The weather forecast for yesterday looked unpromising – wet morning and pretty windy. I’d arranged for my two mates to help with some felling and it was looking like it wouldn’t be suitable for it but we decided to go anyway and see what we could do. Sadly one of my pals wasn’t well enough and was truly missed. Get well soon Si. I was awake way too early so arrived around 7.30am. As is often the case there, the weather wasn’t half as bad as predicted. Just a small shower and some gusty winds but it didn’t hinder us.
One of my neighbours had warned me that my leaner Hawthorn had blown down even further, so that was going to need dropping fully to make it safe. First though, we tried to get a robin to take food from my friend’s hand. It seemed very wary, maybe it was due to a stranger’s presence or the fact that there were two of us in the vicinity. It approached several times and almost landed. I had wanted to give Phil the gift of a wild bird feeding from his hand but unfortunately not this time.
The Hawthorn was hanging on by a thread, it’s roots torn up. It was lying on a small bent branch from another tree that I had anchored to make a decorative arch and I was hoping it wouldn’t break. A fireplace and my table were also in danger. Some top branches were also helping to hold it up. Eventually we decided to get a rope around it and pull sideways. It dropped easily and fortunately didn’t break anything. The tree was dead and the roots had rotted.
We cut it up roughly and stacked most of it. It’s a very hard timber so it will make some good mallets. Next up was to recover the trailcam and see what was on it. Here’s the link to the edited compilation. An interesting few seconds right at the end.
The rain started and we headed to the shelter for a brew. I have fixed the old paraffin camping stove and it worked a treat, boiling the kettle in about seven minutes. We sat in our cosy man-cave, drinking coffee, reflecting on life and enjoying the view and being in the moment. These are the times that are worth savouring and provide happy memories for the future.
Onto some more serious graft, felling more small sycamore. The bluebell leaves are really pushing through now and the sap is oozing out of the stumps we cut a few weeks ago. So I have been wanting to do some more thinning out before spring gets into gear. I got off to a good start with three down in succession, falling just where I wanted and without hang-ups. Next one was the smallest, only about five inches diameter at the base and looked like a dead cinch to drop. These are the deceptively difficult ones to deal with. It was already in contact with another tree at the crown which was just enough to keep it sitting bolt upright, even though I had almost completely severed it with the felling cut. A rope around it and sideways pull eventually dislodged it. Another two were felled making a total of six. I cut them into long poles for the compost toilet walls and some shorter ones for processing into firewood later. Phil worked like a mule, lugging them away from the area. It’s looking much better now in that quarter of the plantation. There will be much more thinning needed in the next few years but for now I am pretty satisfied. I might be able to drop a few more before spring too.
Phil picked out a couple of knobbly logs to take home. They reminded us of scary aliens or trolls and we fantasized about how we would feel if we saw these creatures running around the woods while we were camping. He topped one off with some wood shavings for a hairpiece. Reminded me of Beaker in the Muppets. Actually, laid on it’s side it also resembled a small alligator and we considered putting glass marbles in the sockets for eyes.
Lastly we continued building the front wall of the composting toilet using the long logs we had cut. It’s just short of a couple more pieces to bring it up to the desired height.
The afternoon had turned brighter and as we packed up to go, we stopped to admire the woods, as the setting sun glanced sideways with it’s golden hue lighting up the trees. Tired and satisfied with our hard work and loving being in the woods, we both felt reluctant to leave. We imagined setting up tents, lighting a campfire, cooking something and sitting around relaxing with some laughter and banter. Not to be this time but maybe it won’t be long. An early spring camp-over is one of my hoped for plans this year.
