Diary of a man and his woodland

A blog about a man's dream to own a small woodland.

Tag Archives: fungi


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Fantastic day in the woods – first tree of the winter felled

Various fungi on silver birch stump – plus a bit of my leg!

It’s about five weeks since the last visit but good news! Both lanes on the A1 are open again and no queueing, though it’s a 40mph limit but that means I can start going more regularly, even mid week. The weather forecast looked good so I went yesterday with a small list of jobs to do. First, as always, have a walkabout to see what’s changed, take some photos and assess any storm damage. Just one dead tree blew over but is currently hung up but no danger. Lots of nice fungi on dead trees. This one is now called Jelly Ear but was previously Jews Ear and grows on dead Elder branches.

Next job, light a fire. At this time of year it’s always welcome. It just feels so good to make one and get a kettle boiling for the first brew.

Next, refit the wheel to my wheelbarrow. Last time I came it was flat, so I took it off and back home to fit a new inner tube. So it’s back in action and a very essential tool for the woods.

I needed to top up my log pile at home so filled three big trugs. Doesn’t seem much of a job but I inspect each log and brush them to remove insects and and cobwebs as I don’t really want to be taking critters home but occasionally an odd hibernating moth or Queen wasp will appear in the lounge!

I have been sorting stuff out in my cellar workshop back home and found this old grindstone. I bought it a few years ago on a car boot sale, recognising it might be useful for the woods, then forgot about it. Before power tools, this would have been an extremely useful tool. I took it and seeing as my axe had a few small chips on the edge, thought I would have a go at sharpening it. Now I wouldn’t use it on any of my expensive axes which require very special attention but this old axe is just for rough work in the woods. It worked pretty well, though it’s missing the guide where the screw is which is to rest the blade on to give a more consistent grind. I think I removed it for some reason so need to rummage through all my bits and pieces to find it, or make one.

Last job was to have a go at felling a small diameter tree by hand using a bow saw and axe. I have done it before. It’s hard work but I wanted some fresh “green” logs to take home for craft projects – spoons, shrink pots etc. and wasn’t worth bringing the chainsaw. I guess the tree was about 6-7 inches diameter where I cut it which doesn’t sound much but it takes some sawing through. Although a skinny tree compared to the others, it was just as tall, maybe about 40-50 feet. This is part of my ongoing management plan to thin out this area of sycamore. To be honest as far as timber is concerned, most of it is no good for anything other than firewood but I am using some of it for small craft items which it is a very nice wood for. In an ideal world and if I was younger, I would clear fell this area and replant with a mixture of different broadleaf species to bring it more into line with the rest of the wood.

So, camper van loaded up with woody goodies and ready for home. I’ll leave you with a few more photos from the walkabout.

I think this is a grey squirrel drey high up in a beech tree.


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I have a woodland pond now

The weather has taken an upturn and we are having a mini Indian Summer. There was fog when I set off from home at 6.30am but by the time I reached the woods, it was almost gone. Just a hint of Autumn mist and low sunlight gave me some nice photo opportunities. My early walkabout produced some interesting ones. These weird things are called Dead Man’s Fingers. A tiny fungi growing on a mossy dead stick, they are only about 40mm high.

These are small Common Puffballs, looks like one was a meal for something

and we know what kind of creature made this beautiful web

My main aim was to continue the pond build. Last time I came to a halt when I hit limestone rocks, so I took a pick-axe and pulled out some hefty pieces. The pond is designed to have different levels – a shallow end which will have small stones protruding for small birds and insects to land on to drink and bathe. A deepish end that will resist freezing up, so that anything living in the water can find refuge. I smoothed the harder contours with sand then lined it with some old hessian sacking to protect the plastic liner from sharp objects. Hard to see in the contrasty light but here’s the hole – about 1.5 metres diameter.

The liner was placed in and pushed down into the hollows. The stones held it loosely in place while I started to fill with water from my water butt which was full. I sprinkled a small amount of fine soil into some of the hollows, this will give insect larvae somewhere to burrow into.

I sat for a while just enjoying watching the water slowly finding it’s way into the nooks and crannies of the liner, eagerly anticipating the the time when it will become a finished pond.

As it slowly filled, I took a walk to bring some more rocks, old tree stumps and a nicely weathered branch to act as a perching point for birds and small mammals. When the pond is full, the branch will dip into the water and also act as a ramp for anything which might need to crawl out, as the shiny plastic sides will be too slippery. Finally the barrel was empty and the pond was about half full. I will leave the pond as it is for a while to allow the liner to settle.  I need some heavy rain now to refill the barrel to top it up. Eventually I will trim back the plastic edges, cover them with rocks, tree stumps and plant a few things around it to make it look more natural. At the moment it’s an ugly piece of plastic with water in it but soon it will be made to look good. Then wait for wildlife to find and use it. I guess they won’t wait for me to finish it though.

I still had some time left and took a break to take more photos. I spotted a dragonfly circling around a sunny spot, sparkling like a golden jewel. It repeatedly landed on a dead twig to bask in the afternoon sun. I crept as close as I could and with the lens at full zoom I bagged this lovely shot. I think the dragonfly is a Common Darter.

The trail camera showed over 900 clips! That was going to take some wading through. Most of them were useless 2 second shots instead of the 15 seconds it should produce. I think it’s a problem with the batteries but I did salvage some nice shots. What it showed me though was how much small wildlife is benefiting from the bucket of water I left. Birds, mice, squirrels are coming to drink and bathe in this small oasis. That knowledge gives me a warm feeling, to know that my small efforts are helping these little lives to survive in the very dry summer we have had. If you can’t build a pond, then just leaving a tray or bowl of water in your woods or gardens is going to be worthwhile. When I get time to edit the camera shots I’ll post a link to it.