Yesterday’s nature treat on arrival, was a buzzard. As I drove up the ride it flew up from the ground and into a nearby tree. I inched forward slowly to get a good look and it delighted me three times, stretching it’s huge wings to fly a few metres and land again. They are impressive birds and it’s not often you see them so close. I have an idea to do a Springwatch type of exercise – find some roadkill and place it on a prominent tree stump with my trail camera to see what comes to feed.

My main mission was to fell the birch that was uprooted during the storms earlier this year. It was in a dangerous place where I work and ferry things back and forth to the car, so it had to come down. As you can see in the photo, it was firmly lodged between other trees and would need winching out.

It was still anchored by the roots, so the first job was to cut through at the base and winch it sideways to clear the root. Then a change of position to winch it straight out to a point where it would clear the trees it was hung up in and drop. Here’s the set-up. It worked but was much tougher than expected. I pulled it about twenty feet and the butt of the tree was almost up to the winch. It dropped but not enough and I had to undercut it several times and reattach the winch straps and pull some more until it finally came out. It’s all cut up ready for splitting for firewood but hopefully I can make a few nice crafts items with some of it. It was diseased but still very solid.

I spent some time just sitting in the lovely spring sun, watching the many small birds on my feeders. How perfect that was. Being in the moment, at peace and happy. I can’t help thinking about the massive contrasts in the world. There, nature is quietly getting on with simple daily life. These harmless bundles of feather just minding their own business, taking only what they need to survive and looking for a mate. Across the other side of Europe, a power hungry, egotistical pyschopath is responsible for the death and destruction of innocent people and their homes on a massive scale which will have a knock on effect for all of us. You know what I mean – enough said.

I had a few more small jobs to do – clear up the brash from the birch tree, repair the collapsed wall around my composting toilet, move some branches I had previously cut when felling and pot up a tiny yew sapling that was growing in the end of a small rotten log. I’ve brought it home to nurture until it’s big enough to return it to a permanent position in the woods. What a fantastically satisfying day. I’ll leave you with some more photos. The first is an old chair that has been hanging around my cellar for a few years. I had ideas of renovating it but don’t have the time, so I decided it could be a guest chair at the woods. I like to treat my visitors to a bit of opulance!

It was a lovely calm morning when I arrived yesterday and I was in need of some woodland therapy. Recent events in the Ukraine have bruised my faith in certain elements of humanity and a day on my own among nature is what I needed. My first dose of medicine was a magnificent cock pheasant ambling across the ride and into my plot as I drove up. It would hang around most of the morning calling out looking for a mate. I hope he finds one and they make beautiful feathery babies. My second dose was filling the bird feeders and seeing the dozens of small birds swooping in to grab a seed. Blue, coal and great tits, robins, nuthatches and the fashion icon of them all – a great spotted woodpecker.

I decided to spend the most part of the day working on improvements to my shelter. I have some old wooden ladders and decided they would make fantastic shelves for storing wood, the open character will allow air to circulate for seasoning the wood. It’s the first stage in tidying up the shelter and making it more fit for working in. It still looks a cluttered mess in there but much of the timber will be used in other projects before long. The big stump is a piece of beech which I will fit three legs to and make a carving/chopping block.

What about that title? Well, as I was working, several buzzards circled above me. Their call is the most lonesome bird call ever but one that I love. It’s unmistakable once you know it. A single, clear note that starts high and slides down to a lower harmonic pitch, like a slide lick in a minor pentatonic scale, much loved by blues guitarists. It is a beautiful sound but one that evokes a sense of longing and melancholy. I can mimic the call reasonably well and started to call back to them. Now I don’t know if it was my call that encouraged them to hang about – they came back several times and one even landed in one of my trees. More of natures medicine to heal my battered mental state.

I was given this ram’s skull by a friend. It looks a little demonic don’t you think? I’ve mounted it on the top of the corner post and it looks fantastic.

My other plan for the shelter is to build a shallow extension on to the end to store a stack of logs for use in my firebowl. It’s not finished yet, it will have a metal roof and another paneled end and maybe even a shelf across the middle. I think it will add character as well as being useful.

I saw nobody else that day. Much as I love having guests and chatting to other woodland neighbours, sometimes I just need some solace and being on one’s own in the woods brings you back to the moment. There’s no sense of loneliness, I am in the company of so much life in the woods. It’s like nature’s comforter blanket. It enfolds me, nourishes and lifts my soul. Can’t wait for the next visit now.