Thursday the 14th – I’ve been away in Scotland for a week and otherwise busy, so couldn’t wait to get back in my woods after too-long a break. I spent the morning slashing more bramble to create paths into the tangled undergrowth. Made some good headway and it also gave me chance to see closely what else is growing in the way of wild flowers and young saplings. I really do need to get a brushcutter soon so I can clear some decent areas. Spotted a small furry brown creature scuttling amongst some deadwood. I think it was a bank vole. Heard a buzzard calling overhead and as I was playing with my birdsong app on my phone I played a clip of a wren. Seconds later, one popped out of the scrub and sang back to me. How sweet was that?

In the afternoon I had arranged a visit from the Woodland Trust officer. They have a project on in Yorkshire to help small woodland owners to return their woods to ancient woodland species. Lottery funding is allowing them to give free advice. The guy who came showed genuine interest and took two hours to walk my woods with me. I had supplied him with my draft management plan so he advised me on my ideas, plus gave lots of tips and ideas of his own. He spotted several species of plants growing in my overgrown area that I was not aware of – a small box tree and dogwood for starters. Gave some interesting ideas of how I could take advantage of already sparse areas by thinning the few remaining stems to create a bigger clear area for replanting. We also discovered some stones that had been investigated by archeologists over 20 years ago and found to be remains of an early dwelling possibly over 300 years old! Wow, how cool is that? No new photos this time.