A Face Only a Mother Could Love

Last week, Clive commented on the face shining out from the poncho like a beaming beacon! I totally agreed that this tends to spoil the otherwise reasonable camo effect.

I rectified this by nipping into the local airgun and camo shop during the week and bought a balaclava head type thing (the only way I can describe it). I thought about a face net, but as I wear specs, this might prove a little difficult to wear without getting tangled up.

I was a little dubious about wearing it, and terrified myself when I looked in the mirror. This is a garment that can only be worn in the woods!

Did it work? Well, despite not seeing very much wildlife on Saturday (in fact the total mammal sightings in 4 hours was one Grey squirrel) I ventured out to the woods today and spent a good few hours waiting patiently for the Fallow deer to appear. When that failed, I walked slowly and quietly around the outskirts of the wood and came across a Muntjac... again.

He seemed to be oblivious of me and I followed him at a distance of about 30 yards for a good 250 yards through the woods when he came to rest and turned to look straight at me. Like last week, I was on my knees but face on to the Muntjac this time. It was only when I moved sightly to the left that I noticed he had caught up with his mate, a darker female.

I've always thought of Muntjac as slightly ugly; a face that only a mother could love, but after studying this male for a good while I've kind of changed my mind. The facial markings are quite striking and actually quite nice. Anyway, I can talk! Mine's so ugly, I have to cover it completely so as not to scare everything off!

After a while, amazingly, he laid down while his mate kept watch. I swapped between still and video mode on the camera. There were some annoying branches in the way and I tried desperately for a better position. There was just no way I could get any closer. Every slight movement I made (I made a couple of deliberate ones to get a reaction) and the head snapped up and tried to make out what I was.

I've always thought of Muntjac as slightly ugly; a face that only a mother could love, but after studying this male for a good while I've kind of changed my mind. The facial markings are quite striking and actually quite nice. Anyway, I can talk! Mine's so ugly, I have to cover it completely so as not to scare everything off!

After a good while (it must have been 5 minutes) he got up and they were off. I lost them almost immediately in the tall undergrowth.

Munjacs

I'd like to think my camo balaclava helped. It certainly didn't do any harm and, stupid as it looks, it will now be a permanent part of my tracking/wildlife watching kit. I just won't go to the pub with it on!

Thanks for the visit.

Pablo.

A Face Only a Mother Could Love

Last week, Clive commented on the face shining out from the poncho like a beaming beacon! I totally agreed that this tends to spoil the otherwise reasonable camo effect.

I rectified this by nipping into the local airgun and camo shop during the week and bought a balaclava head type thing (the only way I can describe it). I thought about a face net, but as I wear specs, this might prove a little difficult to wear without getting tangled up.

I was a little dubious about wearing it, and terrified myself when I looked in the mirror. This is a garment that can only be worn in the woods!

Did it work? Well, despite not seeing very much wildlife on Saturday (in fact the total mammal sightings in 4 hours was one Grey squirrel) I ventured out to the woods today and spent a good few hours waiting patiently for the Fallow deer to appear. When that failed, I walked slowly and quietly around the outskirts of the wood and came across a Muntjac... again.

He seemed to be oblivious of me and I followed him at a distance of about 30 yards for a good 250 yards through the woods when he came to rest and turned to look straight at me. Like last week, I was on my knees but face on to the Muntjac this time. It was only when I moved sightly to the left that I noticed he had caught up with his mate, a darker female.

I've always thought of Muntjac as slightly ugly; a face that only a mother could love, but after studying this male for a good while I've kind of changed my mind. The facial markings are quite striking and actually quite nice. Anyway, I can talk! Mine's so ugly, I have to cover it completely so as not to scare everything off!

After a while, amazingly, he laid down while his mate kept watch. I swapped between still and video mode on the camera. There were some annoying branches in the way and I tried desperately for a better position. There was just no way I could get any closer. Every slight movement I made (I made a couple of deliberate ones to get a reaction) and the head snapped up and tried to make out what I was.

I've always thought of Muntjac as slightly ugly; a face that only a mother could love, but after studying this male for a good while I've kind of changed my mind. The facial markings are quite striking and actually quite nice. Anyway, I can talk! Mine's so ugly, I have to cover it completely so as not to scare everything off!

After a good while (it must have been 5 minutes) he got up and they were off. I lost them almost immediately in the tall undergrowth.

Munjacs

I'd like to think my camo balaclava helped. It certainly didn't do any harm and, stupid as it looks, it will now be a permanent part of my tracking/wildlife watching kit. I just won't go to the pub with it on!

Thanks for the visit.

Pablo.

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Holiday snaps

We arrived back in the damp UK in the early hours this morning so I've only really got time to put up a few snaps from the holiday at the moment.

It wasn't by any means a holiday based on bushcraft but nevertheless I managed to get out and about climbing some steep hills, watching a bit of wildlife and generally terrorising the local lizard population.

They thought their reflection in the camera lens was a rival lizard.

The highlight of the holiday was snorkeling nearly every day in the clear, clear shallows of the bay where we were staying. I bought a cheap underwater camera but will have to wait until the film is developed before putting them up.

The Pitiusan lizard, or sargantana as it is known locally, is a reptile endemic to the islands, with more than thirty subspecies. They come in a variety of colourations. Green is the most common but on Formentera there are these blue coloured ones.

The more exposed coast of the island produced some spectacular waves when the wind got up.

The oceanic Posidonia is a plant that growths around the islands and has important ecolgical status. It's not really a seeweed but cetainly looks like it. The Posidonia Prairies, as they are called, harbours rich underwater wildlife and protects the coastline from erosion. The locals used to use the plant for insulation on roofs. It act as a fertiliser and animal feed.

I didn't get a chance to see a great deal of other wildlife inhabitants but I understand a white dormouse is resident on the island.

Another resident (dubbed the Incedible Swimming Dog) accompanies people across the bay if they choose to take the long journey. I decided to take the plunge only to forget that I had to get back! The dog stayed with me with every doggy-paddle of the way. I'm pretty sure he wore flippers on his paws.

More next time...

Pablo.

Holiday snaps

We arrived back in the damp UK in the early hours this morning so I've only really got time to put up a few snaps from the holiday at the moment.

It wasn't by any means a holiday based on bushcraft but nevertheless I managed to get out and about climbing some steep hills, watching a bit of wildlife and generally terrorising the local lizard population.

They thought their reflection in the camera lens was a rival lizard.

The highlight of the holiday was snorkeling nearly every day in the clear, clear shallows of the bay where we were staying. I bought a cheap underwater camera but will have to wait until the film is developed before putting them up.

The Pitiusan lizard, or sargantana as it is known locally, is a reptile endemic to the islands, with more than thirty subspecies. They come in a variety of colourations. Green is the most common but on Formentera there are these blue coloured ones.

The more exposed coast of the island produced some spectacular waves when the wind got up.

The oceanic Posidonia is a plant that growths around the islands and has important ecolgical status. It's not really a seeweed but cetainly looks like it. The Posidonia Prairies, as they are called, harbours rich underwater wildlife and protects the coastline from erosion. The locals used to use the plant for insulation on roofs. It act as a fertiliser and animal feed.

I didn't get a chance to see a great deal of other wildlife inhabitants but I understand a white dormouse is resident on the island.

Another resident (dubbed the Incedible Swimming Dog) accompanies people across the bay if they choose to take the long journey. I decided to take the plunge only to forget that I had to get back! The dog stayed with me with every doggy-paddle of the way. I'm pretty sure he wore flippers on his paws.

More next time...

Pablo.

Reading Meet

My mate Paul and I headed south to meet up with the Reading Group on Friday afternoon. A little rain was forecast but the whole weekend turned out fine and dry.



After a hot and sticky walk-in We arrived to find the parachute already up and a brew on the go. Mark presented me with a fine looking kuksa as a gift for doing the Reading group forum. I was completely overwhelmed and promptly planned what liquid substance should go in it. Well - it's got to be sealed properly hasn't it?


We woke up to a beautiful day on Saturday and after breakfast, a couple of us went roving with the bows to do a bit of stump shooting. I'd brought along the Samick SKB, the length of which proved ideal in the particular closed-in area of woodland we chose to shoot in. We all did pretty well getting close to the challenging choices of target and in a couple of instances even killed a stump or two!

Mark had brought along a large awl which enabled the construction of some wooden chairs. John decided to assemble what can only be described as a throne, which was in keeping with his heavy-weight style of camping. Hence he was dubbed "His Majesty, King John" for the rest of the meet. The chairs will be kept on site ready for the next meet.



Some of us went for a wander after lunch and ended up tracking along the moderately fast flowing stream. There was a lot of damselfly activity and I spent some time trying to photograph the amazingly coloured and aptly named Beautiful demoiselle (Calopteryx virgo).



We followed some tracks along the stream bank and decided it belonged to a small fox. The tracks ended up at a kill site where the only evidence left of the prey was a claw of a crustacian. Looking again at the photo I'm not too sure if there might be other tracks in there and I wish I'd studied the area in more detail at the time. Other tracks seen were roe, fallow, muntjac, mouse and a number of birds that had hopped along the bank. There was still no sign of the elusive water vole tracks.


The evening meal was a barbeque of literally tons of meet mostly provided by King John.
Earlier, Steve (who was on my Shadowhawk tracking course with me) and I identified a good sit spot covering an area where there might be some evening mammal activity. Andy had already spotted a fox cub, and muntjac had been heard the previous evening. After the barbeque, along with Andy we sat for an hour being bitten to death by mosquitos! The sum total of our sightings? One rabbit - oh and some sheep! Well, you can't win them all.


One of the best things about meets is that you can share experiences and stories around the fire. With new faces comes new stories and experiences. Knowledge is shared, kit examined and compared, and tips are passed on. This meet was no exception. John was busy dying a leather water bottle while Mark had made a fantastic flute case. You can see these pics on the network.



Prior to packing up on Sunday, conversation meandered on to the dreaded tick subject mentioned in my last post. This prompted everyone to start examining themselves. Low and behold ticks were found on nearly everyone's legs. A tick removal session then took place. Anyone watching would be forgiven in thinking that a strange bunch of primates had invaded the woods and were busy de-fleaing themselves. Mark's pocket microscope (is there nothing that he dosesn't have handy?) showed in real terms what a monstrous looking creature the tick is.



A certain lesson learned and a good tip is to tuck the trousers in to socks or put elastics around the bottom of the trousers. Those with sleeping areas on the bracken slopes (myself included) should also have cleared a path through the bracken leading to the hammock. Whatever the precautions though, it's inevitable that you will get a couple if you go tracking or exploring through the undergrowth.

All too soon it was time to say our goodbyes and leave the site. We doused the fire and cached the pot hangers. Another excellent weekend and a big thanks to Mark for organising the meet and everyone else that came along.

Pablo.