For previous years archive features, click here.

Skyline in the Park
I had arranged to meet with Dewi Williams at a site he was working in Northumberland National Park. The park is the northernmost national park in England and covers an area of more than 1030 square kilometres between the Scottish border in the north to just south of Hadrian’s Wall.

Learning the ropes (and much more besides)
Why on Earth would a forestry contractor want to climb trees?
I had been invited to fly to Ireland by TKF training to observe forestry contractors on two very different training courses. Landing at Knock Airport in County Mayo was a first for me.

TMPS Trevor Mawson Plant Services
“If you don’t try something, you’ll never know if you can succeed.”
Over 800 years have passed since King John bestowed the Barony of Westmorland upon his loyal nobleman Robert de Veteripont. A proportion of the Crown’s significant Cumbrian forest estate was included in the grant. Known as Whinfell Forest, whether the area existed under that name previously is uncertain. It seems that the earliest existing record concerns the formation of the barony.

Grinding Innovation
A big mouth that eats everything
Twenty-two journalists from twenty- two leading European magazines, and nine Vermeer dealer representatives from ten different countries, came together at the first Vermeer EMEA International Environmental Press Event, which was held on two sites in Belgium and Vlissingen (Goes) in the
Netherlands.

The Fate of the English Oak
Disease or decline?
Oak decline has been around ever since the first Quercus acorns germinated on English soil and grew into mature oak trees.

Landmarc Support Services
Making use of the army’s timber
West Tofts Camp lies north of Thetford in Norfolk. At 1200 hours, the camp’s military barrier lifts. After the car registration is noted, driver details logged and cross-checked, to be held forever on a visitor database, Ross Guyton whisks me off to his office in a nondescript halfdome Nissen army hut.

Giving posts the full treatment
Making Sitka last, and overcoming changes in legislation
Anyone remotely connected to the treatment of wood will have been affected by changes introduced in recent years to the regulations regarding the withdrawal of CCA (copper chromium arsenic).

Logsplitters
There’s no need to wield the axe…
For reducing logs to firewood quickly, efficiently and with less effort than conventional methods, a logsplitter is a must.

South West Woodland Show
Some 1300 visitors and over 70 exhibitors gathered at Longleat on 9 September. The day began with the ‘breakfast briefing’. Focussing on the future of forests in England, Confor’s breakfast briefing saw a panel consisting of Sue Holden, chief executive of the Woodland Trust, Stuart Goodall, chief executive of Confor, and Simon Hodgson, chief executive of Forestry Commission England, answer a range of questions selected in advance from those suggested by Confor members.

A postcard from the South Tirol
A look at four timber-related industries in this German speaking corner of Italy. The South Tirol is an unusual area. Formerly part of Austria, it was handed over to the Italians at the end of the First World War.

Three Stihls
A look at the MS 261, 261C and 362
It seems to me that time passes and things change; it’s always been that way, it’s just how you cope with it that matters. I lament the passing of many of the things that gave life a happy familiarity.

Born to the Woods
Work hard and make the best of your chances
Mark Filer (36) is the third generation in his family to work in the woods and he openly admits that if it hadn’t been for his grandfather, his dad and an awful lot of good luck he wouldn’t be where he is today.

East Brothers
Go slower, get extra yield
Leaving the M3, the road from Winchester to West Dean on the Hampshire/Wiltshire borders is narrow and quiet. Fields of ripening wheat and miles of broadleaf woodlands in full leaf are interspersed with cottages huddled around successive village greens.



Root and Branch
Rohan Yeomans, forestry and firewood merchant, was asked to fulfil a rather unusual order. An order to supply timber for watercourse protection was the perfect opportunity for forestry contractor Rohan Yeomans to put his recently restored County Super Six to work.

Trailers and Cranes
With so much choice, there’s sure to be one to meet your specifications…


Fired with enthusiasm
Systems that pay for themselves, and bring neglected woodland into management. Will Barden visited the 2004 edition of the APF Show with a specific objective – to learn more about biomass. He explained: “After gaining a National Diploma in Forestry at Newton Rigg Agricultural College, Penrith, I joined Mark Sigrist’s Aspen Tree Management team at Witherslack in Cumbria before setting up on my own in forestry.

The Ae Demo
“Must dash – there’s a demo over at Ae,” I told a friend in Dumfries. “Oh, I saw the signs,” he said. “What are they protesting about?” No, it wasn’t that sort of demo. This was an opportunity for John Deere, Komatsu Forest, Ponsse UK and Tigercat to show off their harvesting
equipment.

Makita 9010
No frills, but all in all a very good saw
Some people seem to take pride in using only one saw for everything. The nett result is that butt logs often have wood ripped out of their hearts, thus losing value from the sawlog. Of course, for some the value of the timber is of no consequence, as they are paid to remove the tree. But increasingly people are looking at ways to increase their income to cover overheads.

Political Suicide
Never again will politicians in Germany make the mistake of selling off any of the state forestsMore than 11 million hectares of forests cover 31% of Germany (figures from the German federal government’s forest report of 2009).

A Better View of Beech
A native species that nevertheless suffers ‘ethnic cleansing’
Common or European beech (Fagus sylvatica) is a bit of a conundrum. As one of the last broadleaf deciduous trees to colonise after the ice age, beech trees should be well equipped to withstand some global warming; and as well, if not better, than birch, sallow, aspen and Scots pine which was the first to colonise the cold wet tundra that covered Britain after the ice receded.

Terminator
Dow Agri & Forest Ltd has been appointed as UK distributor for Mus-Max Terminator chippers
A wealth of experience in mechanical engineering and a reputation for
excellent service resulted in David and Ann Wood being awarded the
UK distributorship for the Mus-Max range of Wood Terminator chippers.

Among the Surrey Hills
In the most heavily wooded corner of England
Forest Enterprise is the custodian and keeper of England’s public forest
estate and one of its roles is to act as the timber and wood production
arm of the Forestry Commission.

Hold on Tight
HSM’s ‘on-line’ approach to steep ground harvesting and extraction
Charlie Paterson was first in the UK to purchase an HSM 405 H2L 8WD
harvester, which he set to work on a steep/wet site near Dalmellington
in Ayrshire in 2008. It proved to be an impressive machine on the steep
ground.

Leconfield Estate
Prize-winning woodlands
From the hilltops within the Capability Brown designed Deer Park surrounding Petworth House, the view north across the undulating
Sussex West Weald at the end of this late midwinter afternoon is an
opaque cigar-smoke mist that curls across the lake, over the boundary
wall, dispersing among the oaks of Pheasant Copse that were given an
award by the RFS in 2010.

Milverton
A lesson in sustianable living
Sustainable is a much used and abused word but absolutely spot on
for the timber and wood processing operation at Milverton Sawmill
in Somerset, some 8 miles west of Taunton, where sawmill director and
hands-on worker Philip Chambers, together with his brother Richard
and father Alec, run a ‘sensibly’ sustainable operation with the right
checks and balances.

Ahead of the Crowd
Our annual roundup of the harvester head market
As our tables show, there is a tremendous amount of choice for anyone
looking to purchase a harvester head these days. With felling diameters
of between 50cm and 90cm, and 3-knife versions to 6-knife versions,
there is a model to suit every situation.

Logosol Big Mill
An easy way to reduce big timber on site
It is said that what comes around goes around. The days of the estate
sawmill have long gone. In their heyday nearly all wooded estates had a mill to provide work for staff during wet weather, and to produce lumber for home use. Sadly, today most estates have been broken up and the new owners are often not into managing their woodlands.

Sawmills for the people
Laurence Hakes wants to populate the world with sawmills. But first we need a revolution… LPH Associates have a long history in the sawmilling industry and offer their customers the complete package through their broad range of machinery and years of knowledge at the sharp end.

Lumbering Jack and Forest Floor Responses
Dear Editor
Your insulting and offensive portrayal of a health and safety inspector as
a Nazi (Lumbering Jack, Forestry Journal, November) not only grossly trivialises the suffering of the millions in the Second World War, it also fundamentally distorts the work that regulators do with businesses on safety.
Reply from the editor
Firstly the charge that the cartoon, “Grossly trivialises the suffering of the
millions in the Second World War.” What rubbish!

View Lumbering Jack Cartoon
View Forest Floor Responses

The Ramorum Conundrum
Phytophthora ramorum continues to pose questions
Phytophthora ramorum, a fast moving pathogen of trees and shrubs, was originally classed as a fungus but is now considered closer to the algae. P. ramorum is thought to have arrived from North America where it was killing native oaks in the Pacific North West, but there were two strains.

Long Live the 365
There’s a Luddite in all of us!
I have always been in the fortunate position, save for the first few months of my career, of not having to buy second-hand chainsaws. In the 1980s when I began felling, the saw most of the people I worked with used was the Husqvarna 266, usually the SE version and later on the XP, but even back then there were a few cutters who preferred the semi-pro Husqvarna 61.

Out with the old
And in with the not so old
It gets easier taking things apart with a bit of practice and so the third time we removed the Lokomo’s Clark gearbox it took us less than two
hours. A chat with the Clark specialist at ETS and a series of exploded
diagrams from the Emerald West website made us approach the job
with a renewed enthusiasm.

Danse Macabre
Phytophthora ramorum in Antrim: “This is far worse than BSE or foot-and-mouth ever were.”On November 5, looking south across the 1,000-acre Cleggan Estate, Broughshane, 285 acres of oak, beech, European larch, Japanese larch and hybrid larch spread autumnal colours down the mountainside into the valley below.

Tanzania
Community forestry in Britain is a long way behind
Why are some African countries so good at community forestry but hopeless at running effective forest departments? And what are the lessons for us here in Britain?

Ponsse
Einari’s legacy
The last time we were at Ponsse was in 2006. Much has happened since
then. The company has evolved – this year is its 40th birthday – and
has added new products. And of course, in the interim we have all been through a recession.

Duchy Timber
As one would expect of a business bearing the name ‘Duchy’, the 13-acre Duchy Timber sawmill at Lostwithiel, established in 1958, is pristine. In the retail area to the left of the entrance, bespoke gates, benches, picnic tables and massproduced tree stakes (made on site from Douglas fir sourced throughout Cornwall, Devon and Somerset) stand proud in beds of clean timber chips, corralled by mass-produced posts and rails.

Upgrade or renovate
I thought I was being clever; I had two forwarders that were almost identical, an Ösa 250 and an FMG Ösa 250. One was a steady reliable machine that had just had all the pumps renewed or refurbished and the other was a more powerful version that had had all its faults ironed out and a good modern crane fitted.

Ever Inventive
A posse of British journalists, Forestry Journal among them, was recently invited across to Germany to see how Stihl chainsaws are made. Stihl, which remains a family owned firm to this day, was founded in Stuttgart in 1926 by Zürichborn Andreas Stihl.

Castle Howard
Carolyne Locher visited the estate to see for herself multifunctional forestry at work
Set in the Howardian Hills AONB near York, Castle Howard is the location of the television and cinematic adaptations of Evelyn Waugh’s ‘Brideshead Revisited’ and one of the UK’s most visited privately owned estates.

Made to Measure
A lot happening at Logset’s factory in Finland
All the major harvester/forwarder manufacturers were hit by the recession, and Logset were no exception. But their research and development department didn’t let the grass grow under their feet during the quiet period. Now, with a full order book and their factory back to full
staffing levels, they are ready to release the fruits of their endeavours into the marketplace.

The King is Dead
Long Live the King!
My title may well seem an odd way to begin a report on a new chainsaw but it is appropriate. A new breed of engines, using cuttingedge technology, is heralding the process of consigning more familiar piston port engines with relatively simple carburettors to the history books.

Bog Hopper
Like so many places, Finland has its share of difficult woodland terrain. There are a lot of trees on moorland, which is passable only in very severe winters.

Elm Tree Products
John McLeod explained that before an accident, unrelated to forestry, left him a paraplegic as a young man, he was well established felling and winching timber for local contractor George Langstaff in County Durham’s woodlands.

Interforst
Interforst 2010 took place in Munich from July 14 to 18
Interforst is always a big event. Once again it drew over 50,000 visitors to the Munich Trade Fair Centre over the course of five days. Coming from 80 countries, they made it a truly international gathering. They came to see 410 exhibitors, 128 of which came from 24 countries outside Germany.

Three Generation Game
A penchant for thinnings, and an affinity with water.
It is clear from meeting and talking to Simon Burns that he is a larger-than-life character and a man that is passionately committed to the forestry industry.

Inflating Profits
Low impact vehicles and tyre pressure control
The seminar, held on 23 June at Perth Racecourse, was organised jointly by Forestry Civil Engineering and Roadex, which is a trans-national collaboration to disseminate and implement roads management related information, practices and innovation gathered under previous
stages of the project.

El Forest
The future – the hybrid powered forwarder, with fuel consumption of 7.5 litres an hour
To quote Mr Noel Gallagher of Oasis: She’s electric. She’s in a family full of eccentrics.
She done things I never expected. And I need more time…
I first saw the hybrid forwarder prototype on a ‘research stand’ back at Elmia Forest 2005; it caught my eye, but then seemed to drop from the limelight.

Abandoned for Christmas
The FC attempts to grow Christmas trees
Whilst on a day out at a steam fair in Carno, Powys, in 2009, I got chatting to some locals who told me of an ‘interesting’ project being carried out in the area by the Forestry
Commission.

Forest Floor
Dear Editor
A recent Forestry Journal article by Dr Terry Mabbett warned of, “The destruction of our hard fought for home grown timber industry,” as a result of restoring heathland for wildlife. But the reality is very different.

A voice from the Woods
The first chainsaw I ever used was a big old McCulloch and the occasion remains vivid. It was not one of those early primitive prototypes, nor was it one of the current toy varieties,
but something in between.

 

Chipper Roundup
Not just chips off the old block, but some new ones too!
Our annual chipper review seems to get larger and larger, as wood chippers become an essential piece of kit. Whatever your needs, from simply wanting to reduce the volume of green waste through to mass fuel production, there will be a machine to suit.

Cowdray Estate
“Trying to operate forests in the way it should be done – not simply cashing in by returning
the area to heath!” It was said in the late fourteenth century that patience is a virtue.

A Step Ahead
"Where others stop we start"
Extreme conditions give rise to unusual solutions, and if you live in Switzerland, you are likely to find yourself working on steep hillsides much of the time.

Coppicing
Coppicing is an ancient and seemingly brutal form of tree and woodland management.

On the road to Damascus …clearing conifers along the way!
Big bucks were needed to bribe Third World countries not to clear rainforest and kick-start the Copenhagen conference. Prime Minister Gordon Brown was right up front with billions
of UK taxpayers’ pounds in his pocket, while back home conifers were still being felled for heathland and with FC blessing.

Hovingham Estate
A forest that is neglected is worth nothing in monetary terms.”
The Worsley family has owned the 1225-hectare Hovingham Estate in North Yorkshire since 1593.

Tread carefully
Do your tyres get the attention they deserve?
Tyres are an important component on a forestry machine. Their performance is closely related to that of the machine, and for optimum results the tyre has to be able to perform well when the machine is operating at maximum capacity.

End of an Era
A sterling workhorse – and old technology has its advantages.
Husqvarna has quite a reputation in making chainsaws, and when the softwood chainsaw gangs were in full flow, Husqvarna reigned supreme.

Trailers and Cranes
From small specialist trailers to larger models for professional logging contractors.

Portable Sawmills
Some old, some new, and all very mobile. We take a look at what’s currently available.The Alaskan Mk III chainsaw mill is a method of converting timber into valuable planks and beams using an ordinary chainsaw.

Timber, Trees and Apple Pie
Wasting vital resources and opportunities, playing meaningless games. The Forestry Commission is restoring ancient fruit trees and pressing apples for juice in Wyre Forest.

Continuous Timber Production
Commercial acumen at Bolfracks Estate. Bolfracks Estate nestles in a scenic Perthshire valley close to Aberfeldy. Its 1600 hectares are given over to organic farming, fishing, holiday accommodation, hydro-electric generation, and it also has renowned gardens which are open to the public.

Lumbering Jack
A play what I wrote, starring Jack as the Hunchback of Hornbeam Castle.
Tis a chill wind tonight, Ma lvolio, and it bloweth from the north Wise is he who knoweth which way the wind bloweth, Sire.

Touching Wood
Evidence suggesting the use of a hacksaw…
In a previous article I described how my old but tidy Ösa 250 forwarder has been a hard working and reliable piece of kit. This was either tempting providence, challenging the laws of Murphy, or that piece of alder that knocked me sideways.

Forest Research Update
Jim Christie attended the winter 2009 update, held in Aviemore on 12 November
The attendees to this update were welcomed by Steve Penny, Research Liaison Officer (Scotland), who explained who Forestry Research were, what they did, where they were located, and how they were funded.

Heads up
Our annual roundup of offerings from the leading harvesting head manufacturers
Technology appears to be the main area of advancement in harvesting head design over the past few years, with significant advances in hydraulic systems and computerised control systems.

FCA News
Donald Maclean tells us what the FCA has been up to lately – and adds an update on apprenticeshipsThe Forestry Contracting Association is active on many fronts. Here we have a brief resumé. Online membership directory The FCA is in the process of revamping its online directory. With the current directory not all members are entitled to have an entry, and those who do have only a simple lineage entry.

The Ramorum Conundrum
Recently found for the first time in conifers, Phytophthora ramorum is on the march
Six years ago Britain came face to face with an alien plant pathogen which threatened to change the landscape on an even greater scale than did Dutch elm disease three decades earlier.

Lumberjills
70 years after the start of WWII we take a trip down memory lane
So desperate was the need to maintain timber production in Britain during the Second World War that not only were lumberjacks brought across the Atlantic from Canada and Newfoundland to help fell trees, but thousands of young women also took to the forests to replace the native loggers.

Trial by the Tyne
The lowdown on the showdown on the quayside
Following multiple visits by ten different HSE inspectors to his small rural sawmill at Wingates near Morpeth in Northumberland, owner and operator David Troup could be forgiven for thinking the next inspector would be ‘Jacques Clouseau’.

Forwarder Roundup
Further refinements to existing machines and a number of introductions to the market
Although the trend in the UK is clearly for 8-wheel models, issues of ground impact and soil conservation mean that 10-wheel models are now being introduced to the market. Other interesting developments include lightweight and hybrid machines, both of which were on show at this year’s Elmia Wood Fair.

Well Hard Hat
New job, new problems… I always expect this to be the case and the Crow Wood contract is proving to be similar, but different.

Decline and Fall
To use a modern term, it seems that ‘joined-up thinking’ is at last being used for the benefit of all who have an interest in trees and forests. To this effect, the Royal Forestry Society, Forestry Commission and Forest Research have combined their efforts to produce a diverse, interesting and highly educational meet; it seems that this was the first in a series of such events.

A Whiff of Luxury
The truffle ‘industry’ is surrounded by mystery and intrigue and this aura is probably maintained by the high prices paid to ‘hunters’ of these ‘free’ underground mycorrhizal
mushrooms. This year, the midprice (per kilo) of Summer Truffle is £150 and the Périgord Black Truffle £800.

FEG
The Forestry Engineering Group’s annual symposium: engineering energy from forest lands.
The Forestry Engineering Group held its annual symposium at the Newton Rigg Campus of the
University of Cumbria, in Penrith.

Lots of Timber
Hilary Burke went along to watch the hammer fall at the Lincolnshire Firewood Auction.
Just after 11 o’clock in the morning on a Sunday in early September, auctioneer Robert Bell brought his stick down on Lot No. 1 in the Lincolnshire Firewood Auction.

Tree Shelters
Carolyne Locher takes us through our annual round-up of products available.Tree shelters, first trialled by the Forestry Commission to protect broadleaf plantings in the early stages of growth in the 1980s, are now accepted by the global forestry industry as an aid to the establishment of conifers, broadleaves and hedges.

Northern Ireland Forest Service
State forestry across the Irish Sea has a very different history from that in Great Britain

Swamp Oak of the Deep South
(South Wales that is!)

A Sheltered Past
A ‘potted’ history of three decades of tree shelters





An Inspector Calls
I was first visited by HSE Inspectors Dr Stephen Britton and Andrew Mulligan in January 2008. Following their visit I was informed that a prohibition notice was to be placed on a ‘trim saw’ as it had no brakes.



Sweet Heat
John Atkins set out to create a supply of woodchip from local trees for energy generation in commercial biomass boilers. Based at Amery Court in the village of Blean near Canterbury in Kent, his company (CE Murch Ltd) is working to this goal by integrating resources, skills and experience from farming and forestry.


Gone with the Wind
The severe storm that hit the coastal forests of south western France and north western Spain in late January this year felled as much as 70 per cent of the pine trees in parts of the coastal Aquitaine region, south of Bordeaux.





Clinton Devon Estates
Clinton Devon Estates’ new woodchip enterprise is helping make sustainable sense of its forestry operations. As you meander up the long drive with landscaped parkland on each side towards the Rolle Estate Office, the HQ of Clinton Devon Estates (CDE), you’d be forgiven for expecting to be signposted to a small manor house or some other aged building that’s been part of this Grade 1 listed landscape for centuries.

ElmiaWood
This event, held, as ever, near Jönköping, is huge, and you really do have to be there on all four days if you are going to get round the whole show. The number of exhibitors was slightly down on the 2005 show (by around 40) but over 46,000 ‘unique’ visitors passed through the gates over the four days, and the atmosphere, as always, was buzzing.


The root of the problem
Forest owners and managers may be forgiven for becoming increasingly confused over the long heralded benefits of stump harvesting. When a tree is felled a large proportion of biomass remains in the ground.





Certified
The Forestry Commission’s woodlands are certified as complying with the UK Woodland Assurance Standard (UKWAS). This sets out the requirements which must be met by forest and woodland owners and managers in order to obtain certification, and has been endorsed by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Therefore the FSC label can be displayed on products from FC forests.

Joining Forces
It is a long way from Warwick to Inverness and Fuelwood’s Richard Slatem chose to break his journey halfway – in Northumberland. He took the opportunity to drop off the company’s demonstration model of the Transaw 350 firewood processor with Kenny Dobson and Stephen Wills of Forest Machine Services (FMS).

The Lumberjack Trail
During the dark days of the Second World War this wood was one of many throughout the country, and indeed the rest of Britain, that was logged by members of the Newfoundland Overseas Forestry Unit. The unit had been formed in 1939 after a dramatic appeal from the British government to many places throughout the world, including Newfoundland, for experienced forestry workers.





Harvesting Hardwood
Felling chestnut with a Viking harvesting head is an approach Graham Saunders would not have been pioneering had an unfortunate change in family circumstances not forced a career review. Many would say it’s a job that should be left to the hand cutters if you want it done well.

ICF Conference
Timber, Mutton or Fuel?’ Debating the economics of land use and forestry.
Richard Ogilvy, President of the Institute of Chartered Foresters, opened the 2009 ICF National Conference in Cardiff by painting a picture of his train journey to Cardiff as a perfect backdrop to the conference.

It takes all sorts
Having just turned 70, Maureen Tucker is not your typical log dealer… Maureen Tucker has, as they say, many strings to her bow. She’s a farmer, a relief school bus driver, a mother and grandmother and, for the past couple of years, a log merchant. This is a bit of a surprise to many people who meet her.




Research Update
The Forest Research annual update was attended by some 25 delegates who were welcomed by the morning session chairman, Steve Penny, Scottish Liaison Officer for Forest Research. Steve reminded the delegates of the wide range of information that can be accessed through the FR website www.forestresearch. gov.uk and encouraged the use of the advanced Google facility to help search for specific items of interest..

Further Education
Carolyne Locher takes a look at some of the courses available.
2009 will see changes taking place in some forestry and arboricultural courses. New diplomas in landbased studies are being trialed at specially selected educational establishments in September..

Loch Ness Monsters
On the north west of the Great glen, sitting like dark shoulders above Loch Ness, are some of the earliest Forestry Commission acquisitions and plantations, with Inchnacardoch and Port Clair dating back to the 1920s and the very inception of the FC.




Klaus Ravages les Landes
On 24 January les Landes was at the epicentre of a storm which has left behind it a picture of desolation reminiscent of an earthquake. In some areas, Hurricane Klaus brought winds in excess of 170km/h, causing immense damage to the timber which had already been suffering under the ill wind of the credit crunch for some months.

Trust - A tale with a moral
Trust is often lacking from the world we live in. In fact timber merchants are often blamed for raping the woodlands, and where woodlands of beauty and value exist, a forester often receives praise for excellent work in the forest, whereas in fact most of the work was done in those woodlands generations before the forester set foot in them. It has been my privilege to work in the forests of Wales.

Woodwise The view from the sharp end - Do it all
For many, many years now I’ve had a thought growing away at the back of my brain. It usually starts when it’s bucketing down on some dreadful site; the fire keeps going out and productivity and profit are draining away as fast as the water is running down my neck.



My Two CEN/TS Worth
Woodfuel standards in the UK. The following may be dry as a ship’s biscuit, but I honestly believe that, if you can choke it down, it is all that most people in the forest industry will need to know to be able to start working with the new CEN standards for solid biofuels

The UK Nursery Industry
Looking in particular at the ConFor Nursery Producers’ Group. Given the significant strengthening of the euro versus sterling, UK-grown nursery stock now offers vastly greater value for money when compared to imports, an advantage that is combined with the many other benefits of using homegrown stock.

Stourhead Estate
The case for continuous cover forestry
The Stourhead Estate has been owned by the Hoare family since 1717, and during that time there have been many changes to its management.




To lease or not to lease?
That was the question at the Scottish Forestry Forum in Edinburgh. A dark December day of howling tempest and torrential rain, the slough of financial despondency surrounding us all, and a principal speaker with a sore throat, did not augur all that well for the Scottish Forestry Forum, held at the Capital Hotel in Edinburgh, but a surprisingly upbeat mood pervaded what was an interesting and stimulating day.

England has a Plan.
A five-year plan for England’s woodlands was launched on December 15 by the FC and Natural England. It has been drawn up in conjunction with over 100 organisations representing woodland owners, forestry businesses, conservation bodies and local communities.


Pocket Power Pack
The Forcat goes diesel. In May this year Forestry Journal carried an enthusiastic report by Ed Robinson on the Forcat skidder who considered it well able to fulfil the Canadian manufacturer’s claims, and offer the buyer a costeffective lightweight machine, with exceptional manoeuvrability and pulling power.


Privatising the Nation’s Woodlands
A proposal to lease out a quarter of Forestry Commission Scotland’s estate has sent shock
waves through the industry and beyond. It looked quite innocuous and unremarkable at first sight when it was released on November 4 – another consultation paper, this one concerning climate change.

Foresters Diary
By eleven o’clock, we were getting tired and thirsty. We had left the main house at six, and had set out onto the vast, rolling plain before sunrise, which, when it came, was muted and hazy. Before long the promise of fair weather had given way to a high blanket of thick, grey cloud.

Timberdown
How to make a profit in thinnings
Nobody expects the Timberdown NH-1900 harvester to add significantly to the growing stacks of timber that are lining the roadsides in our larger coniferous forests. After all, it is no heavyweight.




Husqvarna 346XP
The Husqvarna 346XP always was a bit of a starter saw – a very plain small saw with no pretensions and frankly not a lot to offer. At 45cc it was just a tad short on power, and, despite good handling and light weight, it was condemned to mediocrity by being that little bit underpowered.


Scotland ROCs
Many in the forest industry were taken aback by the remarkably short window of opportunity for applications to the Scottish Biomass Support Scheme (SBSS) last year, but the Scottish Executive proposal for a banded Renewable bligation Certificate (ROC) scheme for woodfired electricity generation has hardly rompted any comment at all.


Valtra’s Automatic Choice
A new line-up of tractors, a new name for Sisu Diesel, and an insight into what sort of diesel engine you will be driving in a few years’ time. Valtra have added additional models to their N and T series, and also added a brand new five-model S series at the top of their range.



Confessions of a Woodman
Part two of the reminiscences takes us to Low Dalby.
1977, and I had spent five happy years at Ganton, but as my life has always been since leaving Hull, I was ready for a move and a change.


Tyre Pressure Control
Working smoothly, under less pressure
There has been a great deal of publicity surrounding the merits of tyre pressure control systems for use within the Scottish timber haulage sector.


The American Dream
A windblown site at the north end of the Isle of Skye, a contractor from Aberdeenshire, timber being shipped to southern Ireland and the harvester hailing from Wisconsin…




Revolutionary
Forestry Journal recently attended the second John Deere Forestry global press event, which included the revealing ceremony of John Deere’s new E-series wheeled harvesters and forwarders.


Woodwise - The view from the sharp end
Chainsaws, don’t you just love them? Well, I do. I’ve lost count now of how many I’ve owned over the years, mostly from the same orange stable though. I have tried other makes but somehow could never quite get on with them.


The KWF Tagung German Show
The KWF Tagung is a big show, which is to be expected, since forestry is taken very seriously in Germany. It attracted some 43,000 visitors, who came not only to see the various stands – there were over 500 exhibitors – but also to take part in seminars and to take a ride on a minibus through the nearby forests to see various demonstrations.



Capel Celebration
On April 25 and 26, the two hottest days of the year so far, Capel Manor College hosted its sixth Celebration of Trees. The Celebration, sponsored by Husqvarna, is the first event of the show season in the arboriculture and countryside industries’ calendar.

Men of Knoydart
If you have never heard of it, get your road atlas out and look for Inverie, Knoydart. To make it a bit easier, look for the fishing port of Mallaig, approximately 30 miles west of Fort William, and then run your finger north across the Atlantic for a further 6 miles.

Confessions of a Woodman
Late summer, 1972. I was just about to make a move that would change the whole of the rest of my life. As it was such a big move you would imagine I could remember the date more clearly. Well I can’t, so there you go.

 

On the dot...
There’s plenty of room in the new Valmet harvester cab. Valmet addresses some crucial areas in its product range.In the middle of last month, Valmet invited the international forestry press to a snowy Umeå, in northern Sweden, to view the latest additions to their range.

Meeting the Minister
The meeting with Michael Russell MSP, the Minister for the Environment who has responsibility for Forestry, was arranged by FCA Chairman Donald Maclean in response to the frustration felt by both himself and the membership regarding the failure of ConFor and the Forestry Commission to recognise and consult with the contracting sector of the forest industry.

Chippers - Market Round Up
Woodchippers vary in size, from machines that can chip large diameter roundwood with outputs of over 100 tonnes per hour, to the small, hand-fed chipper for dealing with arboricultutal waste. Chipping can be carried out at any stage – on site or at a fixed location, but there are many features to consider before buying.

Timber Market Report
Global uncertainty, peaks and troughs – and an urgent need for the Commission to start doing what it was meant to do in the first place. In a ‘normal’ year the UK forest products industry eases into the Christmas period with a slackening of demand before gearing up for the spring upturn.

To Hell and Back
Sitting in the office of his Essexbased contracting yard, just off Junction 7 of the M11 – not a place best known for its forestry – John Fish, owner of Treewood Harvesting, is a man who (at age 48) is finally at ease with himself and the choices he has had to make.

Railway Cutting
On 18 March GreenMech held a launch of their new Multi-Task 120 unit which features their patented Safe-Trak technology. As launches go, I have been to a few but GreenMech take some beating, as they never fail to put on a well planned and interesting day for their guests, and this one was no exception.