Preperations

Preparations have started.

Mindful of the impact that hedge timing would have on nesting birds I have left getting the lane access trimmed back to the last possible moment.  2 weeks to go and I think any later would be detrimental to the local wildlife.  Hopefully this hasn't upset the Pheasants, Partridges, Rabbits and Muntjac Deer that live in the local scrub as well as the multitude of other bird species and feral pus cats, one of which is getting very curious of late and is ripe for adoption.

So this morning the hedge trimmer arrived, all 500hp of tractor and cutter.

This took an 8' lane to 14' of paint scraping free access for the cranes and truck.  

He managed to break some previous dodgy welding repair work on the cutter head before I re-welded it so he could finish the job.

Talking to the driver he told me this tractor has a GPS system on it that can auto pilot the tractor to an accuracy of 50mm (2") when he is spraying, plowing, etc. If you look on the top of the cab you can see a yellow dome.  That's the GPS receiver.  Not only that but it logs where & what the tractor has done so that next time its on the same area it can suggest a better way of doing the task in hand. £15,000 GPS system makes a £100 TomTom look like the bargain of the century considering what th at can do.

The last time this was trimmed was 2 1/2 years ago.  Its amazing how much growth happens in that time.