Learning about the woodlands - One for you Jack

[Lithril]

Jack been reading quite a few of your posts on here recently and you definately have a much higher appreciation and understanding of our woodlands than a lot of people. Do you ever have people down and show/share some of that? You're actually not that far from me and would be great to spend some time with someone who has a true love the woodlands.

 

[Ed]

Jack runs workshops/courses from his site www.woodlandorganics.com A few of us mods went on his hurdle making course and I can honsetly say it was excellent. We learned not just about hurdles, but about woodland.... its history, ... and all packed into a weekend. Jack is a good charismatic teacher (which you can probably tell from his posts) which is a rare thing these days... There are many out there with the knowledge, but few who have the ability to pass it on.....

Ed

 

[theknight]

Absolutely! I would love to come as I have often read and enjoyed
his wonderful ( rants) and insights into woodlands and have been
enlightened and inspired many times. Writer's wonderfully well and I always look
forward to reading his posts................come on, that has got to get me an invite!

But seriously, would love to know more and would certainly be very interested in spending a day or two with you chaps and getting the real feel of the woods from someone who is touched by them for real!

TK

 

[Lithril]

Thats what I was thinking, more a woodland appreciation course for want of better words. Come on Jack you know you want to :-D

 

[Jack]

Thank you all for your kinds words and thanks for all the PM's I get as well and I am glad that you gain something from this section as this is truly what the BCUK site is all about :notworthy

I am expecting some leaf samples from Bear Stone through the post any day now as he is stuck on knowing what type of Holly he has got so it is on it's way down to me, to see if we can identify it. He did a wonderful job of describing it and it sounds like it is a exotic so we will keep you posted on that one!

Getting back to Lithril question, the answer is yes and we usually have people/students/ groups out on a weekly bases and tomorrow I am talking to the Wimborne Historical Trust and most weeks throughout the winter I am talking ( or boring people to death) somewhere. People are interested in the woodlands, honestly!

I think it's time that the members of BCUK went on tour and one of the stops could be us, what do you have in mind? I will also give it some thought.

Best wishes.

Jack.

 

[Lithril]

Cheers Jack, I know in the back of my mind what I'm after its trying to put into words. I suppose at the end of the day it would be nice to be out in the woods and start spotting the little things which make the grand picture instead of walking through and just seeing the grand picture. I think it would be nice to know what to look for and where.

An example being for me is coppicing, I knew about coppicing but never really took much notice. Recently went out into some woods near me where I've walked many times and saw evidence of extensive coppicing, plenty of plants underfoot (some I did recognise as simlar to Aqua Legia (sp?) maybe the odd coniferous tree scattered. As I walked further into the woods there was almost and invisible partition as the this section of the woods ended and it turned into a heavy coniferous plantation, most of the ground covering plants also ended here which I presume is due to the dense foliage and acidic soil. Throughout the woods there are patches of Coppicing/Broadleafed trees and then plantations with no visible pattern (although I would like to see an aerial photo).

I was actually embarrassed that I've walked here so many times and didn't really pay enough attention to notice this (and you didn't even need to look for this), the more I see, the more I love the woodlands. You can learn a lot from books but having someone with a true passion for the woodlands point out what they're looking at would be invaluable.

Sorry long winded I know, I'd go and have a large cup of coffee now to wake yourself up

 

[Justin Time]

Lithril
I've had a similar experience, years as a birdwatcher meant that I could walk through a forest, much of the time looking upwards, and identify a multitude of birds by sight, sound, behaviour. Then one day I realised I couldn't tell what kind of trees I was looking through and it kind of spiralled out of control from there. Started looking at the wild flowers etc etc. Went on a Woodlander course with Woodsmoke and when I got back discovered that a walk which took me an hour before was up to three hours easy because there was so much to pay attention to.

I'm sure that realisation that there is stuff to attend to is key, a course can help but learning what's what and how to see things is a personal thing, and bloody great fun too.

and then you start noting the animal sign......

 

[bothyman]

I found this website helpful with this sort of thing.
It has been mentioned before but just incase you have missed it.
It made me look at my daily walk in the woods from a different angle.
Hopefully it will help you.

>>> http://wmuma.com/tracker/index.html

 

[Roving Rich]

That sounds like a great plan. I like lithrils idea of a woodland appreciation weekend. It would be great to walk the woods with you Jack.
And if you are ever up this way (South Bucks) it would be great to show you my favourite Woods and hedgerows.
How about it Jack?
Rich

 

[al]

if anyone is ever in the suffolk area i`d recomend a trip here http://www.wildlifetrust.org.uk/suffolk/nr/sites/brad.htm hopefully we` will be moving back to suffolk this year or early next, cheers al