jimboy

The excavator strike sounds the most reasonable cause. Ditch in front of the tree possibly being cleared out by excavator, with the digger operator bashing on regardless of what branches they take out. If there had been no ditch and damage a lot lower down I was going to go for road traffic collision but clearly not.

I don't think these beech trees were ever planted as a hedge judging by the spacing. I had a situation like this a few years back when a customer's garden was shaded by a thick/ line of beech hedging/trees of similar height, and she applied to the council under the High Hedge (Scotland) Act 2013 to have it reduced. The case went to the Sheriff Court where the owners of the hedge/trees pleaded that they had a need for it for peace and tranquillity and haven for wildlife etc. Upshot was the sheriff ruled that a gap of eighteen feet could be cut out in the middle, with it reduced to six feet in height, but the remainder on either side was to be left intact. Cut the middle section down to six feet, leaving an angled cut raised towards the highest branch. Looks bloody silly mind. Admittedly there was a lot more side growth on this hedge but there was plenty regrowth the following year. At the end of the day, reduce your trees to the height of the fence behind, and consider further planting in the gaps. And now is a good time to do it with plenty of rain about to aid regrowth.

I don't know about Asian Hornets and I certainly don't want to meet one. My arch nemesis is the common wasp - last time I was stung I took an allergic reaction having been stung too many times before. Face and neck swelled up. An ice cube on the sting cools it right down but needs repeating every 10 minutes. My response to wasps is ANT powder. A quick scoosh near the nest polishes them off. One old dear I was doing a job for was going to be charged £75 for a thirty second job by a pest controller. Quick squirt of ant powder into the nest followed up by a blast from the leaf blower and it was all over for the stripey beggars.

Hi Peds, thanks for the info to keep the berries in the mix. Only my second year brewing flavoured alcohols so still learning. Unfortunately I have been 'testing' the sloe brew so only two litres left which I will now put aside. Same can't be said for the blackcurrant vodka and red gooseberry vodka which have all been polished off.

Apologies for opening an old thread, just wondering a couple of points. There is a lovely patch of blackthorn on open ground near me. We has a six week dry spell up here in April/May2023 (or was it an our summer) which was unusual as it rains every day. Anyway the endmost sloe berries closest to the tips were going the same way as the earlier photos. Nature prevailed however and it chucked it down with rain every day for the remainder of the year and the berries fattened up beautifully. I made the mistake of trying to avoid picking them for as long as possible and in the interim, someone else noticed the berries and had the majority away. I was lucky enough to salvage enough sloe berries to make three litres of gin. First, how did everybody else get on with their sloe gin, and second, I only started the mix in December. I have sampled it and it tastes great, and now just wondering when i should decant the berries?

I have the plastic Blackwall composter which the council gave out free years ago. Best result I had was when i had eight cans of well expired Guiness and poured some onto the compost heap. Checked some time later and the red brambling worms were sitting waiting or more drink and fresh material. Compost that year was great. Previous to getting a composter bin, and in my first house, the garden was overgrown, so hacked everything back and skimmed weeds to leave bare soil. The ground was solid, so I visited nearby stables and got a dozen bags of fresh horse manure. Placed the manure in a pile n the middle of the garden in full sun, and covered it with plastic sheeting. Overnight steam started coming out of a hole in tine plastic like a mini volcano and after a fortnight the pile of manure was a third of its original size. Moved the manure aside and the ground underneath was full of lovely worms and really friable and easy to dig over. Got more manure and did the same to the rest of the garden and saved myself the backache of trying to smash the ground with a mattock. These days I compost woodchip with a plastic sheet in a similar fashion and top dress the flower beds in the autumn. Works really well.

It looks very similar to a Kawasaki KHT600S hedge trimmer which was an excellent machine before they were discontinued under the Kawasaki badge but live on under the Mountfield name. Only problem I ever has was the spark arrestor screen getting fouled up with carbon due to using too much two stroke oil in the mix.

Once you had spent your hard earned dosh on your new bike, consider security and insurance. Would you leave a pile of cash sitting on your doorstep under a brick and expect it to be still there when you next look out? If your bike gets nicked, - and there is a very good chance that it will happen, don't expect plod to get off their fat ar*e to help. Take photos of your new bike, including the serial number and consider additional markings to help identify it. Now my experience of plod and stolen bike goes like this - One morning I was working in an enclosed garden with a single gate access, cutting a high hedge, when a young lad poked his nose in an signalled that he wanted to speak. He was pushing a very expensive looking mountain bike. He offered me the bike for £50 and when i said I had no cash he dropped the price to £20. Eyed the bike again and realised it was someone's pride and joy, so told him I got paid for the job at 1pm and to come back then. The lad agreed and shot off. Now have you tried phoning plod- forget it -on hold for half an hour. Gave me time to google the bile which cost over £2500. Finally got through and told my story and was assured plod would attend. At 12.55 I heard two-tone horns from cop shop several miles away. Surely not i thought as i saw the lad cycling furiously past the bottom of the street. Five minutes later plod squad arrived with full disco lights and tunes and their first words were 'Where is he?' I can't repeat what I said to these a**holes. Argh -Why did I waste my time. Now go ahead and get yourself a bike but you have been warned.

I have found Sioen make excellent waterproof ( high viz) coats and jackets. Good value for money. I have had my jacket for several years, my only disappointment was that I mislaid the removable inner fleece. Sioen workwear is available from NorthSeaWorkwear.com

I had similar issues but on a hedge trimmer. Changed spark plug and air filter, and it ran for a short time then started to bog down before stopping. Took off exhaust and cleaned out a filthy spark arrestor screen (size of half a postage stamp) and it runs sweet now. You might want to consider that.

Not falling for this argument. Use a pile of chip instead then. I did say earlier I was a new newbie but I like to consider different ideas.

I am maybe picking this up wrong but I believe all you are looking to do is lift the bag up another 18". I admire all the technological ideas, but what I would do is build a small bund to the height of the van and run the machine up. I place two thick slider scaffolding boards on the floor of the van so once a bag is dropped inside, it can be pushed along on the sliders without ripping the bottom out of the bag. Hope that helps.

Hi, i am a newbie to your site so please go easy on me. I have viewed this site for over ten years and found it to be invaluable for learning how to repair chainsaws etc,safety issues, great for the discussions, pilfered jokes from sickipedia etc, and have even been fortunate enough to have met some posters, most notably Big J when he showed me around his wood processing plant at that time near Kirknewton, Scotland. Anyway the reason I am posting is that I have just noticed that the original poster for this post, Martin Kellerm seems to have paid scant heed to everyone's advice .....and is now advertising the wood on facebook for £595. Sure he is going to get a great response