The woods are starting to show that autumn is here. Ferns are dying back and there were acorns on the ground after the recent gales. I rarely find any because the squirrels and mice beat me to them but I managed to find a handful that I can plant up at home. My neighbours have kindly found a buyer for some of my logs so first job was to bag some up. The money from them will go towards new tools and fuel for the machines. The other log related topic was the building of a saw frame. You can stack several small to medium sized branches in it, then using the chainsaw, cut through the whole pile in one go into log-sized pieces ready for stacking. That should speed up the processing of felled trees. The trick is to stop cutting before I reach the lower bearer poles!

Lunch was a fried egg sandwich. This was the fun part of the day. One of my pals had very kindly given me a rocket stove which I wanted to try out. He is downsizing and had a spare one. Apparently they were designed to help third world countries. The simple design uses small sticks for fuel which are either fed through the top or the opening at the bottom. It’s very efficient and works by convection. The heat of the flames rising up the chimney draws more air into the bottom opening, creating a strong flame and little smoke. It’s basically a metal bucket with a fireproof clay liner and a cast iron top to support a pan or kettle. Very sturdy and easy to use. Some strips of birch bark as tinder and small sticks started the initial fire, then I dropped more sticks down the chimney until there was enough hot embers to feed larger sticks in from the side. It was ready to start cooking in about 10 minutes.

Time to get the skillet hot and cook my eggs. I prefer the yolks broken for a sandwich, otherwise I end up with it oozing out the sides and down my shirt. I have to say the cast iron skillet works a dream over a hot fire and it cost me just £1 at a car boot sale. It was in a terrible greasy condition but they are easy to restore and worth the effort. Normally a smashed egg cooked over a very hot flame is a recipe for a hard to remove mess but not with the skillet. A rub over with a piece of kitchen roll and it was as clean as a whistle. The rocket stove is fantastic and will be used when a campfire is too much trouble or when wet weather confines me to the shelter.

During a walkabout with my neighbour, we started spotting lots of ladybirds. The area was full of bramble, nettles and wild raspberries, so presumably they like those plants. Sadly my research suggest that they were mainly of the Asian Harlequin varieties which are invading the uk and a threat to our native species. Some were still at the nymph stage, some were metamorphosising into adults. I’ll end here with some photos of the different stages. Sorry the nymph photo below is a bit blurred but it was hard to keep the camera still at such close range.

two nymphs at metamorphosis stage

adult two-spot Harlequin ladybird

A lovely morning, sun streaming through the trees, what a fantastic place to be at 8am. Jobs for the day – collect some logs for home, finish the shelter rebuild and check my trail camera. Last visit, I set the camera up and was keen to see the results. I placed it in an area I use a lot, facing the junction of two paths. I figured that larger animals like badgers, foxes and deer will use paths for the same reason we do – it’s easier to get around. The camera has infra red sensors, two facing out from the sides and one in front. When something triggers it, I have it set to record for 15 seconds. Sometimes there will be nothing on the video, I think that’s due to a fast moving object like a bird passing by. The camera showed 58 video captures so that was promising. I eagerly trawled through each one. I estimate about 35 of them are of a grey squirrel. Not my favourite wildlife subject but nevertheless, it was interesting to see how much a creature of habit it is. The camera was under some oak trees which are shedding a few acorns and Mr or Mrs Grey obviously likes that restaurant. It would forage, then run off to a nearby log to sit and eat it.  Another few shots were wood pigeons – still pretty dull. But one shot made me smile, it showed a huge toad leaping through the air then plopping onto the ground as if someone had just thrown it into the frame. A night shot showed a tiny creature running along, only visble by the reflection from it’s retina. But the bonus shot and one I was hoping for was a fox. Just a few seconds as it walked left to right across the view.

Most of the morning was spent finishing my shelter. I’d bought another piece of plastic camo tarp to cut in half and line the front half of the sides. Basically I built rough frames from logs for the walls, covered them in the tarps, then covered the tarps on the outside with more logs. So the tarp is sandwiched between the logs to provide a waterproof membrane. The logs stop it blowing around and protect it plus help it blend into the surroundings.

It’s main purpose is a place to escape to when it rains. I can just sit and enjoy the experience or maybe do a bit of green woodworking. It’s a winter campfire site if I want to warm up and maybe cook a little something for lunch. I was about to try it out. Rain was forecast for midday and darkness and gloom foretold it’s arrival. I had just finished the sides when it came down. I took the opportunity to do some housekeeping, tidying up my firewood pile and organising the space. It needs a few finishing touches –  the water butt will go outside when I have fitted a gutter on the back of the roof. Maybe a shelf across the back where the long logs are piled and one or two “woodland ornaments”. It’s comfortably roomy for two people to sit with a coffee or for me to use the shavehorse for woodworking.

It was Saturday the 1st September when I went. Apparently it is the start of the “meterological” autumn whatever that means. Personally I prefer the start of seasons to be governed by the earth’s orbit around the sun – the solstices and equinoxes. Something that has been acknowledeged for centuries rather than some new fangled idea dreamt up by a bunch of weather readers! Apparently it’s based on average seasonal temperatures rather than astronomical motions and makes it easier to produce meaningful statistics. There you go, statisticians thinking they know best.

Well anyway it still felt like summer to me – warm, dry but starting to feel mellow now. The hawthorn trees in the countryside are laden with berries this year and there were lots of ripe blackberries to be seen. Now that’s a bit of a sore point because the newly cleared coup in the sycamore area that I cleared in winter, is now overgrown with brambles. The extra light has created a thick , criss-cross mat of bramble runners. So much so that I can’t walk around the saplings to check and water them.

So armed with my heavy duty brushcutting machine, I set-to for an hour and roughly cut them down to th ground. They will return next year of course but hopefully weakened. This is the same area after my brushcutting session.

The cutting back last year has paid off and combined with extra light from felling some trees, the large ferns have done very well here and a number of naturally regenerated saplings are springing up – ash, wild cherry, hawthorn. Also some new patches of wood sorrel have appeared which I like very much. They are the plants that the Irish call Shamrock and the leaves taste of cooking apples. These species of fern (called Male Fern) are quite abundant throughout the wood.

My other main job was to bag up some dried, seasoned logs. My woodland neighbour has kindly offerd to take and sell them to a friend for me. Hopefully he will want some more. I have a surplus of logs and the small income will help pay for some overheads – fuel and oil for the chainsaw and my vehicle etc. I had hoped to do numerous jobs but as usual, time slipped away faster than I expected. I spent quite a while looking for a suitable spot for my wildlife trail camera. Up till now I have not really used it but a couple of other neighbours have had some fantastic shots on theirs. Roe deer, foxes, owls, buzzards, woodmice, hares, hedgehogs etc. I’m not confident that my camera will produce much when I return next. Tests done walking around it showed that it has a fairly limited range of about 5 metres for picking up movement. I’m hoping to go later this week to check it out.

Bird activity has dwindled. I guess the small songbirds like the chiff chaffs, warblers and blackcaps have returned to their mediterranean winter homes. The good old faithfuls – wrens, robins and various tits were around and I heard the loud yaffel call of a green woodpecker as it flew nearby. Still haven’t seen one close up yet though.

One last comment to make. One of my old pals, and a regular reader of this blog passed away last week. We used to exchange the odd email and meet up once a year for a pub lunch and a good old natter. His illness must have been lurking for a while but overcame him quickly. It always shocks me to realise that someone I knew pretty well, has just disappeared from existence. It serves to remind me too, how lucky I am to be the custodian of this fantastic place and to enjoy it and to enjoy the company of friends and family while I can. So goodbye John and thanks for your friendship.