Sunday was looking fine and as soon as I arrived I went to check the trailcam. Not as many captures as last time but some good ones nonetheless. The muntjac deer seem to like that area a lot and a fox is seen again following a scent. I have repositioned the camera further down the ditch now to see where the deer are going to or coming from. I have a feeling that they are perhaps doing a circular route from the hazel copse and back again.

I bought a new large plastic tarp to cover some of my logpiles. The piles are situated between two large trees, so the plan was to lash a horizontal pole between them to act as a ridge for the tarps which are then pegged down. One of them already had a pole in place but mice had bitten through the lashings so I needed to start again. I decided to de-bark the poles and set to with a drawknife. I am really pleased with it. Whilst visiting my sister in law in the South of France, I spotted two old and rusty ones in a junk shop which cost a total of just seven euros – a bargain. I spent a fair bit of time derusting and resharpening them but it was worth it. The knife was fantastic to use, I found it worked best upside down (bevel downwards). They are probably at least a hundred years old and I found myself imagining previous owners of these tools, possibly in the Black Mountain forests in France, who had eked out a modest living with his hands and timber to make simple rustic furniture. There is something subtle about the way old handtools feel that you don’t get with new ones. A pleasure just to use.

Here are the two log piles nicely tucked up for the winter. The extra space around them and open ends will allow air to circulate and dry the logs.

Once again I had fallen short of completing my job list. Time just flies when you are busy in the woods and the shorter days of winter are here. Next visit will be at least two weeks away when I shall probably start some more felling to thin the sycamore plantation.