Peplers In Rye

Seal in Rye Harbour

2012-01-27T05:15:00.001-08:00

Look what I saw in Rye Harbour today! A beautiful sea heading up in to Rye. Video coming soon.

SAS, SBS.... and SRS?

2012-01-21T02:03:00.000-08:00

So, you've heard of the SAS (Special Air Service), and you've heard of the SBS (Special Boat Service). But have you heard of the SRS? They were in Rye last night...

Shame the trains weren't running, as this meant they had to come on the rail replacement bus instead...

Frosty morning in the woods

2012-01-18T13:25:00.000-08:00

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

A couple of sunrise timelapse videos

2012-01-13T09:37:00.000-08:00

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

Wilderness First Responder course dates

2012-01-11T13:06:00.000-08:00

Remember that great First Aid course we went on a couple of months ago, with all kinds of fake injuries to practice on? Well, it's running again in a woodland near Hastings, so if you want to go on it, contact Andy at ELST The cost is £130, and I think it's well worth it!

Mike

Carry Freedom bike trailer review

2012-01-08T12:43:00.000-08:00

Our latest purchase in our quest for sustainability and resilience to oil price spikes is a Carry Freedom Y-Frame Large bicycle trailer. As the manufacturer says:

"Our bicycle trailers make it easier to carry by bike. This makes bikes more useful more often, encouraging more cycling and makes society healthier. "

So, having bought one, I thought it would be good to write a review including video and photos. So let's start right away with the videos, and the photos will follow with more details. First, a review of how the trailer assembles and is used:

And here's a short video showing it in use bringing 50kg of logs back from the wood, towed by me on one of our electric bikes:

Right, onto the detail... Here's all the parts that come in the package:

There you can see:

The load bed, already mounted on the frame.
Two 20" wheels.
The metal bar that connects the frame to the bike, and a pin to connect it to the frame.
Two quick release axles, of the type used in wheelchairs.
The hitch mechanism, which uses a flexible piece of red plastic.
Velcro straps for securing loads.
Rubber feet to put on boxes to be carried.
Instructions.

It's really simple to put together, as you'll have seen in the video above. The only thing you need to check is that you have enough spare thread on a solid rear axle, or a long enough skewer for a quick-release axle. You're also advised to limit the load to 50kg, rather than 90kg, if you have quick-release as it's not as strong - you can still pull 90kg, but you might need to replace the QR skewer a bit more frequently.

Here's a shot of the underside of the load bed, and you can see where the Y-Frame name comes from.

This design allows the bar connecting to the bike to go on either side, which can be useful in some circumstances. It connects by slotting in here, then the retaining pin is used to hold it there:

These are the axles, pressing the button on the right makes the bit that looks like a ball bearing at the other end withdraw, so it can slide through the wheel bearing and into the frame. If you're worried about the idea of an axle only supported on one side, don't be! These are the same kind of axles that are used in wheelchairs, so they are well suited to the purpose. About two thirds of the length of the axle actually sits snugly inside the frame, so it is well supported.

This is the hitch mechanism:

The bracket on the left goes over the bike axle, while the red plastic slides into the bar that connects to the trailer and is secured with the screw you can see. Don't worry about it being plastic - it's very strong, yet flexible enough to allow normal movement while you're riding.

Here's the finished product:

One thing that's particularly cool is that it takes about 30 seconds to undo the hitch, take the trailer off and replace the securing pin, and literally 10 seconds to pop the wheels off the trailer so you can store it easily!

When it comes to using it, there are a few things to note, such as keeping the centre of gravity of the load as low as possible, and also slightly forward of the axle. You also need to tie the load down securely. I used two ratchet straps, but found there was still some movement on bumpy roads, and had to tighten them up. A strap going sideways would be a useful addition next time.

When towing the trailer empty or lightly loaded, you don't even know it's there - so you have to be careful to remember not to get too near the kerb! Once I had 50kg of wood on the back, I certainly noticed it, even on the electric bike! Braking obviously takes longer, so you limit your speed where appropriate. But it doesn't feel unsafe at all, there's just some odd movements from time to time, though I think this might be more to do with how it interacts with an electric bike. I'll be trying it with my mountain bike as well soon, once the spare bike brackets arrive from the manufacturer (it comes with one, but you can order more), and I expect that'll be a lot harder going up the hills! But maybe that'll be my training for the next time I do the London to Brighton ride...

Mike

Ring-necked parakeets in the wild - in Surrey, UK!

2011-12-27T10:44:00.000-08:00

We've known these parakeets have been living wild for years in London and further afield, but this is the first time we got a video of them! They're in an apple tree in a garden in a housing estate:

Of course, our cockatiels demanded to have a new video for themselves too...

Mike

Kick the Frenchman's Head

2011-12-26T13:22:00.000-08:00

No, really, this is the name of a game played in Winchelsea every Boxing Day! Three teams try to get the 'head' into a single goal, and there are no rules. Players and spectators are there at their own risk (and we did see some minor injuries). This year we cycled over there to watch it, here's the video:

Tracy took some good stills as well:

More pictures on Flickr...

Mike

Greater spotted woodpecker video

2011-12-25T13:10:00.000-08:00

"The best size camera is the one you use most". Well, this was certainly true yesterday, when Tracy used her pocket-sized Canon SX220 to capture our best video yet of a Greater Spotted Woodpecker:

I did actually do some software image stabilisation to get rid of the camera shake that's unavoidable at 14x zoom, using the excellent Deshaker plugin for VirtualDub. If you want to see how how the video looked before stabilisation, check this out:

Here's a still picture:

We did get a bit of work done too... There's a ride that still needs opening up, to link the work we did in 2008/9 to the area that was coppiced last winter:

I got to work with the chainsaw on the slightly larger trees at the end...

...while Tracy worked on some Hazel. She was saving bits like this:

to make bits like this:

They will eventually be coat hooks, once the upright bit is split - we'll do a video at some point...

I produced a nice pile of logs for a few hours work too:

Back up there again soon...

Mike

Building a firewood store: part 3

2011-12-23T07:37:00.000-08:00

A while ago I posted pictures of the construction of our firewood store (part 1 and part 2), but we've made one more small addition to it.

We found that although rain dripping off the lower edge of the roof was well clear of the wood stored inside, the splashes when the drips landed were making the wood wet. So, we've added a gutter, suspended from the roof slats by short lengths of paracord:

We may add something to collect the rainwater from it later, but at present we're getting more than enough from the house roof.

We then went up to the wood to do the same to the shelter that EWB had built for us back in March, but this time we definitely wanted to harvest the rainwater so we can use it for the fruit trees in the summer. So, we got hold of a couple of old dustbins from Freecycle, and cut a hole in the lid:

and then fitted in the downpipe. We wanted a lid on to prevent wildlife falling in and drowning.

While we were up there, we also stripped off the plastic from roof of our old firewood shelter, as it was degrading from UV exposure, and replaced it with a tarpaulin and some old corrugated plastic we had spare. We'll do something more permanent with roof felt later I think, but this is an improvement for now:

and finally, we went for a bike ride (in the drizzle) this morning to try and video some herons down near Military Road. We didn't see any herons, but we did get a nice video of some swans feeding:

Mike

Cockatiel videos

2011-12-22T03:21:00.000-08:00

Tracy's been having great fun with hew new camera (a Canon SX220), here's some videos of our pet cockatiels up to their daily mischief...

She's looking forward to using it in the woods soon!

Mike

Sunrise timelapse video

2011-12-17T10:39:00.000-08:00

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

Big telescope for sale

2011-12-11T09:27:00.000-08:00

I'm reluctantly selling my Sky-Watcher Explorer 200 telescope, and thought I should post it on my blog before putting it on ebay, in case anyone I know is interested - I'd like to see it go to a good home. I'm selling it due to a lack of time to use it (something to do with managing a woodland...) and a lack of space to store it at home. Here's some of the pics I've taken with it, with the assistance of the free Registax software for combining multiple images:

The telescope is on an EQ-5 mount with an RA motor drive (essential to keep the telescope tracking where you point it as the earth rotates). To buy the telescope and mount new today would cost about £430, and the motor drive is separate at about £70, so that's £500 in total. I'm open to reasonable offers, so email me if you're interested.

Here's all the details:

Magnifications (with eyepieces supplied): x40, x100
Maximum practical magnification potential: x400
Diameter of primary mirror: 200mm
Telescope focal length: 1000mm (f/5)
Eyepieces supplied (1.25"): 10mm & 25mm
Dual-fit 1.25"/2" focuser, which can also take T-ring adaptor for SLR cameras
0.5mm secondary mirror supports
9x50 Finderscope
Direct SLR camera connection
Camera mount on top of the telescope mount
EQ5 deluxe heavy-duty equatorial mount, with RA motor drive installed
Built-in polar alignment scope holder
Stainless steel tripod with accessory tray
RA motor drive controller and battery pack, with adaptors to allow you to use AA batteries with it (batteries not included)
Instruction manuals for telescope and RA motor drive
All in good working order, with a few scratches on the outside of the tube - these are only cosmetic, caused when rotating the telescope in the mount while in use.

And here's some pictures of the kit - hover over them for info, and click for larger versions:

It can't really be posted, so must be collected, though I can deliver it for a suitable fee for fuel use, and would be happy to give a lesson in setting it up and using it. Do post comments if you have questions, or email me directly if you are interested in buying it. It'll be going on ebay in a couple of days...

I also have some other eyepieces for higher magnification (200x and 250x), but I'm selling these separately as they're about £35 each when new.

Mike

Rye Christmas Procession 2011

2011-12-10T14:01:00.000-08:00

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

A new woodland ride

2011-12-09T03:30:00.000-08:00

I've just finished one of my main jobs this winter - cutting a new ride in my friend Alex's wood, but before I get to that we need to have a look at a few pics of our friend Andrews dog, Dougal, coming on his first visit to the wood. He's a Jack Russell Terrier, and very inquisitive but well-behaved too.

I've put a cover over the wood that we moved down from last winter's cutting, to keep the rain off it:

Anyway, on to this year's work. I've been cutting this ride to create a path into a small clearing we created a couple of years ago, to provide access to extract wood from future coppicing work, and also to add a feature to to the wood which should improve it both visually and for wildlife. So, for Alex, here's a walk-through series of pictures:

I've saved some of the straight stems in 5m lengths for a bridge-building project in the spring, which is needed to get across the seasonal stream at the start of the ride. I need to find a couple more trees for this job, and also level off the remaining stumps in the ride, but the bulk of the work is done now.

Mike

How to eat acorns

2011-12-01T07:56:00.000-08:00

In case you ever feel the urge to...

Oh, and by the way, I passed my CS32 chainsaw exam yesterday! Click here to see some of the videos from the course.

Mike

Lots of tree felling videos! (CS32 chainsaw course)

2011-11-26T13:23:00.000-08:00

Well, I've been busy editing videos from the CS32 chainsaw course I was on this week, so put them full-screen, turn up the sound and sit back...

First, felling an oak tree that then gets hung up, and how it is taken down by severing some of the hinge:

Here's the slow-motion reply of the bit where several trees knock each other over - this is why everyone's meant to be two tree lengths away...

Using the Tirfor winch to assist in felling of an oak:

Felling a forward leaning oak, using retaining wood to hold it until the last moment:

Using a winch to roll a hung up tree so it falls safely:

All the training was delivered by David Rossney of Esus Forestry Training.

Mike

CS32 Medium Tree Felling chainsaw course - felling oaks

2011-11-22T13:00:00.000-08:00

I've had some time off work this week to do the CS32 Felling Medium Trees (380-760mm) chainsaw course. Our instructor is David Rossney of Esus Forestry Training - Tracy and I did the coppice harvesting efficiency course with him a few years ago too. Basically, after this course, and exam, I'll be qualified to fell trees up to 30" diameter.

There's some felling videos to come in a moment, but first a few pictures. We've been learning about properly removing the buttresses of the trees:

How to make an accurate gob cut when the tree is wider than the chainsaw bar:

and also about high-lift felling wedges:

and how to use them:

OK, here's a quick video showing just the highlights (i.e. trees falling) from day 1:

If you'd like to see the whole process, and what happens on the CS32 course, here's me felling a tree:

Rye 1950s Classic Car Cruise

2011-11-21T11:57:00.000-08:00

Many strange things happen in Rye... Yesterday dozens of 1950s cars and trucks cruised through the town and then parked up for us all to look at! Here's a video, and some photos: The highlight is probably the batmobile!

Mike

Wilderness First Aid course with Emergency Life Support Team

2011-11-15T13:39:00.000-08:00

This weekend Tracy and I both went on a brilliant 'wilderness first aid' course run by Emergency Life Support Team, which was run in a woodland near Hastings. Our main instructor was Andy Sullivan, who has years of experience in the emergency services and is eminently qualified to teach people to save lives.

He was also assisted by Ali, whose speciality was setting up realistic incidents for us to train on - here she is with some self-inflicted 'injuries':

Peter joined us too on the second day, to act as a patient and also give us advice from the perspective of someone with police experience. Here he is, suffering from a shooting-related eye 'injury':

Andy actually prefers to call it a 'First Responder' course, rather than first aid. This is because he's encountered a public perception that 'first aid' is about plasters and bandages, when in fact what he's covering in the course is more about the serious life-threatening conditions we might encounter. We did of course cover minor injuries, but the main focus was on learning what to do with the more serious situations and gaining confidence through practice.

The first day was taken up with a few hours of teaching, though this included practical stuff like doing CPR on a dummy, seeing how an automatic defibrillator works and putting someone in the recovery position:

We also did some other practical bits that focused on dealing with injuries that occurred in isolated locations where you might need to move the casualty while waiting for help, such as improvising splints:

And making stretchers out of two poles with two coats:

or even a blanket folded over - the friction keeps it in place:

We also covered opening a person's airway, and rather than mess around with a dummy, Andy laid down and simulated a closed airway for us to practice with. We used both the normal method:

and the 'jaw thrust' method, which is harder to explain but much easier to actually do, and can also be used in situations where spinal injury is possible, as it can be combined with immobilising the head and neck:

Pretty quickly we moved onto situations that were more demanding - usually in terms of deciding what to do, rather than anything technical. For example, you wouldn't normally remove a motorbike helmet - but what if the patient's airway is blocked? We therefore looked at techniques to remove a helmet with minimum risk if this is unavoidable:

The second day was mostly taken up with scenarios - initially with our instructors doing the acting, and later with us splitting into teams and setting up scenarios for each other. Here's some examples:

Heart attack - where the hard thing is feeling useless, as there's not much to actually do once the ambulance is called and the patient made comfortable:

An injury from a branch falling onto a polesaw operator:

A stabbing - with the security risks that brings:

A car accident, with neck/head immobilisation required and a broken bone:

The car crash one was made more difficult by the vehicle 'catching fire' which then made it necessary to get the patients out:

We then got onto setting up our own scenarios. Tracy fancied a chainsaw wound to the arm:

while Holly thought a leg wound and being trapped under a tree was good:

We had another car crash too, and in this one Carl was a dead body under the vehicle, where he wasn't seen until at least 5 mins into the rescue - another lesson there!

Holly and Tracy both had head wounds for this one as well:

There was even a spare arm knocking around that Holly wanted to pose with:

Anyway, the important point is that only about 1 in 50 people in the UK actually have the training to be a first responder, and if more of us were then lives would be saved. The two most important aspects of this course for me were the professional instruction and the experience gained through acted-out scenarios, and I'd thoroughly recommend anyone to go on a course like this. Just to give it another plug, here's the website: www.elst.co.uk

Of course, the bonus was that we also got to spend two days outdoors in the woods as well! :-)

Mike

Rye Fawkes 2011

2011-11-13T14:04:00.000-08:00

Here's a video of this year's Rye Fawkes procession, and the full firework display. Enjoy...

Mike

Building a firewood store: part 2

2011-11-06T05:32:00.000-08:00

Picking up from part 1, which ended with the firewood store at this stage:

The next job was to put some cross beams on top of the stakes, but first we had to peel them:

This actually makes quite a mess, so we decided we'd peel the roof slats at the wood before bringing them home.

Anyway, after peeling, the chestnut cross beams were a really nice white colour, though that quickly fades.

The cross beams were then drilled and nailed onto the stakes, ready to hold up the roof slats.

Here's a pile of slats for the roof, which we've cleaved from chestnut poles and then peeled:

We got them home using the roof bars on the car, which have proved very useful.

Before long, the roof was taking shape...

We also brought back a lot of hazel poles:

These were then woven between the stakes to make walls that will keep rain out while letting air pass through so that the wood can keep drying over time:

Going back to the roof slats though - the ends were often too thick to easily drill through to nail them down, so we used a side axe to shape each one of them:

This then left thinner ends that were much easier to work with:

OK, so here's the roof with all the slats on, and Tracy working on the final wall:

Inside it looks like this, with pallets used for the floor - this will keep the logs off the ground, and allow air to pass underneath, so stopping them from getting damp and rotting:

The store is actually separated into two bays by some shorter stakes, and we just zip-tied some more pallets to these to make a wall. The purpose of this is so that we can empty one bay first, then it can be refilled while the other bay is being used. This will make sure we are always burning hte oldest wood first.

Here's an overhead view:

And here it is with tarpaulins on the top:

These are just zip-tied down:

But then over the top of them went some roofing felt - and I also proved the roof is quite strong. You'll notice we ran out of hazel, and used some old fence panels to finish the wall on one side.

So here it is finished, with lots of logs stored. We've used pieces of perspex we had spare to add some more rain protection at the front, though I don't think they're really needed as the roof overhangs quite a bit.

We've been using wood out of the store for a few weeks not, and it's proved much better than the pile under a tarpaulin that we had to use last year!

Mike

More LightStorm CL1 ultracapacitor torches in stock!

2011-10-26T03:41:00.000-07:00

I've just received another box of these neat torches from the manufacturer. With darker nights approaching, you might like to take a look.

Because they're wind-up, and also not damaged by being left uncharged, I think they're ideal for leaving tucked away in a car glovebox or at home, ready for when you unexpectedly need some light!

You can read about the torches, and buy one, on this page. The price there is £1 cheaper than my price on ebay.

Mike

Cutting a new woodland ride

2011-10-23T11:04:00.000-07:00

Over the past week I've been working in my friend Alex's wood, cutting trees to make a new ride - he originally had no rides at all through the 7.5 acres of land. We actually made a bit of a start a year ago, going from this:

to this:

Moving inside the wood, Alex and I spent a few hours last weekend and made this progress on the other side of the (currently dry) stream:

By the end of the week it look like this from that viewpoint:

and a bit further in:

and further in still:

What's left is the section bounded by the trees marked with yellow paint, the other side of which is a small clearing we created a couple of years ago:

Coming back from that end, this is the view:

At the end of the week I flattened off some of the stumps - this really blunts the chain on the saw (due to inevitably hitting dirt), so is best done just before you go home to sharpen it!

I had to clear up some windblown chestnut as part of this work, but it was still actually alive and so I got some good logs to use next year for building a bridge over the stream, and the tree itself may well recover to some extent.

There were also a couple of more problematic trees, like this chestnut:

which had been growing through this gap:

and was only brought down by using the tirfor winch and ploughing a long furrow in the ground!

Anyway, it was all OK in the end. I'll be back there soon to finish the job... Once it's done, there'll be a nice ride to walk/drive into the wood, and it should also help improve the biodiversity by letting in patches of sunlight - I've already seen increased insect life in some parts of it.

Mike

Peplers In Rye

Seal in Rye Harbour

SAS, SBS.... and SRS?

Frosty morning in the woods

A couple of sunrise timelapse videos

Wilderness First Responder course dates

Carry Freedom bike trailer review

Ring-necked parakeets in the wild - in Surrey, UK!

Kick the Frenchman's Head

Greater spotted woodpecker video

Building a firewood store: part 3

Cockatiel videos

Sunrise timelapse video

Big telescope for sale

Rye Christmas Procession 2011

A new woodland ride

How to eat acorns

Lots of tree felling videos! (CS32 chainsaw course)

CS32 Medium Tree Felling chainsaw course - felling oaks

Rye 1950s Classic Car Cruise

Wilderness First Aid course with Emergency Life Support Team

Rye Fawkes 2011

Building a firewood store: part 2

More LightStorm CL1 ultracapacitor torches in stock!

Cutting a new woodland ride

More coppicing and a new chainsaw video