Honeysuckle flowers in the top of my Crab Apple tree

Well, June has almost gone already! The Summer Solstice has passed and days will gradually shorten, yet I still haven’t done with Spring. When lockdown occurred, it seemed like each week would crawl along as we eagerly awaited it’s end. Strangely though, the time has flown by even though each day seems like an eternity sometimes. Restrictions are easing, yet we still face the exact same threat with no cure or vaccine. The uncertainty and frustration encountered every day has taken it’s toll on my mental health and visits to the woods are even more valuable. So yesterday was an eagerly consumed day of just being there in nature, no jobs to do and just taking it all in slowly. The temperature has soared but the cooling effect of the trees losing water vapour act like a sort of fridge making it a comfortable place to be.

Everything is lush and verdant and growing rampantly now. My pond looks like strong tea due to the large amount of dead leaves. Mosquitoes danced on the surface and apart from millions of daphnia (water flea), there is little sign of other life. It’s too dark to thrive as a healthy pond but it serves it’s purpose as a drinking and bathing place for birds and other creatures.

The feral honey bees are still in my Little Owl nest box. I am surprised they have stayed so long, especially in this hot weather when they are most likely to swarm.

I met a young man, the son of one of my neighbours. He was on his own and had spent the night sleeping there without a tent or tarp. He was busy constructing his camp and we chatted for quite a while. He is learning bushcraft skills and seemed very keen, so I spent some time showing him how to make cordage from the fibres of nettles and brambles. He was amazed how strong it is and it was satisfying to know I had passed on a useful skill. I enjoyed his company.

Time for lunch and what can be more enjoyable than sitting in the sun, surrounded by birdsong and watching “woodland TV”? Most of my time was spent just wandering around with my camera looking for photo opportunities and seeing in detail what I have in my little woodland. This is some type of Campanula. Just an odd one growing next to a Hazel sapling.

For a while I have been looking for specimens of Field Maple around the town where I live. The leaves look similar to Sycamore but smaller and more rounded but as there is so much Sycamore around, hard to spot. They seem to be quite rare in my part of the country and it was a sort of mini-mission to find one. Well during our early lockdown days, I had been doing more walks in our local public woods and found one. I was pleased that I could tick that one off my list and having seen one in the flesh rather than books or internet, I can now ID them for definite. I was delighted to stumble across a medium sized one in my woods. Easily overlooked as it’s a part I don’t spend much time in. Searching around nearby I spotted another smaller one that had blown over but resprouted. Here’s the bigger one and a photo of it’s leaves. Notice the rounded lobes as opposed to pointy ones on Sycamore.

I left the woodland feeling peaceful and refreshed in mind and soul. What a lovely day! Can’t wait to get back there.

photo – Male Fern

Yesterday was all about just relaxing again and enjoying the healing quality of spending a day in a woodland. There were no particular jobs on my agenda. The lockdown situation has ramped up my stress and anxiety levels and this is the medicine I need – we all need. Scientists are now recognizing that there are actual chemical reasons why being in woodlands makes us feel so much better. There are certain chemicals given off by trees and plants that trigger the production of seratonin and dopamine in our systems, the hormones that make us feel good. For me though, the beauty and peace I experience does that anyway.

One of my objectives was to have a fire and cook a simple lunch but … to light the fire using my home made bow-drill. Sorry no new photos but this photo shows the kit used when I first learned about them. The bow turns the spindle rapidly in the hole, causing friction which creates charred sawdust and eventually starts to glow as an ember. That is then used in a ball of some combustible material – eg dried grass, honeysuckle bark, natural twine etc to create a flame to light your fire.

Two woodland neighbour friends called around whilst I attempted to use my bowdrill. I have to say it is very very difficult to do. Firstly the spindle and bow have a regular tendency to part company. Secondly, it takes a lot of energy to reach the point where you have a pile of charred dust (known as the coal) and then to get it hot enough to ignite. My bushcraft teacher and now friend told me at the time, “When you reach a point where you are tired, keep going. When you reach exhaustion, keep going and when you feel like you are about to pass out, go even faster”. How right he was! After several failed attempts where I got close to an ember, my friends decided to part company, joking that when someone is watching you try to perform something, it often seems to “put the mocker’s on it”. A few minutes after they left, I had my ember and fire and a welcome coffee break.

One of the woodlandy things I have struggled with is identifying the two types of native oak. There is Pendunculate Oak (also know as English Oak) and Sessile Oak (Quercus Petraea). I have numerous oak trees but never sure which variety and I wanted to know. So a bit of Googling told me that there are two main recognisable differences. The acorns and the leaves. The word sessile refers to the acorn and means without a stalk. So the acorns are attached directly to the twig in a small bunch with no visible stalks. With English Oak, the acorns are at the end of a stalk. At the moment there are no acorns so the next way to ID them is the way the leaf is attached to the twig. It’s the opposite way around. On the English oak there is virtually no stalk to the leaf but on Sessile oak there is. So armed with that knowledge I examined some of my trees and found both species present. Here is a photo for comparison. Notice the one on the left, the base of the leaves have no stalk (English Oak) and one on the right has small stalks (Sessile Oak). Now if only I can retain that knowledge!

Sometime later ….. it was lunchtime. A veggie bean burger and fried egg on a bed of ketchup in a breadcake was the only thing on the menu. Yummie. The cast iron skillet performed well as usual though the beanburger was rather fragile. Tasty though. Lighting a fire using only a bow drill and your own energy then cooking a meal over is so satisfying.

Some other neighbours arrived too and it was good to catch up and swap notes. They agreed that sometimes, as woodland owners, we can get too focussed on work and doing jobs. It’s simply enthusiasm that drives but we need to take a step back now and then and just enjoy our woods for what it is and that’s just what yesterday was all about for me. here’s a few more photos from the day.