Busy day cutting firewood and felling trees for The Pelham

Today was a busy day! I arrived at the woods at 07:45, and after sorting some odds and ends out (like a culvert blocked with leaves...), I used the Truncator, mounted on the side of the trailer, to cut some logs to take over to The Pelham:

As I videoed it for the time-lapse using my GoPro camera, I know it took 28 minutes to cut about one cubic metre of loose logs, which I think is pretty good!

Once these had been unloaded over at The Pelham, my friend Dan and I got on with felling the trees in the car park - here's a timelapse video of the first two stems coming down:

The trees weren't huge, but we put the Tirfor winch on them anyway as insurance, as having them fall the other way, into the gardens of the adjoining houses, was not an option! We got a decent pile of logs out of it, which will be split up at some point in the next few months, and hopefully will be dry enough to burn next winter:

I also made a stool out of the bottom of one of the trees, which could be used in The Pelham once it's dried out. Here's Ollie, who works at The Pelham, testing it out:

Don't forget, if you're local to Bexhill, that The Pelham coffee bar opens in a couple of weeks:

Post by The Pelham.

Mike

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Time-lapse car washing

We weren't in the woods this weekend, instead we were washing cars at a fundraising event for Rother Responders, which trains and equips people in the community to respond to emergencies with life-saving equipment, such as a defibrillator, to help people until an ambulance arrives. Here's a time-lapse video I took with our GoPro camera. Enjoy...

Mike

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Rain storm timelapse video

Just a quick one - thought I'd try getting some timelapse video of storms with all this British 'summer' weather we're having...

I did this one by recording HD video using the GoPro and then using Virtual Dub to decimate it, resulting in 100x speedup. It's slower than using stills, and lower resolution, but gives you complete flexibility on frame rate and speedup. I'll be on the lookout for some more storms...

Mike

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Frosty morning in the woods

Last weekend I went to the woods early on a morning, and found that for the first time this winter it was actually properly frosty there, with the ground rock hard! Although I was there to do a job, here's a few photos...

Another couple of photos that might be of interest are from the bottom of the hill in Sweep Wood. Here's one from a year ago, just after we finished coppicing - note how bare the ground is:

Here's the same place a couple of weeks ago:

And this is in January, with green leaves still showing after last summer's growth! I think it's going to look great this summer....

And finally, another sunrise timelapse, taken yesterday morning. I still want to do a couple more over the winter, as I'm in the process of figuring out the best camera settings to account for the huge change in light levels through the sequence.

Mike

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A couple of sunrise timelapse videos

Couple of videos from this morning, first one with my Nikon D60, and the second with my GoPro

I tried using manual settings on the Nikon this time, but still had to increase the shutter speed as the sun came up, so got some jumps in brightness. Must try a sunset some time so I can start at the bright end of the event!

Mike

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Sunrise timelapse video

Just a quick post to show off a video I made this morning. I used my SLR with a Gent LED timelapse trigger and my GoPro HD on the same tripod, to see how they compared. The GoPro produces an image that has the bright parts very washed out, as it doesn't have the dynamic range or intelligence of the SLR. However, I made a mistake with the SLR - I should have locked the aperture and shutter speed when I started, so it began dark and finished up bright. I'd left them on auto, which means it looks like it's getting darker as the sun rises, as the camera tries to compensate for the brightness of the sun. Anyway, still a nice video, but a better one will follow...

Mike

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Rye Christmas Procession 2011

A friend arranged for me to get up on the balcony at The George to do a timelapse video the the Christmas Procession, so here you go:

Meanwhile Tracy was down at ground level and got some good video, including Captain Jack Sparrow!

Mike

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More coppicing and a new chainsaw video

Let's start with my latest GoPro video, this time with the camera mounted on my helmet while felling and logging a tree in our wood:

I made a timelapse video on the same day as well, with lots of bustling around to fell trees, burn the brash and process the logs:

The work has already resulted in a rack full of logs, split or striped to start seasoning:

and the Sweep Wood side of the track is now cleared, leaving a Birch and a Sweet Chestnut to grow on a bit:

The recently coppiced on the other side of the track will of course grow up, but we'll keep the strip either side of the track low, so it is lighter and more beneficial for biodiversity.

Next job is over in Alex's wood - pictures to come soon...

Mike

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Timelapse chainsaw scuplture: making a stool

I've been out playing with my GoPro camera again... Here's a timelapse video of me making a stool from a log using the chainsaw:

Don't forget there's a longer video with full instructions on how to make one of these stools as well:

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Timelapse video: moving firewood

Yesterday I went to the wood after work to collect some firewood, and thought I'd try out my GoPro in timelapse mode. I wish it was this quick to load the trailer in real life...

I also left the camera outside in the back garden for a bit to make a video of the clouds in the sky. Not original, I know, but it kind of has to be done!

I'm looking forward to making timelapse videos of working in the wood this autumn, and next time there's a big thunderstorm brewing I'll be straight out there with the camera!

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Timelapse videos of this winter's coppicing

Every day we went to work in the woods this winter we took photos from several different fixed points. I've put them together into short videos now, so you can see the progress we made as we worked. The first two videos are longer, but most of the changes are near the start, so feel free to skip the latter half of them, unless you want to see the snow at the end of each one. From the top of the hill at the left:

From the top of the hill at the right:

20m in from the top:

40m in from the top:

Mike

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