We were in Hatfield Forest last weekend again. This time it was a Dad’s and Lad’s weekend.
The lad’s had been on a Bushcraft overnighter previously and had persuaded the Dad’s to come along on one of our weekends.
The provisioning was pretty spectacular and broke Woodlife Trails’ record for the amount of food brought in for a weekend!
It wasn’t long before everyone was settled in and introduced to the Forest Woodlife Trails style!
Barefoot walking, night vision and night tracking was just a starter. It was followed the following day by some expert tuition on carving led by JP.
It wasn’t too long before the long-awaited silence descended on the camp as everyone concentrated on their individual carving projects. Everything from light sabres to tent pegs and butter knives to Harry Potter wands were cleverly carved. It was clear this was a skill that many would carry on after the weekend.
Pablo took a tracking session and persuaded everyone that noise and sudden movement were not conducive to good wildlife watching. The penalty for being noisy was a good super-soaking!
The badgers were conspicuous by their absence and much of Hatfield’s wildlife decided that Saturday night was not the night to appear to the world. This may have been because there were other activities in the Forest that weekend. One pair did manage to get pretty close to a number of fallow deer.
After a fire-lighting session on the Sunday in which everyone without exception managed the difficult skill of catching silver birch with a ferro-rod (fire-steel) JP led the party on a wild plant walk. It was clear that the abundance of Forest plants were beginning to get past their sell-by date. Seeds, fruit and nuts were the tell-tale signs of the beginning of the season of abundance which is early autumn.
The final activity was rowing on the Hatfield’s Lake with the backdrop of the realistic medieval re-enactors who were certainly not out of place in the wonderful medieval forest which we are lucky enough to use for our courses.
Thanks to the folks who came along and threw themselves into the activities and, as normal, thanks to the Woodlife Trails crew who come along to assist.
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