A lovely day to be at the woods yesterday. There is a definite feel of spring as more ground plants push through the surface and birds are more vocal. I heard song thrush, tawny owl and spotted woodpecker as well as the usual nuthatches, and various tits. I’m hoping before long I can spend a night here in my camper. I haven’t slept in it yet, I just need to prepare and psyche myself up for it.

It was another day for lots of work, I’m keen to get the felled trees moved before the bluebells and wood anemones take over the ground. I cut up two of them before my chainsaw jammed up. It was enough for one day as I had to wheelbarrow them back to this logshed, chop and stack them. Still plenty more to do but the shed is filling up nicely now and will provide a winter’s worth of fuel for my woodburner in a couple of years time.

I hardly did anything productive till late morning but it was so relaxing just to wander around, looking at things and taking photos. This strange tree is a crab apple that I bought and planted about seven years ago. It’s developed these oddities which are burrs. They are fairly common on apple trees and are an inherited defect thought to be due to the rootstock that they have been grafted onto. The growers choose varieties of rootsock that are vigorous growers. These burrs are actually tiny roots growing out of the branches and it’s the trees survival mechanism when the growing conditions are not ideal. It’s possibly due to the shady nature of the woodland.

I found this potentially lovely walking stick. It’s another of the prized “barley twist” hazel and honeysuckle stems. I hope to work on it and make something special. I just had to have it.

Not much else to tell, so just a few more photos from the walkabaout.

This tree looks like a wooden man half buried upside down!