Hannah has been involved with Woodlife Trails since early 2012. She previously ran in a tree-surgery business and now works for the National Trust at Hatfield Forest. She has a BA (Hons) in Travel and Tourism Management.

Hannah loves the outdoors and is a keen wild-camper, bushcrafter and tracker.

She is a keen sports-woman and lists mountain climbing, ice-climbing, and canoeing amongst her outdoor activities.

She is currently developing her tracking skills but with a twist - she tracks barefoot!

Hannah is a keen chef and cooks up a mean road-kill dinner!

Hannah has been involved with Woodlife Trails since early 2012. She previously ran in a tree-surgery business and now works for the National Trust at Hatfield Forest. She has a BA (Hons) in Travel and Tourism Management.

Hannah loves the outdoors and is a keen wild-camper, bushcrafter and tracker.

She is a keen sports-woman and lists mountain climbing, ice-climbing, and canoeing amongst her outdoor activities.

She is currently developing her tracking skills but with a twist - she tracks barefoot!

Hannah is a keen chef and cooks up a mean road-kill dinner!

JP has always had a profound interest in the Natural World. As a typical "Essex Country Boy" he immediately took to the world of woodsmen, gamekeepers and local countrymen where he learnt many of his countryside skills like ferreting and rabbiting; skills that are today, sadly, all but forgotton.

His love of wildlife led him to keep numerous pets that included the usual gerbils, hamsters, rats and tropical fish - but expanded to more unusual creatures like tadpoles, newts, racing pigeons and the odd snake. Later additions (much to his parents dismay) included ferrets and tarantulas.

Ferrets led JP to a place for many years on the committee of the Essex Ferret Welfare Society whilst the Tarantulas took him to the committee of the British Tarantula Society (www.thebts.co.uk ) as Welfare Coordinator. Expeditions to Borneo and Sri lanka found him collecting data about spiders and filming natural history footage for National Geographic (JP still keeps Ferrets and Tarantulas to this day).

JP learnt many of his bushcraft and survival skills from experience; watching and learning from indigenous people as a result of overseas expeditions. Experience of being a cadet and scout stood him in good stead as he developed into a Bushcraft and Survival instructor for two of the top Bushcraft Schools in the UK  - Bearclaw Bushcraft and Bison Bushcraft.

In 2010 JP teamed up with Pablo to establish Woodlife Trails Ltd, a company specialising in the provision of Bushcraft, Tracking, Natural History and Countryside courses and services.

JP supports small holders associations and charities such as MIND. Using nature and bushcraft as a therapeutic tool he is also a volunteer for Open Door which helps children in care, young offenders and potential offenders to deal with the problems today's society throws at them.

JP is pasionate about educating people about the countryside and the outdoors. He wants to ensure that old countryside skills are not forgotten.

"Together with Pablo and the Woodlife Trails Team…

… We will show you how ..."

JP has always had a profound interest in the Natural World. As a typical "Essex Country Boy" he immediately took to the world of woodsmen, gamekeepers and local countrymen where he learnt many of his countryside skills like ferreting and rabbiting; skills that are today, sadly, all but forgotton.

His love of wildlife led him to keep numerous pets that included the usual gerbils, hamsters, rats and tropical fish - but expanded to more unusual creatures like tadpoles, newts, racing pigeons and the odd snake. Later additions (much to his parents dismay) included ferrets and tarantulas.

Ferrets led JP to a place for many years on the committee of the Essex Ferret Welfare Society whilst the Tarantulas took him to the committee of the British Tarantula Society (www.thebts.co.uk ) as Welfare Coordinator. Expeditions to Borneo and Sri lanka found him collecting data about spiders and filming natural history footage for National Geographic (JP still keeps Ferrets and Tarantulas to this day).

JP learnt many of his bushcraft and survival skills from experience; watching and learning from indigenous people as a result of overseas expeditions. Experience of being a cadet and scout stood him in good stead as he developed into a Bushcraft and Survival instructor for two of the top Bushcraft Schools in the UK  - Bearclaw Bushcraft and Bison Bushcraft.

In 2010 JP teamed up with Pablo to establish Woodlife Trails Ltd, a company specialising in the provision of Bushcraft, Tracking, Natural History and Countryside courses and services.

JP supports small holders associations and charities such as MIND. Using nature and bushcraft as a therapeutic tool he is also a volunteer for Open Door which helps children in care, young offenders and potential offenders to deal with the problems today's society throws at them.

JP is pasionate about educating people about the countryside and the outdoors. He wants to ensure that old countryside skills are not forgotten.

"Together with Pablo and the Woodlife Trails Team…

… We will show you how ..."

Wilderness Immersion Course

The Immersion course never ceases to amaze me in how people react to it and the experiences they take away. This April course was no exception (Photo: Vinny)

We battled through Somme–like muddy conditions at the main base-camp and had to endure some lasting rain throughout Saturday afternoon, evening and night. Despite this, the participants didn’t give up and were rewarded by some great close encounters such as fox, fallow deer, squirrels and bird life; oh… and in Vinny’s case, a snail on the face!

The close encounters are a credit to everyone’s ability to quickly take on board the principles of concentric circles and low-profile wild-camping and the use of natural camouflage.

Sunday was another amazing day, and in the warmth of the afternoon sunshine we all watched what I now know to be a Daubenton’s bat probably just coming out of hibernation, hunting amongst insects on one of Hatfield’s rides. Even better was the swooping into a puddle of water to gather drops of water to drink. Fantastic stuff.

This was closely followed by a train of 60 – 70 fallow deer crossing the ride about 50 yards ahead of us.

As usual, Harry the Hawk was there to enthral the participants as they all had a go at flying him. Their faces say it all! (Thanks Beccy for the photos.)

Thanks to everyone who came and, of course, the assistants, in this case Troops and Jason who also passed their potential instructor assessment and will now begin the long journey to become an instructor. Also well done Trooper on being awarded level one of the Diploma. That’s a year’s hard graft and a great achievement. He now joins Richard who was achieved his a couple of weeks ago.

Thanks for the visit.

Wilderness Immersion Course

The Immersion course never ceases to amaze me in how people react to it and the experiences they take away. This April course was no exception (Photo: Vinny)

We battled through Somme–like muddy conditions at the main base-camp and had to endure some lasting rain throughout Saturday afternoon, evening and night. Despite this, the participants didn’t give up and were rewarded by some great close encounters such as fox, fallow deer, squirrels and bird life; oh… and in Vinny’s case, a snail on the face!

The close encounters are a credit to everyone’s ability to quickly take on board the principles of concentric circles and low-profile wild-camping and the use of natural camouflage.

Sunday was another amazing day, and in the warmth of the afternoon sunshine we all watched what I now know to be a Daubenton’s bat probably just coming out of hibernation, hunting amongst insects on one of Hatfield’s rides. Even better was the swooping into a puddle of water to gather drops of water to drink. Fantastic stuff.

This was closely followed by a train of 60 – 70 fallow deer crossing the ride about 50 yards ahead of us.

As usual, Harry the Hawk was there to enthral the participants as they all had a go at flying him. Their faces say it all! (Thanks Beccy for the photos.)

Thanks to everyone who came and, of course, the assistants, in this case Troops and Jason who also passed their potential instructor assessment and will now begin the long journey to become an instructor. Also well done Trooper on being awarded level one of the Diploma. That’s a year’s hard graft and a great achievement. He now joins Richard who was achieved his a couple of weeks ago.

Thanks for the visit.

A Little Bit of Weather

Our Woodlife Trails level one diploma students turned up in force this weekend at Hatfield to try and finish off some practical assignments.

After a leisurely start on Friday evening, including panassed salmon we woke up to a winter wonderland on Saturday morning – as I’m sure most UK residents are now fed up with hearing.

This didn’t deter us at all as we collected wood to bank up the fire a bit more and dropped the parachute sides down to keep out the nasty easterly wind.

The conditions were challenging but the old adage “no bad weather – just bad equipment” rang true as we listed and discussed the benefits of natural versus synthetic clothing.

Spirits were high as practical after practical assessments were ticked off and a celebratory mulled punch of some sort (mostly mead) was brewed in a spare kettle to accompany Vinnie’s leg of lamb.

Sunday morning was just as cold and our excursion took us out to take advantage of the snow to do some tracking. Most of the mammals were there except old brock who was sensibly staying underground with the cubs which have most probably just been born.

Our tracking turned into foraging for reasonable wood to make individual fires for the fire lighting element.

The fire lighting was probably the most challenging element bearing in mind the conditions but good preparation prevailed and everyone managed to create and maintain a fire with a fire-steel.

It was cold and challenging but a great weekend. Well done and thanks to everyone who came along.