OT: Small excavator?

Sounds like a Powerfab - most hire places have them

AWEM

It's that kind of thing, but about twice the size and with long arms ending in dumper-truck tyres, basically a much more robust, larger version of the powerfab with a lot more ground clearance. They don't do the one I'm after so it's not just another one from the same manufacturer.

Could it be a Smalley ? Not seen one for years, but they were the pre-cursor to the current generation of mini diggers.

Adrian

It's similar, but more modern, and once again more off-road capable than the smalley, I'll try searching for "walking excavator" though and will see how that goes. I've tried "trailer mounted excavator" and lots of other variations but not "walking".

... and have a look here:

Still not the one I was looking for.

Closest so far is a Kaiser S1;

A german or dutch firm were demonstrating such a device, more substantial than the smalley at one of the recent (last 6 years) forestry machinery demonstrations. If you get desperate I can wade through some old catalogues unless I've dumped them.

first hit on google images

Probably a Menzi Muck, excellent machines, but out of my league, and I don't think the one I had looked at had moving legs. The Menzis can climb over shipping containers, one hell of an off-roader ;-) There's a good video of them doing it on their website.

Don't bother with the catalogues though, I think I'll just have to keep an eye out on the surplus catalogues as most of the walking excavators I've seen are more modern, more capable machines, and therefore too expensive!

I find those tiny excavators don't weigh enough to get through hard ground - anything light enough to tow with a 4x4 isn't up to the job, as a rule of thumb. This little Kubota

We use one on occasion for green lane clearance, I've not seen it in action much but compared to unfit fat blokes with shovels I reckon it'll still come out on top ;-)

Also the one I'm after forms its own trailer so it can be heavier than a trailer-carried one as you don't have to worry about the weight of the trailer. I think it was a 2 or 3 tonner. Getting a larger machine up a lane isn't really practical on a volunteer basis, especially for those of us just doing this kind of thing on a weekend.