Close to Home

Here’s some random events that’s happened in the last week either in my garden or very close to it …

Ever seen a white-winged crow? Well, here it is. My mate Dave phoned me up after he caught and ringed it. It’s not injured, just too young to fly. He was last seen attempting a take-off on the local disused runway!

What do you mean – who’s got the bigger beak? This rook crash-landed in the garden. He seemed ok until the local pheasant decided to try and stamp on him. Despite a broken leg, he managed to become airborne again.

This guy must have escaped from a local farm. Good job I’ve had my Sunday dinner.

Oxeye daisies in my garden.

 

Field Mouse ear in a nearby meadow

 

Vetch

 

Oxeye daisies

 

Blue tit nesting in the garden.

This rabbit met an untimely end. The puncture marks at the back of the neck are typical of a killing bite of a stoat or weasel. A crow has started on the back end before I disturbed it.

The crops are at an ideal height to remain hidden from fallow deer in the local field.

Talking of fallow deer, don’t forget to buy the latest Bushcraft and Survival Mag. We’ve on the cover…

 

…and inside of course!!

More flowers – cinqfoil

 

Birds-foot trefoil

 

Herb bennet or wood avens

Even if you don’t like football, the World Cup is certainly sparking  national fervour. Billy joins in of course, although his ancestors are from the Mediterranean and he comes from Wales.

We probably haven’t got a cat (don’t say it too loud) in hell’s chance of winning – but it’s fun watching the games.

I hope you have a great week.

Thanks for the visit.

Pablo.

Close to Home

Here’s some random events that’s happened in the last week either in my garden or very close to it …

Ever seen a white-winged crow? Well, here it is. My mate Dave phoned me up after he caught and ringed it. It’s not injured, just too young to fly. He was last seen attempting a take-off on the local disused runway!

What do you mean – who’s got the bigger beak? This rook crash-landed in the garden. He seemed ok until the local pheasant decided to try and stamp on him. Despite a broken leg, he managed to become airborne again.

This guy must have escaped from a local farm. Good job I’ve had my Sunday dinner.

Oxeye daisies in my garden.

 

Field Mouse ear in a nearby meadow

 

Vetch

 

Oxeye daisies

 

Blue tit nesting in the garden.

This rabbit met an untimely end. The puncture marks at the back of the neck are typical of a killing bite of a stoat or weasel. A crow has started on the back end before I disturbed it.

The crops are at an ideal height to remain hidden from fallow deer in the local field.

Talking of fallow deer, don’t forget to buy the latest Bushcraft and Survival Mag. We’ve on the cover…

 

…and inside of course!!

More flowers – cinqfoil

 

Birds-foot trefoil

 

Herb bennet or wood avens

Even if you don’t like football, the World Cup is certainly sparking  national fervour. Billy joins in of course, although his ancestors are from the Mediterranean and he comes from Wales.

We probably haven’t got a cat (don’t say it too loud) in hell’s chance of winning – but it’s fun watching the games.

I hope you have a great week.

Thanks for the visit.

Pablo.

Overnighter in the Local Wood

Taking advantage of the good weather, I decided to stay over night in the local woods.

I like going to meets and seeing other folk but I also love staying in the woods on my own.

I took my Snugpak bivi bag, Exped synmat and a thin sleeping bag. I wanted to be low-profile in case the deer came close. As it turned out, I only saw them on the other side of the path about 50 yards away.

I took my mini trangia, the saucepan of which was good enough to heat up some rice and chicken while the little frying pan was sufficient to do a couple of rashers of bacon on edible plates (tortillas) for the morning’s breakfast. Of course the crusader is never too far away and serves to boil up water as well as a secondary cooking pot if necessary.

The heaviest item in the bag was 3 litres of water in an MSR Dromedary.

After looking around for night-activity (only more fallow and barking muntjac were seen) I came back and lit a token fire using my fire steel and some pine tree dust mixed in with maya stick scrapings.

There was no sign of the expected early morning deer activity at 4.30, so I had no option but to go back to sleep.

After the aforementioned bacon and egg and a cup of tea, I meandered around the woods and photographed anything of interest like these snails…

…this cardinal beetle…

…this speckled wood butterfly…

…and I think this is yellow pimpernel.

In the main, the wildlife stayed at a distance, but that didn’t stop me having a great time in my own in the woods.

Overnighter in the Local Wood

Taking advantage of the good weather, I decided to stay over night in the local woods.

I like going to meets and seeing other folk but I also love staying in the woods on my own.

I took my Snugpak bivi bag, Exped synmat and a thin sleeping bag. I wanted to be low-profile in case the deer came close. As it turned out, I only saw them on the other side of the path about 50 yards away.

I took my mini trangia, the saucepan of which was good enough to heat up some rice and chicken while the little frying pan was sufficient to do a couple of rashers of bacon on edible plates (tortillas) for the morning’s breakfast. Of course the crusader is never too far away and serves to boil up water as well as a secondary cooking pot if necessary.

The heaviest item in the bag was 3 litres of water in an MSR Dromedary.

After looking around for night-activity (only more fallow and barking muntjac were seen) I came back and lit a token fire using my fire steel and some pine tree dust mixed in with maya stick scrapings.

There was no sign of the expected early morning deer activity at 4.30, so I had no option but to go back to sleep.

After the aforementioned bacon and egg and a cup of tea, I meandered around the woods and photographed anything of interest like these snails…

…this cardinal beetle…

…this speckled wood butterfly…

…and I think this is yellow pimpernel.

In the main, the wildlife stayed at a distance, but that didn’t stop me having a great time in my own in the woods.

Spring Flowers

I had minimal woods time this weekend and maximum catch-up with the family. It wasn't a bad move as most of the weekend here in the east was windy and dreary. Still, I managed to get out on Saturday for a walk in Lowt’s Wood.

As expected the Bluebells were on their way out, but a few were still looking good.

The hedgerows were full of garlic mustard. I picked some leaves to help flavour the family Sunday roast.

Yellow archangel was abundant on the sides of a seldom used path. This plant is a relative of the dead nettles and is considered a guardian of the wood. It shouldn’t be confused with Yellow rattle which flowers later. The Yellow archangel has tiny red streaks through the bottom lip of the flower.

Red campion is found everywhere in these woods.

Not so far away I snapped this handsome looking insect on a nettle leaf. I have no idea what it is. It could be a leaf cutter bug or even a moth. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Although I saw no mammals, the woods were full of birds sounds including a cuckoo and, uncommonly, a male and female Tawny owl calling to each other.

These are wonderful woods but particularly at this time of year. After a little packed lunch, I couldn’t help myself and while sitting against a tree, felt the woods take me away in a little doze only to be woken by large raindrops falling down my neck. Reluctantly, I made my way home.