The fourth-largest island in Scotland, Mull is well known for its beautiful landscape and incredible wildlife. It is also rich in forestry, enough to support Hugh Duffy’s harvesting business for over three decades. However, working this land requires real determination and, where machinery is concerned, a certain degree of trial and error – as James Hendrie reports.
HUGH Duffy is heading for 54 years working in forestry and with his son Iain, who himself has been clocking on for 27 years, runs a successful clearfell timber harvesting company based on the Scottish island of Mull, only venturing off the island sometimes when, as they say, work gets a little slow.
Hugh set up the business in 1987 and Iain joined him in 1994, becoming a partner in 2010. Iain still has vivid memories of joining the business.
He said: “I started with dad in May 1994 at the age of 15, though I remember being with him at work in the summer holidays before that, clearing ditches and paths of branches. However, after I left school I was learning the forwarder and saw until the Forestry Commission (FC) stopped me for being underage. Then I was helping the winch crew set up and doing a bit of chokering. Some private estate work came up and I was once more allowed back on the forwarder. Eventually turning 17, I was back on forestry sites.”
This was at a time, as Iain explained, when a system was in place where you could work as long as you were under constant supervision. The FC got involved because there was some confusion at the time about the age for working in the woods and because he was a contractor’s son. Iain eventually did do his tickets with an instructor and gained his initial experience working with the main felling squad of the company.
Hugh started working for the FC on Mull in 1967 and had quite a lot of different experiences with them, as he outlined. “I was 17 when I joined the FC and in 1968 I started doing thinning work with a Pioneer 650 power saw and a 2.5 pound snedding axe,” he said. “The Pioneer 650, compared to today’s saws, was very clumsy. It was near impossible to sned with it because of its weight. There was also a lot of vibration and it was difficult to start. Today’s saws even have heated handles and decompression switches.
“Doing thinnings, we worked in pairs. I then progressed to clearfell for skylines. The FC at the time used Chapelhall winches and clearfelled using a Falstone skidder. I was on the saw all the way up to 1987. Periodically, I did planting and other small forestry jobs. The initial training was three weeks chainsaw instruction with the Pioneer and axes and then after that another one week of snedding with smaller saws.”
For Hugh, joining the FC was a no-brainer as, back then, it was one of the main employers on Mull. He saw it as a steady, well-paid job (besides which, he’d always wanted to fell trees). Due to Hugh’s involvement in forestry, it was all that Iain ever knew when he was growing up and for him it was a natural step to follow Hugh into the industry. Iain also has fond memories of being with his dad at the National Tree Felling Championships.
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These events were initially held across Scotland, but latterly in Ae forest in Dumfries. Hugh won the competition twice, which was no mean feat, considering what was involved: “You had to directionally fell two trees in thinnings, then put a pin where you thought the tip of the tree would land. Then sned a log and crosscut it and then sned the rest of the tree out to 16 cm. You then had to crosscut it again and sned the remainder out to 7 cm and cross cut into 2 m pulp and stack it. If you were 1 mm over you lost one point and if you were 1 mm under you lost 10 points. The fastest and most accurate would win.”
The fact Hugh won the competition in 1981 and 1984 is even more remarkable given that he had a heart attack in 1978 and he was told he would not work in the woods again.
He said: “The heart attack was quite a big one, but I returned to work after one year and was back to working a saw two years after. It was a slow, painful process. Through the pain, I eventually proved them wrong.”
It was this determination that led Hugh in 1987 to go self-employed as a harvesting contractor with a hired Lokomo 909 forwarder and 10 cutters. He still has great memories of the Lokomo 909. “It was six cylinders and had plenty of drive and crane power, but it was a ridged centre joint with an osculating front axle with six wheels. That made it a very awkward machine to drive. That said, it carried 10 tonnes and it was a good machine in its day, but it was prone to breakdowns.”
The cutters were all local men who Hugh trained up. Before working for him, they were mostly unemployed. He initially started with five, but this rose to 10 cutters at the peak.
Hugh well remembers those early days: “I initially hired the Lokomo and then a Norcar 480 forwarder. Sadly, with older machines there were many breakdowns. The first forwarder I bought was a Valmet 872K. After that, it was a Rottne Blondin forwarder and soon after a Rottne bed processor, then a JCB with a felling head. This was the start of the reduction in manual fellers. It became inevitable that machines would take over. Felling was such a physically demanding job and pay was piecework, so men could make as much at the fish farms. So I think it was a bit of both that caused the reduction in manual fellers.”
The business has continued to evolve since those days, but still with the aim of working on clearfell sites on Mull. Father and son have both noticed a change from when they started out, mainly the move to mechanisation.
Both hold similar views about the need to produce every week. For Iain, the business now is “less fun” than it was when he joined it.
He said: “There are a lot fewer men now, a lot more expensive machinery and a lot of paperwork. There is a lot of pressure to produce, while work rates have not changed in the last 30 years and that makes it less fun and enjoyable for me. Fundamentally, it is still the same job, but it is a very lonely one when you are in a machine up to 12 hours a day without seeing anyone. As for the rates, they are probably less now than we were getting 20 years ago, but the machines are so efficient that we are cutting double what we were a week back then.”
Hugh also made the point that, operating on Mull, they have many wildlife constraints, which make the jobs harder.
“Wildlife has become a huge part of our business,” he said. “They dictate to us when and where we can be on the island on a monthly basis. The biggest one is the white-tailed eagle. There are more and more every year, so it is becoming even more difficult. The newest challenge is the freshwater pearl mussel. They are even more difficult to deal with because of the zero per cent pollution. We currently have three coupes in this year’s long-term contract (LTC) that we cannot access because of eagles.
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“It is not unheard of for us to have to stop or not to be able to start a coupe because of the strict times of the year when we can cut within a certain exclusion zone. You wonder why Forest and Land Scotland (FLS) choose these coupes.”
Adding to the challenge of running a forestry business on Mull are the weather and the land itself.
“Because of the weather conditions and the topography of the west coast of Mull, we have a lot of variety of ground conditions, from peat all the way to steep rock,” said Hugh.
“Mostly though, it is the constant rain that is making the job even more difficult. FLS are very strict on trying to have zero per cent pollution. This is, in my opinion, impossible to achieve while driving 45 tonnes around a hillside or bog.”
The team has made use of many different kinds of forestry machinery over the years.
Iain said: “When I started in 1994, dad had two Rottne machines. One was a forwarder and one was a bed processor. These were both good machines, but as they were older there were a lot of mechanical issues with them. He also had an old Igland skyline winch. Not long after we got our first Timbermaster winch, then a second one. Around 50 per cent of the LTC was skylining.
“We change machines regularly to improve our fleet and maintain the output necessary to make it pay. Also, a lot of the time, we were just trying to find the best combination of machines for Mull. Over the years, we have tried a few different makes.
“We have had a JCB 814 with a Pika 600 head. This was a progression from the processor, but it was early days for harvesting heads. We experienced many problems with cracks and breakages. We also had a Caterpillar 320 with Lako head, which was a great combination of digger and felling head. Finally, we have had the whole range of Timberjack or John Deere models with varying degrees of success, including a 1210, which had many breakdowns. The 1410 was better, but we experienced many broken rear differentials. The 1510 that we got was our first brand-new forwarder. It was only the second in the country with a revolving and levelling cab. It was a great machine and we really liked it. In fact, we ended up having two of that model.
“We only had the 1710 model on demonstration from John Deere. We had two, in fact. We never actually got around to buying one, for one reason or another. I remember thinking that they were expensive, but then we managed to get the 1910 which is basically the new 1710. It was much better and quicker and the extra cost was worth it. We have had four or five 1910s and we have found them to be twice the machine of the 1510 in various aspects and not as clumsy as you would think. Our 1470D was our first brand-new harvester. It was a great machine with lots of power and speed, but it completely fell apart on the 6,000-hour mark. We also had a Tigercat H855 harvester which was a good machine but it didn’t have extensions, so it was limited.”
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Currently, the company operates a single John Deere 1910E and a Tigercat LH845 with a Logmax 7000Twin, supplied by Treetop Forestry. It also have a Doosan 18-tonne High Track with skidder winch attached to the boom.
Iain said: “The Tigercat LH845 and 1910E both suit all the different sites we have here on Mull. With experience, these are what we have settled with. The smaller 1510 was a good machine, but it broke often and was just too small for Mull. However, we have found through experience that the John Deere 1910E is the best machine for us. It has wider and longer bogies with good ground clearance. It has good engine and crane power. Like most modern machines it is designed with operator comfort in mind. Although it is a big machine, it has better ground pressure so it is good in soft conditions as well as being good at climbing.”
Iain is full of praise for John Deere. “They have always been good to us and will offer us a demonstrator if a new model comes out. This helps a lot when choosing our next machine. We have not looked back since getting our first 1910. It is a great all-round machine. Great at climbing and actually good in soft ground. In addition, Treetop Forestry has been excellent in delivering and helping us run our Tigercat harvester. We have had a few models, but are happy with our current LH845 with Logmax 7000Twin head. The Tigercat bases are very strongly built and have good reliability. Also, the Logmax has become a strong head. It is maybe not the fastest, but they are steady and that suits our timber size.”
The firm’s speciality is clearfell sites and Hugh reckons they can cope with most of the sites on Mull, though at times they need to employ the services of the Doosan DX 180 High Track for its tracks or to skid on steep banks. They have an LTC that is a 15-year commitment between Iggesund and FLS, meaning they have a good amount of work ahead of them. Also, with new machinery, Hugh feels they are in a good place to carry on much as they have for the past few years.
“We find that the forest industry here on Mull is doing well, but, there are some problems with continuity with the LTC,” he said. “Since the change to FLS, there seems to be an even longer period of time to get coupes agreed. It sounds like a small problem, but it causes us stress not having our next step in place. In addition, with the wildlife restrictions it can be difficult to manage a 12-month programme. Some areas on Mull are only accessible between September and January, so good planning is key. I think it is just the change from FC to FLS. It seems decisions cannot be made locally or quickly. Consultation needs to be made with umpteen different departments.”
Iain also picked up on this point, such is its importance to their business. He said: “Continuity problems are the biggest hassle I have on a daily basis. Three of the current contracts have wildlife issues. A few years ago, we would be given the next year’s LTC maps six months before they were due to start. That would give us time to get roads in place and to plan around all wildlife constraints. They would even have spare sites that could be brought forward if needed. Now it feels like, at times, we are stumbling from job to job.
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“Sometimes the lack of communication between departments in FLS does not help matters. From our point of view, something needs to change if these issues are to become less impactful on our business.”
Never mind wildlife, topography and continuity problems. Like all forestry companies, Hugh and Iain have had to deal with COVID-19 during the last year and operating on Mull did not shield them from the full impact of the pandemic as Iain was quick to point out – although they did end up better than some companies.
“At the beginning of last year we had two sets of machines, with one set in the north of the island on the LTC from FLS and the other on private work on the south of the island,” he said. “Once COVID-19 hit and the lockdown started, we had to give up our second outfit and concentrate on the LTC. The estate work was not constant and it was running into problems getting roads and other infrastructure in place. The LTC was good because we were producing timber for Iggesund, which was manufacturing packaging for pharmaceuticals and food products. So we have been lucky to continue with one set of machines throughout.”
The company was in direct production with the FC until the early 1990s, when it gave Hugh’s company the first LTC on Mull to Iggesund Paperboard. One of the conditions built into the contract was that it kept his company as the main contractor and used local labour. Each year, the LTC has consistently been to cut between 20,000 and 30,000 metres of timber. The company has then in-filled work by relying on standing sales and private estate jobs to keep them busy when times got slow.
Hugh currently feels that even as COVID-19 comes more under control with the vaccination programme, it is likely they will continue to operate with just the one team.
“We won’t restart our number-two outfit just now,” he said. “If circumstances change and a full programme becomes available, then we would certainly consider it. But we are happy cutting the LTC just now. It has been 30 years now and we have a great relationship with Iggesund. We have had Ewan MacDonald as our forestry works manager (FWM) since 1999 and his common-sense approach is refreshing. They also seem to be able to get markets for all different types of timber.”
Talking to two people who are operating a forestry business on Mull gave me the opportunity to discuss transportation of timber off the island and establishment of new trees to replace those being felled. Iain gave me his view on both.
“Timber haulage has not got anything to do with us. Iggesund get a haulier to take the timber from the roadside to the pier. In the past, it has always been by road, which was better for cash flow because you would get a weekly income and uplift was regular. Now with it going by boat we need to cut a cargo load which, if it’s a 3,000-tonne boat, can take six weeks. Then it needs to be lorries to the pier and shipped to wherever and then lorries again to the mill.
“Therefore, we can be waiting up to three months to be paid for the trees we cut. Cash flow is a constant concern and something we need to be clever at planning. As for sustainability, FLS has a planting programme and is always mounding and planting somewhere. Actually, there are a few areas on Mull where we have felled the same ground twice. A job in Lettermore, Dad felled with the saw and more recently harvested the same area.”
That Lettermore job, which was a big clearfell operation, is one that both remember fondly. For Iain, it was one of the first jobs he worked on when he joined the business. He enjoyed the banter at tea times, hearing the stories from the 10 or so men working on the site. This job saw manual harvesting being used and both Timbermaster winches on the site. The fact that the weather that summer was good probably helped things as well.
I couldn’t end without asking both about how they looked back on their time in the forestry sector. Firstly Hugh: “It’s a good industry to be involved in. It’s hard work but the rewards are satisfying. The good days outnumber the bad days so it is worth doing.”
While for Iain: “Forestry has been all that I have known, and I wouldn’t have what I have now without it. I still miss the old days, but everything has to change with the times.”
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