The Forest and the Wood

I took a long weekend to visit my parents. After a great day with them, Mrs P and I went headed to the New Forest.

The Forest has a special place in my heart. As a kid we used to cycle down there (and later take our motorbikes) and spend a weekend there every summer until I joined the Army. Even then, I used to love the wilderness feel of the ancient forest and its special inhabitants.

The Forest was said to have been set aside by William the Conqueror for hunting purposes, although it’s known that people inhabiting bronze age settlements cleared parts of the north side of the forest for agriculture. The soil isn’t particularly good so much of it was left and it went to heathland.

Because of the lowland features there is a huge variety of different and even rare plants and animals in the Forest. Unfortunately, being a wonderfully warm day, it seemed many people had the same idea, and I really didn’t have the time to go as deep into the Forest as I would have liked.

Instead, I paid my respects to the Queen of the Forest; the 600 plus year old Knightswood Oak, the oldest tree in the forest, and I headed straight for a number of guaranteed deer sightings. Unfortunately not the Red or Sika deer I was looking for, but at least a few close-ups of Fallow.

Today it was back to the humble woods of Essex. But they are no less spectacular, perhaps not in looks, but in inhabitants.

The last three days of warm weather has seen some quick growth:

Germander speedwell

Common dog violet

Lesser celandine

Blackthorn

Primroses and Dandelion

Ladies smock or Cuckoo flower (tasty leaves)

 

Bluebells not quite open.

Next weekend I visit Mark’s wood in Reading.

Keys to the Forest

I’ve always liked Les Davidson from Wildcrafts. Apart from being a nice bloke, skilled bushcrafter and all round good egg, he has now been given the keys to Hatfield Forest. Not that the latter would ever influence my choice of friends…(!)

Hatfield forest is 1,000 acres of ancient forest owned by the National Trust. Les now has permission to run courses on the land and, of course, I was there to assist. In fact, wild horses wouldn’t have kept me away!

I spent most of Saturday walking and recce’ing around the part of the forest where we were camped, seeking out tracks and signs of the myriad of creatures that inhabit the forest, trying to build up a picture of where they feed, walk and sleep. I quickly found two badger sets and evidence of three types of deer.

We had to adapt out base camp technique slightly by building the fires on raised earth and wood platforms to be doubly sure to not leave a fire scar.

Even though we were on the quieter side of the forest, being a beautiful, sunny and warm weekend, we had a number of passers-by looking intently at the set up. After assuring those who dared come closer that this was sanctioned by the National Trust they started to warm to our ethos of not just providing survival skills but to teach an awareness of nature.

The guys on the course seemed to enjoy all the aspects of the course, but I think they were surprised that the hands-on approach to survival shelter building wasn’t as easy as it looks on the telly.

But they did very well and reported a comfortably night in their shelters, except for the barking of the ever inquisitive Muntjac deer.

Of course the highlight for me was simply having the privilege to stay in the forest, feel its ambience, walk along the wide rides, and watch the bountiful wildlife. Hopefully, I’ll have many more opportunities to write about this wonderful place.

Thanks for the visit.

Keys to the Forest

I’ve always liked Les Davidson from Wildcrafts. Apart from being a nice bloke, skilled bushcrafter and all round good egg, he has now been given the keys to Hatfield Forest. Not that the latter would ever influence my choice of friends…(!)

Hatfield forest is 1,000 acres of ancient forest owned by the National Trust. Les now has permission to run courses on the land and, of course, I was there to assist. In fact, wild horses wouldn’t have kept me away!

I spent most of Saturday walking and recce’ing around the part of the forest where we were camped, seeking out tracks and signs of the myriad of creatures that inhabit the forest, trying to build up a picture of where they feed, walk and sleep. I quickly found two badger sets and evidence of three types of deer.

We had to adapt out base camp technique slightly by building the fires on raised earth and wood platforms to be doubly sure to not leave a fire scar.

Even though we were on the quieter side of the forest, being a beautiful, sunny and warm weekend, we had a number of passers-by looking intently at the set up. After assuring those who dared come closer that this was sanctioned by the National Trust they started to warm to our ethos of not just providing survival skills but to teach an awareness of nature.

The guys on the course seemed to enjoy all the aspects of the course, but I think they were surprised that the hands-on approach to survival shelter building wasn’t as easy as it looks on the telly.

But they did very well and reported a comfortably night in their shelters, except for the barking of the ever inquisitive Muntjac deer.

Of course the highlight for me was simply having the privilege to stay in the forest, feel its ambience, walk along the wide rides, and watch the bountiful wildlife. Hopefully, I’ll have many more opportunities to write about this wonderful place.

Thanks for the visit.

Idle Weekend

I hate travelling during a Bank Holiday. You tend to spend more time in traffic queues than you do at your destination, so we tend to stay local.

On Friday, we visited Cambridge where the parking fee was more expensive than the mini-trangia I picked up in a sale. More about the trangia later.

On Saturday I went into Poor Park woods and, apart from a squirrel feasting on some bird seed somebody had left, I saw very little in the way of mammals.

I did notice that on the woodland floor, more plants were pushing their way through. Sweet violets and even some Ground ivy was coming through. Dog’s mercury was now about 7 inches high. Despite the promise of Spring, the weekend was cold with outbursts of rain.

When I got home a had a surprise waiting for me. A parcel containing the ATN Night Storm night vision monocular had been delivered. I’ll do a separate post on this later.

Sunday - I took advantage of the low morning tide at Walton-On-The-Naze and went fossil hunting again. This time I took Mrs P who thought the Tower might need propping up to save it falling into the sea. This time I did find a shark’s tooth and another piece of flint. On this occasion the flint is a flake and doesn’t look like an actual tool. We picked up more fossilised wood with the intention of showing it in our own Eocene display in the lounge.

Today, I wandered into Outfield wood. Again, it was very quiet. I tried out the mini trangia which really is an excellent bit of kit. I’m using meths cookers more this year simply because my local camping shop has closed down and it’s harder to get gas canisters. I must admit, I don’t mind meths stoves at all, particularly if they’re of this quality.

I was worried that Pablo’s Big Breakfast wouldn’t fit in the mini-frying pan. Of course it’s not as versatile as the Primus version but it could still do what was required, albeit in stages. Best of all the size is perfect for ultra-light and compact camping.

As I sat on the fallen log, I happened to look down to see a badger print. I deduced the badger had wandered over to scratch at the log to try and loosen some bugs and beetles for his own dinner.

It certainly wasn't an action packed weekend, more of an idle one. Nevertheless it was a good break. I hope yours was as good.

Thanks for the visit.

Idle Weekend

I hate travelling during a Bank Holiday. You tend to spend more time in traffic queues than you do at your destination, so we tend to stay local.

On Friday, we visited Cambridge where the parking fee was more expensive than the mini-trangia I picked up in a sale. More about the trangia later.

On Saturday I went into Poor Park woods and, apart from a squirrel feasting on some bird seed somebody had left, I saw very little in the way of mammals.

I did notice that on the woodland floor, more plants were pushing their way through. Sweet violets and even some Ground ivy was coming through. Dog’s mercury was now about 7 inches high. Despite the promise of Spring, the weekend was cold with outbursts of rain.

When I got home a had a surprise waiting for me. A parcel containing the ATN Night Storm night vision monocular had been delivered. I’ll do a separate post on this later.

Sunday - I took advantage of the low morning tide at Walton-On-The-Naze and went fossil hunting again. This time I took Mrs P who thought the Tower might need propping up to save it falling into the sea. This time I did find a shark’s tooth and another piece of flint. On this occasion the flint is a flake and doesn’t look like an actual tool. We picked up more fossilised wood with the intention of showing it in our own Eocene display in the lounge.

Today, I wandered into Outfield wood. Again, it was very quiet. I tried out the mini trangia which really is an excellent bit of kit. I’m using meths cookers more this year simply because my local camping shop has closed down and it’s harder to get gas canisters. I must admit, I don’t mind meths stoves at all, particularly if they’re of this quality.

I was worried that Pablo’s Big Breakfast wouldn’t fit in the mini-frying pan. Of course it’s not as versatile as the Primus version but it could still do what was required, albeit in stages. Best of all the size is perfect for ultra-light and compact camping.

As I sat on the fallen log, I happened to look down to see a badger print. I deduced the badger had wandered over to scratch at the log to try and loosen some bugs and beetles for his own dinner.

It certainly wasn't an action packed weekend, more of an idle one. Nevertheless it was a good break. I hope yours was as good.

Thanks for the visit.

Bush Tucker Men

This weekend saw me helping out Wildcrafts School in Essex. Apart from introducing new people to the world of Bushcraft, it seemed as though Bush Tucker was high on the agenda for the weekend.

A few nice crayfish came up from the lake and these were dispatched and cooked up with some garlic.

This was closely followed by sweet potatoes cooked up by Scrivy with maple syrup, rum and a couple more ingredients I’ve forgotten (but I’ll edit the post once I know).

We had a go at tapping birch again and the tree generously gave up some refreshing liquid. We also tapped Hornbeam which is a first for me. The sap came out just as fast but I noticed it wasn’t quite as sweet as birch sap but just as refreshing.

We learnt our lesson from last time and didn’t spit roast the Roe deer (brought along by Adam from the National Trust). Instead, Scrivy butchered the carcass and placed it on a green stick framework for a green-stick BBQ. The result was a wonderfully tender venison that was cooked in a third of the time.

Still on the subject of cooking, we tested out three very different types of stove. Firstly, Andy’s bushcooker with a stainless meths burner. This is a very similar set up to my bushbuddy and trangia burner set up. The bushcooker looks equally efficient as the bushbuddy (and cheaper) but on this occasion we were testing it out in meths mode. 1/2 litre of water took 17 minutes to boil.

Next came Simon’s excellent MSR multi-fuel Simmer lite. This took just 4 mins for the water to reach a rolling boil. I’m quite impressed by these multi fuel cookers and have never really considered them before. I think they deserve a closer look.

Finally, I tried out my Crusader cooker with hexy blocks. The water took 13 minutes to boil.

I think this confirms what we all knew already, and at the end of the day the water boiled! But the choice of stove very much depends on what you are going to cook up and where.

Back to the bushcraft course and the lads on the course were doing extremely well with fire lighting and food prep. The squirrel got a mixed reaction. But as Les pointed out, the squirrel taste will vary depending on it’s diet and autumn may be a better time to eat them.

Les led the way around the wood pointing out edible food pushing their way through the woodland floor and more pertinently, what wasn’t edible. The leaves and petals of this Primrose are edible.

The tracking session went very well as we picked up a couple of fresh Fallow tracks right from the start and followed them for a 100 yards or so. We also found good evidence of feeding signs.

A break though moment came when, still following the Fallow trail, we were ageing a series of Fallow deer scat. As we walked through the woods the scat got more recent until at best guess we decided the still sticky and shiny Fallow scat was about 10 – 15 minutes old. Low and behold, we saw the shapes of some deer through the thick brambles. Unfortunately, they didn’t hang around.

A study of one narrow trail revealed a multitude of mammal movement including Fallow, Muntjac, and Badger.

 

A lot of time is spend on shelter building as the subject is so important, and quite rightly, the lads were proud of their efforts. Here’s the pics as promised.

Thanks to everyone for a great weekend.