My good friend Phil offered to help me at the woods yesterday. I bought some plastic guttering to catch rainwater from my newly rebuilt shelter roof. It will be handy to have some on site for watering newly planted saplings. It was useful having a second pair of hands but sadly we couldn’t finish it because one of the sections had a broken piece which needs replacing, so photos will follow when finished.

Phil offered to help splitting some of the big logs that were felled last winter. Whilst I got on with the job of bagging up logs to sell, he set-to and in an hour or so of hard work, had produced a pile big enough to fill about six wheelbarrows full which we stacked in a new location for seasoning. I plan to buy a plastic tarp to cover it properly.

My lovely neighbours over the border have decided to buy another plot which adjoins their existing one and which is below mine on the approach. I’m very pleased that they have bought it because I know they will look after it well and be sensitive with any changes they make to it. Not all small woodland owners are so inclined. We had a walkabout to view it and it’s an interesting one. A nice mix of broadleaf species of different stages of growth. There’s a hollow where small scale quarrying has been done way back which often fills with water. It would be fantastic if they could develop it further as a more permanent pond which would attract lots of wildlife.

My trail camera produced nothing but grey squirrels and one small rabbit. I had repositioned it slightly hoping the fox would come back and leave me with some more shots but no. Some of the night shots had only run for two seconds for some reason (maybe battery running low) so there might have been one around but not captured. I need to experiment some more.

I had little time left in the day for photography but I’ll leave you with some amazing scenes. Last week, Phil and my other playmate Simon visited Skipton Woods – a Woodland Trust woodland. They have two willow scultpures at the moment; a female archer and a horse. They sit fantastically in their forest setting and wouldn’t it be cool to have such a thing in your own woodland?