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.