On a night ride with a group last week – arrived in Forest at about 8pm in the pitch black.

LOTS of tree cutting activity going on – in the DARK!!!???

In the days since, masses of trees have been cut in two distinct areas of the forest. I’ve lived here for 17 years and never seen so many trees being chopped in one season – I know it’s a working forest but blimey, there won’t be any trees left at this rate!

Is it strange that the trees are being cut down during the night? Again, can’t say I’ve ver seen that before….and also is it unusual that so many trees are going at once?

Any “insider” knowledge out there??

Alien abduction of trees? The Lorax?

I should have explained – no aliens involved! – just lots of lights, machinery and crews of loggers all presumably earning a good wedge for working through the night! 😀

I don’t know the specific of Delamere but generally the plant they use to harvest timber is eye-wateringly expensive to buy and run, with the owners/operators usually paid by the load-to-the-roadside. The nett effect is the machines run long, long hours. It’s not unusual to see machines working 5am – Midnight in my part of the world, with the operators living like hermits miles up forestry roads in caravans.

That’s the stuff Brycey – two of those lumps of kit seem to be in operation – in fact I was surprised to see one of those just left by the trailside unmanned and unwatched yesterday afternoon. As you say, expensive bits of kit.

Didnt see the machines in action but i agree that there is a massive amount of felling going on, some huge clearings now!

I have seen them working in the night before though.

In civilised Argyll they’re safe as houses; but I take your point down here! Not very easy to steal mind, although I suppose the chavs good smash one up fairly easily.

Yeah, was up there about 04;30 this AM..

They’ve felled loads and loads…

Looks like a few of the cheeky bits are going to be comprimised..

Big time.

Teeto – I agree – all the good (muddy) singletrack on the far side, over towards the back of Hatchmere, has been lost as has the stuff on the right as you come in from Gallowsclough end….shame but I guess we’ll have to find new bits now! 😀

4.30am??!! Why?

Theres a huge demand for wood for wood burning power stations here in the uk PLC,, and the packaging and furniture industry in China.

LLandegla is looking a bit bald as is the A5 hills around Corwen /llangollen.

I havent been since last monday so will be there tonight to see how much has been wrecked!

tthew – Member
4.30am??!! Why?

Why?

Same as most days… I like to ride before work.

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[/url] 108_0709 by skeetsgb, on Flickr[/img]

took these last week while out at delamere. its quite a big area they have cleared.

Been out this morning and there’s large stretches of trail that have now been churned up by the logging kit & unrideable 😥

I guess that’s the way they have to make their living and it keeps the forest going….but feels like a shame to me! I need to get a life…. 🙂

We noticed last night that a few had been torn up, bit of a pain but new ones will be bedded in.

Same at Cannock Chase, lost lots of trails and the felling continues, even at night. I think it can be deemed safer at night as less folk about ignoring warning signs.

Wood goes to China to make ‘Swedish design’ tables sold back to UK residents at out of town retail parks on a Sunday.

Covert clearance ready for forestry sell off u turn and the centreparcs invasion
We would have got away with it if it wasn’t for you pesky night riding cyclists

Happening at Llandegla too. They seem to have cut down thousands in the last few weeks. Timber prices must be at an all time high. Hope they don’t cut down the cafe , there’s hundreds of logs in that 🙁

Timber prices are at a current high, the FC are making a tidy sum at the moment (ironic that the government wanted to sell it off at this time, me cynical?). The good news is they are tending to plough the money back into forestry projects, as my local forrester put any project that makes money or saves money is being looked at favourably at the moment.

Wood price is high, innit?

Was and is not the purpose of forestry commision forests, to grow trees, for future reuse/recycling into print paper, timber for construction and furniture making and lately for burning for heat and electricity generation.

Theyre not there just to look nice and green.

Indeed FC ( and many other forests) are tree farms

The section at Llandegla with the switchbacks after the first climb, i really miss the trees, though i also like being able to see where you’ll be in 5 mins…

Haven’t been in a year or so, I’ll have to go now to check out all the tree felling.

More felling going on at Delamere this evening. Looks like they are thinning sections rather than wiping them out so in the long run we may get some more cheeky trails. Biggest problems are the dual gouge marks the sledge makes when it hauls the logs away and some fairly big branches still left around. The branches will get sorted easily enough but the regulars will probably have to chip in with some shovel work to take care of the gouge marks. Once the work has finished I’ll probably get a small folding shovel to use when I’m walking the dog – after all he is a rescue greyhound 🙂

Sing out if you need any help Pembo..

I’ll bring my Shovel & trail tools dogs..

🙂

I think that sometimes we forget that it’s a crop, like wheat or oil seed rape. Most of these forests only exist because there is financial gain in growing the stuff.

They harvested the whole field of barley behind our house in ONE NIGHT 😯

I realise it’s a crop – but the scale of the felling here is at least double anything I’ve seen in the 17 years I’ve been living near the edge of the forest…hence the OP. Just feels like the scale is a bit OTT this time…will take many years to grow back so I’m guessing the scale is all about the current global price of wood, as a few people have said above…

becoming more a Park by the second, once a Forest, currently a Forest Park, how long until it is just a park i wonder?

Now the trees are going, where will all the doggers go, also lets hope they dont chop the go ape tres down, or somebody is going to have a huge fall over all those wires.