The harvesting operations at Inishconnell have now almost finished.  All the cutting is complete.  Wesley and his harvesting machine have moved off to a nearby Coillte forest to continue work there.  Below are some shots of the machine at work and what it has done:

Wesley carefully placed the logs between the rows for Padraig to collect later.

Look at the amount of logs coming out.  Wesley has felled the trees, measured them and cut them into the required lengths and carefully placed them at the base of the trees for Padraig to collect later.


Harvesting machine working in the dark

In the short days leading up to Christmas, Wesley would turn on the powerful lights of the harvesting machine and work away in the dark.  On the couple of evenings I found myself in the forest just on or after dark, the light from the machine shining through the dark conifer trees was an eery sight.  Here (above) the machine head is cutting the felled tree into lengths.


Computer screen in cabin of harvesting machine

Every activity the harvesting machine carries out is recorded on the inbuilt computer (shown above) in the cabin.  The driver can see the number of trees/stems cut; the total volume of timber produced; the grade and size of the timber and what lengths the tree is cut into. This means it’s easy for everyone involved in the forest to gather information and in particular when it comes to selling the timber.


The harvesting machine working its way up the long forest lines

Here is the machine nearing the end of a long extraction line.  Notice all the brash (branches from the felled trees) left behind to pad out the line for the heavy, timber-laden trailer to travel across as the forwarder collects the logs later.


The harvesting machine at the roadside waiting to leave the forest after it's work is finished.

The harvesting machine waiting to be collected from the roadside.  It’s work in this forest is finished.