Holiday Heaven

The very warm and dry spell has (unusually) continued into the Bank Holiday here in the UK and although today is slightly cooler, it remains dry. Temperatures have been as high as 26 degrees C.

I would have been disappointed if I had gone abroad for the hols, but for once, I made the right decision and stayed right here.

After last weekend’s successful Woodlife Trails course, it was time to chill out. I went to Lowt’s wood and again the timing was perfect as all the bluebells were on spectacular display. I also found the some early purple orchid and bugle.

I came across some fallow, but they had already spotted me and the nearest I could get was about 40 yards. The pic at full digi zoom and not that good.

I continued to help out doing some work in our new ‘Nature Reserve’. I removed a dead branch that had fallen across the entrance to the rest area. I’ll give you an update on the progress in another post.

On Bank Holiday Sunday, JP and I went down to Hatfield Forest and set up the Woodlife Trails stall. It was great to see loads of young kids interested in the skulls and containers full of feeding sign, scat and teeth. Most think they are dinosaur skulls until you tell them that they can see everything on the table in the forest (errr…except the oryx hair – which is included to defeat the know-it-all; I mean designed to challenge the expert.)

Even the lure of the chocolate Easter egg hunt didn’t move many people away, and we came away at the end of the day with most of our leaflets gone.

Last night, an early evening safari around the outer fields and disused tracks revealed a large lapwing nesting area.  You really had to watch where you were going and I left the car to walk carefully along the track on foot. There were a few nests with eggs in…

…and, by carefully observing where the mother had walked before she lifted off, I was able, with great difficulty, to find these chicks...

They were brilliantly camouflaged.

I left the area by another route, did a few anti-surveillance circles and false trails in case a predator had been watching and carefully left the area.

This May Day Bank Holiday weekend, we will be travelling down to Kent for the annual Bushcraft Magazine meet. Perhaps I’ll see you down there.

Thanks for the visit.

Holiday Heaven

The very warm and dry spell has (unusually) continued into the Bank Holiday here in the UK and although today is slightly cooler, it remains dry. Temperatures have been as high as 26 degrees C.

I would have been disappointed if I had gone abroad for the hols, but for once, I made the right decision and stayed right here.

After last weekend’s successful Woodlife Trails course, it was time to chill out. I went to Lowt’s wood and again the timing was perfect as all the bluebells were on spectacular display. I also found the some early purple orchid and bugle.

I came across some fallow, but they had already spotted me and the nearest I could get was about 40 yards. The pic at full digi zoom and not that good.

I continued to help out doing some work in our new ‘Nature Reserve’. I removed a dead branch that had fallen across the entrance to the rest area. I’ll give you an update on the progress in another post.

On Bank Holiday Sunday, JP and I went down to Hatfield Forest and set up the Woodlife Trails stall. It was great to see loads of young kids interested in the skulls and containers full of feeding sign, scat and teeth. Most think they are dinosaur skulls until you tell them that they can see everything on the table in the forest (errr…except the oryx hair – which is included to defeat the know-it-all; I mean designed to challenge the expert.)

Even the lure of the chocolate Easter egg hunt didn’t move many people away, and we came away at the end of the day with most of our leaflets gone.

Last night, an early evening safari around the outer fields and disused tracks revealed a large lapwing nesting area.  You really had to watch where you were going and I left the car to walk carefully along the track on foot. There were a few nests with eggs in…

…and, by carefully observing where the mother had walked before she lifted off, I was able, with great difficulty, to find these chicks...

They were brilliantly camouflaged.

I left the area by another route, did a few anti-surveillance circles and false trails in case a predator had been watching and carefully left the area.

This May Day Bank Holiday weekend, we will be travelling down to Kent for the annual Bushcraft Magazine meet. Perhaps I’ll see you down there.

Thanks for the visit.

Wilderness Immersion Course

This weekend JP and I held the first Woodlife Trails  Wilderness Immersion Course. The aim of the course is to literally immerse participants into the woodlands and forests after giving them a few ideas of how to get closer to wildlife using field-craft, bushcraft and some basic tracking skills.

We are extremely grateful to the National Trust for allowing us to hold the course in Hatfield Forest.

The course was made up of a mixed group of wildlife & bushcraft enthusiasts at various skill levels and I’m pleased to say that following the feedback we received it appeared to be a resounding success. The first evening showed an extraordinary number of interesting observations such as owls, bats, muntjacs and fallow deer.

The following day was made up of sessions designed to give the participants more of a chance to observe wildlife at close quarters after identifying trails, runs, homes and other signs. They were also shown the rudiments of field-craft skills and how to remain detected at at night using lay-ups, camouflage, hides and quick-build shelters.

The participants were carrying their packs containing kit for a 24 hour trip and it showed them the need to pack light.

On Saturday night most stayed out in various parts of the forest all night at a location selected by them to offer the best chance of observing wildlife.

We tried all the tricks in the book to assist like using night vision equipment and trail cams.

In the morning it was reported that the observations were not as successful as the previous evening, or so they thought! After collating all the observations on a map, we found some very interesting behaviour in the forest. Mike observed 30 or so shrews running around his camp while Stu’s meowing could only be a fox cub. Muntjacs challenged the forest visitors, while a grey squirrel came within a few feet of Nigel’s camp and by its behaviour it obviously accepted Nigel’s presence even though it wasn’t entirely happy.

This is exactly the reaction we were after; in other words an acceptance of a human interloper in the forest. It turned out that everyone actually heard or saw something interesting including a large dog fox and an escaped saluki dog! Another important aspect that everybody reported was how they all relaxed and eventually slowed down to the speed of the forest.

We’d like to thank everyone who came on the course and gave us their valuable feedback to make the next one even better.

Wilderness Immersion Course

This weekend JP and I held the first Woodlife Trails  Wilderness Immersion Course. The aim of the course is to literally immerse participants into the woodlands and forests after giving them a few ideas of how to get closer to wildlife using field-craft, bushcraft and some basic tracking skills.

We are extremely grateful to the National Trust for allowing us to hold the course in Hatfield Forest.

The course was made up of a mixed group of wildlife & bushcraft enthusiasts at various skill levels and I’m pleased to say that following the feedback we received it appeared to be a resounding success. The first evening showed an extraordinary number of interesting observations such as owls, bats, muntjacs and fallow deer.

The following day was made up of sessions designed to give the participants more of a chance to observe wildlife at close quarters after identifying trails, runs, homes and other signs. They were also shown the rudiments of field-craft skills and how to remain detected at at night using lay-ups, camouflage, hides and quick-build shelters.

The participants were carrying their packs containing kit for a 24 hour trip and it showed them the need to pack light.

On Saturday night most stayed out in various parts of the forest all night at a location selected by them to offer the best chance of observing wildlife.

We tried all the tricks in the book to assist like using night vision equipment and trail cams.

In the morning it was reported that the observations were not as successful as the previous evening, or so they thought! After collating all the observations on a map, we found some very interesting behaviour in the forest. Mike observed 30 or so shrews running around his camp while Stu’s meowing could only be a fox cub. Muntjacs challenged the forest visitors, while a grey squirrel came within a few feet of Nigel’s camp and by its behaviour it obviously accepted Nigel’s presence even though it wasn’t entirely happy.

This is exactly the reaction we were after; in other words an acceptance of a human interloper in the forest. It turned out that everyone actually heard or saw something interesting including a large dog fox and an escaped saluki dog! Another important aspect that everybody reported was how they all relaxed and eventually slowed down to the speed of the forest.

We’d like to thank everyone who came on the course and gave us their valuable feedback to make the next one even better.

Visit to Broaks Wood

Just before the weather turned and as I had a few days off, I continued my spring photo sessions at Broaks wood.

Not being the weekend, the place was deserted but I was unlikely to see any mammals because guess who came along too.

I knew there were grass snakes in the area, but unfortunately I didn’t see any so I had to be content with the wildflowers.

Cuckoo flower was everywhere…

…and an occasional stitchwort.

And that icon of the English woodland, the bluebell.

Not quite fully developed, but good enough to cause a blue mist along the woodland floor.

Of course, birds are busy nesting as well.

Woodlife Trails are running a course this weekend, so I’m busy preparing for that. Hopefully I’ll have a write up of that later in the week.

Until then, thanks for the visit.

Visit to Broaks Wood

Just before the weather turned and as I had a few days off, I continued my spring photo sessions at Broaks wood.

Not being the weekend, the place was deserted but I was unlikely to see any mammals because guess who came along too.

I knew there were grass snakes in the area, but unfortunately I didn’t see any so I had to be content with the wildflowers.

Cuckoo flower was everywhere…

…and an occasional stitchwort.

And that icon of the English woodland, the bluebell.

Not quite fully developed, but good enough to cause a blue mist along the woodland floor.

Of course, birds are busy nesting as well.

Woodlife Trails are running a course this weekend, so I’m busy preparing for that. Hopefully I’ll have a write up of that later in the week.

Until then, thanks for the visit.

Sunny and Warm Weekend

There is no place on earth like England in spring.

This weekend was more akin to high summer than an early spring. The temperature reached 25 degrees C in the sun and it made for superb nature watching in the woods.

I quietly entered Poor Park woods and immediately came across about 30 fallow. They were relaxed and I watched them at about 50 meters through the old pheasant fence for a good 10 minutes. I know I should have kept lower when trying to stalk closer, but I was a little impatient and it wasn’t long before they cottoned-on to what I was doing and trotted off out of the wood.

I was left to explore the woods and new growth on my own:

The wonderful cuckoo flower or ladies smock with it’s watercress-tasting leaves…

…This is a barren strawberry as opposed to a wild strawberry…

…Star of Bethlehem… (a remedy for anxiety)

…white dead-nettle. The leaves can be cooked and don’t sting…

…and greater celandine.

I was delighted to see the oxlips out as well. These plants are similar to cowslips and are locally rare. Note there are no orange stripes within the petal as with cowslips.

This little fella with a large proboscis is a large bee-fly (Bombylius major)

I heard the cat-calling whistle of the buzzards utilising the air currents above and I vainly tried to mimic the sounds. I doubt whether it was my efforts, but as I was trying this out, I heard what was like a crash landing behind me. I turned to see one of the birds had landed noisily on a branch. I had enough time to take a quick photo before it flew off again.

The final part of my walk took me outside of the wood and I walked the edge to experience the wonderful sunshine and warmth of this early spring day.

Thanks for the visit.