Ah, the wonders of modern technology. Chris Wadsworth has a new piece of equipment that enables him to shift three times the volume in the same time. It reduces physical work by perhaps 50% and is a huge improvement on his previous machinery. Chris is a woodsman extracting timber using heavy horses. His new "toy" is an eight-wheeled rig which replaces his old two-wheel hooped drag.

It is a simple piece of kit. Eight small-diameter balloon-tyred wheels, each with independent suspension, set in separate steering bogies of four, carry a low-slung cradle with an extendable spine to carry the logs. Any half decent engineer and fabrication shop could knock them out, but Chris had to import this one. For the site he is working it is a godsend.

The Yorkshire Wildlife Trust's Askham Bog nature reserve is, as its name suggests, a bog - deep, wet peat. Chris and his 18-year- old gelding, Tees, are being used because they cause least damage to the surface when dragging out the timber. His previous rig lifted the front end of the logs, but dragged the tall end behind, leaving shallow furrows. The new rig, on its soft tyres, leaves barely a trace of its presence, and because it is fully wheeled, it can take three times the weight in timber at one go.

The conservation benefits of clearing the colonising woodland of Askham Bog have been quickly evident. Flag iris, ragged robin, sedges, rushes and orchids have burst forth in the new, light-enriched glades. Water violet has blossomed in the ditches, although the Himalayan balsam has taken advantage of the improved conditions too.

Whilst talking to Chris I noticed a movement beneath some brambles which have clambered over a pile of silver birch logs. A roe deer fawn, spotted and Bambi-like, lay curled up awaiting its mother's feeding visit. Large eyes, large flappy ears, it was around a week old. I indicated it to Chris and he moved Tees and his rig to the other side of the site. The doe will move the fawn this evening, Chris can take the logs another day.