KW and put an oversized insulated accumulator in. Interested in wot some of u say that have Boimass in, really far too expensive and it seems to complicated for me, all these fans and sensors to get an extra 10% effeciency which is all ur really gaining over a log burner/back boiler. Worried about servicing costs and future breakdowns with it