ULVA Chemical spraying course Achnashellach

Date Added: 02 February 2015 Contributor: Norman Davidson Year of Photo: 1974 Picture No: 2847

Photograph courtesy of Bill Rayner, Tibbermore, who has provided some information on the course.

Worker Trainee (Name?) from NE Scotland at an ULVA 2.4-D heather spraying course being run by Mike Cheesewright in Achnashellach Forest, Wester Ross in August 1974.

“I cannot remember the name of the ‘trainee’ or names of the squad from Achnashellach. There were 6 of us, this man and me along with the Achnashellach squad. I rode up from Cannich on the motorbike and stayed in the privately run hostel between the road and railway, below the Forester’s house. The Forester at the time was Ivan Toleman-Roth, he and his family were a pleasure to get to know. After the course in the first week, there was supposed to be a further 3 weeks ‘consolidation’ at Achnashellach as Glen Affric forest hadn’t the same heather problems at the time. It was purgatory, heavy thundery rain, gusting winds, midges in clouds and walking in the bottom of eroded plough furrows with the ULVA above the head, as there was nowhere else to walk at the speed required to ensure the correct application rate. The absorbent suit absorbed everything 2.4-D, rain and sweat, whilst the midges stuck to the 2,4-D oil film on the visor, giving ‘NIL’ visibility. After the first 2 weeks Ivan declared that due to the various delays I should return to Affric as completing the consolidation that season seemed unlikely!”

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Groups: Forestry Areas, Forestry in Action, Tools, equipment and clothing

2 Comments

Would I be right in thinking this a low volume mist sprayer which ran on batteries and was often used to distribute the deadly chemical 245t, one similar to this was used on Panmure eastate in the 1970s mainly for broom and gorse bushes growing in the young plantations. Comment left on 26 March 2016 at 11:23 by Leslie Phillip

Aye Leslie,
Ultra Low Volume Applicator (ULVA) was the name of the sprayer, using HP2 batteries as the power source, ordinary U2 batteries had insufficient energy to power the motor to maintain the high revs per minute (rpm) required to create the correct droplet size from the periphery of the spinning serrated edged disc to form the mist spray and hence the ULV of chemical applied per hectare. The jack plug at the bottom of the sprayer/handle tube containing the batteries (visible in the image) was the 'ON/OFF' switch.

As for "deadly chemical 2, 4, 5-T", we raised our concerns at the time about the 2, 4, 5-T in oil mixture we were applying, but were assured that the chemical was not produced using the 'quick' method adopted by the Americans when producing the chemical for use in Vietnam, which was ongoing at that time! It is the acceleration of the reaction when producing 2, 4, 5-T that produces the dioxins (there are many dioxins), which then interferes with the transcription of specific human genes and hence the toxicity, they are also potentially carcenogenic. 2, 4, 5-T is also a skin irritant.

I suspect the dowsing in light mineral oil that the absorbent wicking 'protective' clothing then held next to our skin, may also have had some irritant effect upon us.

We also used 2, 4-D in solution with adjuvant and water on broom and gorse, but this was more common in East Anglia and southern England and in the east of Scotland, where these shrubs were considered a weed. 2, 4-D too has carcenogenic properties, but remains a very widely used herbicide in agriculture throughout the world.

Fortunately, I appear to not have had an adverse reaction, dermatitis or cancer, from either chemical, to date! Comment left on 28 March 2016 at 23:44 by Bill Rayner

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