
Amarus
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Cost of planting young trees etc
Amarus replied to Midpit's topic in Forestry and Woodland management
Anywhere between 30p to £1.5/tree depending on site conditions, planting design and protection installed (i.e. 30p for neat conifer and £1.5 is installing 1.8m tree shelters on top of planting). Mulch mats are a waste of time and material to be honest, not to mention the impact on maintenance. Don't bother. Labour cost is probably around 70p-£1 depending on material, number of pegs etc.- 6 replies
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Who buys Norway Spruce and Thuja in the Southwest?
Amarus replied to Paul73's topic in Forestry and Woodland management
If it is reasonable quality and quantity you could try John Jenkins at David James. Link to last year's auction: Just a moment... WWW.CHARTEREDSURVEYORS.DAVID-JAMES.CO.UK He could do with some support, to be honest. -
This suspiciously sounds like the piece of land next to our office somewhere in Devon! My guess, if the FC does decide on a prosecution and slaps a restock notice on the entire area felled then your acquaintance could make a case to plant an alternative area at least equal to red line boundary of the new development within the same county. As the whole area is under an acre, EIA rules most likely would not be triggered. Some details on restocking notices are here: Appeal against a restocking and enforcement notice - GOV.UK WWW.GOV.UK Some further reading on recent case law: Restocking Notices under the Forestry Act 1967 and their relationship with the planning regime - No5 Barristers' Chambers WWW.NO5.COM R(Smar Holdings Limited) v Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs [2024] EWHC 2034 (Admin) Key take-aways: It is lawful to impose a requirement on a tree... I don't think the presence of a restocking notice would be game stopper for a planning permission but the cost of expert advice on how to navigate these waters might be substantial. Your best bet is calling the local WO for an honest chat. Most of these people actually try to help, if they can, particularly when they are being approached proactively rather than after the event. The fly in the ointment is, however, the most likely overzealous application of the new BNG rules. Even if the FC says we aren't bothered the council bods might take a very different view: The site was green up until very recently, trees are now gone, suspiciously right before the planning application went in therefore we assume it was the most valuable woodland that ever existed, go and compensate.
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Log burner recommendations
Amarus replied to Rustington's topic in Log burning stoves and fireplaces
We are running two Heta Inspires 45 and 55 and cannot fault them. The larger one is on every day between October and April and apart from one door rope replacement there were no problems at all in the last 5 years. They do push out some proper heat, very simple to use (multifuel, if that matters) and in my view, look neat and clean. HETA Inspire 55 / 55H | The largest wood burning stove in the Inspire series HETA.DK Inspire 55 is the largest wood burning stove in the Inspire range. The panoramic view of the flames and the delicious materials make it suitable for both classical and modern decor. Beforehand, we had a Morso Badger, can't go wrong with that one either; it does look a tad bit more traditional but could come with some styling options. -
Felling license on land I don't own
Amarus replied to Mark Wileman's topic in Forestry and Woodland management
I would definitely go for a felling licence, it covers you if someone makes a noise about your tree felling. I gather you are in Wales, felling licences tend to last for 2 years only while thinning licences are valid up to 5 years. If the land is in England, on top of a standalone licence (valid for five years) you can either create a small woodland management plan (attracting no funding) or apply for a woodland management plan (WMP) grant as the threshold has been lowered to 0.5ha (albeit RPA has not yet cottoned onto this last time I checked). A (small)WMP comes with a 10 year licence and opens up the door for some further grants. -
Yes, I am, and most of the industry are saying hand felling of ash should be the absolute last resort and not the default approach. See any of guidance from FISA, FCA & Arb Association. While HSE does not provide statistic in relation to accidents caused by ash specifically there has been a marked increase in fatalities in the last 5-8 years where ash played a part. I am sure this could be proven (or disproven) if one would have the time to dig through these reports. Coupled by the fact around 80% of RIDDOR accidents happen within 2m of the tree being worked on due to the shower of branches as the others already pointed it out. Before anyone claims they are happy to fell ash that seems to have a healthy crown, the Austrians did several (somewhere over 100) pulling tests on their ash trees around 8-10 years ago having been blessed with dieback for quite some time (certainly longer than the UK at that point) and concluded that there is no correlation between tree/stem/fibre stability and crown retention. Everybody is free to choose their own way of dealing with this; under my watch there is not going to be a chainsaw anywhere near an ash tree unless there is no other way.
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Without knowing which part of the country you are in, it is hard to answer. In the SW I would say around the £50/t mark is about right for the top end as the others say but a lot depends on site conditions and tree sizes etc. If it is not as straightforward and/or a small area with lot of constraints etc., you might not get much more than £20-25/t or even less. The thing that concerns me is the no harvester element, effectively the owners ask the cutters to risk their lives for what exactly? I would not entertain looking at ash trees without mechanised felling and rather walk, to be honest. Ash trees do kill people.
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Robina spreads mainly through suckering from the roots and extremely rarely from seeds. Sowing pieces of roots or destumping and ripping the existing roots with a subsoiler are practised by commercial Robinia growers on the continent. If you feel adventurous, you could try shaking up the roots around the stem to see what comes up to bolster your hedge.
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Varying a woodland management plan
Amarus replied to Paul73's topic in Forestry and Woodland management
Let's not even go there regarding the FC's current crop of new officers. All I would say, back in the days there used to be one officer across most of Wiltshire, most of Somerset and South Glos. Nowadays, there are at least 6, one or two positions being always vacant. Level of service is not 6x better... They are suffering from the paying peanuts and getting monkeys symptom. It is not the poor officers making, I blame the people who put them in there. Enough of this, actually when you get to know them most are very pleasant to work with as long as you know their limitations. If you have not come across, this might offer you some help with roading: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5b3611b1e5274a0bbef01fb2/ON025-ForestRoadsandTracksv1.0issued110809__1_.pdf You have not been told the right thing about the WMP - it is a working document and you are expected to change it. The only thing that is cumbersome (not impossible) to alter is the licences, the text bit is flexible (within UKFS), you can change it any time and send it over to the WO. I wouldn't worry about your plan not being valid anymore. You don't need a new licence, you want to change one of the restock conditions which can be done via email exchange. Th FC can stack licences (multiple, different licences on the same plot of land) just don't like doing it. Mainly because 9 out of 10 of them have not got clue what they should do with it. Track down your woodland officer here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66339adf4d8bb7378fb6c16f/1203_WO_boundaries_index_map_England_V2.39.pdf You can then work out their email as [email protected]. (N.B. don't use shortened names i.e. Rob is always going to be Robert.) Appalling, if you ask me. -
Varying a woodland management plan
Amarus replied to Paul73's topic in Forestry and Woodland management
Paul, Your first call should be to your woodland officer. Some variations regarding restock species are allowed in like for like situation i.e. one broadleaved tree species for another. If you have already felled the area then it might get stickier as an enacted licence cannot be changed. Depending on what the WO says, you probably only need to change the management plan wording and don't need a new licence. Potentially, CBW and natural regen can be married on the same site as the former is planted in a very wide grid allowing space for the latter. As for the track, to put it bluntly, you only have permission to build what you have included in your application to the council and nothing else. You can either ask for a variation (I have not done it for a woodland application but for my residential PP it was about £25) or submit a new permitted development notification (£180?) for what you want to do now. You have to send a prior notification to the council about the development you believe falls under the forestry exemption and if the council doesn't tell you otherwise within 28 days then you are good to go. It shouldn't be an onerous job but it really depends on the planning officer. -
Interesting read- Brewdog forest in Scotland
Amarus replied to richyrich's topic in Forestry and Woodland management
As usual, a load of crap from both sides of the fence. It is clear, the writer has an agenda and nothing else matters and the planting didn't go as planned either but calling a less than a year old planting a failure is a bit premature. Judge it in year five, perhaps. The comments are very typical of armchair experts touting a load of rubbish. -
The previous thread has been referenced already but some more pointers: FC guidance which sends you to the NE page. If you have not done it already, check all the documents you can find on this site when you search for the name of your SSSI. Find out why was it designated as an SSSI and what the reports are saying about the condition etc. Read the VAM (what NE would like to see) and ORNEC (what do you need consent for) documents. The most important thing, however, is getting in touch with NE.
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What will an ash woodland look like in 10 years time?
Amarus replied to 5lab's topic in Forestry and Woodland management
What did 5lab say? No public access and no other targets. The FC has no say in what NE will allow on designated land and their view is quite clear if no safety issues are present. One could potentially achieve a different result if justified correctly but that takes time, effort and a lot of money. -
What will an ash woodland look like in 10 years time?
Amarus replied to 5lab's topic in Forestry and Woodland management
I did say technically. See Sites of special scientific interest: managing your land - GOV.UK WWW.GOV.UK When you need consent for a proposed operation or management change on land in a SSSI and how to apply. I have not yet heard anyone being actually taken for a ride as such but the powers are there. If NE want to make an example of someone they do have the means. Given how the media focuses on green issues and knowing some of the zealots in NE personally this risk would be too much for me on top of the ash problems but others might have different appetite. -
What will an ash woodland look like in 10 years time?
Amarus replied to 5lab's topic in Forestry and Woodland management
If you read the previously mentioned research on resistance and survival rates what you are looking at is less than 5% or 1% of the 80% to be alive within a matter of years. Would you be really happy to let your children play in an area that is full dead ash, playfully known as widow makers? The alternative is to fell/clear this ~80% and replant with something else; your children will get the experience watching it to regrow. The problem with that in the first place: It is very relevant to NE, I already linked the guidance. NE will not give you any other licences than thinning as you don't have any H&S related targets (as you alluded to it) therefore they will not allow you to do a lot as the mythical resistant ash might reside in your wood. To sum up, you are looking at a dying ash woodland (80%) with no heavy machinery access on a steep slope that is a SSSI. You need to have some deep pockets to turn this into something else. There are a lot of good points amongst the replies overshadowed by some really unbelievable answers. As I mentioned before, talk to real professionals. Most agents do offer a free initial visit, speak to one of them in your area: Advisor Directory | woodlandadvisors WWW.WOODLANDADVISORSGROUP.CO.UK PS the attached is looking at some ash in the Cotswolds. Can you spot the problem?