Alan Smith

Not only rope or winch to pull over but a good stout ratchet strap round the butt on anything over 7 or 8 inches diameter, they'll Barber's chair in a heartbeat.

Interested in how you plan to hitch the trailer to the digger, I can see a few options.

Sorry to hear about this. Aberdeenshire loons always have a good work ethic.

I tried to go down this route. I had an old Lister/Petter diesel saw bench that I adapted to run a hydraulic log splitter. It was woefully underpowered and didn't really work. The biggest issue however was arranging a clutch as it was impossible to start the motor with it connected to the hydraulic pump. I still think it could be made to work with maybe a decent 3 cylinder Yanmar or similar mounted on a trolley with maybe it's own hydraulic pump and spool valves etc. and a PTO shaft.

Personally I would go for a portable capstan winch like an EDER or Portable Winch Company. Much easier to lug around compared to a heavy Tirfor and it's even heavier cable. Like all things it depends on what you are pulling but 90% of my hung trees/windblow clear ups etc are done with my small Honda powered winch. Having said that I do have a Tirfor for those heavy situations but that's usually for shifting a really heavy tree.

Yes, in this situation before I have had a degree of success bending up the metering needle lever. You might find you need a couple of goes at it but it can work.

For sure. Some business entrepreneur needs to set up a Pine Marten breeding project. Grey squirrels are totally out of hand and fewer landowners seem to be doing anything about it.

Thank you Oaklandmaple, that's a useful resource.

Thanks for the suggestions, sorry I've been a bit lax on replying, been fully occupied at the moment. Doobin, we're just outside Ardingly. Have got a digger on site so could give that a go thanks. Rich, yes it's a native but for some reason it has just taken off over these last 10-15 years. Always fancied having a few pigs in the woods but I've probably got enough on my plate to cope with that as well! Farmer types around here don't seem to do livestock, they drive Range Rovers and multimillion harvesters!

Afternoon, new member here although have been a longtime follower. I manage 40 acres of woodland in West Sussex and I'm currently looking at starting to control non-native or invasive plant species with a view to improving the general condition of the woodland. There are three plant species I want to target, Rhododendron, bamboo and pendulous sedge ( Carex pendula ). There is plenty of information regarding Rhododendron control but I'm struggling to find anything with regard to large scale control of the sedge. This is very wet ground, bottom of a river valley, however even in higher, drier areas the sedge has become highly invasive smothering native plants and making natural regeneration of trees very difficult. Has anyone got any experience of this issue or any other words of wisdom?