The weather was perfect for another one night camping trip, this time with another pal – Phil who’s an expert bushcrafter and ex-chef. Sorry for the lack of photos, I brought the wrong camera so the few on here were taken with my phone.

I arrived mid morning on Wednesday, expecting my guest late afternoon. So I set to work removing the small brambles that had sprouted in my new tent area and clearing the paths around camp. I set the tent up and prepared as much as I could. At some point, I wanted to build a small saw horse next to my campsite log store from some plans I’d found in a book. I headed to the hazel copse to find some suitable poles. It was mid afternoon now and the birds and butterflies were abundant. Four or five wrens appeared to check me out, two of them being very brave and landing just a few feet away. There was a stirring in the undergrowth and blackbirds started to cluck and take flight. There must have been about a dozen in that area, a sign that they have bred well, close by. I usually see just the odd one or two. It suggests that the building of my deadhedges and various structures has paid off for the blackbird population. The mass exodus seemed to be away from the ride side of the copse and I wondered if someone was coming along. I saw no-one, picked some poles and headed back to camp. Half way back I heard a loud wooden knock, like someone at the door. I heard it again so I answered back. Silence. This smacked of Phil’s arrival and his wicked sense of humour. Somewhere nearby a deep ghost-like groan wafted across. Yeah it’s Phil!

I planned to do most of the cooking. I’m not a proficient cook and wanted the practise. Cooking for a chef is quite a challenge too. I planned a curried vegetable rice for the evening. I’ve done it hundreds of times at home in a wok but wanted to try it in my dutch oven on the campfire. Phil taught me a valuable lesson in fire management – controlling the heat by moving the embers around rather than raising and lowering the pot. It went well and this picture shows it simmering nicely. I love the pot.

We had an evening walk to the wood edge and watched numerous large dragonflies and on returning to camp, were rewarded with 3 or 4 bats flitting around the opening in the canopy, catching insects. Sleep was a sketchy affair, unable to settle into anything meaningful, I got up around 4.30am. Phil was still sleeping under the stars in his bivvie bag. Eventually he stirred and I relit the fire. Breakfast was a repeat of the eggs in beefsteak tomatoes cooked in foil that I tried when Simon camped a few weeks ago. Baked beans and bannock bread to accompany made a nice breakfast.

I packed up the tent and we took a walk to a neighbour’s plot (with his permission of course) where there is an ancient burial site. It dates back to the Neolithic times. It was excavated in the 1990’s and revealed the remains of four people. The numerous artifacts found as offerings suggests the deceased were of great importance. The Romans had also venerated this site and it was strange to imagine what it must have looked like 5000 or more years ago when a small river ran through and hunter gatherers roamed the woods. We climbed a forty foot tower the owner had built from his timber as a lookout and folly.

After a lunch of fruit cake and cookies, we set-to building the saw horse, it made a very sturdy and useful item.

We finished clearing up by late afternoon, another memorable mini adventure under our belts and lots of good memories to hark back to.

Just come back from a week in S. of France and the weather here is just as hot. It’s nearly three weeks since my last visit to the woods, so I needed to get back there even though the heat was putting me off. I arrived good and early – 7.30am.  I had planned to do little work because of the heat but the woods were refreshingly cool so I decided to do some more work on the shelter rebuild but first, a few small jobs.

I took several gallons of water to help my new saplings which actually seemed to be doing ok. Birdsong filled the air. A blackcap sang surprisingly loud for such a small bird. The young blackbirds have obviously fledged now and I’m sure I spotted a few of them during the day. I sometimes play a sort of trick on the wrens. I have a birdsong app on my phone and if I play the wren song, it draws them out. I was over-awed when one emerged and gradually flew closer to where I was standing, trying to suss out it’s rival. I was brewing my coffee but stood motionless as it bobbed around the table, finally landing on the top just two feet away. It strutted and pecked at the table a few times before eventually flying off. Money can’t buy that!

I added more upright poles to the shelter, ready to support the plastic tarp which should make the back and sides waterproof. Time consuming, as I had to walk to the other end of the woods to retrieve the poles that were left from the winter felling, then cut to size and screw to the frame. This is how it looked with it’s skeleton poles. Then at the end of the day with the back covered with tarp and another layer of poles. Just the sides to do next. I shall have to modify the window arrangement though.

The woods are a riot of growth now and I’m particularly pleased with the way the hazel copse is looking. Flooded with sunshine, the new hazel growth is shooting up and the ground cover is dense. I spotted lots of wild garlic seed heads and went to collect some. Most of them were empty now but I found a few which I shall try to germinate at home later. The bluebells were also shedding their shiny black seeds. Mental note for the future – collect them late June. I collected a few and scattered them in other less dense areas.

The birds and butterflies seem to like this area. A rustling in the undergrowth proved to be a song thrush which emerged on a branch to check me out. A large, bright orange, fluttery thing passed by and when it landed I sneaked up with my camera. A pair of butterflies were enjoying a bit of intimacy. Back home I identified them as Silver-washed Fritillary, the name coming from the silvery streaks on the underside of their wings which you can see here. The top of their wings are hardly visible in the photo but they were the most beautiful shade of orange.

By mid afternoon it was very hot. I’d done some useful jobs, had a good walk around and most importantly, re-connected with my woods. The calming and soul-healing benefits of spending quality time in your own little patch of woods is incredible. The difference between that or just visiting some public woods is huge. The fact that they are your woods allows you to work on it and with it, free from interference from public and authorities or any feelings of intrusion and that creates a deep personal connection with it which seems to elevate your mind and feelings. Medicine for the stressful world we normally inhabit.

Arriving early 7.30am, I stopped the car way down the ride and walked to where I’d seen the roe deer, camera ready, in the hope of seeing and photographing one. No luck this time. My main curiosity though was whether the blackbird eggs in the nest I found, had hatched and if they were safe. I’ve been watching Springwatch on BBC and at this time of year, wildlife breeding is rampant. Everything is trying to reproduce but at the same time, protecting their young from predators who are also trying to feed their young. It’s a harsh world for birds in particular. A low nesting bird like blackbirds could have the eggs or chicks taken by a number of predators – foxes, rats, squirrels, stoats etc and if they survive to fledge and leave the nest, other birds such as owls, woodpeckers, jays, magpies, buzzards and sparrowhawks can take them. So I was please to see they have hatched and safe so far. You can only see three beaks on the photo but I think the fourth one is in there too. Looks crowded already!

I love a good cup of real coffee. Instant is convenient, drinkable but not an enjoyment. To take a break and sit for a while in the woods, watching and listening to wildlife whilst drinking a good coffee, is one of the small pleasures. For a while I’ve been trying to find the ideal way of brewing it in the woods. Percolators and cafetieres are bulky and a little too refined. I have been using one-shot filter coffees which consist of a plastic cup with coffee grounds enveloped in a filter paper in the bottom. You place it over a mug, fill with hot water and leave it for a few minutes. Tastes good but you then have the wet, used plastic cup to dispose of. Well I think I found the ideal. It’s called a Phin and it’s a Vietnamese coffee filter. It’s uses the same filtering principle but it’s stainless steel. There are tiny holes in the bottom, you place two or three teaspoons of coffee in it, then there’s another removable plate with holes in it which goes over the coffee. Top up with hot water and leave it for a few minutes. You obviously need to take some fresh coffee grounds but you simply wash it out after use. It also gives you the choice of using your favourite blend. It works great and takes little space. Here it is sitting on my stainless steel mug – before, during and after filtration. The disk thing is a lid to keep it hot while brewing.

My main job was to carry on with the shelter re-build. The roof is more or less complete. I had one sheet of the clear plastic left so I cut it in half to make two small windows for the sides. The plan was to remove all the old logs which were propped up forming the walls. It worked to a degree but was not totally water or wind proof and they had started to fall down. I figure to form a sort of “stud wall” by screwing some poles to cross members, then staple a waterproof plastic tarp over them, then lean more logs up over the top to hide and protect it. The ones screwed in place will help prevent the top layer from slipping sideways in future. You can see the stud wall idea in this photo where I have started it on the back wall.

Whilst working, I disturbed a log bench I had built. It’s a simple device, a wide piece of sycamore trunk split in half and sat on two shorter pieces with V-grooves to act as feet. When I lifted it to reposition it, I discovered a resident hiding in the V-groove. If you are squeamish about toads (and I know someone reading this who is) then look away now – sorry but I had to include it! It’s a common toad and it quickly wriggled away to find cover. I wanted a photo and managed to snap this one. I felt guilty at disturbing it from it’s secure home so I chased and caught it and popped it back under.

One final wildlife incident which is a little bizzarre. Whilst dismantling the old poles, I found a bright green, smooth caterpiller. I tried to pick it off to put it somewhere safe but it was anchoring itself to the tree bark. An hour or so later I put my hand in my jacket pocket to retrieve some screws, pulled my hand out and opened it to find the caterpillar. Obviously I had dislodged it whilst working but what are the chances of it happening to fall into my open pocket? Every visit there’s something new. I love it.

I arrived yesterday before 8am to a dark and quiet wood. Birdsong was surprisingly scarce at first. The other day I  discovered my camera has wifi connectivity. I knew it had, but never explored it’s usefulness but I found an app for my smartphone that allows me to remotely view and control the camera. I set up the camera on a tripod, aimed at the blackbird’s nest I found last week, behind my logshed. I thought by now the eggs might have hatched (no she’s still sitting on them) and hoped to capture some close-ups of her returning to feed them. It was a failed idea, you need to be fairly close-by for the devices to communicate properly. It does have potential though for catching birds on the feeders. I had my usual walkabout, the Great Tits nesting in the tree hollow have gone. Close by, a Roe deer doe was disturbed by my presence. She looked at me then hid for a while behind some trees before elegantly bounding off.

I wanted to continue with the shelter rebuild. The new roof leaks like mad, partly due to it not having enough slope on it. I spent half the day lowering the back and tying in upright log supports. A quick test with the watering can looked promising but there were still one of two leaks. The panels are old ones and have a few holes which I thought I had patched o.k. but still a bit of fine tuning to do. I took down the old support poles which has opened it up now. Still got the sides to deal with but this is how it’s looking so far.

I have a massive pile of logs to chop and stack for seasoning from the Winter’s felling and time is flying by, so I spent an hour at this tiring but satisfying work. The lower pile is the new one. As you can see there’s an art to stacking, building it well so it doesn’t collapse.

I’ll leave you with a few photos from my walkabout. The vegetation growth is phenomenal at the moment and soon I will need to do some slashing and pulling of nettles and brambles to keep my pathways clear.

New second year growth on a coppiced hazel.

This is the same hazel in full frame. It grew around two metres in one year. Felling some big sycamores around the copse payed off and the area is flooded with light now. I can take the deer netting down later in the year.

This area near my campsite is shaping up nicely. A donated hazel plant in the foreground. Behind it a couple of young silver birch given to me as saplings and planted three years ago are healthy and clearing the brambles here has encouraged the ferns to grow massively.

Finally I had to include this shot because the flower is so simple and pretty and the small fly adds a sense of scale. It’s Herb Robert and is growing profusely amongst the stone chippings on the ride. This is what Googling it says about it’s medicinal properties. Herb Robert is used for diarrhea; to improve functioning of the liver and gallbladder; to reduce swelling (inflammation) of the kidney, bladder, and gallbladder; and to prevent the formation of stones in the kidney, bladder or gallbladder. Some people use Herb Robert as a mouthwash or gargle. The fresh leaves are chewed to relieve soremouth and throat.

Sorry, no new photos for this part but we were pretty busy most of the day and I just forgot. I’d planned to do breakfast making a cook in and eat out of the billy can apple and cinnamon crumble, using dried apple rings, powdered custard and mashed up biscuits. The woodland was awake and full of birdsong and comings and goings as they fed their young.  Light-headed and dazed from lack of sleep, I started a new fire and made a coffee, whittled some hazel to make useful toggles and felt strangely alive and contented. Simon was having a lie in, so I carried on making use of the free time, taking my tent down and packing my sleeping gear away. I knew Simon didn’t really do breakfast so abandoned the apple crumble idea and staved my hunger with a piece of fruit cake made by my dearest.

We spent the rest of the morning leisurely, had a look in a hollow tree trunk to see five baby Great tits and backed off to watch the parents return to feed them, beaks loaded with bright green caterpillars. Both my woodland neighbours arrived later. I had a recipe for cooking eggs in hollowed-out tomatoes and wanted to try that for lunch. Method – cut the top off a large beefsteak tom. and scoop out the seeds and middle. Break an egg into it and season with sea salt and black pepper. Wrap in kitchen foil and place in hot embers to cook for about 15 minutes. Again the fire was hardly sufficient but they turned out well and in fact were delicious. I’ll do those again.

We decided to break camp and pack everything away leaving the rest of the afternoon to try one more new thing – archery. We had both done a short archery experience day and bought a beginners recurve bow kit. My woodland neighbour has also done some and set up a target in his woods and kindly allowed us to use it. He arrived too and we had a first play at being Robin Hood’s merry men. My arrow shots were all over the place, partly because the bow wasn’t set up correctly but mainly because I was crap (must try harder next time). Simon also had a powerful traditional bow which managed to pierce the target and the old wooden shed it was hanging on. Sadly it was a short-lived session, 5pm came around quickly and I needed to get back home for a shower and some home comforts. I was still a little light headed from lack of sleep.

To sum up, the whole weekend was a fatntasic success and one I shall remember for a long time. Great weather, great company, nice food and we learned a lot from it and had fun in the process. Isn’t that how life should be? The main lesson to learn is good fire management if you want to cook. It’s not as simple as putting logs on and hanging your pots over it. Controlling heat to avoid food burning, yet cook correctly, is a real art. You need to create a good bed of embers or coals that will last long enough. I suspect one of the problems was due to the type of wood I was burning – sycamore which burns away to ashes too quickly. It’s the one fuel I have in abundance though. It might be worth me trying to find some seasoned oak or ash to put to one side specifically for cooking. If you’ve read this far, thanks for your interest, leave a comment if you like (it will appear later when I approve it) and if you get the chance to camp in a woodland, it’s highly recommended.  I headed home with a head full of great memories and some nasty mossie bites on my hands, A small price to pay for a priceless weekend.

I admit I’m a rubbish cook but want to improve. Simon suggested making a rissotto with fried scallops. Sounded ambitious to me but he’s done it before. I also wanted to try out my new cast iron Dutch Oven over a fire. Simon started prepping the meal and I made a fire. He made a nice Greek salad for starters. Who said camping in the woods is roughing it? The new table came in handy.

The rissotto consisted of rice, onion, carrot, celery, peas and asparagus tips, topped with fresh paremesan. It took longer to cook than expected and the heat was inadequate by the time we got to frying the scallops. The fire was too young and should have been started earlier in order to build up more hot embers. The meal was delicious though. Here’s my chef working hard. The dutch oven performed perfectly, nothing stuck at all.

Simon has an electronic bat detector which was something else we wanted to try out. As dusk settled, we took a walk with it out to the woodland edge where it joins a farmers field, the sort of area you might expect to find the bats foraging. Nothing on the radar but but it was a beautiful view, looking across the newly ploughed and deeply furrowed field, watching the sun drop below the horizon.

Back to camp and time to kick back around the fire with a few beers for Simon, a bottle of red wine for me and some chillout music from an Ipod docking station. John Martin and a band I can’t remember but had the word Cowboys in it, provided a surreal but relaxing mood. Lots of campfire talk, good laughs and star watching took us effortlessly to 1.30 am when we turned in for the night. I settled quickly and no scary dreams this time. The new camping spot felt good, maybe there was some psychological benefit from nestling between the oak trees – feeling less exposed and safe in the womb of the woodland. O.K. I’m sounding a bit weird but I know some folks will get it and what’s wrong with weird anyway? Some of my best friends could be described that way.

Sleep was a short experience, the woodland alarm clock went off around 4am. Birds were doing their best to wake everything up. I drifted off but by 6am I gave up on sleep and emerged to a beautiful warm and sunny morning. See part three for more woodland fun.

So as not to overload you this will be in three parts. My mate Simon and I had talked about doing an overnighter for the last two years but for numerous reasons, it hadn’t happened. The weekend was looking good so this was it. I arrived early on Saturday and started some preparations. I was on bird-watch too. Nesting is at it’s peak now and I was keen to see which nest boxes were showing activity. I noticed two more since last time but there were two more bonus finds. A blackbird flew out from the back of my logshed, startled as I rummaged around. I thought there might be one nesting in the brash hedge behind it, so was surprised to see it was actually between some old standing logs and the shed.  There were four beautiful blue eggs in the nest. Yes you can only see three here!

I started to “reccie” the woods for a suitable second camping spot for a tent. My usual spot not being big enough for two and anyway you need a bit of personal space. While walking the woods, I spotted another nest wedged in the branches of a beech tree. I could just see a beak poking out of the top. Can you spot it? It’s to the left and pointing left. A song thrush flew out, disturbed by my presence.

It was near here where I found a nice little niche between several small oaks, not far from the main camp area. It was overgrown with brambles but had a nice feel to it and just big enough to accomodate a small tent.  I started clearing it, pulling as many as I could out by the roots. I have a feeling this might become a regular spot for an overnighter.

Simon arrived late morning and we discussed our plans. Although we both like bushcraft and the idea of wild camping, we are novices and the plan was not to make it too difficult. Minimalism was not necessary as we didn’t need to carry our gear far from the cars and we wanted to use the weekend to have some fun and try out various ideas and pieces of kit, using it as a learning experience and we achieved all of that. Just as we were enjoying our first coffee, it started to rain slightly. It reminded me that last time I camped, the evening turned wet and I had no shelter nearby to protect myself and my gear – the tent being too small for anything other than sleeping. Simon wanted to try his new tarp out and I wanted to see where a suitable location might be for future. We pitched the tarp and Simon put his new ex-army tent up. It started to look the business. My tent went up easily in the new location too.

The afternoon passed quickly, some neighbours popped by and we started to think about the evening. See part two for the next installment.

I arrived nice and early yesterday and the sun was out. I knew the woods would have changed significantly since my last visit almost two weeks ago. The canopy has closed over, the groundcover is shooting up and it’s getting to be a pretty dark place in some areas. So many different types of insects were flying and landing all around and there are signs of new life in some of the bird nest boxes. I spotted Blue Tits in and out of three boxes feeding their young. A hollow, low down in a tree, has it’s usual Great Tit residents but the parent was still sitting on the eggs. The bluebells are on their way out, the wild garlic in full flower and the brambles and nettles are outstripping their rivals in the race for light and water. On the whole, it’s an incredibly busy place for nature right now and one of the best times to be there.

The hazel coppice is now a light and sunny place compared to when I first bought the woods. The saplings I transplanted into a nursery area there are looking good and the wild garlic is flourishing here.

After an hour and a half of wandering around my four acre plot, simply observing and taking in the splendour of nature at full throttle, I set-to, finishing the job of re-roofing the shelter with corrugated plastic. I had some tricky pieces to cut and shape around two small oak trees which are corner supports. The plastic is incredibly hard to work with, tending to crack (it’s old but was a gift) and trying to measure and mark the shape to be cut is largely guesswork. Anyhow I got there but it still needs some tweaking, then I can start rebuilding the sides. Will post photos next visit. The mosquitos positively love it, but I kept covered up as much as possible and smeared myself with repellent and I seem to have escaped with no bites this time.

In some areas there are lots of clumps of grass-like plants which are on the increase and looking lush at the moment. I say grass-like because some are sedges and not grass but most people think they are all grasses. I was told a sort of poem to help identify between rushes, sedges and grasses which all look similar but are different species. It’s to do with the shape of the stalks. Rushes around, sedges have edges, and grasses are hollow right up to their knees. (O.K. it doesn’t actually rhyme). A little bit of explanation might help too. Rushes – well they are completely round, all the way up. Sedges are triangular in cross section so have three edges but do look very much like grasses but the lower part of grasses are round and hollow, until they break out into flat leaves and there is a sort of knuckle (like a knee). Now you can sleep easily knowing the difference. It took this photo for ID purposes. There seems to be three different types of plant growing next to each other. The big one in the middle is Wood Sedge I believe. Not sure about the ones either side.

I had a nice surprise in the afternnoon. My eldest daughter and partner came over and we had a packed lunch together. I gave them my usual tour and we filled their car boot with logs for their chimenea back home and some hazel sticks for their allotment. Nice to be able to use some of the products from the coppicing and felling.

I’ll leave you with this shot of the area where I felled the sycamore in winter to create an open coup for replanting with other species. You can see the difference in light levels, between the dense plantation behind and the open area in the foreground (even though it’s in shade in the photos). You can also see the remaining bluebells and the newly emerging ferns. I will need to keep a check on the brambles as they will love the extra light too. Next visit should be a camping trip.

We have been having a heatwave and it was the May carnival in my home town yesterday which meant it would be heaving with visitors. Roads would be choc a bloc and it would attract a number of undesirable youths which seem to be drawn to our town to drink, fight, vandalise and leave rubbish everywhere. So what better day could I have than to escape to my tranquil piece of woodlandy paradise? Amazed at the burst of growth in just one week, I spent the first hour just walking around, discovering what plants are emerging. The sun was streaming through, casting long shadows, spotlighting patches amongst the bluebells which are at their peak now.

In early spring I had noticed a new and large patch of nettle-like leaves under the sycamore plantation. They weren’t the stinging kind so I was curious to see what they would turn out to be. I was delighted to see them starting to flower and identified them as Yellow Archangel. It’s an ancient woodland indicator species. I knew it was present in small quantities in other areas and as it’s one of my favourite woodland plants, I was quite excited to see a large patch of them. They have flourished here like the bluebells and anemones because it’s an area I have been clearing of brambles. The pretty wild garlic or Ramsons are also in flower now.

My shelter has taken a battering and I had started to replace the roof with some clear plastic panels. I was keen to carry on with that and so spent most of the day on that job. It’s in a cool shady area which was a welcome retreat from the 25 degree heat. I’ll post photos when it’s looking more complete. It’s a slow job, shaping the panels to fit around some small standing oak trees which are supporting it. I made a stupid mistake marking and cutting one even thought I observed the “measure twice, cut once” edict.

I took a break for lunch and just listened to the numerous bird songs around me. No sign of activity in and out of nest boxes yet so I guess they are still sitting on eggs. It’s a late spring this year so they have probably delayed laying.  A neighbour arrived with his pal and I gave him a mini tour. More work on the shelter in the afternoon then time to leave (reluctantly). Here’s a few more photos of the woods, surely this must be the most picturesque time of year

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I planned a day when I could take my wife to see the woods in its spring clothes.  Also to meet my good neighbours for the first time. We picked a great day, it was beautifully sunny when we both arrived at the gate at the same time. A quick introduction then unload the car and set up in the sunny area where I camp. Filled the bird feeders and just sat watching them for ten minutes – nuthatches, robins, blue tits, great tits, coal tits and chaffinch. Kettle on and coffee brewing. My neighbours joined us and we chatted, drank coffee and ate cookies in the sun (or at least I did!) How much better can it get?

We had a few small jobs to do but first, a guided tour for my wife. This truly is the best time of year to see the woods. Here we have beautiful Dog Violets and Bluebells mixed with some Dog’s Mercury.

I was given a fantastic present for my birthday from some very good friends of ours. It was a bee “hotel” and I was keen to fix it up in the woods. It is intended for wild solitary bees. They don’t live in colonies and lay their eggs singly, usually in hollow stems, leaving some food and then seal it up with mud. It will be an interesting feature which I can watch for activity. I shall report back in due course.

We ate our tuna sandwiches in the sun and watched the birds again before tackling the next small job. My daughter gave me a woodland flower seed mix at Christmas and I wanted to sow them. I simply scraped back the dead leaves in a couple of areas, scattered the seed and raked them over. It’ll be good to see what comes up. It was a real treat just being able to enjoy the scerenity of the woodland and not too much hard work. I left my wife chilling out for a while whilst I watered the seeds. We packed up, said goodbye to the neighbours and headed home. Another memorable visit in the bag.