Woodlife

The Tribe

2012-01-29T10:43:00.001-08:00

It was a cold, cold weekend. The kind of ‘damp-cold’ that gets through your clothes and chills you to the bone.

The only thing to do was to build the fire up… and up… and up.

I think it was the clothing that everyone wore that made me film the meet in a this way. It just seemed right.

It was brilliant to see everyone again. Great laughs and great company as usual. Hope you enjoy the video.

Snippets

2012-01-24T12:47:00.001-08:00

We will be at Hatfield Forest during half-term on Sunday 19th February with our famous ‘Table of Death’ full of Nature exhibits for you to look at. We will also be running Bushcraft and Tracking demos and taster sessions throughout the day.

The first Woodlife Trails weekend course starts on 23rd March. Join us at Hatfield Forest for a weekend. The course is designed to show you how to set up small wildcamps and base camps in the woods. It will also show you how to run a safe and hygienic camp. We will give you the opportunity to try out various bits of kit from stoves to shelters. No more relying on YouTube videos!

You may have noticed Woodlife Trails has a new logo. The logo is an amalgamation of Pablo’s Woodlife and JP’s Nature’s Trails logos. What do you reckon? Leave us a comment and tell us what you think. We’ve got some logo’d up goodies planned.

Have a go at our Bushcraft and Tracking courses survey? It will only take you a couple of minutes and is completely in confidence. Tell us your experiences on previous courses and what you expect from a bushcraft and/or tracking course. This will give us an idea of how to structure our programmes in the future.

We are on track to launch our Diploma in April. We have five participants so far and still have a place left. If you are seriously interested, please let us know.

That’s all for now. Thanks for the visit.

A Day in Broaks Wood

2012-01-15T12:47:00.001-08:00

I set off early complete with small pack, small stove and small dog... oh and a pork pie! The idea was to take some photos in Broaks wood, which is a forestry commission wood about 10 miles away from me.

The wood is usually full of dog walkers, but I took the chance even though it was looking like a fine, sunny day. Saturday is normally shopping day for the ‘unfortunates’ so I might be lucky and have the woods to myself for some time.

It was a chilly start and signs of frost were everywhere, which made for some interesting photos. Unfortunately, I just didn’t take any good ones! I even missed a Muntjac fawn which obligingly stopped in the middle of the track. Billy wasn’t amused that he couldn’t give chase.

We ended up circumnavigating the whole wood just to keep the cold at bay; but by lunchtime it had warmed up considerably and we ended up in our favourite spot overlooking farm land and woodland.

We shared the pork pie and I fired up the lightest cookset I have. An Evernew titanium burner and Alpkit titanium mug.

It didn’t take too long to boil up some water for a coffee.

The warmth of the sun brought out insects that should certainly have been hibernating. The log I was leaning on must have been a favourite hibernation area, as there were literally tens of Ladybirds coming out of the cracks. I do’;t think I’ve ever seen so many in one place.

After a leisurely lunch (and a snooze in the sunshine) we wondered down to the North side of the wood where things were a lot different temperature wise. As we went into late afternoon, the temperature dropped even more and, after a final sit spot we decided to head back to the car.

We had been out for five hours and even Billy was getting tired. For a small dog, he has got tremendous stamina. It was also a good chance to try out my new Harkila Lynx GTXs which performed brilliantly (I’ll do a review soon.)

Thanks for the visit.

Tried and Trusted

2012-01-08T09:15:00.001-08:00

A selection of the tried and trusted...

Snugpak Stratosphere

A new meaning to bivvying

PB 207 blue flame lighter

Saves rubbing two bits of wood together

Frosts Clipper

Excellent knife for under £10 - I still use mine.

Woolpower balaclava

Essential winter hammock wear - do not enter banks wearing this.

Karrimor Sabre 75

So versatile – add side pockets and you’ve got 100 litres!

Leatherman Charge TTI

Always in my possible pouch.

Harlika Lynx GTX 9in

Ooops! 150 quid! But what a boot for trackers! Don’t wear them around the fire. It’s all hi-tech stuff. Brilliant and 100% waterproof.

Alpkit Gamma headtorch.

Red Green and white LEDs. HOW MUCH!! £12.50! I’ll have two!

Tracpac billy set

What more do you want for £14-00? I use the smallest one. The others are hobo stoves.

Bruseletto Leuku

Simple, cheap and effective

Woolpower base layer

200g is enough to ward of the British winter

Exped Down Mat

It’s more important to get insulation under you than on top. Exped is the way to go.

Alpkit down bags

Great price - great bag

Wool and possum fur hat

Great for sitting around the winter fire

Fjallaven

This is as close to a wide-brim hat as I get!

Hogs of Fife headwear

The Scots know something about weather – so why not?

Buff

Multi-functional head or neckwear.

Camelbak Cloudwalker

Technical lightweight daysack.

EKA Nordic W11

Great all round sub-£100 bushy style knife

DD hammock and Tatonka tarp

The only way to sleep out

Silky saw

Possibly better than the Bahco

Snowsled

Not the cheapest ventile about – but if its good enough for Ran Fiennes, it’s good enough for me.

Ganfors Bruks

Still the best axe around.

Yellow flip-flops

(Only joking)

Bushbuddy stove & Crusader cup

Natural fuel and a stainless receptacle

Mini Trangia

Lightweight and reliable meths stove. Take the burner out and add it to the tracpac billy and bushbuddy. Voila!

Primus Litech Frying pan

Probably the most versatile piece cookware you’ll ever have.

Nato water bottle

Mine says 1976. I was issued it. Great for using as a hot water bottle in winter!

Deer Hunter Gamestalker 2 Smock.

If your going to go cammo – go Deerhunter or Mad Dog. I love this smock for its in-built mossy net and large horizontal pocket.

S0, What’s Been Happening?

2012-01-03T05:35:00.001-08:00

It seems like this has been a long holiday break. I haven’t ventured too far from home but I’ve managed to get a few days in the woods.

On boxing day I managed to stalk up to a small herd of fallow. There was an annoying open patch of ground which stopped me getting closer and had to be content with quite a long shot of a three or four year old buck, laying down ruminating and watching over his does.

Most of the time I was content with just wandering along the fields picking up a few tracks. This is a nice brown hare print…

..and a badger.

I’ve had some fun with Mrs P’s camera I bought her for Christmas. She left it on the dining room table when she went for a bike ride, so I snaffled it up and had a play! It’s got a pretty good macro and zoom function.

And the sports burst shot is also very good. Notice Billy’s right rear leg in pics 5 and 8 as he goes into a rotary gallop. I gave the camera back when I finished with it. Honest!

To get some peace from the festivities, I sought refuge in my study where the table is looking more like a mad professor’s laboratory every day! In fact. I’m sewing and cleaning up Woodlife Trails’ Table of Death exhibits. Not an easy task trying to sew a shrew’s foot back onto its body.

I nearly forgot to mention that I’ve got a rat in the garden; what am I gonna do? (sorry UB40.) Needless to say it has been the subject of intense study and I’ve managed to find out where it goes and how it gets there. I think it’s living in the compost heap. I let you know more next time.

Happy New Year to everyone.

Essex Outbacks

2011-12-12T08:25:00.001-08:00

One of the greater successes within the Woodlife Network has got to be the creation of the Essex Outbacks group. They have a 40 strong membership and as a group have organised some woods in Essex to meet up and practice bushcraft.

The Outbacks meet around every 3 months or so and depending on the time of year, various skills are practiced, large feasts are prepared and the liquid refreshment flows as the “Horn of Plenty” is passed around which normally contains a never ending supply of Port wine.

Last weekend, a group of the most hardy set out and, despite the forecast being icy, (Saturday night’s temperature was actually minus 3 Centigrade) the group were busy collecting wood to build up a warming fire.

After the normal Friday social, the only way to cure a lingering hang-over is to get stuck in to some bushcraft skills. Shelter building was the order of the day and soon a nice leaf litter shelter was built for our newest member, Hazel, to sleep in that night.

Saturday night is traditionally feast night and Vinney’s butternut squash soup was followed by Michael and Stephen’s stew, followed closely by Hazel’s excellent Jambalaya. Who said woodland living should be uncomfortable?

Saturday night was slightly milder but many were prepared for the worse! Well… if you can carry it, then why not use it?

I’m ground dwelling this winter and my own set up this year consists of the Snugpack Stratosphere hooped-bivvy; Exped down-mat; Alpkit Skyhigh 800 sleeping bag with a Snugpack Thermalon liner. The cover is my trustee Tatonka Tarp 2 3m x 3m tarp. So ground dwelling it is this winter and this set up is snug, warm and light for walking in any distance.

It was a great weekend, and many thanks to Scrivy and the other organisers. It was great to see the old faces as well as meet new ones.

If you would like to join the Woodlife Network, follow the link above. Perhaps you would also like to set up a local group and share the cost of practicing bushcraft skills in a local wood.

Where’s the Winter?

2011-11-20T10:28:00.001-08:00

It was impossible to stay in this weekend. Not that I wanted to. The mist took a little while to disperse, but when it did, the sun shone and it was yet again a glorious weekend here in the east, without any sign at all of the winter.

I went to Broaks wood to see if there was any remnants of autumn to photograph with the big camera.

It was certainly a bit too late for the spectacular autumn colours, but I did manage to capture some shots of the damp, warm wood.

Once again, I swear I saw some Roe deer on the outskirts of the wood. But it was only a fleeting glimpse and could well have been young fallow does. I tried to follow them but lost them in the dense undergrowth. I really must confirm my suspicions one day.

Another reason for taking the big camera was to try and get some shots of the conifer area of Broaks for an up-coming article in Bushcraft and Survival Skills magazine.

In fact the area is home to some young Coast Redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens). Even these young trees are impressive as you stretch your neck to look up to their tops.

Once inside the grove, a different world emerges as the temperature rises and the damp under-storey plays host to different mushroom species; but not much else. The top layer full of fallen pine needles provides a dry, soft seating area and it was here I had my lunch.

As I did, a squirrel came along to try and find his lunch! The photo opportunity was too good to miss and the obvious caption would be something like: “I know I buried it here somewhere!!”

He came closer and closer and didn’t seem too bothered as I snapped away.

Eventually, it seemed he was the one studying me. I put the camera down and carried on with my lunch. He sat in front of me and we both enjoyed the sun streaming through the thick conifer canopy.

After a while we went our different ways.

Thanks for the visit.

Woodland Tracker

2011-11-14T11:50:00.001-08:00

At Woodlife Trails we rarely stay still. I’ve been dreaming up the Woodland Tracker course for some time, trying to find tracking techniques that would work better for the difficult environment and substrates of the British woodland than those techniques designed for warm climates.

This weekend the dream was realised as ten brave souls came out to trial the course. The result was an unmitigated success, even though I knew there’s a bit more work to be done.

The continuing mild weather made things quite comfortable and tracking on the main pathways of Hatfield forest was easy, which was great to test out a few theories. Unravelling individual prints contaminated by human traffic, however, wasn’t so easy. As we tracked deeper and deeper into the forest, things also got even more difficult; but the feedback was that the techniques worked well.

Following tracks and trail leading to the deeper parts of the forest also produced some stunning close encounters for everyone including foxes and the ever present fallow deer. The techniques from the Immersion course also helped and, for some, it was obvious that things were really coming together.

We also tried out some new casting plaster from a company called “First Forensics”. We are still trialling this but first impressions are quite positive in relation to the quick-drying properties, although the plaster can’t be spread too thinly or it will crack. It’s also not very easy to separate from the woodland floor.

Thanks to everyone who came along and to Scrivy for being Marigold.

I’ll leave you with a small clip of the fallow.

Thanks for the visit.

Fallow Camera Trap

2011-11-06T08:31:00.001-08:00

On Friday I collected the trail cams from the Woods. One stand had very little activity while the other was reasonably active.

It shows that there are at least four bucks; one yearling, two juveniles and the dominant older buck. As I reported last week the rutting activity is pretty subdued at the moment. This maybe because of the weather or simply that the dominant male has very little competition.

In the clips you can see a stand-off between two juvenile bucks. They seem unsure what to do, so they just stand there! Most activity around the area is at night or dawn / dusk. During the day, they tend to go deeper into the woods.

Next week we’ll be back in Hatfield Forest for our Woodlife Tracker Course. we have ten participants and it promises to be an excellent course.

Until next week…

Stuck in a Rut

2011-10-30T12:28:00.001-07:00

As I had to stay close to home this weekend, I decided to spend some time observing the rut in my local woods, Poor Park. The woods were wonderful, especially in the evening sun light.

I set myself a number of rules. Firstly, I would observe from a stand-off position and not get too close. If I was spotted by the buck more than twice , I would withdraw for an hour. More than three times and I would leave the woods.

I also wanted to identify a good stand or two in order to leave the camera traps in place for a week. I started my mission by doing a recce of stands. I started on the east side and made my way west.

I knew a couple of areas from previous years and I wasn’t surprised to see ground scrapings and rutting signs in these places. In fact there were four main areas scattered throughout the woods; but unlike previous years, there was little sign of the aggressive thrashing and burnishing against the trees.

I had heard some bellowing over the week, but again there wasn’t as much as previous years. Perhaps the weather had affected the start of the rut. It has been extremely mild. However, it wasn’t long before I heard the bellowing of the stag deep in the most inaccessible part of the wood.

I managed to get close enough for a sighting with the wind nicely in my favour. The huge palmate antlers actually clashed against low branches as he moved slowly towards the stand to the far east of the wood. I followed on a parallel course about 30 meters behind. To my delight, the stag moved into more open ground, but he was speeding up, making me less cautious where I was stepping.

My National Geographic money photo was getting closer and closer as I moved in. I lifted the camera to get a nice moving shot when, suddenly, it seemed as though the whole wood had woken up. I had stepped on a large twig which sounded not just like a gunshot, but a canon shot! The stag jumped and proinked out of the woods and ran into the open ground and away across the field.

The next day, I was a little more fortunate. I spent all day on and off following and observing the stag. I withdrew quite a few times and I was spotted twice. I was interested to notice that that there was definitely a lack of aggression this year and I came to the conclusion that the rut hadn’t really commenced. I hadn’t witnessed the stag covering any does – and despite another fully formed stag in the area, their was no aggressive display.

My last task was to set the camera traps and sit down for a well-earned break. As I did so, I was concentrating on the ladybird on my notebook so much, I missed a photo opportunity of a young pretentious stag that casually wandered in front of me about 7 meters away. By the time I collected up the camera, I could only get a couple shots of his rear end!

Thanks for the visit.

Wilderness Immersion Course

2011-10-18T12:19:00.001-07:00

Our Woodlife Trails Wilderness Immersion Course does exactly what it says on the tin. It immerses participants into the wilderness; in this case the wonderful setting of Hatfield Forest.

Last weekend, 7 participants did exactly that. After giving them the tools of the trade, they all, without exception, came back with some stunning stories of what they observed and how close they got to the wildlife after a night spent alone in various parts of the forest. In fact, throughout the weekend we had some really good sightings all round including fox, badger and buzzards.

Of course this was partly due to the abundance of food on the forest floor and the start of the fallow deer rut.

As well as observing wildlife at close quarters, we all had the opportunity to study deer signs …

… and homes of various creatures.

The wonderful weather helped our 24 hours “on-the-trail” and classroom sessions.

Even so, our base-camp set up was available just in case and it also provided a central admin area.

Hatfield Forest was, as usual, spectacular.

Thanks to everyone who came and made it such a superb course.

Thanks to Griggers who helped out on the course and supplied the excellent footage and some of the (better) photos.

Corporate Events

2011-10-13T05:03:00.001-07:00

Woodlife Trails staff have experience with dealing with corporate groups. We recognise the importance of providing your company with the management skills required to be successful in today's highly competitive markets. We also recognise that value for money is an over-riding factor in deciding the type and amount of training to provide delegates.

We can provide your company staff and management with a rewarding day or weekend in a woodland environment that develops and tests a huge range of management skills such as decision-making, team-working, communications, leadership, confidence and trust.

“Thanks for giving us the opportunity to really appreciate our surroundings and to learn skills that are useful both in business and our personal lives. A very exciting and challenging day…”

These programmes can be made challenging to enhance decision making skills and develop team work, but they will also be enjoyable and fun. We can tailor any course or session to your event requirements with our “pick and mix” Bespoke Courses.

All the skills required to undertake events such as our Team-Tracking Event take a minimum amount of time to learn thus maximising the time to put all the skills into practice.

Our scenarios are realistic and fun. Our unique woodland environment is challenging but safe. Our debriefs are succint and always link to the workplace.

We can either concentrate on specific areas or provide general management skills training. You can work with us to design the event, or leave our expert course designer to design an event based on previous tried and tested programmes.

Our course designer is qualified in designing management skills training and all our staff are trained and experienced in dealing with corporate groups.

Feel free to contact us at info@woodlife.co.uk if you require more information

Team Tracking Event

2011-10-10T11:28:00.001-07:00

We had a great Team-Tracking event on Sunday at Hatfield Forest where 11 brave souls volunteered (or at least, I think they volunteered) to try and put some newly taught management skills into practice in a woodland environment.

There were a few more tools to add to the toolbox as the guys and girls learnt how to enhance their senses and, of course, they had to learn a few tracking basics. Despite the crash course they all, without exception, quickly picked up how to identify and link evidence on the woodland floor and were soon putting it into practice in a competitive scenario; proving that tracking is a fantastic media for developing many aspects of team and individual skill areas. It also shows that tracking is an easy skill to learn but it takes a life-time to master.

Unbelievably, the difference in times between the two teams (The “A” team and “TrackWise”) was a mere 30 seconds over a 45 minute track. Nail biting stuff!

Well done to everyone who came along. We hope to see them again.

Next weekend – We will be immersing 8 people in Britain’s “Last Forest” as we run our extremely popular Wilderness Immersion Course.

Can’t wait!!

Woodlife Tracker Knives

2011-10-04T14:03:00.001-07:00

Woodlife Tracker Series

Here very soon !!!

We will soon be taking orders for these knives. In the meantime, to gauge interest, please fill in the form below (no obligation.)

Here's a quick overview:

Woodlife Tracker DJP belt knife

Specs:

Green Micarta Scales (Removable – not as picture)

Woodlife Tracker DSK neck knife

Specs:

Green Micarta Scales (Removable – not as picture)

Woodlife Tracker Nessie Camp knife

Specs:

Green Micarta Scales (Removable – not as picture)

Kydex Sheaths as standard

A Wonderful Weekend

2011-10-02T12:03:00.001-07:00

I expect it was something to do with the weather – but even so, it was just such a great weekend.

Unfortunately, I couldn't make the Essex Outbacks meet in Kelvedon. On Saturday, I took Billy and we spent about four hours just meandering around the fields and woodland edges of our local area. We took plenty of water, had plenty of stops and just chilled out when we felt like it in the shade of our favourite trees, in awe of the warmth and blue sky.

The buzzards came out to take advantage of the incredible thermals that must have been made by the superb weather. For the record, it was 29 degrees on 1st of October! Extraordinary!

Sunday saw more of the same warm weather. Again, I wandered around the fields and set up my new archery target (review soon).

I was certainly out of practice, but still had great fun pinging away at the target.

Everything seemed well with the world, despite the fact that I was on my own for the weekend…

… well, not completely on my own!

A busy two-weeks ahead as Woodlife Trails undertake two courses. More about that next time!

Thanks for the visit.

Summer 2011 Kit

2011-10-01T09:28:00.001-07:00

Carry

Karrimor SF Predator 45

Shoulder bag (tools and accessories)

Sleep

Alpkit SkyHigh 800

Exped SynMat 7

Highlander camp bed (with tarp)

Shelter/Rest

Tatonka Tarp 2 (3m x 3m) with DD hammock or

Terra Nova Jupiter

Torch pack

Alpkit Head Torch

Spare batteries

Small Utility pack

6 Alu tent pegs

10m paracord

2 x hi-vis guy lines

Tea light candle

First Aid kit

Clothes

Bison Bushcraft Tracker boots

Fjallraven cap

Old button-up Swaandri

Deer hunter – Games talker smock

Surplus Cargo trousers (Outer)

Tool pack

Bruseletto Stromeng

Woodlife tracker DJP

Silky Pocketboy Saw

Falkniven DC4 Sharpening

Camera

Compass/thermometer

Notebook

Tinder pouch

Belt

JP Pouch (MJ Bushcraft leather)

Kuksa

Neck Carry

Micro Torch

Jet Scream Whistle

Button compass

Cooking

Bushbuddy with Snowpeak 900 or

Mini Trangia

Primus Litech Frying pan

Plastic Thermo Drinking cup

4 litre MSR Dromedary water bag

Hygiene Pack

Collapsible bowl

Foot powder

Antispetic wipes

Hygiene liquid

Food

Instant porridge mix

Bacon, eggs, tortillas (edible plates)

Mini bars chocolate

Mixed nuts raisons

2 x instant soup

Pre-prepared stew or fresh meat and vegetables or boil in a bag

Tea & sugar

Brandy (Medicinal!!)

Additional (Tracking)

Tracking stick; Green torch; Measuring tape

Folding Firebox Review

2011-09-29T00:11:00.001-07:00

The woodburning market seems to be flooded at the moment. There’s bushbuddys, bushstoves, pocket cookers and Honey stoves to name just a few. A new one on the market has to be a bit special to even make a dent. The Folding Firebox is certainly that; so I’ll show you around it a give you my opinion.

The first thing that strikes you is that when it’s folded up, it's incredibly thin, which makes it great for packing away. I also noticed that it is quite heavy, which is a bit of negative for the bushcraft and hiking market, unless you’re willing to haul around 2lbs of stainless steel. If you take into account the weight of your fuel, then this might be a little more attractive because obviously, the stove primarily relies on natural fuel found in the woods. It’s also ideal for a base-camp situation, where weight doesn’t matter too much.

The Folding Firebox is basically a wood-burning stove. Everything is hinged together and, unlike some fiddly setups, you don’t have to spend ages putting it together. The only thing that is separate is the ash pan and two metal “firesticks.” The firesticks help hold the stove together when folded up.

These metal “firesticks” also have a number of other uses. Firstly, they can be used to lift the hot firebox if you need to move it around. Secondly, you can put the sticks through any one of the drilled holes to place items (either other burners or small cups and pans) at different levels. The holes are half an inch lower on adjacent sides so there are many options. Finally, the sticks can be placed right on top of the firebox so you can cook or boil with smaller cups or pans.

The stove can also be used with other fuel sources. If you remove the ash pan from the bottom and place it on the top, you can use esbit or hexy blocks with the stove. There’s enough headroom between the fuel and the top of the firebox to allow this to happen. Meths burners like a Trangia or Evernew are a bit trickier. You can use the firesticks to put the burner on any level, but you can only use larger pans on the top of the firebox. Smaller mugs and even our ubiquitous Crusader cups won’t fit on the top easily. But, with the assistance of two handy tent pegs, you can use these to place on your cup or smaller pot with no problem.

The thing I like about the Folding Firebox is it’s ease of use. The all-round solid construction allows stable, safe and wind-proof use. It folds up remarkably thin for such a resulting sold construction. The downside is that it’s quite heavy – but I’d be willing to carry it in if I couldn’t use a ground fire for whatever reason.

One other big plus… the price. At the moment it’s advertised at $39. Even with delivery and import tax, that’s a give-away.

All in all, a big thumbs up for this interesting and innovative stove.

There’s more details and full video on http://foldingfirebox.com. In the meantime, I’ve done a short video of the Firebox in wood-burning mode below.

Thanks to Ben Probst who sent me the Firebox.

Random Pictures of a Passing Season

2011-09-25T12:09:00.001-07:00

This weekend was a nice relaxing one with no agenda at all. On Saturday I went into Broaks Wood with Billy. We took the big camera and took a few pictures of the passing summer.

Everything looks a bit weary and there wasn’t a lot of activity. We did see what I think was a Roe deer and later a Muntjac. The Roe is quite unusual for these woods, but it was on the outskirts.

I’ll leave you with the pictures.

A Day in Poor Park

2011-09-18T10:24:00.001-07:00

It seemed like an eternity since I was in Poor Park woods. I was quite surprised to see many of the trees in the woods turning to an autumn hue, especially the towering poplars, whose top-most leaves have already turned a golden yellow. The blackberries are all spent and there was a slight musty smell that always pre-empts the onset of autumn.

I was greeted by a doe and two young fallows already in their dark winter coats. As they spotted me they ran to the east. I tried to cut them off by doing a loop to the south and coming up on the east side. I laid in wait, but they had obviously stopped just out of sight to the north. I stalked up on the east side northwards to meet them, but they had cut back south west and into some dense woodland. I had the choice of looping around to the north-west at the risk of giving myself away by being upwind, or work my way through the woodland, directly following their tails.

I chose the latter option. Despite moving quickly, I didn’t gain on the small group, and even though I was following accurately (judging by the fresh fewmets) I wasn’t able to get any closer to them. I gave up near one of my regular rest spots.

My next project was to have a look at a new stove Ben Probst had sent me called the Folding Firebox (http://www.foldingfirebox.com/) This is a market that appears appears saturated with wood-burners like the honey stove, bushbuddy, bushcooker, pocketcooker and a few others. I will do a full review mid week on video; however, I was initially impressed with this very smart, innovative firebox.

It is pretty heavy though,and I think this may be it’s main drawback for those who like to keep their weight down.

My excursion in Poor Park woods continued coming across a classic fox kill site and …

…a fresh badger latrine, which proves the badgers are still using the woods, even if they aren’t permanently located in them.

I finished off the day by laying down just off a cross-track and falling asleep in the late summer sunshine. I came round to see two fallow does about 30 yards away. I didn’t have the energy to scrabble for the camera. I just watched them slowly wander along the trail and skip across the cross-track and into the denser woodland.

After they had gone, I collected up my small rucksack and made my way back to the car. There wouldn’t be that many more fine, warm days left this year. I was glad I had made the most of this one.

Thanks for the visit.

Last Show in Britain’s Last Forest

2011-09-13T11:50:00.001-07:00

As the Woodlife Trails Roadshow season draws to an end, it is rather fitting that it was here at Hatfield Forest, Woodlife Trail’s adopted home and base, that we should perform our last one.

We are extremely fortunate to be associated with the National Trust at Hatfield and their forward-looking staff and managers seem to be pleased to have our presence at the forest to run our nature-based courses and educate young and old alike introducing them to wildlife, tracking, bushcraft and the forest itself.

It is described as Britain’s Last Forest as it is the only working forest left in Britain. It has never been ploughed-over and the landscape has not changed since it was designated a forest in the 11th century.

There is still wood pasture for the cattle and sheep and the woodland is regularly maintained by coppicing and harvesting. The rare flora and fauna has made it a National Nature Reserve and SSSI and the the trees (many over 800 years old) are truly magnificent. Every time JP and I set up in the forest we are in awe of it and consider ourselves extremely privileged to be there. But it is only when the public has gone and dusk begins to fall do you really feel the atmosphere of this ancient place.

This weekend, the forest gave itself over to a festival. The Woodfest was originally designed as a celebration of the forest but it now has the exciting addition of a true festival atmosphere complete with two stages for music.

Much of the organisation is down to the Conservation Officer and highly accomplished Melodeon player, Ian Pease (seen here far right).

It has been a long summer of shows and to be honest, JP and I were both glad this was the last one. It is unbelievably tiring standing up and talking to people all day for three days explaining the various exhibits at our stand. But we can be sure, and indeed we are proud, that many, many people, and literally hundreds of youngsters, have now gone with a better understanding of wildlife and nature; not to mention the looks of joy when they accomplish bow drill for the first time thanks to JP.

The exhibits are now looking the worse for wear, as we allow them all to be touched and felt. There’s nothing a quick replacement or a bit of stitching can’t fix.

So, this weekend was a double celebration. One for the forest and one for Woodlife Trails which ends our season of shows. A huge thanks to all our supporters and public who took time out to see us, to all the organisers and to all our neighbouring stands who had to put up with us!

We have two courses to look forward to in October. In the meantime – I think I’ll go chill out in the woods!

Gilwell’s Magical Moment

2011-09-05T10:38:00.001-07:00

Every now and again a piece of magic comes right up to your door. It stops you in your tracks. It happened to JP and me at the Scouts Reunion at Gilwell last weekend.

Woodlife Trails was at Gilwell as part of the Wilderness Gathering Travelling Show with Roger Harrington from Bison Bushcraft. As usual we brought the Table of Death of nature exhibits.

We had great interest from the scout leaders about our tracking and bushcraft courses, and the leaflets went quickly.

I demonstrated some tracking techniques while JP demonstrated bow-drill. The bow-drill proved particularly popular. At one stage, JP had an audience of 65 people around him. It was here that we first noticed 89 year-old Laurie, who was watching intently from his wheelchair.

After JP’s demo, Laurie explained that he had had polio at a young age and the illness was now causing severe muscular wastage. As a young scout he had briefly met Baden-Powell and was inspired to become a scout leader. After the second world war he helped disabled children become scouts. While he was becoming a scout leader (called obtaining the Wood badge) he was taught the bow-drill but never succeeded in getting and ember.

If you have three minutes or so, I would encourage you to watch this small clip. It is so inspiring on so many levels. For me it confirms the reason why JP and I decided to establish Woodlife Trails. No-one will ever tell me not to carry on doing what I’m doing, and what we are doing isn’t worth while.

Thanks for the visit.

Wild, Wet Weekend

2011-08-29T09:54:00.001-07:00

This weekend’s National Trust Wildcamp was, to say the least, a little damp. That didn’t stop 16 hardy souls from joining us in Hatfield Forest. I certainly admired their enthusiasm despite a heavy drenching especially on Saturday night .

After arriving on Friday and a few settling in briefings and chores, JP went through knife safety and fire-lighting on Saturday morning.

In JP’s own words, you only get one chance when the wood is damp and the ground is wet. good preparation is the key. Needless to say, there was soon a nice little demo fire which was replicated under Mike’s tidy parachute.

This made the whole base camp a cosy affair. Mike (a volunteer NT warden) helped us out and kindly left his parachute up from an earlier session.

The tracking session was popular with the kids as they spotted an array of signs and evidence on the woodland floor. This was after an equally popular Hunter Force mission. A vicious down pour made us all scuttle for the parachute though.

JP and I later followed a very recent badger trail that ended up at an active sett. An dead, old, female badger no more than a couple of weeks or so into decay was on the edge of the sett. Incessant rain turned us away once again but we left a trail cam up to see if we could capture on film any occupants. I’ll let you know the result when we download the cam.

After a warming by the fire, we all decided to turn in early.

Despite a drenching there were smiles in the morning and everyone mentioned how well the weekend went. The kids loved the forest and the adults, some initially sceptical, promised to return.

We will upload the badger footage soon. Thanks for the visit.

talks

2011-08-26T04:08:00.001-07:00

Woodlife Trails will visit your school or organisation. We will bring with us our popular table of exhibits which includes Natural History artefacts such as animal skulls, bones, skins, feeding signs, scat, and other interesting objects designed to educate not just youngsters but people of every age.

Our aim is to heighten awareness of the Natural World and help people get physically closer to inhabitants of the woods.

The exhibits are designed to be touched and felt by the audience thereby heightening the learning.

We also bring along our high-powered microscope to allow people to see objects in close detail.

Our owl pellet box is very popular. Youngster’s spend literally hours picking out the small mammal bones, separating them from the pellet.

As well as showing you our exhibits, we can take you for a woodland walk in your own or nearby woods to show you what you may be missing. We will help you identify plants, trees and tell you how they can be used. We will give you a few tips and tricks to help you observe the wildlife in your area by introducing you to the tracks and signs the animals leave behind.

We are able to give presentations on nearly any subject involving the outdoors such as bushcraft, survival skills, wild-camping, wildlife observation, the natural world in general or specific subjects such as animal and human tracking, wildlife observation or JP's specialist interest, arachnology.

This year's talk by Pablo is entitled "How Close Do You Want To Go? - Getting close to Wildlife." Pablo uses PowerPoint including his own amazing footage of wildlife to describe how we can use our senses and field-craft techniques to get closer to Wildlife. This is ideal for wildlife photographers, stalkers, rangers, wardens, or conservation groups / social groups interested in wildlife and tracking.

Please look at Information for parents teachers v1.0 (pdf) which may answer any questions to what we can provide and an risks associated with it.

Please contact us directly at info@woodlife.co.uk to discuss your requirements.

Wilderness Gathering 2011

2011-08-23T06:58:00.001-07:00

Weather-wise this year’s Gathering was either hot and sunny or pouring with rain. It certainly rained on Thursday, which made set up a chore and also made getting around slippery.

It was great to see old friends again and look at everyone’s offerings.

The Woodlife Maker’s Guild were once again a smash hit with John’s extraordinary carvings…

… and hen’s brilliant basket weaving sessions.

Angelo displayed his canoes…

… while Jason displayed and sold his excellent leather pouches. I was extremely proud to think that Woodlife Network had brought all these talented guys and girls together.

This year, once again, we had George helping us out at the stand and doing a father and son bow demonstrations.

It was a delight to finally meet Dave of WildScience. He took us around the Lake one evening for some bat detecting. Certainly an inspirational bloke if ever I’ve seen one, with his infectious enthusiasm about all things outdoors – but especially bats.

JP worked tirelessly on the bow drill and explaining about our newest member of the Table of Death, which proved to be a great hit as he was placed on people’s hands. This was yet another first for Woodlife Trails as we try to get more people hands-on (literally) with nature’s wonders.

As with previous years, Woodlife ran the Extreme baking competition. This year there was only 5 entries. The winner smothered the cake in After Eight mint chocolate, which proved a hit with the judge, Roger Harrington (the organiser's) young son.

Cutting tools

2011-08-10T05:10:00.001-07:00

I have a variety of cutting tools for various tasks. I'm not a collector and I don't go for expensive knives. I like a nice looking knife but that shouldn't detract from its function. Like many people, I'm still experimenting and haven't yet found the ideal knife or combination but have found that I use the following cutting tools for the tasks described on a fairly regular basis.

This Puuku Leuko combo is my old favourite. If I’m not taking an axe and think I might have a bit of light chopping to do or undergrowth to cut back (perhaps when tracking) then this is the combo I take. The leuku is a 7 inch Stromeng laminated carbon and the puuku is a Jarvenpaa stainless steel. A nifty combination. I reach for this in preference to any others, especially on solo / lightweight outings where I know there’s not much heavy duty work to be done.

The prototype Woodlife Tracker belt knife – I certainly wouldn’t get rid of this one! It’s an absolute work-horse and potentially worthy of the Woodlife name. There’s still some testing to be done but it falls into the category of “… if there was just one knife you would take into the Wilderness, this would be it.” The micarta scales and no nonsense belt clip give it practicality and function over form and it’s as tough as old boots. At 6mm thickness, it’s not lightweight but I have carved a spoon with it. Of course, it’s incomparable for batonning jobs. I’m seeing Duncan Chandler at the Gathering. Let’s hope he’s in a position to do a production run.

Roger Harrington Bushcraft knife - I bought this off a friend as it came with a matching bushman’s pal neck knife. To be honest, I haven’t used this as much as I should as it’s an excellent knife. I think perhaps the lack of handle shape puts me off a bit. Having small hands, I tend to like a handle style with a bit more belly and grip. Still, it’s worthy of staying around until the next cull.

EKA W11 – This is a superb sub £100-00 bushcraft-style knife. In terms of form, it ticks all the boxes for me. It’s not a heavy-weight but it’s a great all round knife at the price. I didn’t like the original hollow grind with secondary bevel, so I let Chris Grant loose on it and it came back a completely different knife for the better, complete with convex grind. The sheath was the first sheath I made.

Frosts Clipper knife – Needless to say, I wouldn’t get a buyer for this even if I wanted to get rid of it! They are so cheap, light-weight and practical it makes sense to have a couple hanging around on a “grab and go” basis. Perhaps not the most robust of tools, but if you are just doing a few odd jobs you won’t go too far wrong. I often use it as a neck knife as it’s so light. The additional benefit is that you won’t cry too much if you lose it!

Gerber Profile – If I’m just out for the day, sometimes I don’t even need to take a belt knife, but it’s nice to have something in your pocket or pack which is light weight but robust enough to be worth carrying. This Gerber Profile is certainly lightweight. You don’t know you’ve got it on you. The blade locks back so it’s safe to use and the plastic scales are deceptively comfortable if you decide to do some impromptu carving. I wouldn’t baton with it though.

EKA Super Swede 92 – Someone recommended this to me as an unobtrusive, large-ish, folding pocket knife to go on an expedition with. It’s sturdy when locked back and the rubberised handle provides an excellent grip which won’t shrink, swell or deteriorate in damp or wet conditions. I took this to Namibia with me and it was used for kitchen duties while the EKA W11 was used for crafts. Looks like the Swedish knife-makers prevailed in Southern Africa!

Leatherman Charge – Funnily enough I bought this at the Gathering 2 years ago. Basically, it goes where I go, permanently affixed to my belt next to my pouch. It’s a bit heavy, but it serves so many functions it’s difficult to give any reasons why it should be left behind.

That leaves 4 knives to get rid of. The Phil Siddell Companion 2 is going as are a couple of cheap and cheerful Lapland style knives. I wonder what I’ll come back with!

Bahco Folding Saw This is an excellent piece of kit and I never leave home without it. It usually resides in my tool pack or shoulder bag. I tend to use this more than the axe for cutting green wood.

Granfors Bruks Small Forest Axe and Wildlife Hatchet I suppose these are the standard bushcraft axes. Both are ideally sized for splitting small to medium sized logs for firewood. They are also not bad for doing a bit of initial carving work. I take mainly the hatchet along if I know there's some log splitting to do. If not, it stays at home.

Granfors Bruks mini hatchet I bought this hatchet as I wanted something small to pack away in my shoulder bag. It hasn't disappointed me and I use it for wood carving projects and chopping small dead wood for my wood burning stove. It's got that little extra weight to it more than a standard knife. A good little tool in my opinion.

Condor double-edged bill hook I use this tool only for conservation work, although I suspect it would be pretty good for bushcraft use. The thing that put me off is the size of the tool for bushcraft use. It not really user friendly either but great for slashing your way through overgrown areas.

Benchmade Snody Activator - This is a great little 2 1/2 inch neck knife made out of D2 steel made by Benchmade after a design by Mike Snody. It's a lovely fit in small hands and I love the serrated thumb grip which also helps strike a firesteel. Nice for little carving jobs. Again, a slightly annoying secondary bevel, but this one I can live with. The whole thing is nice and slim making it the perfect neck knife.

Belt and Folder Knife Cull

2011-08-09T10:30:00.001-07:00

As the Wilderness Gathering beckons, the time is right to scrutinize some kit with a view to ditching some excess via the ‘Bring and Buy’ stall.

The first area up for scrutiny are some knives. Many of you who may be like me, perhaps suffer the same dilemma - there is no such thing as a perfect knife! In my opinion it’s better to have a selection for the jobs you want to do - much like a handyman with a number of tools at their disposal. This is the approach I took when choosing which ones to keep.

That leaves 4 knives to get rid of. The Phil Siddell Companion 2 is going as are a couple of cheap and cheerful Lapland style knives. I wonder what I’ll come back with!

Who Are We?

2011-08-02T09:49:00.001-07:00

Woodlife Trails was established to introduce and immerse participants to woodlands, forests and the countryside, and provide them with unique nature-based Woodland awareness, Tracking and Bushcraft programmes and courses. We also provide a number of nature-based services.

Our Services

With a blend of ancient tracking skills, old-school naturalist methods and modern wildlife observation techniques we can provide you or your organisation with a number of services. This may include wildlife consultancy, surveys and the identification of natural resources in your area.

We also provide training and education to a wide-range of organisations such as TV companies, corporate, environmental and wildlife groups and youth organisations (eg scouts and conservation groups). Our visit to your establishment could include interactive talks and presentations with hands-on
exhibits or a local woodland walk. You may wish to work with us to design a bespoke course or session, delivered locally or at one of our wonderful locations.

All these activities centre on an interaction with nature. We assist in identifying plants, trees, insects, and tracks & signs the animals leave behind on the woodland floor. We explain how natural resources were, and still are, used to our benefit. We can demonstrate a number of primitive skills and explain some fascinating aspects of prehistory in respect of hunter gatherers and historical geography relating to sustainable woodland and forest management.

We consider the outdoors a Natural Learning Environment. There's no better place to learn not just about nature but a wide-range of personal and social issues. The outdoors is inspiring and engaging. It promotes self-awareness, self confidence and provides opportunities for the development of social and emotional skills. Participants of all ages develop a sense of well-being, self confidence and self-esteem.

Our aim is to guide you on a journey of discovery through the British woodland, heightening your awareness and enabling you to appreciate and get closer to its inhabitants.

As guides, we will quickly help you rediscover dormant skills enabling you to appreciate the woodland and potentially utilise its contents. We welcome everyone, especially if you can't get out so often to enjoy the outdoors.

Delivery - First Steps

We have developed a number of courses and educational programmes designed in stages for you to explore the nature and the outdoors. In association with the National Trust, we will, firstly, provide a gentle introduction to woodlands and forests aimed at families and young adventurers. Our Countryside & Woodland Awareness sessions at Hatfield Forest, Essex are not only suited to families and young adventurers over 6 years old but also individuals such as wildlife/bushcraft enthusiasts, wildlife photographers, naturalists, rangers and those more used to the outdoors. Whatever your previous experience you will soon start to notice things you've never seen before.

Content

On your journey you will be introduced to the natural resources (plantlore and treelore) the woodland has to offer and how they can be of use to us; skills now commonly termed as bushcraft. You will also be introduced to the ancient art of tracking and woodland awareness by enhancing the use of all your senses. These sessions are designed to introduce you to a woodland experience that will probably change your life.

Next steps...

If you decide to continue your journey with us at a later date, you will be able to develop different skills utilising these natural resources (bushcraft). As you get more comfortable with the outdoors we can develop your skills in any number of areas like Woodland Crafts, Wilderness Camping, Countryman skills, and Wilderness Awareness. We will provide you the skills, confidence and opportunity to fully immerse yourself into the natural environment with our Wilderness Immersion Course using traditional or modern methods and equipment for longer periods on many levels without being duly uncomfortable. Advanced courses include a suite of wildlife tracking and advanced bushcraft skills like our UK Indigenous Hunter Gatherer Course and our planned overseas expeditions.

Groups

Groups such as conservation groups, family and family pairs (like mother/daughter father/son), school groups, youth groups,cadet and scouts, social or work groups or corporate groups are welcome. Sessions, courses & events have been designed for those wishing to not only explore and be comfortable in our woodlands but also to maintain or develop team/group relationships with other group members. These programmes can be made challenging to enhance decision making skills and develop team work, but they will also be enjoyable and fun. Alternatively, they can be tailored to provide a purely social event in a safe woodland environment. We can tailor any course or session to your event requirements with our "pick and mix" Bespoke Courses.

Your Guides...

Your guides have a whole host of experience from qualified adult learning, armed-service & law enforcement training, counselling and countryman instructional backgrounds. We have 6 years experience each of instructing bushcraft & tracking subjects and many more years experience dealing with young people, families, adult and corporate groups. Our guidance is structured at the right level to the right audience at the right time. Woodlife Trails guides are Pablo and JP. We also have a number of associates we can call on to provide more specific skills and craft instruction (for example flint-knapping and primitive skills).

Please note: Despite some people's assertions that they are qualified Bushcraft Instructors, there is no recognised national Bushcraft Instructor's qualification in the UK, although some courses may be accredited by external organisations. All our staff are trained to educate and develop people as opposed to 'instructing' them. We have a vast array of personal adult learning qualifications to match this ethos including a Master's degree in Learning and Development, Cert Ed., NVQ's in adult teaching and training, NVQ assessing and counselling skills. Every staff member has had at least 5 years experience teaching outdoor skills with other bushcraft or tracking schools or undertaken Woodlife Trails own exacting 5-year trainer programme. We are fully qualified in First Aid (HSE) and, of course, fully insured. Some of our courses have been approved by the National Trust.

What to do now...

Have a look at the rest of the items under this menu to see what we can, and have already provided. You can also follow this link to identify the scourse or session most suitable for your needs. Also feel free to contact us if you require more information.

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Last Botany Walk

2011-07-21T11:33:00.001-07:00

Last night was the last botany walk with Dr Ken Adams. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed his input although it’s difficult to follow his academic lines on occasion. As for the study of grasses! Forget it!

I’m assured he’s coming back to do some fungi ID in the Autumn which will be great.

This is some slime-fungus, the exact type of which not even the good Doc could identify.

Calamint

Viper’s bugloss

Water chickweed

Weld (Dyer’s Rocket)

Mellilot

Scentless mayweed

Here’s a few random things I’ve learnt over the last 6 weeks about botany:

Purple coloured comfrey is Russian. Native comfrey is pale yellow.
English elm is in fact Atinian elm from Italy. The Romans brought it over to grow vines on.
Early herbalists thought that every plant bore an outward sign of it’s value to mankind (Doctrine of Signatures)
Most plants with “wort” in the name implies that there’s a medicinal value.
Sainfoin was grown as fodder. It means Holy hay.
Latin is difficult to learn in a day.
Pink campion is a hybrid of Red and white campion (surprise, surprise)
Most botanists wear socks and sandals Sorry Ken. Had to get that in!
Hogweed smells – hence the name hog.
The pink pigment in most plants is an ultra violet protection mechanism from the sun. (more plants are pink nearer the coast)
Many plants are now hybrids.

Ladies bedstraw

Hemp nettle

Mignonette

Agrimony

Thanks for the visit.

Terra Nova Jupiter

2011-07-10T12:09:00.001-07:00

Today was the first day I’ve been able to get out for a week because of a lung infection. It’s strange that every time I don’t feel well, a parcel arrived during that week. I can’t work it out! I call it retail rehabilitation.

I’ve been looking at an alternative for the Snugpak Stratosphere for a while. The Snugpak is pretty good but there’s a couple of things I don’t like. The main thing is mossi net which, when zipped up, nearly garrottes you as it hangs straight down instead of following the sloped line of the bivi bag like its outer material and secondly, the material itself is very sweaty.

The nearest hooped bivi bag to the Snugpak is either the Highlander Falcon (which is very claustrophobic, having no vents except on the top) and the Terra Nova Jupiter , which has always been cost prohibitive. That is until now. Sports Direct has slashed nearly a hundred pounds off the Jupiter. Even so, it’s pretty expensive at £190 but I took the chance and ordered up.

When I got it out of the bag, I was amazed at how light it was. It’s actually described as 300 grammes lighter than the Snugpak. The 6 pegs are very light weight aluminium, which helps. So does the single pole for the hoop instead of two for the Snugpak.

The reviews bemoan the lack of length, and I suppose if your over 6foot you could have a bit f a squeeze, but when do you lay out straight? It’s fine if your under this height.

It’s big enough for Bill, but then again, he is a little dog.

The single pole goes through a sleeve and connects to two holes each side of the hoop. It’s surprisingly stable if you use two pegs in the provided holes next to the poles, but there are two guy lines supplied for you to peg out to the front of the Jupiter. Two further pegs secure the foot end.

Not many reviews show you how the front zipped arrangement works. Both the mossi net and the outer material have double zips, therefore you can leave an opening anywhere you choose, or, of course, do it up completely or leave one or the other down completely. This is a great arrangement and much more flexible than the Snugpak and great for watching wildlife while under cover. Even with both mossi net and outer completely zipped up, you don’t feel claustrophobic because of the gentle sloping front of the bivi.

The inside of the bivi bag is an off white colour which also helps to prevent one being claustrophobic when everything is zipped up.

This is a low profile sleeping solution and therefore, unless you bring along a very lightweight tarp, not really suitable for lengthy excursions, or if you know it’s going to hammer it down with rain. For low profile overnighters while watching wildlife it’s superb. The only bgg downside is the lack of a side entry zip, which is a big thumbs up for the Snugpak. Time will tell if it get’s more use over the years than the Snugpak, but all indications so far are positive .

All this reviewing is thirsty work! By the way, I listed all the reviews I’ve done on this blog (some are pretty old!) It’s available from the main menu at Pablo’s Area>Kit>Review Index.

Thanks for the visit.

Close Encounters of the Hatfield Kind

2011-07-04T11:15:00.001-07:00

This weekend, together with colleagues Les and Brett from Wildcrafts, we helped out with a wild camping weekend organised by the National Trust.

It wasn’t a course as such, but we were on hand to provide a bit of safety and guidance to the participants and carry out a couple of demos.

Les and Brett started with a fire lighting demo complete with a demonstration of their patent pending, leave no trace, fire-square which will reduce the scarring on the ground.

In the afternoon, we all went tracking. It wasn't too long before one of Austin’s lads spotted several fallow deer on one of the paths. We all stalked up to a good position to get a few photos. We then turned to find that a second small group, including a fawn, were behind us on an opposite path. We were actually hemmed in by deer!

This was a great experience for the youngsters, who, by the way, consisted of equal numbers of girls to boys. JP gave other sessions on cordage and supplied the excellent evening meals with a new wood-burning stove.

On Saturday evening, JP and I went to practice some evening tracking. Spectacularly, we managed to get as close as I’ve ever been to some badgers; and it was the same for JP. There’s some footage at the end of the post.

It was great to meet Chris, Austin, Paul, Dave and their families.

After taking down the parachute on Sunday, we immediately made our way to the cafe at Hatfield where JP and I ran our Countryside and Woodland Awareness Course. Again, the two families were wonderful and it was refreshing to see how all of the kids, Monica, Joshua, Benjy and Elisabeth, seemed to enjoy the afternoon, and how quickly they got into wildlife, tracking and the deductive processes involved in tracking.

The afternoon finished up with another amazing close encounter where everyone (including the Mums, and Dads) all managed to stalk to less than 10 yards away from a young squirrel. Even though it appeared a bit drowsy, it really showed how much they’d taken on board and that the squirrel didn't see anyone as a threat. Brilliant stuff – and thanks to Chika and Tony for signing up to the afternoon. Hope to see you all again.

The Muntjac and Me

2011-06-27T08:15:00.001-07:00

I must admit I was a little disappointed at the dragonfly activity at Broaks wood, or should I say lack of it, especially since I’d taken the day off to beat the weekend fine-weather dog walkers.

There were quite a few azures, most of them ovipositing and I managed to get a picture of this frog…

… but that was about it around the ponds. Despite the temperature touching 30C at 12 o’clock, the larger dragonflies were nowhere to be seen.

I walked further into the wood to escape the heat and sat down half way up a shady hill overlooking a small valley. If there was going to be any deer activity, this would be as good a place as any. No sooner had I said that then I saw small figure of a muntjac doe peeking through the trees.

I was a bit exposed and to take the photo I had to move quite a bit so she spotted me and jumped into the bracken which lines the bottom of the valley.

As she started barking, I walked quickly down the hill to see if I could work my way around to get close enough for another picture. The bracken was taller than head height, and it extended too far to the left and right to work my way around. I would just have to wade through it.

I battled through the bracken. It was impossible to go fast and I tried to avoid making too much noise. The barking got louder as I closed in. I wasn’t too sure if I would actually see her. A deer the size of a dog in amongst the high bracken. I wondered why I had adopted this strategy in the first place!

The barking stopped. I stood still wondering what to do next. I glanced down to see some fresh droppings and the faintest of trails through the bracken. Going even slower now, I followed the trail as best I could while still fighting with the tangled mess at head and chest height. I couldn't look down all the time, but when I did, I could still just see the faint trail. Cool! I was tracking muntjac through bracken! Now that’s a first!

But it had to end. I found a bit of high ground and looked around. No barking. No sign. No trail. No muntjac! I went a little further down a slope to get to a main track. Once on the main track, I clambered on to a fallen low branch and scanned the bracken for any movement. Suddenly, the barking started up again. She was barking from the cover of a tree right in the middle of the bracken. I worked out she had sneaked away to the left while I battling away to the right.

Now I had the advantage. If I walked quickly enough along the main track and up the hill, I could get on the high ground and look down on the tree where she was barking from. I walked quickly up the track about 50 yards with the tall bracken covering me to the left.

I cut back into the wood to the left only to be confronted with a fresh deer trail. It could only have been the doe, who, while I was going hell for leather up the track, must somehow sensed what I was about and decided to break cover and make a run for it.

To confirm my suspicions (and probably to let me know she’d won) I heard a shrieking bark about 200 yards away to my right.

Determined not to be beaten, I followed the tracks. She was following a well worn deer trail, which made it easy for me, although I only saw an occasional fresh print.

Needless to say after about 100 yards or so, the trail ran out and, despite searching the ground, I couldn’t find any evidence of where she went.

Game set and match to the muntjac. Well, it is Wimbledon fortnight.

Thanks for the visit.

Botany Bay

2011-06-19T09:57:00.000-07:00

Every other Wednesday evening for the past couple of months I’ve been wandering the field and hedgerows of our village with a group of hard-core botanists led by Dr Ken Adams, the Essex Botanical recorder.

I say hard-core, because these guys don’t just know the names of a couple of virtually all the plants we come across, they will tell you just about everything to do with the plant including, of course, the Latin name. In fact they would rather talk Latin names, which is a bit frustrating for the likes of me.

Although it’s hard to keep up, I’ve been enjoying myself immensely and it’s rekindled an interest in botany that I started just after I began serious bird-watching many, many years ago.

Today, I took out the big camera and went to the woods and the local fields to capture a couple of June flowering plants. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong on some of these. Unfortunately, Ken wasn't with me today!

Red Dead-Nettle

Red campion

Slender or Hairy St John’s wort (not perforate)

Self-heal

Arum lily berries

Don’t forget to look up now and again – Buzzard.

Field of Rape

Poppy

Redshank

Common mallow

Agrimony

Field scabious with 5-spot burnet moths

Bladder campion

Oxeye daisy

Rosebay willowherb

Cinqufoil (with cut-leaved cranesbill)

Ragwort

Cardinal beetle

Tall melitot

Bugloss

Black hoarhound

White bryony

Thanks for the visit.

programme

2011-06-17T09:34:00.001-07:00

Woodlife Trails runs the following regular courses:

Half day and one day Woodland Awareness courses aimed at families and professionals
1-day Woodland Crafts courses and Family Bushcraft Days
2-day (Sat & Sun) Family Bushcraft and Family Pairs courses
Full Weekend Wilderness Camp courses and Wilderness Immersion Courses
Bespoke courses for individual and groups such as wildlife / bushcraft enthusiasts, rangers, wardens, social groups, conservation groups, works outings, corporate groups, youth groups (schools, youth, scouts, cadets)
One-off, advanced courses and expeditions.

All our courses have elements of wilderness awareness, tracking, wildlife observation, tree-lore, plant-lore, bushcraft, natural resources, crafts, forest and woodland history, primitive skills and education.

Go to the Course menu or view our current course list here...

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Course Progression and Woodlife Trails Progression Award

If you would like a complete learning experience, we recommend you follow our course progression. It is specifically designed to lead you through stages from first steps to advanced. To achieve our Woodlife Trails Progression Award, you must attend a number of specific courses at each stage.

Registration for the Progression Award is free and you only pay for the courses you attend. You can take as much time as you wish to progress through the various stages. You will receive an award portfolio which tracks your progress and a special amulet after each stage, which is a symbol of your achievement.

Stage 1 - This isn't just for beginners - it is designed to send you in the right direction and put you right on track towards an awareness and integration with the natural environment. It will provide you with a good foundation as a naturalist and tracker using bushcraft and awareness skills as a vehicle. To gain the first award you must attend the Countryside and Woodland Awareness course, the Woodland Camp course (or a bushcraft related course involving safety and use of sharp tools) and one Woodland Craft course of your choice (eg wood-carving, spoon-making, cordage making, tracking stick making).

Stage 2 - We now go deeper and explore your own capabilities and senses as well as developing your skills as a tracker and naturalist. Our immersion course will put you closer to wildlife than you ever thought possible. To achieve the award, you should attend the Wilderness Immersion Course, Woodland Tracker course and a more advanced craft or bushcraft related course.

Stage 3 - This stage puts all your learning under one roof. You will attend a longer course where your skills and knowledge will be developed even further. The Forest Tracker course and a week-long uk-based expedition will just about cement all the learning and take you to a new levels of awareness and skills to appreciate the Natural World most probably for the rest of your life.

Further development - From now on it will be up to you; but we will always be on hand to provide you with advice and further development.

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Diploma

If you are really serious about bushcraft, tracking and the natural world, read about our Diploma Award.

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Visit From Essex Wildlife Group

2011-06-13T05:08:00.001-07:00

There I was, languishing in the fact that I didn’t have to do too much this weekend when the phone rang.

“You haven’t forgotten Essex Wildlife Group are coming for a visit today?” said a colleague from our own wildlife group.

“No. Of course not,” I lied unconvincingly.

I rushed to the wildlife shed and grabbed the familiar “Box of Death” to lay out the exhibits of skull, skins, feeding signs and scat in the building allocated. A quick once-around the woods to make sure all birds and animals would be on best behaviour (and to make sure the recent high winds hadn’t blown anything down on our route), and I was set up for the visit.

The idea was, for the first time, to introduce an outside body to our new “Nature Reserve”. We had worked hard trying to sensitively manage a piece of ancient woodland and plant trees on an area of MOD land.

The first stop on the “tour” was, in fact, this area. The 3,000 young native trees were doing well as they were planted in the autumn. Right on queue, a buzzard lifted off from the woodland which our young plantation was hoping to eventually adjoin. I grinned at my colleague.

It was my turn to lead the procession to the area where the badgers had their sett. I explained the mammal activity, only to find out I was talking to only half the group as the rest were snapping away at the tens of butterflies that the warm sun had suddenly brought out. Meadow browns, tortoiseshells, common blues & peacocks had all decided to show up at once. Cinnabar moths and the spotted- burnets also added to the photo opportunity.

I also led the party through the dry woodland. We showed the group where the oxlips and orchids had flowered earlier in the spring. Our self-built bridges (London Bridge and Tower Bridge) provided access out and then back in to and from an open meadow area where about a half a kilometre of hedgerow had been planted in an attempt to stop vehicles getting too near to the meadow and wood.

The dried up pond provided the opportunity to view stoat, badger and muntjac tracks in the sun-baked mud. I managed to get the attention of the group when I described what I thought was a muntjac and fawn possibly walking together and a badger, after having had a drink, wandered away from the pond and into the woodland to do some foraging.

The final stop was into the building for a welcome cup of tea, a look at the Table of Death and my badger video.

It was great to meet people who were more than just interested in nature. They had a wealth of experience and I was pleased that I held my own amongst them. I came away with a couple of contacts in the field of science and education and the telephone number of nature reserve warden who were all interested in the tracking aspect of the presentation.

Thanks for the visit.

Visits

2011-06-12T07:25:00.001-07:00

Our aim is to heighten awareness of the Natural World and help people get physically closer to inhabitants of the woods.

The exhibits are designed to be touched and felt by the audience thereby heightening the learning.

We also bring along our high-powered microscope to allow people to see objects in close detail.

Our owl pellet box is very popular. Youngster’s spend literally hours picking out the small mammal bones, separating them from the pellet.

Please contact us directly at info@woodlife.co.uk to discuss your requirements. Our daily rate for visits and talks is approximately £150-00 per day excluding travelling costs.

talks

2011-06-06T09:34:00.001-07:00

Our aim is to heighten awareness of the Natural World and help people get physically closer to inhabitants of the woods.

The exhibits are designed to be touched and felt by the audience thereby heightening the learning.

We also bring along our high-powered microscope to allow people to see objects in close detail.

Our owl pellet box is very popular. Youngster’s spend literally hours picking out the small mammal bones, separating them from the pellet.

Please contact us directly at info@woodlife.co.uk to discuss your requirements. Our daily rate for visits and talks is approximately £150-00 per day excluding travelling costs.

TV

2011-06-06T08:10:00.001-07:00

Woodlife Trails will provide TV production companies with woodland & wilderness awareness or Wildlife, Tracking, Bushcraft & nature advice. We will provide advice on how to track and get closer to wildlife. This will include training your camera crews.

Woodlife Trails has already provided Red House TV commissioned by Channel 4 with an informative insight into the urban fox, challenging people's prejudices and perceptions and talking to occupants of houses with fox "problems".

In November 2010 the crew followed JP and Pablo as they tracked foxes in various urban gardens, providing evidence of the fox's presence and correctly identifying routes in and out and interpreting behaviour from the signs left behind. They also identified the reasons for the fox's presence in the garden and gave advice on camera to the occupants on how to deter the fox without causing the fox harm.

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In June 2011, Pablo and JP were interviewed at the Bushcraft Show in the Lake District for an education programme made on behalf of Lancaster County Council. They explained about the importance of outdoor activities and a holistic approach to reconnecting with nature in the education of children, especially related to perceived risk versus benefits.

That’s Show Business

2011-06-01T01:17:00.001-07:00

No sooner are we back from the Naturefest than we pack up again for a long trek north to the Lake District for the Bushcraft Show.

The first two days of the Naturefest were incredibly windy, but our new style Parazebo stood up to the wind very well. Just as well because I was sleeping inside it!

As the wind died down and the sun came out, so did the visitors and we had a constant stream of people interested in our Natural History exhibits which is growing almost daily.

We took folk out into the small woods and identified the many tracks, signs insects and other species that most people miss when out for a walk in the woods.

The forecast for the Bushcraft Show is good – so hopefully there will be a few people visiting the stand and taking an interest in our own unique aspect on tracking and bushcraft.

If you’re going to the show, drop in and see JP or me.

Visits and Talks

2011-05-31T09:02:00.001-07:00

sitis and

The exhibits are designed to be touched and felt by the audience thereby heightening the learning. We also bring along our high-powered microscope to allow people to see objects in close detail.

Our owl pellet box is very popular. Youngster’s spend literally hours picking out the small mammal bones, separating them from the pellet.

As well as showing you our exhibits, we can take you for a walk in your own or nearby woods to show you what you may be missing. We will help you identify plants, trees and tell you how they can be used. We will give you a few tips and tricks to help you observe the wildlife in your area by introducing you to the tracks and signs the animals leave behind.

We are able to give presentations on nearly any subject involving the outdoors such as bushcraft, survival skills, wild-camping, wildlife observation, the natural world in general or specific subjects such as animal and human tracking, wildlife observation or JP's specialist interest, arachnology.

Please contact us directly at info@woodlife.co.uk to discuss your requirements. Our daily rate for visits and talks is approximately £150-00 per day excluding travelling costs.

Now For Something Completely Different…

2011-05-22T10:15:00.001-07:00

If you go down to the woods today, you’re sure of a big surprise!

No, it’s not another war, although some would think it was. It was the annual “Bunker Bash” at Kelvedon.

JP and I met up with the other Essex Outbacks and had a look around. There was some excellent displays and, of course, the re-enactors went to town.

It’s a little worrying when the stuff you used to drive about in the army was on display as museum pieces.

I used to drive these in Northern Ireland at the height of the Troubles in the ‘70’s, but mine had an engine in.

This trio brought back memories.

Protecting the woods were a series of trenches. Of course they were manned by British WW1 soldiers…

Deep in the woods, we met Polish soldiers and US marines…

… and the 2nd Guards of the Soviet Army.

The re-enactors aren’t too far removed from bushcrafters. We all enjoy a weekend in the fresh air and getting back to whatever basics is suitable for the era.

The main purpose was to visit the surplus stalls. I came away with a Flecktarn camo shirt for a quid and a jacket.

This would be a good solution for carrying course equipment into Hatfield Forest, although I’m not sure what the National Trust would say!

Thanks for the visit.

Diploma

2011-05-16T15:13:00.001-07:00

Are you serious about Wildlife, Tracking and Bushcraft? We mean really serious? Are you over 16?

We can offer you our Woodlife Trails: Wildlife, Tracking and Bushcraft Diploma through our structured development programme. Not only will you get a fully educational programme of learning covering all aspects of nature and bushcraft but it will cover the cost of each and every Woodlife Trails course you attend. This programme is suitable of anyone over 16 whatever your experience.

This isn't just a marketing ploy. Of course we want you to return on our courses, but if you take part in this programme, as well as attending courses for free, you will additionally benefit from one-to-one tuition and sessions to become a well-rounded, and advanced naturalist, tracker, and bushcraft practitioner. Who knows, if you have the aptitude, you may even start on the road to becoming a Woodlife Trails instructor.

The programme is very flexible. It's up to you when you want a session or a course and, as much as we can, we will give you information, tasks and assignments online.

The programme is not accredited with an outside organisation as with some bushcraft schools. We refuse to pay an organisation to accredit a programme that they know next to nothing about! We also believe that it takes more than a couple of days learn what's required just to get a quick buck off you! So be prepared for a long haul and a bt of hard graft!

Our own programmes and accreditation system has the benefit of being designed in-house by an experienced and fully qualified, training course designer and current NVQ assessor, who has had over 10 years experience in designing and delivering learning and development programmes for police and law-enforcement agencies. Qualifications include a Master's degree by Middlesex Univeristy in Training and Development Systems Management, NVQ awards and a Cert Ed in adult education - equivalent to today's Diploma in Teaching in the Lifelong Learning Sector (DTLLS)

If that isn't enough, the programme is co-designed by someone who has a life-time experience as a Naturalist and Countryman as well as being a bushcraft instructor. Skills aquired only through practice and not through academic study.

Be prepared to work hard. Be prepared to study hard; but also be prepared to achieve and receive the highest accolade that is available in the world of Wildlife, Tracking and Bushcraft.

Be prepared to earn the Woodlife Trails: Wildlife, Tracking and Bushcraft Diploma.

Trailing Fallow Deer

2011-05-15T02:39:00.001-07:00

There’s still no sign of any significant rain here in the east of England but the temperatures are down to a more a seasonal norm. No courses or shows for Woodlife Trails this weekend so it was time to chill out in Poor Park woods.

I didn’t expect to bump into the fallow deer so soon, especially since I hadn’t seen them for a while. I had lowered my profile but they were still quite suspicious. I tried to find a way around them but I was stuck behind a clump of trees. They moved off at a trot and I went to head them off.

I was quite aware that they would suddenly double back; so I did the same and, after ten minutes or so, I found them in a small clearing amongst the pines.

[vid 1]

They had spotted me again although I had kept low but they didn’t immediately run. Again, I wasn’t in the best position so all I could do was sit and observe. I’m always amazed at how keen their senses are; but it’s no real surprise considering they’ve been hunted by man for a thousand years.

[vid 2]

After about ten minutes, they trotted off to the south of the woods. Instead of following them, I looked for the fresh sign they left behind. It was hard to ascertain any tracks in the dry conditions. The light brown shiny fewments, or pellets, were there to confirm what I already knew.

The damp ground showed where the deer had urinated. Looking at the position of the fewments compared to the dampness, I would say I was looking at a doe.

I was pretty much near the edge of the woods. I didn’t really want to push then out of the woods if they weren’t already out, so there was only one thing to do…

Have lunch!

The clouds threatened rain so I put up the poncho.

I’ve changed my stove around and gone back to the bushbuddy with trangia burner combo. They both fit exactly into the Snowpeak 900. The bushbuddy gives an additional option if I run out of fuel.

I tried out the bushbuddy in wood burning mode to brew a second cup of coffee. I must admit, this is a very flexible cooking combination. With the trangia burner, it’s a pretty unbeatable combination.

My attention went back to the fallow. As I suspected, they hadn’t run far but they had run out of the woods and taken up a typical position on a small ridge. Even though I was a good 400 yards away, they still spotted me coming out of the woods. Again I was at a disadvantage. Your call, Pablo. what now?

[vid 3]

I tacked to the west behind a hedgerow, but I ran out of hedge. I couldn’t stalk across the field so I made my way back to my original position. This was getting frustrating.

The woods were my only hope; so I went back in and walked quickly to a point almost adjacent to them.

[vid 4]

It was a good, but not as near as I wanted. I trotted further up and poked my head through the wood. That was better! A good view about 30 yards away, but something had spooked them and this time it wasn’t me!

[vid 5]

I had to be content with what I had. I had trailed them for 4 hours (apart from lunch) in and out of the woods. In a vain hope that they would return to the wood, I settled down on the outskirts to wait for their return. I never knew if they came by. I fell asleep!

Coming soon… Badger Project. Are there any cubs this year?

Thanks for the visit.

Bushcraft Magazine Meet in Kent

2011-05-04T13:14:00.001-07:00

Early May Bank Holiday Friday saw JP and I struggling against his obstinate Land Rover in an attempt to get down the Egerton in Kent. To be fair it only broke down properly once. this, unfortunately, happened to be on Britian’s busiest motorway at the point where the busiest motorway is at it’s busiest. The M25 tolls. JP managed to get it started just as the tow truck arrived!

We set up our unique Parazebo and set out our ever increasing table of skulls, scat, tracks and feeding signs.

Thanks to Phil Brown from Badger Bushcraft for the loan of some of his great specimens.

During the weekend JP carried out game prep and knife safety sessions while I did an intro to tracking and natural camouflage session – all of which went down very well. There’s some more pics on Phil’s blog.

Kids and adults alike enjoyed looking through the owl pellets, separating and identifying the tiny bones and skulls of shrew, vole and field mouse from the pellets.

Apart from the sessions, the weekend was a great social event and we managed to get away for a great evening down the pub with superb food. Other evenings were spent catching up with old friends and chatting around the fire with a seemingly never ending flow of rum, port and more rum!

It was glorious weather throughout the weekend, spoilt only by a strong, gusting wind on pack-up day that bent one of the Parazebo's struts! Never mind. There are plans for a mark 2 version!

Thanks for the visit.

Holiday Heaven

2011-04-26T07:42:00.001-07:00

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

2011-04-18T11:25:00.001-07:00

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

2011-04-14T00:42:00.001-07:00

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

2011-04-10T09:37:00.001-07:00

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.

About Woodlife

2011-04-08T11:23:00.001-07:00

Woodlife was created in 2004 principally to journal my personal adventures through the British woodland, discovering new and revisiting old methods of being comfortable in the woods and learning how we can use Nature's natural resources (where appropriate) for crafts and getting close to woodland inhabitants.

The journey has taken me along new and unknown paths as documented in the many years since the online journal was commenced such as wilderness living skills and bushcraft. I have also revisted the known and well-trodden paths created by many years of being a wildlife and tracking enthusiast, as documented in many hard copy journals even before the Internet was conceived! But it is the power of the web that has enabled me to meet many like-minded and very skilled people and good friends.

The opportunity to meet others presented itself through various forums and in 2007 I established the Woodlife Forum in order to arrange meets with a small group and discuss other aspects of Wildlife, Bushcraft and Tracking, which perhaps other forums didn't address. We soon realised there were even more like-minded people than we thought and later in 2007, I established the UK's first (and still only) Social Network for Wildlife, Bushcraft and Tracking enthusiasts. The Network is called the Woodlife Social Network and it now has over 1500 members from all over the world. A fantastic team of core volunteers helps me administer the site.

Next steps? I am never one to stay still too long and, as can be seen in my About page, I have a few skills myself to give and I'm definately NOT getting any younger! I believe the time is right to pass on this accumulated knowledge of many years of being a wildlife enthusiast and more recent years of being involved with bushcraft (with a lot of help from my friends.)

Look at Woodlife Trails; new project with my mate JP in association with the National Trust.

First Weekend Course of the Year

2011-04-04T10:49:00.001-07:00

Although Woodlife Trails has carried out some day courses already, this weekend was the first weekend course.

It couldn’t have been better weather-wise as the sun shone throughout the weekend and in the main it was warm and sunny.

The temperature dropped a little at about 3am on Sunday morning, just to remind us that spring has only just begun – and perhaps the choice of the thin, summer sleeping bag was still a bit premature.

JP led the course attendees through a variety of bushcraft skills on the Saturday as they had yet to experience some of the skills hands-on. This included fire lighting, fire-lays, knife safety, knife-sharpening, game prep game cooking and carving techniques amongst others.

Barry carved a great little spoon…

… while his son, Archie, (pictures by permission) was completely fascinated by the fire. He even successfully managed to light a fire on his own by using his fire-steel and a junior opinel.

We managed to prise him away long enough to show him knife safety and good carving techniques. (Note JP’s Woodlife Trails instructor shirt)

We spent Sunday morning looking at at tracks, signs and trails and discovered a badger sett.

A live tracking scene for everyone to ponder was the final task for Sunday afternoon. Who or what was the victim; how did it die and who was the suspect? A Midsomer Murder if ever there was one.

It took a while but finally, by using newly learnt tracking knowledge and some excellent deduction, the mystery was solved. No, it wasn’t Col. Mustard – it was none other than the legitimate culling of a fallow deer (even the firing point was identified) and the dragging of it’s carcass to a point where a vehicle collected it and drove away.

As we waved everyone off, we noticed how tired, dirty but happy they looked. A great start to the year.

The Nature Trail and the Munjac Chase

2011-03-28T13:01:00.001-07:00

I started off with a sedate wander around Park woods with the big camera trying to get some pictures of early spring. Hence, Billy came too.

We surveyed the on-going work of the new nature reserve we are helping to create.

The contractors have laid some 750 meters of hedging saplings to create a barrier on the south side.

We’ve also cleared an area around a small pond, which is more or less wet all year round. We’ve created some dead hedging around the pond area and some natural seating. We are going to create a nature trail that meanders in and out of the wood, highlighting some interesting areas such as the Oxlips, Early purple orchids and known nesting areas.

I’ll keep you posted on how this goes. I’ve created a new category called Nature Reserve for ease of reference.

On a piece of high ground we noticed a Muntjac wandering across one of the small roads.

With Billy taking the lead, we tracked him to a small bush. When he detected us he made a break back across the road. After taking a quick snap…

…we decided to follow at a run..

… Billy again taking the lead straining at his leash, and pulling me along despite his small stature.

The Muntjac darted into another bush but thought better of it as he must have spotted us in hot pursuit. He again broke out and followed the fence-line to the west. We decided not to follow on this occasion and stress him out too much.

After a refreshing and well deserved drink and something to eat, we finished off our walk around what will be our nature–reserve and went home.

Spring is Sprunging

2011-03-20T14:08:00.001-07:00

Well…something like that! It has been a glorious weekend here in East Anglia. Cold nights have quickly given way to warm and sunny days. And to top it all, today was the spring equinox. Equal day and night.

The hum of bees making excursions out of their hives was drowned out by the hum of the lawn-mowers coughing into life for the first time since last summer.

Ground ivy, speedwell, sweet violet are all flowering, and lords and ladies (arum lilly) celandine and dog’s mercury are all pushing through the woodland floor. There’s a green haze of fresh buds on the trees.

The deer have been pretty quiet, although I’ve noticed large doe herds coming out to enjoy the warmth on the outskirts of the woods, while the bucks keep in the woods whilst they shed their antlers.

Badgers are busy and my trailcam has picked up quite a lot of activity at our local badger sett. The cubs are most probably either born or just being born underground, but they won’t emerge for 6 weeks or so yet.

Oh yes… Billy the dog got a hair cut! Despite his insistence on keeping his hair long, he was getting extremely hot going for walks; so.. the Bischon Frise is no longer ‘Frise’ but ‘Chauve’.

Thanks for the visit.

Web Stuff

2011-03-17T01:45:00.001-07:00

I’ve been doing quite a lot of work on both the websites this week trying to tweak the Woodlife Network and the Woodlife site.

I’ve now completely finished the Woodlife Network version 3 and despite a couple of little nags it’s working well.

On this site I’ve added a Pick and Mix page for people to design their own courses. You can see what I mean here. (Genuine enquiries only please!!)

I’ve also added an enquiry form on the Contacts page and a quick survey in the Woodlife Trails menu. Feel free to contribute to the survey. I’m interested to know what people want from courses.

The other tweaks are new layouts for the course list and course dates pages. I’ve also re-introduced my scenic sounds page, which used to be part of the Woodlife Studios. I discontinued this a couple of years ago. I thought it might be fun and I’m now calling it a Chill Zone.

I’ve revamped the gallery under Pablo’s Area on the top menu.

If you have any ideas for the development of the site and any comments, I’d be glad to hear of them.

Thanks for the visit.

Bags of Badgers

2011-03-06T11:54:00.001-08:00

It was nice to get back into Poor Park woods this weekend. There was a brisk easterly which turned northerly but this subsided as the day went on. The temperature started out about 4C and rose to about 7C.

I had a couple of projects to do. But, as usual, I spent a good hour or so looking at the favourite track traps and areas of interest. The first ting that struck me was the fine carpet of green that was slowly spreading along the woodland floor. A couple of weeks ago, there was only the odd dog’s mercury sprouting up, but it was now literally covering the wood.

The damp, muddy pathways were awash with tracks, mainly fallow and muntjac, but there was also a few fox tracks. The small muntjac track above (right) is one of the smallest I’ve seen and can only be a new-born. Unlike other deer species in the UK, muntjac breed all the year round and as soon as the fawn is 6-months old, the doe will attempt to get pregnant again.

I was surprised at the number of badger tracks as well. Often there’s a few tracks but everywhere I looked there seemed to be a track.

I came to a conclusion that the local lay-up sett must be active and I was proved right by some good signs of activity at the sett, although I still think it’s just a lay-up sett and not a clan sett.

It was an ideal opportunity to try out my first project; a plaster-cast. I haven’t done one of these for a number of years and my first try was a bit of a disaster as I made the mixture far too runny. Shame – because that one was a good badger track. Was!

My next attempt was better and I got a reasonably good fallow track. Now I know the correct mix ratio, I’ll try a few more next week.

While the plaster was setting, I had a little snack. Bacon, egg and mushrooms in an edible plate.

My final project was to carve a spoon using just the new prototype Woodlife “Tracker” Knife. I’m more used to using a chopping method of creating a spoon with my leuku and finishing off with the puuku; so it was a bit of a challenge using a big heavy knife like the “Tracker” to do fine carving.

It did a great job though and once I’d sorted out the carving technique, it made short work of the birch. I found the knife was a little heavy for this kind of work, but I would much rather have a big heavy knife for other practical tasks.

Thanks for the visit.

Woodlife Trails–As Seen on TV

2011-02-27T09:32:00.001-08:00

After a bit of “Is it on or is it off” last week, JP and I eventually found ourselves travelling towards an unlikely location (for us) to meet up with a TV production company who had been commissioned by Channel Four to make a programme.

Perhaps Hampstead isn’t too unlikely considering the programme (or at least a third of it) is going to be about an urban fox “problem”. We were to survey the area, and then look at three gardens for signs of fox.

The crew followed us around all afternoon as we found and described fox hairs, scat, tracks and our suppositions as to why the foxes were entering into each garden.

As Hampstead Heath wasn’t too far away, it was natural to assume they were coming in from there, but there was certainly a resident community of a number of fox families who had made their home in the locality. Just how many was very difficult to speculate upon without doing a larger survey. Above shows signs of a fox climbing out of a garden.

At the request of the crew, we set hired camera traps in each garden for later retrieval, and hopefully capture some footage of fox activity.

As we surveyed one garden, we tracked the fox to the bottom of the garden and through a narrow gap. As JP peeked though the gap into next door’s garden, he spooked the fox laying up under a conifer, which ran off into what we had identified as a long, narrow transit corridor between two facing back gardens. Unfortunately the camera crew were a little slow to catch the live action.

We were very impressed that the producer had switched from an earlier stance of supporting the eradication of the fox through trapping and shooting, to our reasoning that this would only allow another fox to occupy the displaced fox’s vacant territory.

Later in the evening, we had to describe our findings to the occupiers of the property and suggest ways to reduce their presence. After describing this to one couple, they changed their own quite hard-line opinion about foxes and will be willing to try out our suggestions.

To another lady I described exactly how and why I thought a certain route was being used and the reasoning for the fox coming into her garden. She confirmed exactly what I had said, describing the fox routinely jumping onto a low wall surrounding a water feature for a drink. Her observations also confirmed what I thought was a mouse that appeared in one corner of the garden to nibble on some windfall fruit.

After a tiring but satisfying day, we made our way back to Essex. I’m not sure when the programme will be aired; but I’ll be sure to let everyone know. Err…I hope they caught our best side!

Looking for Mink

2011-02-13T06:15:00.001-08:00

After our finds last week (a signal crayfish claw and what might possibly be a mink print) we were keen to make some follow up investigations; so JP and I may another trip to Hatfield on Friday to place a trail-cam on the stream on the south east side of Hatfield forest.

We checked along the stream to see if there was any more evidence or prints; but the recent rain had washed most of the tracks apart from the ever-present follow tracks leading out from the forest across the stream to the field.

We returned to the stream source coming out from the lakes and pointed the cam along the shallow bank. We used some fish bait to hopefully attract something although we know that won’t last too long.

The rest of the day was spent tracking around the north west of the forest. We sporadically followed a badger track going along a tree line, across a path and over a ditch. The tracks disappeared into the woodland, heading towards a known badger sett.

Our journey brought us to the Portingbury Hills, an Iron-age settlement, (the small patch on the left of the map) and then south west back to the car-park.

On our way out we spotted someone looking intently though binos at some birds in the tree. We stopped and to our delight, saw about 30-40 waxwings in the tree.

I hurriedly snapped off some pics, which turned out to be rubbish, but at least shows what they are. A great end to a great day!

10,000 Trees and an LoWS

2011-02-09T10:38:00.001-08:00

Look at this! My little local woodland has now become a LoWS (Local Wildlife Site). Not exactly SSSI and this doesn't give the wood any legal protection, but the status has to be taken into account for any future planning activities.

Not only that…

While everyone watches and hopefully contributes to the topical discussion about the Forestry sell-off in England, our little local conservation group has taken matters in our own hands. With a huge amount of planning and support, we are going to plant 10,ooo trees.

A pipe-dream? Perhaps, but when you consider 3,300 were planted last week, the target is not so far fetched as it might seem.

If you are wondering how this has been achieved then I will give you a very brief history.

I live very close to an ex-USAF airfield, which is still MOD property. The MOD still use the facilities for a variety of purposes and the runway is still active for Air Cadet gliders. There are a number of civilian workers who work on the base. About 7 years ago I canvassed them to form a Wildlife Group. One very active member was later made the Sustainability Manager for the site and of course had access to MOD resources and a direct link to Defence Estates which we were able to tap into.

With her relentless work and a little assistance from the rest of us carrying out site surveys of birds, mammals and plant life, we put together a compelling business case to ask for assistance to conserve and develop the area. The surveys have turned up some interesting finds like the rare Oxlip. Essex Wildlife Trust and the Woodland Trust took an interest and have also been heavily involved resulting in the LoWS status for the wood. A certain amount of financial assistance from the MOD helped fund the planting of the 3,300 trees with (hopefully) more to come during this year.

The planting was completed by a local woodland company. The trees are typical British woodland trees (Hornbeam, Oak, Ash, Beech) with lower lying shrubs like hawthorn around the edge. I’m trying to get the actual planting plan, but apparently the company took away the only copy.

The ‘new’ wood is actually an extension of an existing wood called Ostend Wood which is outside of the base. I am canvassing to get a few trees diverted to extend “my” wood (Park Wood) which is inside the fence. You can understand now why everyone was so keen for me to remove the fallow deer from inside the base (which, by the way, seems to have worked.)

The nest step is to get the area LNR (Local Nature Reserve) status, which means that it will get a certain amount of legal protection. Let’s hope the cutbacks don’t scupper the project too much.

Another Good Day Hatfield

2011-02-06T10:06:00.001-08:00

It was great to meet so more people at Hatfield Forest. We had a great deal of interest in our growing collections of feeding signs, droppings (always popular with the kids!) feathers, and a guest appearance of Henry, the fallow deer pricket skull.

We managed to entice a couple of people on a short walk around the small pond, where fallow and muntjac tracks were found. We also found a pair of claws from a signal crayfish. The gave rise to a suspicion that something must have dragged it out of the pond and eaten the rest of it, leaving the claws. Low and behold, a little further away down-stream, JP found what is very possibly a single mink paw print.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to talk to us. As a reminder, the next course for families at Hatfield Forest is in one month’s time; Sunday 6th March. Please see the Countryside and Woodland Awareness Course page to book or contact us at info@woodlife.co.uk.

Gathering Our Thoughts

2011-02-06T00:38:00.000-08:00

The countdown to the Wilderness Gathering has begun . Not only is this a great social event, but it’s also a great opportunity to show people what’s on offer from Woodlife Trails.

JP and I will be taking our usual nature-based exhibits down with us to show people what tracks and signs can be found on the woodland floor (now dubbed our Table of Death – on account of the skulls and skins) and our high-powered microscope which opens up a whole new world. This gives people a taster of what they can expect when they come on our Bushcraft and Tracking courses.

The owl pellet examination area will also be there for the youngsters (and adults) to extract the small mammal bones from the pellet. There will be a new competition called “Match The Track”. No prizes for guessing what that’s about!

We are delighted to have George Aitchison with us helping out on the stand. He will be displaying and demonstrating some primitive tech.

Our demonstrations will also include friction fire-lighting, spoon-carving, tracking and anything else we can fit in by popular demand.

My only ‘official’ duty this year is to give a talk on Saturday about “Bushcraft and the Law”.

As usual, we will be responsible for the Extreme Baking competition. All the proceeds of this goes to charity.

Of course, we will be promoting the Woodlife Network as well as Woodlife Trails, and, new for this year, we will have a limited number of Woodlife polo shirts for sale. The shirts are more of an olive green/brown than pictured with the Woodlife logo on the left breast.

For the first time, I can reveal the 2011 design of the Woodlife key-fob, which will also be on sale…

I didn’t realise that people were actually looking forward to seeing this year’s new design. Some people have collected all the previous year’s – so I hope you like this one. It was designed by Mrs P who slaved away helping me put them together. She was paid well though. She got a key fob!

Here are the previous designs in case you’ve missed out…

2009

2010

It’s a lot of organisation and still a bit to be done but we’ll get there. If you are going along – we hope to see you there. If you’re not, there’s still time to get your ticket.

Thanks for the visit.

Let There Be Life

2011-01-30T08:31:00.001-08:00

I realised that it was before Christmas since I was in Poor Park wood. My excursions have been mainly in my immediate area, chasing fallow deer, trips to Hatfield forest and, at least in the last week, nursing a bad back at home.

It was nice to get out today. The temperature was hovering just above zero as I walked slowly through the woodland. I am now so used to this woodland, I can tell the difference even in a few winter weeks when all is meant to be quiet. The wood is now virtually see through and as I wandered through it I thought that it would probably never get any more transparent as today as soon, early spring growth will start to appear.

No sooner had I thought this, I saw a nice show of hazel catkins. They won’t be ripe quite yet, but already they are turning yellow.

All over the woodland floor, there were small sproutings of Dog’s mercury – one of the first woodland plants to emerge. Don’t enlarge the picture. It’s blurred but gives you an idea.

Squirrels are now digging up their reserves of nuts and the woodland floor is full of little excavations. The fruits of their labour was evident on one of my favourite areas where I normally have a cuppa. I call this area Muntjac camp as it seems to be a favourite area for them. This was again confirmed by the droppings in the area. A couple of summers ago, I was charged by a Muntjac here. It was probably defending a youngster – an act that isn’t uncommon. They aim to miss,of course, but it’s a really unnerving experience.

The main paths had quite a bit of human activity and this was mixed with fallow and muntjac tracks.

As the sun tried to breakthrough the cold looking clouds, I decided to check on the nearby badger sett. Again, there was plenty of activity with old bedding bundled into large balls outside the entrance hole where the badger had been clearing out the sleeping chambers. In fact this might possibly be a clean out in preparation for new arrivals which will be born underground very soon.

Please check in mid week for a ‘good news’ post about my local woods. Hope the see you then.

A Cold Day at Hatfield

2011-01-24T09:43:00.001-08:00

Even though the temperature was about 4 degrees C, there was a biting northerly as we trooped up to Hatfield Forest yesterday (Sunday).

The idea was to talk to people about our Countryside and Woodland Awareness course and generate some interest. If it had been last weekend, I think we would have had a larger audience as, by all accounts, it was mobbed because of the good weather.

Nevertheless, after setting up my showcase of feeding signs, vials of deer pellets, animal hair and jawbones, we started talking to those who were interested in peering at the contents. Plenty of people were interested in watching JP whittling away at a piece of birch.

We were helped by Mrs P who came out of hibernation especially for the event, and for a time Ken V from the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) who will be helping us on some of our planned bird ID and dawn chorus walks.

It was surprising the number of people who did take an interest. If you took away the dog walkers, many families with children and, of course, the children themselves were interested. I think we have away about 100 leaflets, which was no mean feat for a cold and damp Sunday afternoon.

Best of all there was a small surprise waiting for us back at the National Trust Estate office. A small key in a see-through plastic bag was handed to us by one of the wardens. I knew exactly what it was. The key to Hatfield Forest!

Most Used – Most Useful Top 10

2011-01-20T09:17:00.001-08:00

This is a quick run down of the top 10 most used and most useful bits of kit I used last year.

1. North Face Cedar Ridge boots

I only use these in the autumn and winter but I certainly look forward to putting them on. They are a technical boot with Goretex lining, but you can actually stand in a puddle and not get your feet wet. For hiking they are wonderfully comfortable and they literally fit like a glove. Not the best bushcraft boot (I’ve melted the toe against the fire) but if you’re walking, hiking or tracking then these are great.

2. Gerber Profile Folding lock knife

Oops! I haven’t done a review on this but I can say if I’m merely out for the day tracking and don’t want to take too much kit, I’ll reach for this handy, lightweight folder. It has a stainless blade that sharpens up pretty well. It has an all plastic but comfortable handle and is great for small jobs if you keep it in an easily accessible place. Extremely cheap at £25-00 and worth much, much more. Be aware that it’s a lock knife, which means you might have to justify carrying it in public in the UK.

3. Mini Trangia

After the local camping store closed down, I had to go for miles to get gas canisters. When I got there, I found they had doubled in price from last year. I picked up a mini-trangia in a sale and, dubiously, set to work carrying it about during the summer. The result is that I’m absolutely delighted with this cookset. You don’t need a billy as it has a little frying pan and an aluminium bowl. As long as you’re not cooking a three-course meal, this set up is fine. You might have to protect the flame in windy conditions as the stand is just that, a stand, and not a wind shield. I just love the shape and size.

4. Snowsled Classic Smock.

I treated myself to this last spring and is currently the most expensive item I own. I like this smock because it gives you great freedom of movement. It’s just so well designed having pockets exactly where I want them (although these can be customised – at a price) and provides enough windproof capability if you have the correct layers underneath. It’s okay in light showers but struggles to keep out heavy rain as it’s only single layer. Even so, this is a great smock to work outdoors with and currently one of my favourite items of clothing. If it’s good enough for Ran Fiennes it’s good enough for me!

5. Maxpedition Falcon 2

I bet you never thought you’d see a MaxP bit of kit making my top 10! Well, credit where it’s due and I do like some MaxP kit as long as it’s used for the right purpose. This is a great day sack and fits extremely well, as long as you don’t pack it to the brim. It’s very comfortable and I can move fast and for a long distance without getting fatigued. I wouldn’t use it for anything but a day trip and the internal organisation is a bit fiddly, but it is a good stable, bomb-proof pack.

6. Karrimor Predator 45

This is simply an excellent bag for use from a day out to a long weekend. Unlike the MaxP Falcon 2 this is a top loader and you can compress stuff right down to the bottom of the bag. I like the square design (as opposed to the Sabre’s round design) and I like the flexibility of adding the 15 litres side-pouches. The Omni pouch is kind of useful for storing odds and ends, but the new side pouches is pretty useless for bushcraft use. The lack of hydration space is slightly annoying, although you can buckle a bladder to the inside back of the rucksack by two internal straps. Apart from this little moan, this is, overall, an excellent bushcraft bag.

7. Leuku/Puuko Combi

This knife pair has again made it into my top ten. I’ve tried many knives over the years but always come back to this set up if I’m going away for a couple of days or more and not taking an axe. I like the flexibility of the longer (7inch) leuko for light chopping and slashing down vegetation like nettles. The smaller and much sharper stainless puuko is good for carving and food prep. This set up is a mixture of a Stromeng Leuku and Jaavenpaa puuko squeezed into a Jaavenpaa sheath.

8. Highlander camp-bed

Okay – now I’m in for a bit of flak!! The purists will say what on earth is he doing with this! Comfycraft at it’s best!! Well, ok. Hands up! I’m not getting any younger and if I can get away with carrying this in, then I will – especially in the winter months! This is the most lightweight folding camp-bed I’ve seen. I still wouldn’t like to carry it any distance, but it is definitely a luxury bonus when you know that you have a flat surface to camp on. Set it up to one side of your tarp and you have a convenient living area where you can sit down and carve or cook – or errr…just lay down and snooze!

9. Silky saw

I have two of these saws – a larger Gomtaro and a folding pocket boy. It amuses me watching people sawing back and forth for all they’re worth at a great rate of knots expending huge amounts of energy, when I merely have to utilise the pull-cut action of the Silky’s backward facing teeth to effortlessly cut through my branch. This saw is especially good on green wood but nearly as good on dead wood. One thing to be careful of is that the blade is a little thinner than say the Laplander saw. Otherwise, this is a fine tool.

10. DD hammock

It’s not very often I go out without a tarp and hammock combination as a matter of course. I’ve been using this same hammock for nearly 7 years now. Barring some replacement tapes, I’ve had no problems with it. It’s the original DD hammock now called the scout hammock and comes in at the princely sum of £25-00. There’s no mossy net or any other frills, just two bits or rip-stop sewn together. Just the job!

Thanks for the visit.

Fallow and the Fence (Part Two)

2011-01-16T11:57:00.001-08:00

Annoyingly, I had to cancel a trip to Mark’s in Reading because of work. This w-o-r-k- is starting to interfere a little too much with my leisure time! Apologies to all concerned.

It wasn’t until today (Sunday) that I was able to get out properly. It was very windy but quite mild with the wind coming in from the South West. I loaded up the dog, some water, an apple and a cereal bar and went looking for fallow deer tracks.

If you remember, the last instalment of The Fallow and Fence showed that several holes had been found and I had set the camera trap. The camera trap had shown a number of fallow outside the fence and one inside. I had personally seen two herds, a small herd of 3 does and a larger herd of 8 inside of the fence where they weren’t wanted.

Since the last post, I have checked the camera trap every day and… nothing! Not even the lure of apples, vegetables and salt carefully placed outside of the fence showed no activity of fallow going from inside to outside. There was some tracks around the bait site outside the fence, probably just out of activation reach of the camtrap.

On Friday, I made the decision to board up the hole. In all probability, the deer got out before I set the camtrap and the congregation of them I had caught on the cam was possibly the herd still hanging around. It was now a case of checking the main areas again for tracks just to be sure.

Today, after a good four hours of tracking around the fence-line, I started to become quite positive. There was only Muntjac and the odd Badger track about.

On my journey, I noticed something that I hadn’t seen for a while; a Thrushes anvil, where the bird takes a snail and bashes the shell against a stone.

Then… I saw it. A recent, single fallow track! Damn! There must be at least one still left in. This was confirmed a little later when I found some fresh currants. Strangely, I saw no more fallow tracks. Had I seen things?

Only one thing for it. I had to set up the camera trap again. Even though there may be still one fallow still left in, I was still quite pleased that the majority seemed to be out – although how much of that was my doing was debatable!

Next episode next week.

The Fallow and the Fence

2011-01-09T11:04:00.001-08:00

Last post I told you about my success in finding a hole in the fence where fallow deer where entering an area where they are not particularly welcome.

Having found the hole, our next mission was to confirm that they were using the hole to get in and out. Finally, we need to get rid of them preferably without culling.

My first few attempts at sitting up and watching for them ended in failure. I was well hidden by some bits of junk metal and I had deployed some vanilla essence to try to attract them; unfortunately they did not take the bait.

My next idea was to deploy the camtrap. Over 5 days I got some interesting footage. Lots of movement around the area and strange interest in the cam itself, but no evidence that they were coming in – or going out for that matter.

The last few days I’ve tried to bait them out. A nice little mixture of yummy deer food including apples and veg with a good dollop of salt. And guess what? Nothing! For the last two nights the camera hasn’t even triggered. No-one likes my food let alone the animals it seems. Anyway, I’ll leave it as is for a while longer and see what happens.

Thanks for the visit.

Holiday Outings (Part One)

2010-12-30T11:42:00.001-08:00

I’ve had a great few days off work – and apart from tomorrow when I have to go in, I’ve still got until next Wednesday off.

I’ve been out for a few short excursions, but nothing major. On Tuesday, I met up with JP at Hatfield Forest. We went for bimble into the forest as the snow melted around us and tried out some new cutlery from Duncan Chandler. I’ll do a full review later, but this trio of a neck knife, Bushcraft style knife and Nessmuk camp knife certainly looks promising.

I was very impressed with the camp knife as JP put it through it’s paces. It was well weighted and almost felt like a leuku. The belt knife made short work of making a feather stick, which, despite the cold and damp, JP duly lit with a firesteel. The neck knife has a normal sized handle, which felt good in the hand.

Today I took a member of our conservation group on a tracking mission. We knew there were a number of fallow on-site and wondered how they managed to get into a secure fenced-in area. The idea then was to track the deer to the entry exit point and hopefully see some of them on the way.

The conservation group aren’t too keen on having the deer on site as there are plans to put on a total of 10 thousand trees in the area. That’s a lot of food for a fallow!

I figured out a start point based on re I thought they might lay up in a sheltered area; and low and behold we immediately found some tracks leading along a fence-line. The droppings indicated that this trail had been used in the last 24 hours. All we had to do was follow the fence-line.

After a couple of hundred yards, a couple of other trails converged and pointed like an outstretched arm to a hole in the fence. I wasn’t convinced this was the only entry exit, so we walked on. After another hundred yards or so, we came across another smaller hole. Nevertheless, by examining the hairs on the wire, we could definitely say they were fallow.

To finish the job, we continued along the fence-line making sure there were no other holes. Even though I had my nose to the ground, I remembered to look up occasionally, and there, through the fog, I saw 3 fallow does at about 50 yards. They had already spotted us and were standing stock still looking in our direction. It was an eerie sight and I managed to get this picture as they stotted off in the opposite direction.

A nice end to an overall successful little mission.

No doubt I’ll have more to report on next week. Until then – have a happy New Year.

Of Solstice and Yule

2010-12-21T09:48:00.001-08:00

I take an interest in many cultures mainly to examine their skills and customs, but not intrusively so. I believe “study” of our own ancient cultures is important before we disturb others’.

Unfortunately, in Britain, written legacy and customs from the prehistoric days are few and far between resulting in only the Roman’s relatively limited uncomplimentary accounts of our tribal activities.

Today is the Winter Solstice and we know that this was one of the most important days in the British prehistoric calendar. In fact it’s celebrated in many other cultures as well. In astronomical terms it means the Earth's tilt is farthest away from the sun; thereby making it the shortest day of the year.

It was extremely important for earlier Neolithic cultures to respect this time simply because it was so easy to starve during the winter months. The onset of longer and warmer days was surely something to be celebrated. Stonehenge is a testament to this celebration, and undoubtedly with great intention, the axis of Stonehenge is aligned to the Winter Solstice sunset.

Although we’re still not entirely sure what went on there we can presume a fair amount of animal sacrifices were carried out which may have served two purposes; firstly, to thank or appease the Gods, but more likely so that they didn’t have to feed the livestock and therefore save on food. It may also have been an appropriate time to replenish depleting food stocks with fresh meat.

In later Celtic terms the winter season began on 1^st November on Hallows eve or Samhain and ends when spring begins on Imbolc or Candlemas, which is on 1^st February. Therefore the Solstice can be considered mid-winter or Winter’s Day. Since the days become longer from this date, many cultures, including the Celts, recognised this as a time for rebirth.

This year (2010) an extra event took place (this morning) in the form of a full lunar eclipse. This occurs when the Earth is directly between the sun and moon. It’s a yearly event but only happens on the Winter Solstice every 450 years. The Earth's shadow prevents the moon from catching any of the sun's rays, and the moon glows red with only indirect sunlight, refracted off the Earth's edges. (I took this picture in 2007)

If you were up early to see this I hope you weren't disappointed. If you were up early to celebrate the solstice, I’m sorry to disappoint you but the true solstice takes place at 23:38 on 21^st (tonight) according to precise astronomical data tracking. If you’re still up at that time, then join me outside for a wee toast to what may be the true New Year.

Yule is a more relatively modern term, possibly stemming from the Germanic peoples in the 4^th Century, meaning a winter festival. This originally occurred during late December to early January.

Even though many Yule-tide customs appear to stem from the Old Norse/Scandinavian/German pagan, some were absorbed into Christian celebrations. Perhaps they were not seen so much as religious customs but traditional ones, which were required to be kept alive. Indeed today, we seem to have the remnants of many of these “seasonal” customs. Traditional customs involving plants like mistletoe, holly, ivy features quite prominently to this day.

Oaks were seen as sacred and the winter fruit of the mistletoe which grew on oaks was a symbol of male fertility and life in the dark winter months.

The tradition of bringing sprigs of Holly and Ivy into the home pays homage to the masculine and feminine elements. Both of these are said to be powerfully magical plants and are evergreen, a reminder in itself that the earth never dies, but merely sleeps during the winter months, (a tradition which was the precursor to our modern tradition of the evergreen Christmas tree). The male element is represented by the prickly holly; with its sexually potent red berries. The ivy is the female; entwining, gentle yet powerful.

Personally, I like the tradition of the Yule log. This custom may well have been brought from the earliest Celtic days when it was thought that the sun stood still for twelve days in the middle of winter. During this time a large log was dragged in to the hearth and lit to conquer the darkness, banish evil spirits and bring luck for the coming year. The Yule log also had many other connotations especially in rural England, and I’m sure you will realise that, as with most cultures, each region has a number of different interpretations.

Whatever your culture and belief; have a safe and happy holiday and all the best to your families and loved ones.

More Snow…

2010-12-19T09:27:00.001-08:00

We got dumped on by the snow here in the East on Saturday afternoon. It didn’t stop for about 6 hours leaving about a foot of snow.

This morning, I was due to meet JP at Hatfield, but we considered the journey’s on untreated roads to be not worth the effort; so we abandoned the trip.

My hopeful excursion to the local wood to see some tracks proved pretty fruitless. I realised there is a fine line between good snowy tracks and some tracks that are just too difficult to discern. The reason for this was that the snow happened to be extremely powdery. It might have been too deep for all but the hardiest animals to venture out.

I went to the local badger set only to see tracks going from one entrance to another and not venturing out at all. That in itself is quite interesting behaviour.

A fox track meandered in and out of the hedgerow.

Even the rabbits seemed to be reticent to forage far from home.

Of course the benefit of the snow is the beautiful layer of gleaming white that has descended. All sound seems to be muffled. The woods, at last, are quiet in their winter contemplation.

Thanks for the visit.