It’s almost three weeks since my last visit when I stayed overnight and I was ready for some woodland therapy. I find that after two or three weeks of absence, I start to lose a little of the strong connection I normally feel with it. I think this is simply down to memories fading. Normally I can recall my previous visit very clearly which allows me to revisit the woods in my imagination, something I often do at quiet times. I can remember small details well which helps with that personal bond that I feel for my woods, as opposed to any others. I guess it’s similar to the bonds you have with special people, ones you see regularly. Knowing the little quirks and characteristics of a person are part of what makes you feel closer to them rather than someone you only see once in a while.

At this time of year, three weeks rapid growth has made a big difference to how it looks. The photo above is close to where I park my car and usually base myself. The various tree saplings, nettles and brambles have really taken off and the path that takes me to the hazel copse and that I have used hundreds of times, is totally overgrown. I tried to wade through the shoulder high nettles but it was too much of a risk. A few metres in and I found a flattened area about 4m square right in the middle. A nice well hidden deer bed. I was going to cut the nettles back to reopen the path but I shall leave it for a while. This photo is close to it.

I had a few small jobs on my list – tidy the logshed and bring back some logs, chop and stack some of the ones I cut down in winter and generally potter around. I had a look at the owl box with the feral honey bees to see if they were still there. No sign but it was still early and maybe too cool for then to be out. At the end of the day I looked again and the entrance hole was heaving with bees. So pleased they are still around.

Late morning as I made coffee, I was disturbed by a loud barking sound coming from the area about fifty metres away. There was a crashing and thrashing sound in the undergrowth and I assumed a large dog had somehow come into my plot. Strange because that area is not close to any of the rides where people sometimes walk them. It came again and again and I realised this was not a dog but a deer, presumably calling for another. It was continually barking but moving down the woods. I grabbed my camera and set off on it’s trail but it was moving much faster than me and had left my plot but still barking. I tried mimicking the sound to see if I could draw it back but it just gave me a sore throat! I have never heard the call of a deer and was recently made aware that they are very loud and similar to a large dog. I am glad I heard it during the day and not in the middle of the night when camping. All I can say is that if I had, there would have been a trip to the dry cleaners with my sleeping bag the next day!

I had a walkabout with my camera and was pleased to see some new plants emerging in the sycamore clearing where there is now much more light and less competition. Not sure what this fern is yet but it’s different to the Male Fern in the photo below which is quite abundant and more upright than the previous one. I read that the presence of ferns indicates a healthy wood.

Also some new patches of Wood Sorrel have appeared. I love this plant and when I bought the woods five years ago, could not find any in my patch. I now have several, some of which have spread from a small piece I planted. It’s very satisfying to see how my efforts at woodland management are slowly increasing the diversity of the species present.

I heard a whistle and was pleased to see Alan, one of my woodland neighbour friends. We walked around to his place where he has made a clearing and built an amazing bodger’s workshop. I’d like to show you a photo of it but for his privacy and security, I don’t think it ethical. He has erected a huge tarp on an “A” frame wooden support. Beneath it he has made a fantastic workbench from hefty planks he has milled from his own felled larch trees. He has a DIY made wood stove, shave horse, pole lathe and charcoal forge just for starters. Envy? Yes indeed, as green as the forest itself. I really admire his imagination, skills and tenacity to build such an amazing workshop.

In the title I mentioned a new kid on the block. Well take a look at the video compilation in the link below. I have moved my trail camera back to a previous location that had provided some good animal footage. Be sure to watch closely around the 3.47 time.

Was the “Chimp” scared last night? Did he run riot with nightmares? No he fell fast asleep. I reassured him there was nothing to be scared of and drugged him with alcohol. Well a can of beer and a nip or two of whiskey does help him relax. As predicted I was awake early. In fact just as daylight started around 3.30am. I tossed and turned for an hour but sleep evaded me so up I got, rekindled the fire and made coffee.

I love this time of day when camping. There’s a relaxed, contentedness about it. Partly because after a hard days work at the woods and only a few hours sleep, my head feels somewhat “out of it” but also there’s another reason. Day one is usually laced with a little nervous excitement. The buzz of the mini adventure and the slight apprehension. Have I remembered to bring all essentials? Will my meal be a success? Will the evening spent alone in the woods be a pleasant one? And lastly, will night-time be peaceful or will the chimp run riot worried that intruders might enter my camp? An unlikely but not impossible occurrence. So day two means you are over the slight worries you might have had. You let go of apprehension and just look forward to another full day in your semi-wild haven.

After coffee and watching the birds on the feeders, I took a slow walk around the outer woods hoping to see some deer activity. Nope but it was a good feeling to be there among the birds and trees and plants so early in the morning and knowing you are probably the only human there. Here we have a young nuthatches that fledged recently from one of my nest boxes. The parents visited my feeders constantly, taking food to their young that were hiding from predators in nearby trees. Photo a bit fuzzy though.

Back to camp and time for brekkie. Another experiment form the little book on wilderness cooking. The idea is to take a slice of bread, cut a hole in the middle, pop it into your frypan and break an egg into the hole. When it starts to solidify, flip it over and cook the other side. Toasted bread with an egg in the middle. I added to that idea – fried potatoes, veggie sausage and baked beans to make a belly-busting cooked breakfast. I fried up the sausages and potatoes in the skillet first, then put them to one side on a brick to keep warm while I cooked the bread-egg.  When I accidentally knocked the plate off the brick I was glad the contents landed on some grass and not in the fire!  Was the egg-in bread idea worth repeating? Nah. Partly my fault, I took an end piece crust from a loaf, thinking it would be more substantial to hold the egg but it didn’t cook well enough and was rubbery. To be honest, why bother? Just fry the egg as normal. Anyway it’s all part of the fun of trying new things out.

One new thing I was trying was a plastic box I bought to hold all my cooking utensils and food. Previously I had been using an old ex-army rucksack for the utensils and a cool box for food. The rucksack was awkward to access and box was way too big for the small amount of food and a waste of space. I wanted to combine food and utensils into one container that worked well in a woodland setting. I’d looked at designs of wannigans – a purpose built wooden box that fits in the hull of a canoe for this purpose and thought about making one for camping. Being wooden, it would have been heavy, difficult to keep clean and I wanted it to be waterproof and reasonably critter-proof. I found this box on the internet. It’s called a Plano small military trunk. Not cheap for a plastic box but it’s well built and strong (you can sit or stand on it). It’s just an empty box in a subdued colour, with a good fitting lid and clasps to secure it but I’ve added a couple of cheap baskets to separate the food from the utensils. I’m pleased to say this experiment was a success. This is the smallest size but plenty big enough for me.

My other projects were to chop and stack some more logs and build a small brash hedge to screen the front area where I pitch my tent. The felled hawthorn branches would be ideal for starting the hedge, I can add more material to it later. Here it is so far. As well as disguising the tent when it’s up, it will add more habitat for wildlife and another visual feature.

A successful and rewarding camping trip but I was exhausted. I headed home smelling of woodsmoke and sweat (sounds like a good title for a book) and looking forward to a shower and a decent night’s sleep!

My first camping trip of the year – a one nighter. I arrived on Friday good and early, the prospect of two full days and a night at the woods was exciting. I had some projects in mind so plenty of time for work and play. The woods have really blossomed and the tree canopy has closed over making it a much darker place now. Plants and trees are looking lush with new growth and the birds incredibly active and vocal. After my usual walkabout and whilst putting out the bird food, I heard a loud crack nearby. Then another and another but no crashing sounds. Worryingly it was coming from the area where I park my car. It was a tall spindly hawthorn. A large branch near the top had split and fallen onto another splitting that too. Both were still hanging up there, dangling precariously and dangerously and issuing the occasional cracking sound. I tugged and pulled, hoping they would come away completely but no. They had to be made safe and I only had hand tools with me. Using my bow saw and wedges it came down ok but needed clearing away. This was a totally unexpected job but I’m glad it happened during the day. Imagine it happening at night when camping nearby, it would have been terrifying. There was no apparent reason for the branch breaking, no obvious rot. I guess it was just a combination of factors – the length of the gangly branch, the weight of the new leaves and maybe something like a squirrel on it just tipped the balance. That was half my morning gone already.

For a while I have been wanting to make a woodland chair. I saw the design on Youtube. It is made by lashing together poles to make two upside down V shapes. One has two more poles across making a sort of A shaped frame.  The V shaped one is passed through the gap in the horizontal poles  to lock them together and the two protruding pieces at the front have loose pieces balanced across them to form the seat. Get it? No, well a picture tells a thousand words so have a look at this sequence of photos. The poles have had the bark removed and laid out ready. The top insides need to be chamfered at an angle to form flat faces to fit each other, then lashed around the tops.

The upright piece has two poles lashed across the legs, the lower one on the front and the higher one on the back and spaced roughly the thickness of the poles apart. The other piece is passed beteen them, the point of it, forming the back leg.

Then logs are split and laid across the projecting pieces to form the seat.

It looks cool in it’s desert camo colours but is it any good? Not really! The thing pivots on it’s front legs like a seesaw when you go to sit on it. The back leg needs to be longer or pegged down so that it doesn’t do that and the backrest isn’t very comfortable and the seat moves around. Maybe that’s why you never see this design in furniture shops! Well it was fun making it and I might add a few mods later.

It was soon time to start making a fire and preparing for my evening meal. I bought a great little book on wild camp cooking and picked out a meal to try. A sort of simple, veggie curry. A pre-cooked jacket potato, a small onion and a few mushrooms are sliced and gently cooked in oil (or butter) until soft. Add a small tin of coconut milk, a stock cube and a couple of teaspoons of curry paste and continue gentle cooking for another 10 minutes. Meanwhile warm up a naan bread, or in this case a couple of pitta pockets (preferably not burnt on one side – oops) and serve together. Washed down with a beer, it tasted great and easy to modify with different ingredients. That one will go in my personal camping recipe book.

After doing my washing up, I had a nice walk around the larger woodland rides looking for wildlife and any signs of neighbours before settling in front of the fire. No neighbours but lots of birds. I read a little, drank a little and when darkness cloaked the woods, turned in for an early night. I had been awake since 4am and knew I would probably awake early tomorrow. Sleep came quickly but what would the night hold for me? It’s a natural environment but unnatural for us to be sleeping in it alone and in the past my subconscious has sometimes played nasty tricks on me, giving nightmares. I wasn’t afraid but was my subconsious “Chimp”?

Read The Chimp Paradox by Steve Peters where he explores the workings of our subconscious. It’s the ancient part of our brain that is basically there to help us survive danger. He likens it to a chimp, excitable, quick to act and often fearful. It cant differentiate between real or perceived danger and is stronger than out conscious mind. As he says “You can’t arm wrestle a chimp”. When you hear about a road rage incident, it’s the “chimp” at work.

See day two to find out if my chimp behaved.