October is here and yesterday saw the first frost on my car. It was dark too when I headed off to the woods. Thoughts of the coming winter and short days passed through my mind. Time seems to elude me these days and it seems only weeks ago that I was seeing the woodland coming back to life after last winter. It will soon be shutting up shop again and I will have to get busy with the chainsaw.

I was meeting a guy (Miles) from the Forestry Commission who was going to assess my application for a thinning licence. My present five year one runs out at the end of the year and in order to carry on felling any trees, I will need a new one. The whole woods has a TPO (Tree Preservation Order) which is set by the local council to prevent people felling important trees. As the woods has an ancient status I guess they felt it necessary to issue it. We met with another woodland neighbour who was also having his application assessed. The morning went quickly as we walked around our woods explaining our plans and what we have done so far and Miles gave us some helpful advice too. He told me that what I had done so far was good and that he would approve my application. Good to hear.

I was keen to see the how the new pond was after a week of very rainy weather. Had it filled up much?  It’s in a very sheltered position and I doubt it will collect much direct water, hence the need for the hosepipe idea of topping it up from my rainwater butt.

This is how it looked and it appears to have gained a couple of inches of water – an encouraging result. I set to and dug a shallow trench to bury the hosepipe. Now here’s a mini story about what I call Cosmic Ordering. Sometimes when in need of something, if you focus your mind on finding that thing, it will often come to you one way or another. Often in unexpected ways. I have experienced this many times. Well I didn’t want to have to buy a new hosepipe just for this little project and have been looking around car boot sales, online second hand sales etc but with no luck. I started thinking I would have to buy a new piece because I can’t progress the pond much until I have one.  Earlier this week I started clearing some rubbish out of my cellar and took a car load to the council tip. As I was dumping it, an elderly gentleman was heading toward me carrying a pretty expensive looking hosepipe and wheeled trolley dispenser. You are not allowed to take anything out of the skip once it’s in there but if you intercept it before it’s dumped, you are not transgressing their stupid rules. Kindly the man allowed me to take it off his hands and I headed home excited with my find! It’s better than the one we use in the garden so I swapped them and brought the old one to use in the pond.

Next job was to fill it to it’s maximum. The water barrel was full again and it took another half of it before it started to overflow at it’s lowest point. Now to start pinning down the edges of the liner and making it look more natural. Nearby there are a numerous large stones, many are covered in moss. It was a bit like a jigsaw puzzle, fitting them as best I could to hide the plastic as much as possible. At the shallow end I placed smaller stones which will give a firm base for birds and small animals to stand on and maybe take a bath. It still needs a few finishing touches, I transplanted a couple of clumps of sedge and I shall plant more next time. I am pleased with it and hopefully so will the local wildlife.

The title of this post mentions an award. One of the large woodland sales agents (woodlands.co.uk) also has a really helpful website with articles, a newsletter, blogs, videos etc and earlier this year, announced a competition for various “bests” – blogs, photos, forest schools, dogs, tool recommendations and lots more. A number of people who read my blog have commented on how much they enjoy it, so I thought “let’s have a go” and I entered my blog details. I’d completely forgotten about it until a few weeks ago when an email from them said I had won an award for it and would be shortly receiving some gifts as the prize. When I got home from the woods yesterday, a large box was waiting for me on the table.  The competition details suggested the prizes might be a book and maybe a woodland tool. It felt like my birthday as I eagerly opened it. Wow what an nice surprise, There was a book but also an enamelled mug, a nice notebook, woodland related poster, tea towel, ferro rod fire starter, and a bizarrely, a collapsible silicon dog bowl! (I just need a dog now to go with it). The cover letter said that there is another box containing something to come direct from the manufacturer. Maybe it’s a dog from God himself? Now that would be Cosmic Ordering! Here’s a link to the competition and thank you, my readers for your kind encouragement.

https://www.woodlands.co.uk/woodlands-awards/2019-award-winners/