Sunday, 27 June 2010

Glorious Weekend in June

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This weekend I helped out at Wildcrafts Bushcraft School. The weather was wonderful. We had the choice of the cool of the woods, or the full sun around one of the two lakes.

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It was even worth dangling a line from a survival fishing kit (more about this in a later post) but nothing was biting.

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Brett went one step further, but forgot his harpoon!

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This area is good for black-tailed skimmer dragonflies and Azure damselflies. The lake also had a visiting tern who occasionally splashed into the water, surfacing on more than one occasion with a small fish.

The pathways were dry, but I managed to brush out some tracks to reveal badger, fox and fallow deer all making their way to the side of the lake for a well needed drink.

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On Saturday, we decided to get out the bow drills. It was like the annual “fire-by-friction qualification day” as we all lined up to have a go.

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Steve and I went one further and jointly got an ember from a hand drill set I brought back from Africa.

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Even the flint a steel came out, and a couple of others, including Rebecca, managed to blow an ember into a flame for the first time. The ember had been transferred from the char-cloth to a crampball fungus and then onto some straw and dried grass.

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A tarp was definitely not needed this weekend. I suppose it’s just force of habit that we all put one up… or is it complete mistrust of the British weather?!

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Steve’s swag-bag was possibly the best way to go if you were ground-dwelling …

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Life was definitely good this weekend, meeting up with old mates and enjoying the mid-summer’s day weather.

Thanks or the visit.

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