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Conwy Water Gardens
United Kingdom
Приєднався 18 чер 2022
Keep up to date with what is happening at Conwy Water Gardens, including a few sneak peaks behind the scenes.
Conwy Water Gardens is set within the Snowdonia National Park, North Wales. We have a lot to offer including Coarse fishing,
our nature walk through the woods with Ducks, Otters, and Chickens. An Aquatic Centre with over 100 species of fish, tortoises & turtles and all products and supplies for their care. And our on-site restaurant the Dutch Pancake House.
With free admission whether you want to just look round and feed the ducks, or spend a day here, come and visit and share this beautiful part of Wales with us!
Pet shop licence No. 084364
Conwy Water Gardens is set within the Snowdonia National Park, North Wales. We have a lot to offer including Coarse fishing,
our nature walk through the woods with Ducks, Otters, and Chickens. An Aquatic Centre with over 100 species of fish, tortoises & turtles and all products and supplies for their care. And our on-site restaurant the Dutch Pancake House.
With free admission whether you want to just look round and feed the ducks, or spend a day here, come and visit and share this beautiful part of Wales with us!
Pet shop licence No. 084364
A simple sculpture from scrap
As a quick evening project I have been building another sculpture for the nature trail, it is only simple but I think it looks good.
Переглядів: 59
Відео
Fixing the Pancake House pond filter
Переглядів 779 годин тому
This week I have been fixing a problem that I have been putting off for months (or years), I was not looking forward to doing this job and this video really does not show how had it was. The most vital piece of equipment for a fish pond is the filter, this takes the waste the fish produces and converts it into harmless nutrients that the plants can use, unfortunately when they planned this pond...
Mini deck build, Replacing fishing platform 14
Переглядів 229День тому
Turn on subtitles for more information. Today I have been replacing fishing platform 14, the final deck to be replaced this year.
Rescuing plants from pond choked with duckweed
Переглядів 8714 днів тому
I have spent a bit of time over the last few weeks trying to improve the pond in the carpark, it had become choked with duckweed and that had now spread to various other ponds that had previously been cleared. I had already started trying to clear the duckweed before I started recording but I soon found this was a bigger job than previously thought as someone had put a large number of plants in...
Storm damage 23 10 24
Переглядів 6421 день тому
Following the recent storm we were pleased to see we had little damage, there were only two trees that had lost branches. The first tree was a large ash tree, a branch had snapped clean off from near the top, how this managed to not break the power lines below I do not know, I quickly cleared this and moved it down to the bonfire pile. The second branch was a willow tree around the middle lake,...
A simple job got much bigger, impromptu shed makeover
Переглядів 14621 день тому
You can't keep a good groundsman down, or a bad one for that matter, so whilst I am keeping an eve on the shop I decided to try and improve the look of the tool shed. Now my intention had been to just remove the ivy that was covering the front and trim back some of the bushes, but unfortunately as the paint was so flaky the ivy much of it with it. After a quick search in the back of the shed I ...
Jet washing 15 10 24
Переглядів 44528 днів тому
Today I have been cleaning some slippery paths at home, I borrowed the works jet wash over the weekend (technically a week day but it was my days off) and after a quick trim of some overhanging plants I set off along the path at the back of my house. As this area almost never gets direct sunlight it can stay damp for days without rain, unfortunately due to several nice days it had completely dr...
Lets sort this mess
Переглядів 109Місяць тому
This week as I have been stuck working in the shop I have taken some time to tidy and organise the office, a task that has been long overdue. I started by rearranging the section behind the door, by removing an unused set of shelves I was able to re position our filing cabinet, this meant we could easily access the draws and file the paperwork as it was meant to be, I also added a small wooden ...
Big clear up 24 09 24
Переглядів 394Місяць тому
Today I have been having a big clear up around the grounds, I have been planning to have a bonfire for a few weeks so have been collecting together branches on the field. As there has been a lot of rain recently I would have liked to leave our pile to dry out longer before I lit it, but unfortunately the person who works in the shop is leaving and as I am the only other trained member of staff ...
Making Chutney
Переглядів 107Місяць тому
600ml (1pt) vinegar 450g (1lb) brown sugar 1800g (4lb) cooking apples 675g (1.5lb) onions 225g (0.5lb) sultanas 28g (1oz) ginger powder 28g (1oz) salt 1. Dissolve the sugar in the vinegar and leave to stand overnight 2. Wash all tomatoes and apples and cut into big pieces 3. Mince (or cut up very small) all ingredients except sugar and vinegar and add to a large pan 4. Bring to the boil then tu...
Strimming long grass 17 09 24
Переглядів 165Місяць тому
Today I have been tidying up some of our 'wild flower' areas, it has come to the end of the season and all the seeds have dropped so it is a good time to do it, it is best to do this when it is dry but due to a lack time it was slightly damp, this makes it slightly difficult and slower. After strimming the three banks I spent the rest of the day off camera trimming branches and repairing fences...
Complete rebuild, replacing fishing platform 17 09 24
Переглядів 230Місяць тому
In this video I have been replacing fishing platform 13, before removing the old platform I cut some large overhanging branches to prevent problems in the future. Due to a couple of problems caused by some escaped cows it took two weeks before I could start the replacement deck. I usually try to minimise the amount of materials used by keeping any good planks for repairs elsewhere, and re using...
Cutting a tree overhanging a lake 03 09 24
Переглядів 6722 місяці тому
Cutting a tree overhanging a lake 03 09 24
Mini deck build, Platform 12 replacement 29 08 24
Переглядів 1142 місяці тому
Mini deck build, Platform 12 replacement 29 08 24
Day 8 of restoring the overgrown top lake
Переглядів 722 місяці тому
Day 8 of restoring the overgrown top lake
Dangerous tree removal did not go to plan.
Переглядів 1412 місяці тому
Dangerous tree removal did not go to plan.
Can I clear this tree in under 3 hours? 30 07 24
Переглядів 613 місяці тому
Can I clear this tree in under 3 hours? 30 07 24
Day 7 of overgrown top lake rescue 23 07 24
Переглядів 1313 місяці тому
Day 7 of overgrown top lake rescue 23 07 24
Cutting the entire field with a strimmer 18 07 24
Переглядів 8013 місяці тому
Cutting the entire field with a strimmer 18 07 24
Day 6 of restoring the overgrown top lake 16 07 24
Переглядів 4873 місяці тому
Day 6 of restoring the overgrown top lake 16 07 24
Day 5 of restoring the overgrown top lake 10 07 24
Переглядів 4293 місяці тому
Day 5 of restoring the overgrown top lake 10 07 24
Day 4 of restoring the overgrown top lake 28 06 24
Переглядів 2664 місяці тому
Day 4 of restoring the overgrown top lake 28 06 24
Looks Great. Where are you going to put it? Would look good if you could mount it to one of the red woods maybe
If you watch till the very end of the video I do put it in position, it is on the corner of the bottom lake.
@conwy_water_gardens looks good there. Hopefully some good snow pictures coming up after the weather this morning
A dragonfly
Looks great
Thank you
[At 3 minutes i'm guessing dragonfly :D] Oh yeah! That looked maybe like a set of wings you were making :) This was pretty good fun, cheers for the vid :) Oh and that mushroom pun was proper toad skool lol :D
Just watching it again and had a thought... is there a risk it might pose a trip hazard in that location? It'd look good mounted on a tree too maybe if you decided to move it, and due to it's form it'd still achieve the effect of only becoming apparent from certain viewpoints.
@@thorisrain Where I have put it is off the path so people should not be going on there to trip over it, you also have to be careful mounting things like this to trees as some trees don't like it.
Aye fair enough, just thought I'd mention it rather than have a guilty conscience for not mentioning it lol :D
Very good job. You are amazing.👍👍😊
Thank you
Wow the lid finally fits 🎊🎉 that is so much better now it's stable and the water is flowing equally now instead of on the angle. You put this off for so long but it definitely was with it and looks much better now and I am sure you can hide the box with some nice plants
I quite like having the filter on show, it reminds people that there is more to keeping a pond than just having water.
@@conwy_water_gardens definitely I agree to that as so many people think it's that simple
Interesting vid, I had no idea they had huge filters like this for ponds, or how they work. Good job sir, very surgical workmanship there, it all looks just the same at the end as before, except it's all shipshape and working as it should. This sure makes fixing the syphon on the john look like small potatoes lol :D Cheers! :D
I knew this would not be an easy fix which is why I had been putting it off, I did not realise how much of the rockery I would need to rebuild though.
Great work, ten out of ten!
Thank you
Great job and such a beautiful place
Thank you
Good job sir :) I do like the rambles of course but I thought this style worked ok too, letting the pictures do the talking. Apologies, our cat was trying to get you on the screen there, I think he thought you were a bird or a mouse or something on the high-speed section lol, but you can count a like from him too :D Cheers for the vid! :)
Thank you, I had initially intended to do a voice over but it kept going wrong, so I decided subtitles would be just as good.
I didn't think to check subtitles.. oh yeah :) ... (btw just saw the shop phone short the other day too, good one lol) :D Most of the vid has background sound so I thought you'd deliberately plumbed for an unnarrated film. Anyway, the opening and ending scenes scene tied the video together very well without any words being needed I thought, especially with the brew ending, a timeless scene, and one that I greatly approve of :D
Great episode, lots of interesting information and tips - the Water Soldiers are so awesome the way they just sort themselves out! An excellent transformation and essential maintenance to prevent the pond becoming nothing but a patch of boggy ground in the end... Out of interest is it clay lined or what? And is the park an old reservoir or something? Kudos that this is just a side hustle while you're keeping an eye on the shop, good job and thanks for the video! :)
This pond is plastic lined and I believe it was originally built as a fountain display pond for the shop which is why it is so shallow. The other ponds on the grounds are clay lined although the water table is high here so retaining water is not that hard. I don't know the full history of the site but I believe the bottom lake was built as an ornamental pond and the middle lake was built as a fishing lake, There were other ponds here in the past when it used to be a trout farm but I believe these were filled in, I have been thinking of doing a video on the history of the site but most of the details I know are rather vague.
Thanks so much for the reply... you won't believe it (yet again) but my original draft for that post had a hint to maybe make a video about the history and the geography of the site, but I took it out cos I thought I was rambling too much and being presumptuous, but now you went and said it lool :D Great minds lol, ya gotta do it! :D Just say what you know now in the first video, no need to research history etc, and then if you find out more later, do another vid later :D
@@conwy_water_gardenstop canal lake was lined with a membrane when it was dug. It green leaked and with the lack of repair and maintenance over the years there is no water in it and now it's overgrown. The bottom lake used to be around 6' deep and due to lack of maintenance and air circulation it has silted up and now has very little depth in it. Shame really, could be very nice
Another scenario i'm looking 4ward 2 seeing in Spring . . . getting me thru the slumbering winter. . . thanks! . . . work well done. . . blessed bee
It should look good when the plants start to come up.
Good work, pretty amazing what the wind can do! We've been relatively lucky in Wigan and not had it too bad with storms compared to a lot of folk this year. Did have some fun of a related nature last week though - some of the people I work for were having trouble with the interwebs, the most obvious possible cause being a willow tree whipping the phone line to the house. No, it's the box up the road said BT and tinkered with that to no avail, so they replaced the house line using a cherry picker but didn't clear the branches. So even though it's off their property the owner said we'll not have any objections, let's clear that ourselves, which we did. It's incredible how heavy even small looking branches can be, and inevitably we snagged the line a bit a couple of times. Checked the internet, now it was totally screwed. :/ Called the engineer out again, and we had a good laugh rehearsing the plausible deniability of having messed with it ourselves. Anyway, that engineer actually had a proper look at the situation and realised it was all caused by a flat internal battery in an ancient receiver box in the house, and the line had been fine all along lol :D Cheers for the video, and phew, back up to 500 subs, congratulations once again... I was kicking myself Saturday morning when I saw it back on 499! :D
I saw someone cut a willow branch that landed on a phone line once, it did not break but I was amazed at the flex in the pole, It is surprising what these things can take.
Wow I'm shocked that the power lines aren't down especially with the luck we had the past year.
They must be strong to have taken the weight of that branch.
500 subs, great job!
499 now, it will go back up.
Man of all trades great transformation
Thank you
“...'Ere, just keep an eye on't till for five, will yer...” lol :D Loving this 'stuck in the shop' series! Wow, good work! Interesting ramble as always, I like the talking side of gardening and just like any job you need a whole bunch of context to make sense of the practical side, and to prioritise the work to be done. Good thinking with not painting the planter black, I wouldn't have thought of it but you're right, that would be a trip hazard in poor light. Congratulations on the 500 subscribers too! Hope I don't jinx it, last time sub numbers got discussed here 3 people flippin' left lol. Well done, and well deserved! Awesome vid as always, please keep 'em coming! :D
The most irritating thing about looking after the shop is the phone, you run to get it and either miss it by seconds, or it is for the pancake house anyway.
Hahaha, don't talk to me about bl**dy phones! :D
the pressure wash makes the plants look better😊
The smooth leaves on the ferns really sparkle when they are wet.
Jet washers gotta be up there with strimmers for ASMR value lol! Interesting to see more of your place, I'd been curious since the garage vids what the whole building is like, very cool and quirky old place with an interesting history of renovations by the looks of it, and the surroundings are so beautiful! I've doing a bit of seasonal jet washing recently with a similar machine where I work, it's a safety must-do really in terms of slipping underfoot, and the machines are awesome and save a lot of labour scrubbing. It's mainly dry-lay sandstone flags and cobble sets, so you gotta be very accurate to avoid making a complete mess around the edges, but at that point I barely get wet at all. I always wear glasses like you though just in case I get a kicked up stone (used to be safety glasses, these days it's reading glasses lol). I agree about not using chemicals where there's a pollution risk, but also does everything need to sparkle? On the odd concrete flag where I'm working I hold back to about 12 inches, cos I don't want them looking too clean, it wouldn't suit everything else :D Thanks for the vid, sir :)
The house is interesting, it dates back to 1800 at least, but I don't know how much is original, I know there was an addition on the side where the path goes that was removed long ago, there is also an addition on the other side but that was there in 1900, the roof level has been raised by almost 3 ft, the entire front wall has been removed when it was turned into a shop (I think about the 1940s), the kitchen is a more modern extension as it is brick (poss 1970) and the garage was replaced at some point after 1980. Nothing is on the same level and there are steps everywhere, the building was in bad shape when I got it (I put my foot through the floor in 2 places and the garage roof had collapsed), it took a lot of work but it is lovely now, I just wish I had recorded it at the time.
The Keys are gone at last finally. That is a very satisfying moment 🎊🎉🎊🎉 and the chair is fixed only had a hole since 2018
Awesome. Ya won't believe this, as you know I usually like to leave a comment to show my appreciation and support, so when I'm watching, I'm thinking about what I might say. I'm impressed with your work ethic so I was thinking along the lines of 'Keep an eye on the shop will you? : Sorts the whole place out!' or sommat about the elves and the shoemaker, cos it's pretty good that you're always looking for stuff to do, that's really helpful when people do that, using their initiative. But then I thought I'd tease you about 'Hey that chair is a bit of a state' after you'd finished - the old 'You missed a bit' painting joke, then you immediately say 'But before I do that I'm turning my attention to this chair' and fixed it up great! lool :D That was so trippy and cool! Great vid, they're lucky to have you there, as we are here! :D
You never know what I am going to do next, but you can always be sure I will be fixing something. Thanks for the comments, I always love positive feedback.
Great layout so much better
I have had a lot of time to think about it, it is nice to finally be able to do it.
We all like a outside fire
I have a log burner at home so I can have an inside fire too, not quite as big though.
Decent burn there albeit not the best of situations to start with, well done with the single light challenge, and at 15:00 that's gotta be one of the most picture-perfect fires ever :D Cheers for the vid :)
It was all very damp, I was surprised how easily it lit to be honest.
Put the green ones in a brown paper bag with a banana peel seal it up and check them every 3 days or so. All should rippen.
They will look ripe but this is the problem with shop tomatoes, the flavour won't be as nice and they will be very acidic.
Hey cheers for the vid, an interesting diversion :) You're right about home grown tomatoes, my friend does them, she once grew some that were very dark colours when ripe, almost greenish black, rather than red, they were awesome. Nice kitchen there btw, there's no way I'd show ours on camera, well maybe at least this month I could claim the cobwebs are for halloween lol :D
There is a whole range of colours and patterns you can get on the tomatoes and it's interesting to see the difference in flavour between them, so much better than the acidic ones from the supermarket.
Aye good job, reminds me I need to clipper my noggin :) It's much nicer working in the cooler autumn weather lately I reckon. We've been lucky to have some decent winds between the rains here which has kept things dry, so pre-winter jobs like treating sheds and tidying hedges are moving along nicely. Cheers for the vid :D
It's been nice lately for getting those jobs in the garden done for winter plus it's dark at 7pm another job ticked off the list I'm even planning for next year already 😊 nice work
The weather has been all over the place here, over the last few weeks it has gone from pleasant, to freezing cold, to getting my shorts back out, to back to cold and wet, fortunately the last few days have been nice and I too have been painting the shed.
The light is fantastic at this time of year, the sun being lower in the sky as well as the shortening days. When I was a kid I heard older folk talking about this but didn't really get what they were on about, not having been around long enough to appreciate the rhythm of the seasons, but these days I get what they were on about and love it so much. :D
Cracking job as always rob..well done looks so tidier now 👌🎣🎣
I hope you did well from there today.
@@conwy_water_gardens few bites but never give up ..keep coming till we got them.feeding..probably needs a few fish throwing in there liven it up and make the others dominant for food again...worth a try ...but beautiful never the less being in nature and the lakes surrounding 🎣👌
Good work, hey when you become a professional youtuber you'll have a crew that makes sure the tree smashes the fishing stand to matchwood every damn time, and a thousand monkeys writing clickbait titles lol :D Oh and just a suggestion, a random thought I had - maybe the odd slow-motion shot might work occasionally, just put in now and again where it's something that adds to the interest, and just short, like two or three seconds at a time. Like I was thinking some close-up(-ish) weed-whacker footage would be interesting, and for example in this vid when you were hammering the posts in, a slow-mo hammer strike would be cool maybe, just to see how the equipment and the forces are working, and also for a bit of artistic effect possibly. Anyway, just a thought, cheers for another cool vid :D
I am not sure about the slow motion sledge hammer, I have too much belly fat for that.
Ha ha ha :D Well zoom or crop or whatever lol :D Oh and sorry, another idea I meant to mention to you a while ago but forgot - I think the descriptions you write are very informative and add to the video, but it's easy to forget to check them, or maybe some people aren't aware of them or don't think to look. I was thinking pinning them in the comments section as well wouldn't do any harm, and might encourage comments and questions :)
Looks great
Thank you
I like this longer video and seeing more of your work 👍
Thank you, I will see what I can do with future videos.
Great improvement 😊
Thank you
Nice one good work! Sure looked tough going at times even with the powerful strimmer. Thanks for taking us along :D
It didn't help that the grass was damp, it clogged together at some points but I got there in the end
Yeah, I noticed that couch grass particularly, which seems to be the most common wild grass, binds terribly when wet, and is incredibly fibrous when mature. Not having access to the heavyweight strimmers, I've found the next best alternative for meadow cutting is using hedge trimmers, although it's a bit back-breaking (like a lot of stuff for me lately it seems, I think I'm getting old lol), it does get through. There are powered meadow clippers on wheels that work in a similar way, but there's no way they would work on that bank, and I guess they're only worth the money if there's acres of reasonably flat meadow to do.
New addition to the Nature Trail😂
They would not let me keep the sheep, I did say they will help keep the grass down.
Looks great 😊
Thank you
Hard work good outcome its handy seeing some of the tricks of the trade and the solutions you come up with
Well, half the village did turn up in the end...just not the human half lol! Splendid stuff,sir, cheers for the vid! :D
That made me laugh, thank you
Good job, and interesting as ever to hear the reasoning behind the decision to carry out the work. I'm getting the feeling by now that the owner doesn't mind being mentioned in these vids and that you have a constant discussion going on there. Personally, I can see it both ways when it comes to trees and wilderness, I'm not that human-centric at heart, but when I'm working as a gardener, damned sure I'm trying to stay on top of things that will become problems to the owner at some point, or they're putting their faith in the wrong guy. Good to see you doing the same there. I've learnt a fair bit about a lot of stuff watching you work these last few months, so thanks for that :D Brill vid, thanks for sharing, sir. :)
I don't speak that much with the owner, most of it is my head from previous conversations, unfortunately the owner does not always see the problems that will happen in the future so it is a tough balance.
Great transformation
Thank you
Well done rob..can't wait get on this peg again now ya trimmed back the excess...🎣top job mukka
Should be good this week.
@@conwy_water_gardens be down Thursday for a fish 🎣👌
Lovely end result - positively artistic - you have a keen eye
Thank you, it is always harder when you don't like the tree.
Aye, good job, cheers for the vid :)
Thank you
Looks so much better
Thank you
Didn’t you just recently, maybe this year, replace this duck house.
Ah! I can answer this one, I remember the video :D It was a different duck house on a different lake though - ua-cam.com/video/sX2yKtUbQjA/v-deo.html
That duck house was in a different pond and much easier to access.
Cool vid and a great bit of shed bodging there, you did well getting it up onto those new posts. We put a lot of effort and faff into the aesthetics of the formal arrangements where I work (a medium-sized domestic garden) but it's almost a point of pride that most of the sheds and the compost bins are comprised of a patchwork of repairs using recycled oddments. This does give them a bit of character too, but that's just luck. We take the roof seriously of course, but for the rest of it, there just never seems to be a justification for 'properly' fixing a shed or replacing it, just takes too much time for one thing, when you've always got endless other things to do in a garden. I don't wanna do a spoiler but have you solved the problem of accessing the duck ramp with a long ladder bridge, or possibly a recently felled tree? You did say you had a use for that leaning one... can't imagine it's this though cos it's too heavy, but I have to comment it lol. :D The idea of doing joinery in an inflatable boat sounds like fun too lol, what could possibly go wrong! :D
Actually, rewatching it, I'm not an electrician, although my dad is, I won't post this to him though, might give him a heart attack lol. Is it all tickety-boo, that installation? Please feel free not to answer this and/or delete this comment of course :D
As much as I enjoy the problem solving of using reclaimed timber and patch repairing, sometimes it can take much longer than replacing with new, depending on the material being used I can appreciate the rustic look but it also reduces its lifespan. I would like to re do this entire pond, removing some of its problems that has shown up over time but for now I shall stick with bodging. I have still have no plans for the ramp, it is unlikely to be repaired this year as we have had other problems arise.
I'm sure half the village (me included) would love to come there and see the results of your hard work.
Interesting update, not sure of the whole situation there but it's great to see what's going on in practice there, cheers for the vid :) Half the village up there would be great under the right circumstances btw, just tell them Oasis are playing lol :D For some reason with the speeded up chainsaw noises and the other chap there helping I got reminded of the old 'Morph' cartoons from Tony Hart. ( A sample here for anyone who doesn't know what I'm on about :D ua-cam.com/video/1naL_Gn4IS4/v-deo.html )
Hey interesting vid and that was a pretty good diy repair, you sure make yourself useful around there! :) There was sommat similar wrong with ours recently where it played sometimes hilarious and creative avant-garde trombone music for up to several minutes after flushing, but we rent so we just let them fix it, but I went and had a look in there just now and it's all laid out the same, I could have had a go at fixing it after watching this tutorial. Cheers :D
Thank you for your comment, I thought I would show you some of the other things I do other than just cutting trees ;) This repair would not have helped with your noisy toilet though, the noise is probably from the float valve, it would still be a relatively simple repair but there are loads of different washers, so getting the right one could be difficult.
Oh right, thanks for the advice. :) Fortunately for us the plumber who came made short work of it, and he did say it would fill up quicker now, so I guess you're right about it being the valve.
All's well that ends well! :D As it happens I got a couple of good YT suggestions for vids yesterday with some relevant tips that you might like, one about leaning trees, specifically the risk of 'barber chair' splits and ways to mitigate - ua-cam.com/video/Pfj6DXzeIoU/v-deo.html and another one about chainsawing trees generally - ua-cam.com/video/4mcGl3gjvsQ/v-deo.html the specific tip I'm thinking of from this vid is to have a spare guide bar and chain for when there's no other way to free the blade after a jam. Feel free to delete this comment if you don't want links of course, but I just thought I'd mention it. :) I quake when I realise how little I've been aware of certain dangers with the odd bit of tree work I've done, despite a good attitude to health and safety and some experience with woodwork and machinery. I've never properly verified this but so they say there's a simple way to estimate the height of a tree, you stand with your back to it and walk away and bend forwards and look backwards between your legs. Apparently, the average person can see upwards at 45 degrees from this rather undignified position, so when you've got far enough away that you can see the top, that's where it will land. I need a disclaimer here lol :D I reckon the older I get the taller they look though lool, which I guess they are actually, hmmm :)
It would be interesting to try your estimate method, unfortunately I don't get to fell many trees in this way so it will be a while until I can confirm it. But as with any tree work it is always best to over estimate, the trees always look bigger when they are on the ground.
I will check out those videos, It is always good to get more knowledge wherever possible. I must say I have been a bit sloppy with my chainsaw work at the moment, this is not too much of a problem with the smaller stuff that I can lift but it is not good to get into bas habits.
I like the bush-crafty element of the “feller's squat” shall we call it, lol, but I think a more reliable way of doing a height sighting would be to knock up a 45 degree builder's square, much easier on a knackered old spine too lol :D
Oh one thing maybe worth mentioning from my experience too, when handling heavy timbers, if you can make a pivot point, like the edge of the bench in a sawmill, or a decent stone in this situation, to make a see-saw sort of lever, if you see what I mean... you can use your body weight to lift the other end and manoeuvre large timbers around with very little effort or risk, even your fingers ain't underneath it during the main movement.
Sorry, not sure I explained that brilliantly, this is for manhandling timbers sideways, like on or off a truck or bench I mean, not for transporting them. I was impressed with the mower there btw, I would have lost any bet about moving them that way lol :D
Another interesting situation, victory in the end😊
If I had had the crowbar at the start I think it would have gone a lot smoother, but still it all worked out.