It has been on the cards to meet up with my eldest daughter for a while now. She helped me twice to plant saplings but it had been winter and she really wanted to see the woods in summertime. The weather was set to be fantastic and she and her partner had a day off work so at last we managed to meet up. I arrived first and had about an hour to do a bit of work. There was a longish ash log I had felled in winter which I wanted to split and bring home, with the intention of making some axe handles for the many car booot sale finds of cheap rusty axe heads which I am restoring. The method of splitting involves driving a metal wedge into the end which starts to open a split. You then place another wedge in that and hit it hard with a lump hammer which opens it further. Another wedge further along the split will then release the first one as the split widens. You carry on “leap-frogging” the wedges until you have split it along it’s entire length. Hard physical work but satisfying as you see the split widen and hear the gentle tearing sound of the fibres as they rip apart – kind of brutal in a way. Each half is then split again to make four quarters which can then be shaved and planed down to make the axe handles (also known as a hafts or helves).

I found half an eggshell and some new acorns and collected both. The shell will go in my woodland museum (the logshed) of found objects, along with the fox skull and a rotted purse. I think the egg is from a wood pigeon – nothing special (unless you are a wood pigeon too). The acorn will be planted with some others I collected.

Eggshell and acorn

I took my guests for the usual tour of my woods then back to base for a brew. They are both arty-crafty people and thought it would be interesting to show them the process of making nettle cordage that I have recently learnt. I took some previously dried fibres so they could have a go at the twisting process but started them off with the method of stripping the outer skin from the brittle inner pith ready for drying. It was a pleasant time, sitting in the dappled sunshine with occasional birdsong and speckled brown butterflies chasing each other in their mating dance.

We took a walk along the ride to the edge of the woods where it opens out onto a large field. The contrast of habitat is extreme. You step from a dark woodland full of thousands of differing life species – plants, trees, animals, insects etc into bright sunlight and a mono-culture of recently-cut wheat. It’s like stepping out of the ocean when you have been scuba diving and onto a sandy beach. Both very beautiful but so different in such a short space.

new-mown wheat field

We carried on down one of the other rides where I had seen the many tiny frogs last week. They hide in the cool, wet grass and jump out as you walk along. After several attempts to catch one I finally managed it and the beautiful little frog sat on my hand for about five minutes, probably enjoying the warmth from my hand. I know somone who is terrified of frogs and toads that may read this – sorry L.

tiny frog

We finished the day with some log chopping. It was a special day that almost didn’t happen, that I shall remember for a long time. These days are rare and to be treasured.

After

A nice warm sunny day and an early arrival. I was meeting a very good friend of mine to show him around and just explore the wider woods there. We tend to talk all the time so it’s easy to miss things and for time to slip away so my apologies – no photos taken. The only work done was to chainsaw some more logs that I felled last winter, ready for splitting next time. So this will be short and sweet.

During the walk around the woods I spotted a very odd looking fungi on a dead branch. I have seen them before and identified them but have forgotten them. I have never seen them in any other place but my woods. You could easily miss them though. It stood about 3cm high, thin and poker-like and was black and had an alien look about it. My research has shown it to be an “earth tongue”. An equally weird name.

Walking the rides later we found lots of small frogs which were hiding in the grass until we approached when they quickly hopped away. They were obviously this year’s issue. I love those little things but I know someone who is quite repulsed by them. Odd isn’t it? The newly coppiced hazel as been nibbled even more by the roe deer. So severely that I shall have to put netting up before next year’s growth, a bit too late in the season now.

Bird life is very quiet at this time of year. A few wrens, robins, a buzzard and a noisy Jay were around but didn’t see much else. What a difference from Springtime. I shall have to repair some of the nest boxes as they have been damaged by squirrels, chewing at the holes to try to get the eggs and chicks.

Hopefully I will have more to report next visit. Must try harder!

I’m still redecorating the outside of the house and in need of some “green” healing. The forecast was poor which meant I couldn’t paint anyway, so I decided even a wet day at the woods would be good as I have a usable shelter now. I also decided it was going to be a day of “playing” – practising bushcraft and just taking in nature, rather than working hard. As forecast it was raining when I arrived so I quickly headed to the shelter with my gear. I was puzzled as to why it was so wet at the back, then noticed the plastic tarp on the roof had flipped back on itself, exposing part of the shelter to the rain. I had it tied down with hemp type string so why? Inspection revealed that all the ties had been severed, some missing completely. Some type of small furry creature has bitten through them and presumably taken it for nesting material. Squirrel or mice? In this case I am guessing mice. This has thrown me completely on the shelter build becuase all the posts and poles are lashed with string or thin rope. So if the culprits continue cutting them, the shelter could collapse! I had avoided using nails to keep it more natural looking but at the end of the day it has to be functional and resilient.

One of my plans was to try an idea I saw for keeping flying insects at bay (and mosquitoes tend to congregate in my shelter). It involves a cramp ball fungus (also known as King Alfred’s cake) which grow on dead ash trees. They are black and smooth and hard. Inside them they look liked charred wood and they are prized by bushcrafters for use as a firestarter as they glow when lit, just like charcoal. You light a large one, wrap a ball of damp sphagnum moss around it, mount it on a stick in the ground and it will gently smoke and deter the insects. It worked pretty well and lasted about an hour. The photo is a bit dark but you can get the gist of it.

Cramp ball wrapped in moss to keep mossies at bay

I have placed a couple of log stumps in the shelter to use as stools and tables. I have seen a guy talking about something he calls “stump anvils”. Basically they are logs like these with two nothces cut into them, one a simple V shape and the other a modified 7 shape. Think of the shape of the number seven but instead of a sharp angle, a wider flatter one. The purpose is that you can lie the stump down and the notched can be used to grip small round logs in for sawing. A handy yet simple idea. So I cut these notches which you can see on the stump on the left.

stump anvil log

Next activity was to try to make a small basket from bramble vines. I watched a guy on Youtube making one and thought it woud be cool and seeing as I have masses of them, why not. Obviously you need to remove the prickles which I did by scraping with the bak of the knife. You place two lots of three sticks at right angles, then weave another in and out of them. They turned out to be too stiff and brittle to bend so it was quickly abandoned and I tried again with thin hazel rods (which I thought would be nore flexible and stronger. Same problem. So basket making was consigned to room 101 for now. Here’s my pathetic attempt.

Poor attempt at a bramble vine basket

I’ve had a go at making nettle cordage and it has been a success, so my next activity was to process more to take home. after lunch it dried and brightened so I did a bit more log splitting and stacking and pulled some bramble. During the day I had plenty of time just to wander around and explore. Some areas I hardly ever visit so it was nice just to have that luxury. It’s the time of year now when fungi start to show. I found two patches of very different ones. I haven’t identified them yet. The larger ones were growing under oak trees. The other ones wer so tiny and delicate, they looked like something out of a fairy story. So the wet and gloomy day turned out to be quite an interesting and satisfying one but I need to brush up my basket making skills.

Finally I raided some molehills of clay. I have this idea for an ongoing project. To see what I can make just using raw, natural materials and only tools that I can make. Sort of like a Stone Age experiment. The woodland has clay just below the surface. I haven’t made a digging tool yet so I figured I’d let the moles be the tool for now and I’d just scoo up some of the dirt they leave, which looks like it has a high clay content. I am researching how to refine it using water and at some stage I’ll have a go at making a simple pot.

We just had a week’s holiday in Scotland and Northumbria and I was keen to get back to my woods and get a few jobs done. The weather was looking good, so last Saturday I was up at 6am and off by 7am. The roads are nice and quiet and I’m usually the first in the woods. I spent the first hour as usual just wandering with camera and looking over the various areas to see what’s new. Nothing much new, the woods are probably at their peak for the year before starting to wind down again. In the hazel coppice, the new shoots are doing really well but …. something’s been nibbling at them! I guess it’s the roe deer. I was a bit miffed but that’s nature for you. You can see how they have been neatly cropped.

new hazel shoots after the “nibbler” has been

I had a few jobs on my list – more cutting, chopping and stacking of last winter’s felling, a never ending job but essential. Did some tidying up of rubbish that I keep finding here and there and which I tend to throw into an old plastic bin. I wanted to remove it, so bagged it up to take home. I decided that where the log pile is (and where wildlife has been taking advantage of it’s shelter) I would create a small permanent wildlife home by using some of the gnarly and odd shaped logs which are really hard to split for firewood. I set about cutting up the logs into shorter lengths ready for splitting and throwing the rejects into a pile by the brash hedge. My friends and neighbours from the next plot arrived and came to see me and “L” (I shall call her that for anonymity) decided she would like to help me split logs with her birthday present, a Fiskars X17 axe. I have the next larger one an X25 and they are great axes. I was well impressed with her technique, standing poised with axe above her head, she seemed to pause and focus completely on the blow that was about to come, like some kind of log executioner. Wam and the log was split neatly in half. When I commented to her husband about how expertly she weilded the axe he laughed and just said, “Scary isn’t it?” Between us we got through the pile in good time. What a difference it makes having a helper. The old log pile has now grown an extension but still got a load more to deal with. A couple more sessions should finish it off.

the log pile extension after a morings work

While dismantling the log pile for cutting I exposed the blackbird’s nest that I disturbed earlier in the year. By now the young have flown and it has been abandoned so it’s safe to destroy it. A pity really as it was a well constructed nest but I can’t keep the huge log pile just for that nest and they probably wouldn’t re-use it next year anyway.

old blackbird nest in the woodpile

I have been given a stout larch log which I want to make into a workbench. I have seen a video of one and fancied having a go but not got around to it yet. First job is to drill four holes for legs to be pummelled into. I picked up a really large hand auger on a car boot sale, cleaned and sharpened it up and took it with me. These were in common use before we got power tools. In the woods there is no elecricity so it’s a handy thing to have. It has an “eye” in the end where you insert a strong stick as a handle for turning it. It’s hard work but satisfying as the bit turns and you hear the wood getting chewed up and spit out. Hard to judge the angle that the holes need to be too, as you need the legs to be splayed outwards. I banged in a few stout hazel rods and stood it up. It looks like Bambi on ice – legs akimbo. Might need modifying and two of the holes re-drilling now I know what it looks like. I ran out of time so it’s a work in progress. As I write this I have been sanding down the paintwork on the house ready for repainting. What a nasty horrible job. I’m hating every second and dreaming of my next trip to the woods.

hand auger drilling a hole in the log

Bambi takes her first steps