Slad

I get to use my helmet without gagging. (I could probably have phrased that better 😁)

And we have a winner! 👍 And keeping the old one indoors somewhere warm too. Thanks all.

Ok, I'm probably not going to get many sensible replies, but I thought I'd ask anyway. My helmet stinks. The black webbing inside the helmet (not a climbing one) sort of smells of mildew from all the sweat. I wash everything but no joy. I'm guessing it's because it stays in an unheated garage and festers. No mushrooms yet, but give it time.. What do you lot do, or do you all smell of roses?

So, I did some extra work over a weekend and put it towards the 12" Husqvarna T540iXP. Couldn't get a Bli200X for love nor money, so went with the bigger Bli300 (9Ah) battery. (And the Q330 charger) Thanks very much for all your suggestions. I came very close to the Stihl 161 + charger + 2 x batteries which would have probably been cheaper but wouldn't have made me as happy. And I'm glad I bought the 300 battery. With the wind the other night, we've has some trees down. The saw got a good workout (so did I) and I flattened the battery by the afternoon. 200X battery might give it short term extra grunt but being able to cut for longer is more important to me as it turns out. Lovely saw, it rips through wood super quick. Definitely something to use with caution - it feels like a toy compared with my 20" cheapo POS but cuts as fast/faster. Nice and "quiet" too.

Thanks for all the comments. Are the warranties on the Stihl any good? Will they cover repairs to the oil pump? @gand - Do all the new ones have the Upgrade kit as standard? The T540iXP looks really good but it's got two problems; it's out of stock everywhere (which says something) and really expensive for me. The T540iXP is about £770, the Stihl about £500 - £270 difference. (That's another battery, a few beers and a bunch of flowers for the Mrs...) Scratching my head now. Sell a kidney and wait until next year, look at the Makita 36v or something else. Is there anything else? Something that will cut as fast as the Stihl

A mate has a 10 year old Husqvarna on its first battery and it's still really good so I'm thinking of getting a one (for tree work and for quick jobs where I don't want to fire up my petrol saw). The makita seems popular here but looks a bit slow compared with the Stihl 161 T and the Husqvarna T535. The Stihl 161 T + battery + charger seems to be about £500. The Husqvarna T535 + battery + charger seems to be about £600. I'm leaning towards the Stihl but haven't used one. Has anyone used one and is it any good? Is the other one worth £100 more? That's only a tenner a year over a decade but still... (Stihl? 😁) What do you thinnk?

1% marketing? Thanks for the pic - "rubber/vegetable oil preparation" anyone? Google is showing me pastry recipes...

Sorry if this is a numptie question, but what's in biodegradable chainsaw oil please? I'm sure I'm not the first, and won't be the last, to wonder whether cooking oil would do. I ran out of "proper" oil and because I was using a cheapo DIY chainsaw I used rapeseed oil. There was still oil left when the fuel was gone (so it wasn't too thin) and the fling was no worse than than the Rotatech biodegradable I had run out of. It's much cheaper too (and I don't have expensive chainsaws yet so probably won't make a big difference to me if it doesn't work). So I'm wondering now if they add something extra I don't know about which is important. Anyone know?

Yes, we got an email with an apology in it a few days ago, which looked like a grown-up had drafted it for them. The excuse was basically "we phoned the previous owner who didn't tell us they'd moved but they still gave us permission". Which I think is complete nonsense. Then they tried to say that they hadn't climbed the trees, which is a bit odd, given the photo of them carrying climbing kit and the gaff holes which appeared in the trees at the same time. Basically they are still not telling the truth when all they needed to do was be honest and say they'd made a mistake and we could all move on. So they've been banned from our place for the foreseeable and there is a complaint going through BTO. Interesting to see if they close ranks or handle it properly.

No. I'd sent the photos and a list of what they did. I guess they sent their excuses. 🙄

Just heard from the Police guy dealing with it that they don't give crime numbers because offences under the Wildlife and Countryside Act are not recordable, but that they are looking into it. They've contacted the other lot.

It's gone a bit quiet. The thing most people would do would be to come round and apologise. They have our contact details so I'm not sure if they are too ignorant to apologise, or have been told to keep quiet while they are investigated by the BTO (the people who license them). The thing is, before we knew they were with the GRMG, we reported them to the police. So now the Rural Crime Team are involved too. And now they are in trouble twice, all because they were too lazy to do the right thing. Sometimes "sorry" is enough, but right now I hope they find another hobby.

Perfect, but I think probably too expensive for us. That's what I'm playing with at the moment. We've got 200m 14mm polyprop (about as "dynamic" as you'll ever see - I'm sure you could use it for bungey jumping) in a loop with swivel and pulley at both ends (polyprop is another word for "likes to tie itself in knots"). I'm pulling the loop tight with two double pulleys (no decent anchor close enough) and tying that off. Then as Woody P says, jumbo bags or cargo net at each end with the full one pulling the empty up. I might use an ID to control the decent or just let the ground slow things down - the anchor at the lower end has a slight rise in front of it. What could possibly go worng... 🤠 If it works, I'll look at maybe getting a better rope and really like the look of those capstan winches too. In budget and multi-purpose.

I see your point, but that's my timber/firewood we're talking about here. It has value to me, and also to the birds, which prefer living trees to nest in. A throw line might disturb the birds, but probably less than being picked up, lowered to the ground, weighed, measured, ringed and raised back up into the nest. I think how the climber gets to the nest is going to be insignificant compared to what comes next. You'll have seen my comments about ladders; it's not easy. But if you care enough about wildlife to ring it, you should care enough to do the job right.

I feel the same. There is online discussion on the benefits of ringing. Given that everyone has a camera of some sort these days, why they can't they do it using pics and pattern matching? They can do facial recognition on people wearing masks and identify whales by their fin shape and patterns. Why not birds? Especially if you use a cheap £30 drone. One quick session and the birds are just scratching their heads wondering what it was, rather than scared (and planning to move house, in this case). I have an 8m ladder I used to fix the trail cam and it was a bitch to carry. But I carried it and a 4m foldable and could have reached the lower branches easily - that's what I bought the 8m one for in the first place. Thanks for all the comments on spikes; I'll forward that on to the people who are in charge of the ringers. They will always see the birds as being the priority and they need to know there's more to it than that. I think they ring the way they do out of habit and it's time they had a re-think on whether it's necessary and if it is, how do do it without impacting on other species of living things (including the landowner! ).

Do you mean that you would prefer to use a ladder and/or a rope to access the tree, rather than spurs?

Like any good Soap Opera, you're going to have to wait until next week to find out what happened next. Until then, can I ask a noob question please? I want to get my facts straight before talking with a few people. The trees we are talking about are mature pines; trunks more than18" at chest height with branches starting about 12' from the ground. They are living trees. Questions for the experts: 1. Is using spurs on living trees harmful? (I think I know the answer to that one, but I don't know how much) 2. If you were going to climb one of these trees (and you aren't going to be cutting anything) would you normally use rope or spurs to ascend? 3. ...and what is the Industry recommendation? (Because the rules and what people actually do are sometimes different 😉) Many thanks!

Hopefully we won't need to go down that route. As to the identity of the climber, the name I was given matches the same person here - can you spot him? The person who gave us the names also told us that they had also barred them from their property because of their behaviour.

In case you're interested, social media has turned up a couple of names. Everything been reported to the police and we'll see what they make of it. I'll post the names after speaking with the police. Let's just say there is a local raptor club which is going to get its wrist slapped...

Thanks for all the comments. There are gaff marks up both trees - they have climbed on two separate occasions. The footage is indeed very clear - flips lines, full kit and the woman is clearly carrying spurs which I expect you could identify by brand, the footage is that clear. I agree that going to the local Rag might just give the position of the nests away and I don't think anyone wins when a journalist gets involved. Likewise the local Raptor group; I've been in contact with them all along and they've been badgering me for a grid reference - but the Mrs doesn't want strangers coming round. Yes, and also you get some people in these groups whose "passion" borders on extremism. I want to know them before I give them any further info. Especially since they were useless when I asked for help. It's all a bit "take take take" and then 'thank you bye' and silence. Yup. That's what I reckon too. I think you are right. I think these are ringers from the local raptor group who were informed of the birds and were too lazy to get permission. Or had permission from a previous owner but were too lazy (and impolite) to pay a courtesy call before climbing. So we're going to put the pictures up on FB etc and find out who they are. Then let the rural crime team know. Then we're going to contact the body that issues the License and point out that if these clowns have a license, they are not following the policy (I've checked) and have already scared the birds from one nest and again from the second. So, they're bad at ringing, ignorant and disobeying their own governing body's policy. And about to lose that license. If people like these idiots upset all the landowners, then all the bird ringing stops and the birds they are supposed to be interested in lose out. Trespass isn't a crime though, so what could they be prosecuted for? Damage to trees?

This woman appears (IR photo) with binos for a good nose around. Then two of them stroll in, bold as brass a bit later. Anyone recognise any of them?

Thanks Patrick. I'm thinking something similar. On the DNA; you can get a license to disturb nests and licenses to have chicks/adults. I've seen how dog chipping has been used by the bad guys so wouldn't be surprised if someone's worked out a way of "laundering" chicks. In other news, I had a trail cam covering the approaches which I recovered last night. Who would like to see the pictures of the illegal climber(s)?

Yes, mature trees and both climbed. You're right; they are very big and plenty of branches to make things interesting. Anyone got any ideas how to make the climb more difficult?

Good point and thanks. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to look after them and I'm fuming that someone has trespassed and done them in, but being able to do at least some work in the Summer would be helpful.

Looking at your picture, the slope is only 1:1 in places, the rest is less steep than your 1:1.45. For that, the local farmer can get his very large, very wide tractor + mower up most of it, but it's a beast and I can't afford one. I agree with you about it not being drivable though. Getting pros in is a good idea, but I want to do as much myself as possible. I could get them in for a bit and learn from them, but I'll never have the cash for the pro machinery. AHPP - yes, that's the sort of thing I was thinking. Unless it's for milling, the wood can be cut so it isn't too big. Googling Norwegian reeve now