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A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 410 times in 2014. If it were a cable car, it would take about 7 trips to carry that many people.
Quite a few developments since my last post. I’ve been twice. The first visit was a beautiful frosty and sunny morning. It was nice to see the wood in yet another different light. It’s a time for getting on with some jobs and right now I’m concentrating on clearing bramble and preparing my log store for when I can start thinning. The frosty conditions made brushcutting easier and I managed to increase the area I’ve been working on, quite considerably. I did some more work on my log store, collecting dead branches to prop up around the sides to disguise and tone down the garish wooden pallets. I met some neighbours who had just seen a small herd of about 7 or 8 roe deer pass along my ride. I cut some more dead sycamore trunks for logs to take home.
Whilst resting for lunch, I noticed a flock of about 20 small birds in the trees near my bird feeder. As far as I could see they were mainly Great Tits and Blue Tits. I have noticed the seeds have gone down, having had to fill them two or three times since I put them up but it’s the first time I have seen any birds on them and I wasn’t sure if it was just squirrels raiding it. The birds flew on and off the feeder for some time, one of them landed on the nest box I made in summer. Hopefully, they will adopt it in spring and rear some young.
Evidence that birds have found my feeder
My last visit was interesting. The man from the Woodland Trust had arranged for the local archaeological society to visit mine and a neighbour’s plot to look at some digs that were done about 20 years ago. My neighbour has the remains of an ancient cave dwelling where two skeletons were found buried. Carbon dating showed them to be a man aged about 35 years and a young woman of about 15 years and dating back around 3500 years ago. The dig on my site wasn’t easy to date but is the remnants of an old bank and ditch that was probably a field boundary at one time. There are records of Roman enclosures in nearby fields so they could be part of those.
The ancient cave dwelling and burial site in a neighbours wood
I spent the rest of the day cutting logs and foraging for dead branches to disguise the log store and thoroughly enjoyed it. The icing on the cake came the day after. My Forestry Commission thinning licence. Now I can start re-coppicing the hazel which will give me some much needed material for stakes and other projects plus some firewood to season for burning next winter. Things are going to get a whole lot more interesting soon.
Do you own a woodland or …… does it own you? A few months ago when I bought my wood, I wrote “I am now the proud owner of a small woodland.” I’d like to revise that statement. I’ve come to realise that it’s the other way around. Sure, I own the piece of land that it sits on but I don’t own the wood. The creatures, plants and animals that live in and off the wood are the true owners – it is their home and supports their lives. I am just a visitor, a guest.
I’ve realised that the wood is an entity in its own right and not just the sum of its many components and I’ve fallen head over heels in love with it. I can’t wait to see it the next time. It occupies my mind every single day, many times over. The wood doesn’t care if I exist or not. It will carry on without my presence.
There’s a certain feeling comes over me when I enter it. I felt it the first few times I visited. At first it was just a feeling of peace and tranquillity mixed with an excitement of “owning” a wood. That feeling has grown and evolved into something much deeper. Now I feel a sense of awe when I look up at those trees and listen to the birds and look at the plants and insects and myriad lives that occupy it. I can liken it to entering a cathedral. You are struck by the beauty of what’s around you and the scale of a force so much more powerful than yourself and you are the guest and it deserves your respect and appreciation for being what it is. It bathes you in a cloak of calm and peacefulness.
It’s hard to explain to someone who hasn’t experienced it but I feel drawn in and want to merge with it. For the time I am there, I want to be a part of it and not just a visitor. When I step in, I become a woodland creature, an inhabitant, an integral component of that entity called a woodland. So I do what I can do, play my part and work hard to improve and beautify it even more and for that time, I feel a true part of it. My sense of being “me” gets pushed out of my mind and seems to disappear. It’s a fantastic feeling, being at one with nature. I have to tear myself away at the end of the day. We have somehow separated ourselves from nature for the sake of comfort and convenience but it’s good to remember that we too are part of it. Next time you decide to take a walk through a wood, find a nice quite spot away from the public and dog walkers. Stop, sit, observe, listen and make no judgement. Just be there in it and let it wash over you. If you’re lucky, you will feel that connection with nature again.
It was another dull, grey and damp day on Saturday. On arrival I immediately noticed a large rotten birch tree had fallen over and lay in pieces on the ground. It’s too far gone to be any use for firewood so eventually I’ll move some of it into the cleared area I’m working on to add some interest and habitat for insects and fungi.
Fallen rotten birch
I’ve figured that winter is the time to get on with some work in the woods. It’s not a time for sitting around but an ideal opportunity to crack on with something useful. Clearing overgrown brambles remains a priority. When spring arrives I don’t want to risk shredding birds nests or new wild flowers that might be emerging so the more I can get done now, the better. As growth dies back, it’s easier to see what you have got. Where brambles are thick, they have suppressed most other growth but on careful inspection, I found numerous young ash, hawthorn, elder and other saplings. In order to avoid chopping them off with the brushcutter, I took time to scrutinise the small area to clear, then marked the saplings by tying a small piece of brightly coloured wool around the top of the stems. That way I can see them as I approach with the cutter. I need to get some tree guards soon to protect these young trees. Clearing the bramble will make them more accessible and easier to spot by the deer.
After 45 minutes of clearing I decided a rest and a brew was in order. I had put my reading glasses in my coat pocket and now they were gone. A black case is not easy to find among the shredded foliage and earth. Luckily I spotted them and have made a note to mark the case with some bright paint to make them easy to find. I have come close to losing a few things even though I try to be careful. I realise now why a lot of woodland tools are orange coloured. So that’s a little job for home – mark as many of my woodland tools and items with something bright.
I finished my ramshackle woodstore – now it has a roof and is ready for some logs when I can thin some trees. Still waiting for my felling licence from the FC though. It just needs some deadwood branches stacking around it to disguise it and make it less conspicuous. It’s bigger than I intended and for now, could offer some protection for me in a sudden shower.
Logstore finished.
I did take some time to sit for a while and observe my wood. Not much wildlife this time but I was rewarded by two buzzards circling just above my trees where I sat. All in all, another enjoyable day in my woods.
