Moth trapping - Brede High Woods

Last weekend we went to join some friends from Rother Guardians moth trapping in Brede High Woods. We just went for the first couple of hours, to catch up with everyone before it got dark, and then to see the first batch of moths identified. Here's a few of them... (thanks to Heather for the IDs...)

This one's a Clouded Border - I've seen these before in our own woodland:

Here's a view of a trap in the distance - they really do make the woodland look strange!

This one's a Purple Clay, not one I've seen before:

A Swallow-tailed moth:

Two Marbled White Spots:

A Common White Wave:

And now on to the micro-moths - these are only roughly identified, there's not enough detail to see exactly which type they are... This one's a Tortrix:

Two of a Scoparia-Eudonia:

As always, there are a few imposters in the traps...

Finally, here's a couple from our own woodland. First, a Silver Y, which is a day-flying moth:

This one saw it was being watched and started vibrating its wings, presumably to warm up in case it needed to make a quick escape...

And finally, not a moth, but a Large Skipper butterfly - we've not seen these so often in the woods.

Mike

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Olympic Torch in Rye!

The Torch came through Rye today, and the crowds turned out to watch... Here's a video - don't blink, or you'll miss the torch! Fortunately we had a good parade from the local schools to follow it, so there was something for the crowds to see. Pictures follow the video...

Here's the kids getting ready to join the parade:

The town crier was there too:

and of course lots of corporate sponsors, who've paid for under 10% of the games...

The local fire service were standing ready:

And there were some suspicious people in grey tracksuits hanging around:

Of course, you can't do something like this in Rye without causing traffic chaos:

Here's a few shots Tracy took - she was in the parade itself, with her school:

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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Stein Arbor-Trolley - a neat way of moving logs!

Moving logs (or brash) around in a woodland is often a big job, we've tend to drag logs by hand to a stack near where they are felled, and then in the summer use a trailer with our 4x4 to move them back to our main storage area. However, there's still room for improvement, both in terms of efficiency and reducing the amount of driving a vehicle through the woods - so we've recently bought this Stein Arbor-Trolley, which is ideal for moving small loads of logs, brash or anything you can strap onto it:

I've made a video review of it:

You can extend the sides upwards, as below, to let you carry more. I found that with freshly felled logs there was no need for this, as the trolley got heavy enough before the logs were at risk of falling off. For moving seasoned logs though (which we tried yesterday), you can put double or triple the number of logs in, so the side supports are very useful then.

Here's a view of the main trolley - it's very solidly built! You can see a small bracket at the bottom of the far end - this is useful when you want to tip it up to load or unload a large log.

Here's the attachment for the handle to tow the trolley - there are three positions to use, the longer ones allowing longer logs to be carried and giving you more leverage, but reducing mobility:

Both the handle and the wheels are attached with these neat pins:

It can carry up to 500kg, according to this sticker. There's not actually any instructions though, I guess it's just a standard sticker.

Finally, here's the specification sticker. Nice to see it's made in the UK! The trolley weighs 36kg.

We've used it twice now, and found it certainly saves us a lot of time, and is well worth the money!

Mike

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Normal service resumed in the woods!

After the Awards Week at work, riding the South Downs Way, having family visiting and our rainy June weather, we are finally getting back to the woods again!

There's an area of trees that have blown over in Sweep Wood over the past month or two, so we're clearing them up. Some were already dead, and will be left to rot for bugs to live in, but they all need to come down to make them safe.

While doing it, we were also looking for some straight poles to use in upgrading the roof of one of our firewood stores later this summer. We marked a few other stems in Chestnut Coppice to use for this too:

These are now ready to cleave to make slats for the new roof:

Meanwhile, everything's been growing! Here's a couple of pics from a few weeks ago in Sweep Wood, in the area that we coppiced in 2010/11. As you can see, it's turned into a jungle!

The foxgloves are back too:

But aside from the work, there's also been time to relax and cook some dinner up there as well!

Mike

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