Yesterday was a window of opportunity of a good day between the wet weather we’ve been having, so off to the woods I went. Hadn’t planned much in the way of work but ended up doing some heavy log shifting. Toward the end of Winter I had felled quite a few sycamore and cut them into 4 foot lengths for stacking to season for firewood. I’d moved quite a lot of them but then lockdown occurred before I could finish it. Then the bluebell leaves and brambles covered them and it was a case of waiting till they died back so I could find them again. Now the bluebells have gone they are starting to be visible and there were two large logs close to the ride. So I thought I’d just move them to the log pile. I soon started seeing lots more lying there, so what was going to be a ten minute easy job turned into a mammoth task. Hard work but enjoyable.

One thing I wanted to do was get out the rocket stove that a friend had kindly given me. I’d hidden it away for safety and forgot about it for over a year. Shame on me! I fired it up to make a brew. I’d forgotten how fantastic this stove is. You feed it a few sticks and it roars away and boils the kettle in no time. Much easier to light than the Kelly Kettle stoves and you can cook on it too.  This is going to get used more regularly now I’ve rediscovered it.

I notice the birds are very quiet, now that breeding season is over. They don’t waste energy when it’s not needed for attracting a mate or claiming territory. I haven’t put food out for a few months as there is plenty of insect life around. I decided to fill the feeders again to see what was around and get them used to it being there. Visitor numbers were low but there were numerous young birds among those that did come. Nice to see an adult Nuthatch with a younger one and a young Robin taking an interest in me. I’m hoping this one will eventually become confident to take food from my hand just like little Bertie did.

What about the title – the beautiful visitors? There are lots of them in reality but it’s the ones I particularly noticed that I refer to. This year the bramble has gone crazy and right now there are lots of berries forming but some are still in flower. I found a patch in a sunny area and it was teeming with butterflies. Mainly Peacocks but also Commas and small White’s. The colours on the Peacocks are stunning in closeup. Here’s a selection of photos.

Comma

Small White

Peacock

The star of the show for me was catching the Tawny Owl on video. I told you I thought there was one roosting in my shelter after I found the pellets. I set my trailcam up to see what was going on and I was over the moon to get several clips of it. It looks smaller than they actually are. Typically 14-18 inches tall. It’s feathers look puffed out and it’s preening itself so I reckon it’s having a bath in my nearby pond, then sitting there to dry out. I feel really privileged to have it as a visitor. Because the shelter is relatively dark, the camera quickly switches to dark mode which is just monochrome but you get a second in colour at the start. Just enough to see what an amazing colour it is. Here’s a compilation of the clips.

New growth hazel.

I desperately needed another woodland therapy day and was keen to try to find the knife I lost last time. It really bugs me when I lose something, knowing it is still there somewhere. I had an inkling as to where it might have fallen and spent a long time searching to no avail. I carried on to other places and decided to have a look at my bees. As I waded through the bramble to get back onto the track, there is was. the orange cord was showing through the undergrowth but I must find a way of making it more secure. this is the second time I have lost it. It’s so good when you find what you lost though. Almost worth losing something on purpose just to get that mini “high” when you find it again.

The last few trips have been low key, taking it easy and just absorbing it all. Yesterday was a step forward to getting more active again. Covid 19 has sapped motivation and had a big negative impact on my mental health. Earlier in the year I was looking forward to doing some camping but it takes a fair bit of planning and a sense of confidence to spend a night alone in the middle of the woods. I’m thinking about doing another one soon and for me, the key to feeling confident is planning and preparation. There were a few small jobs that needed attention. It is a year since my last camp there and I only managed just one last year.

First up, check over the composting toilet. I gave the seat a good clean up (there are all sorts of creatures that will use it as well as humans ha!) Next, stock up the log store. When you have made a fire, you should think about your next one. So whilst it’s dry, collect kindling and small logs, give them some shelter ready for the next fire. It might have been pouring down the night before.

I have a new spot for my tent which I had cleared earlier in the year but my old tent area needs to be kept clear for potential guests and it was looking a bit overgown with small brambles and bracken. So an hour spent pulling them up and a general camp area tidy-up was another useful job done. There were a few things needed tying up with new cordage as the old natural fibres had rotted away. It’s satisfying to get a lot of small jobs done which you might tend to put off normally.

It was a good day for amphibian spotting. While working in the area I must have disturbed a small toad and watched it crawl away to safety. I also spotted a small frog hiding near my fireplace – not a good place for a frog, so I picked it up and transferred it to the edge of my pond. This one I found earlier and just let it be (look away now Lynn).

Did I mention last time that I think a Tawny Owl is roosting in my shelter? Well more poo and “pellets” were evident. When an owl swallows an animal like a small bird or mouse, a part of it’s stomach (the gizzard) digests the flesh and then turns the bones and fur into a ball which is then regurgitated. They are very light and don’t smell of much. I found a large one and opened it up. It was full of tiny bones. I would say the contents of three mice judging by the number of easily identifiable jaw bones. The brown bits are fur. Strangely there were no skulls and few vertebrae. At first I thought maybe they bite the heads off but if that were the case, those jaw bones wouldn’t be there. If you have any theories please leave a comment.

My final encounter with animal life worthy of mentioning, was a young robin. My very friendly “Bertie” disappeared in Spring and I fear he was either predated by a bigger bird or just died. I haven’t seen many adults around since but yesterday a young and rather scruffy looking Robin was hanging around where I was working. So hopefully, it might learn to trust me and take food from me. Winter time is when they get bolder, when food is scarce, so I shall look forward to a new birdie companion. Overall it was a very satisfying day, lot’s of wildlife interest and useful jobs done.

It’s been a few weeks since my last visit. We have had almost continual rain since then, so yesterday was a welcome break and some much needed nature therapy. I had a few jobs I wanted to do. For a long time I have been wanting to repair the roof of the little logstore that I have near my campfire. It’s made from old pallets and logs. The roof covering has always been some cheap plastic tarp which is far from ideal. It disintegrates after a few years and was providing no waterproofing for my logs. After a sort out of my cellar at home, I found some pieces of roofing felt and rough wooden planks. The structure of the roof was a bit shaky too so the planks were used to strengthen it first and add a small shelf area for storing various fire irons and metal grills for cooking. I’m pleased with the result and the roof should last a long time now, keeping the logs for the campfire nice and dry.

Whilst working, a robin came to suss me out. I haven’t seen many since Bertie disappeared in spring, so it was nice. Later, I noticed three or four rather scruffy ones bobbing about and I reckon they are young ones. So hopefully they will get to know me and maybe become the next “Bertie” who I trained to take food from my hand.

One of my tables, also made from a pallet, had started to rot away. It’s a useful table that I use regularly, so the next job was to try to prolong it’s life with the remaining wooden planks. Now I am a bit of a perfectionist by nature but I I didn’t have enough matching planks to replace the whole top or for them to match. But needs must and at the end of the day, I have to remind myself that it just needs to be functional and on that score it fulfills one of William Morris’s requirements when he said “Have nothing in your house that is neither useful or that you believe to be beautiful”. When I look at it, it makes me smile, more Heath Robinson that William Morris.

Another woodland project I am playing with is mapping my woods. I have a basic one but after watching a fantastic video on making your own personalised and artistic map, I started to plan my own. It’s not meant to be Ordnance Survey standard, merely a visual picture of features and where they are. Still I wanted a certain amount of scale and accuracy so I downloaded a GPS app on my phone so I could take co-ordinates of the various key areas to use as a starting point. Not sure if it’s going to be of much use though because the relatively small area of the woods means that the variations of readings from one place to the next are tiny and probably not usable. I’ll let you know how it worked out but here’s a link to the video. I really like this idea.

I managed to lose my bushcraft knife again! This time the whole sheath with knife in it detached itself from the belt coupling. Despite having a bright orange cord loop through the handle, the black colour of the knife is hard to spot on the ground. I spent about an hour retracing all my movements but to no avail. It’s not an expensive knife but is useful and it really annoys me when I lose anything.

Anyway, overall it was a very enjoyable day and did my mental state a world of good. Here’s a few photos taken on my walkabout and the mapping link I mentioned.