Vedhoggar

England is the most densely populated country in Europe so percentage per 100,000 doesn't count for much ... not enough housing, food has to be imported as no longer sustainable, not enough dentists and so it goes on. One migrant yesterday was moaning that the centre he was being held at was like a prison, I would have thought prison was the place for anyone entering the country illegally and not being put up in a £150 hotel room at the tax payers expense which no doubt he had been expecting.

It is plain to see that the asylum system is not fit for purpose and our taxes are being squandered on dealing with illegal immigration. Labour will want to see the back of Suella Braverman no doubt because she will win back the support of many Red Wall voters which has been lost.

With regards to small machinery such as chainsaws, strimmers, log splitters, circular saws, mowers, hedge trimmers, generators and so on we use Aspen 2 and Aspen 4 as well as sometimes other makes of Ethanol free fuels, we also though use E5 (5% ethanol fuel) but never E10 (10% ethanol fuel) and don't buy petrol with ethanol in it if its not going to be used within a month. Ethanol free fuel goes into all machinery not used regularly and E5 goes into machinery used frequently. Ethanol can be bad for engines if left in too long as it can cause corrosion as well as attracts water which leads to all kinds of problems. We have had problems in the past with some machinery relating to fuel which has caused downtime and increased repair costs but the thing is savings may not be obvious within a 3 month period.

By the sound of it there is not more than about 25% sound wood at the base of the tree plus open in several places also the decay might well have extend into root system. The tree you think would not hit a house but people use area within striking distance of the tree at varying frequencies no doubt. All things considered if low pedestrian frequency in the facility of tree then probably broadly speaking it might be considered an acceptable risk, this could be made less of a risk if height of tree was reduced but for peace of mind you might considered removing the tree all together and be done with it which would be my preference if it were my tree. It looks like the tree may have been initially damaged by a garden fire then a pathogen moved in causing decay. I wouldn't have thought permission to remove the tree would be an issue. My best advise would be to remove the tree.

We just hope that there's an exclusion zone now around your place because of risk of fire-borne radiation release! In 2009 10,000 tonne of contaminated wood pellets was withdrawn from the Italian market - the pellets were from Latvia, contaminated wood from Belarus has thought to have also been exported to Europe in the past. Briquettes, BBQ coals as well as firewood from Eastern Europe have been found to have high levels of radiostrontium, that plus a minimum wage of about £2.89/hr (average for forestry £5.88) for Latvia probably has something to do with the price level however if you were to purchase loose firewood from a local supplier rather than bagged from Homebargins it is likely to be cheaper as a pallet of kiln dried birch logs from Homebargins costs £349.99 for 64 bags (<30l each bag), so possible not more than 1,920 m3 stacked or about 3.34m3 loose which would work out at about £105 per loose m3 which is not more than some local producers are selling hardwood at furthermore as the wood from Homebargins is birch and if local firewood sold was beech, ash or oak as well as sycamore you would get more kWh of heat from it as well.

A bit of a learning experience for those climate protesters then, they might come better prepared next time and not expect others to mollycoddle them.

I would say £145 - £150 is about what you ought to be aiming to make as a minium if you can.

There might be a split in the fuel pipe.

Possibly Brewer Spruce Picea breweriana check out needles and cones if any, might just be Norway spruce, they can be like that.

You are correct, I didn’t put it across correctly in initial posts. It would be 5% on just the firewood and either 0%, 5% or 20% on just the delivery depending on how delivery is treated. Thanks

Ref VAT Notice 700/24 which covers how to apply VAT to delivery services ... if delivery free or cost built in then VAT would be 5% on firewood, if a surcharge for say delivery outside local area or there are different delivery charges base on radius from base then the additional charge for that delivery would be 5% in the case of firewood. If delivery is treated as a supply separate to that of the goods or you deliver someone else's firewood then standard VAT charge 20%. Those not VAT registered can treat VAT as a taxable loss.

If you state a charge for deliver then there’s another 20% on top of the 5%, so 25% more expensive than someone not vat registered.

Roe deer love young willow shoots but sometimes just browse on the side that they cannot be seen from so other side gets away, they don't seem to like alder though I've noticed. I've seen sheep seriously damage newly planted willow to a point it had to be all guarded.

If trees have been previously pollarded re-cut as before however if new pollard the cut height will be influenced by how far deer and/or livestock can reach, if not fenced off from livestock that is, plus another 30cm from cut as regrowth might be below cut surface. For roe deer 1.2m, fallow deer 1.8m, cattle 2.1m and up to 3m for horses, all plus 30cm.

That machine I would have thought is worth £650 - £800

Can't see pruning birch as described is going to make much difference, would be better in my view to remove tree if seed and leaves a problem for owner however it does looks like the tree has a weak union at the base of and is a car park area so work proposed might be considered as remedial work although it ought to be pointed out to owner that pruning the tree is not going to make much difference with respect to seed and leaf fall and that the tree will throw out new shoots. It seems a good year for birch seed this year in places so might be perceived as more of a problem.

Erected a shed to store small tractor and associated equipment about 16 years ago using 6 secondhand well creosoted electric/telephone none of which have so far show any sign of decay but they were not concreted in, they stand in in crushed stone 4-6 inch size in the bottom and 2" down at the top. Sawn Douglas fir boards 12' x 6" were used on sides show and no sign of decay either, the boards where treated at the start with clear Cuprinol and fixed horizontally with slight overlap to shed rain water however it was probably a waste of time treating the Douglas boards as not in contact with ground.

They are selling from 476 SEK/loose m3 (£37.77/m3 loose) unseasoned firewood delivered in 6 to 120 m3 loads (presumably the headline price is for 120m3 load). Price for 2m3 large sacks of mixed species, mixed lengths, variable moisture content and variable split dia from 580 SEK/m3 loose (£46/m3 loose). 40l sacks (probably 46 x 70cm) of 30cm long seasoned birch from 88 SEK/sack (£6.99/sack)based on 42 sacks per pallet.

Felled ash within a shelterbelt running alongside a public right of way about the same size recently, the owner marked everything with 50% or more ash dieback and obtained a felling licence to clover the removal of those trees and a bit more. All trees marked were removed in one go. No planting, operation treated as thinning. All firewood removed down to 10cm.

That’s a lot of bad luck, life is so unpredictable, you are all safe which is the main thing, could have been a lot worse …. hope the rest of your break goes smoothly without any misfortune.

“Never” is meaningless with inflation at some point in future it will be £2.50. The cost of fuel at the moment just doesn’t need to be any higher, it is a government decision as the government has full control over the price with fuel duty 29% of cost and vat 17% of cost, which combined is more than cost of petrol to supplier, the retailer only gets 2%. The cost of the biofuel element is 7%. So each time a hike in the cost of fuel the government makes more money out of it from vat, they need to cut the price of vat on fuel and cut duty.

Only if a limb ‘b’ or ‘a’ worker, which are not in business for themselves, you wouldn’t expect them to have their own kit and vehicle.

A contractor could be self-employed or have the status of a ‘Worker’ or even be an employee if work for somebody but employed by an agency (see employment status on gov.uk site for more details). You would not provide PPE for a self-employed contractor however you would need to though for a ‘Worker’ as you would with an ‘Employee’ to comply with HSE at work regulations.

Have a look at Stihl MS 261 and MS 362. Not familiar with Husqvarna saws these days but others might suggest suitable saws within their range. It’s useful if you have a good local dealer.

Because not enough information, don't know if stand previously thinned but probably no thin by the sound of it and 50% thin might be 50% vol or 50% of stems also if marked might be marked to favour best stems to be left. Don't know age of stand either but if it was YC4 dbh won't have thought 25-30 cm at age 30. Too many unknowns, I would get out and measure it personally.