It’s been an odd and at times stressful week. My car was in for service and repairs and it cost me an arm and a leg to sort it out. When I went to to it to drive to the woods yesterday, the battery (a new one) was completely flat. I must have left the internal light on or something. I had arranged to meet my pal at the woods to spend the day together and as he doesn’t use a mobile phone, I couldn’t cancel but fortunately I was able to borrow my wife’s car. When I arrived we had something of a drama to deal with and so the day got of to a rocky start. I’d tried to think of what I needed to take, am usually well prepared but the car saga threw me out of sync and I forgot to bring my boots and a few other things. We did a bit of work shifting the remaining felled logs. It was very cold but woodland comfort was soon under way. A mole had left a big pile of soil in my fireplace – of all the places to tunnel! We cleaned it out and soon had a nice fire going and a brew.

It was nice to have a visitor to share the day with – the first since lockdown. The help shifting logs was welcome but that was as much work as we did. We spent time chatting and discussing plans for repairing or replacing my rotting shelter. I need to give it a lot of thought before tackling it. It’s only lasted two years due to insects and rot damaging the roof timbers. The next one will need to be good for ten years at least.

The Wood Anemones are fabulous now and the first few bluebells are open. The next few weeks will see some amazing transformations as Spring gets under way. Not much else to report, hoping to camp out for a night before long.