Hi there, ( BASHIN ) is a term a good mate and I adopted some years ago to describe our main activity during this time of the year, which as previously stated is hedge cutting. To us it is a contradiction in terms as both of us are really keen to dispel the popular image of mechanical flail hedging by being really enthusiastic about trying to trim hedges as neatly and tidy as the particular hedge material will allow. Having said that during the course of the last two or three weeks I have been heavily involved in trying to cut back some seriously overgrown hedges for a customer who had fairly recently purchased quite a large parcel of land incorporating some miles of these neglected boundaries, which took some serious bashing to get back into shape. When confronted with a situation such as the one I have just described, your senses are on high alert mainly due to the fact that you can’t see clearly what your machine is about to encounter, as all sorts of obstacles could be lurking within the densely overgrown scrub.
As the customer has no idea of what may lay disguised within the tangled brambles etc, I have to proceed with caution whilst trying to maintain a reasonable output. My main worry is to avoid badly maintained fences etc which are hard to identify when buried within the overgrown hedge canopy. Some of the hedges I have been tackling for instance had some three or four metres of scrub before I could even gain a site of the fence line!, but once I have I then assess the condition of the posts and wire to satisfy myself as to whether I could trim up close to it for a tidier finish or should I stay well clear for fear of getting tangled up with what can be in some cases a dangerous situation.
If you are unlucky enough to encounter wire then there is the chance that pieces can become detached and propelled at a serious rate of knots anywhere, but more often than not it is in the tractor and operators direction! In the past I have had tyres punctured due to such events, but far more worrying is knowing that some unlucky users have in fact lost eyes, or in one case as portrayed on the BBC program 999 some years ago, suffered a punctured lung, and was lucky to survive, so concentration levels have to remain high to reduce such risks.
Thankfully I have managed to finish that particular run of work unscathed,but did come close to getting tangled up in an old rusty gate which was led down and grown in the brambles, together with some old barn steels which had suffered the same fate.
Obviously the more overgrown a hedge, the more passes are required to achieve the desired finish, so I have been very fortunate the ground conditions have remained favourable for such activities, but it is now on the change as we are experiencing more wet and damp days conducive to the time of year, so the field work will now have to be completed on an as and when basis, and I’m now going to spend more of my time on road work. More on that next time.
Bye for now.
14th November 2016
