Hi everyone I am new to this site and a UK user. AS many of you seem to be from the UK could anyone tell me of their bushcraft experience in the UK in particular where you can stay in wild country and litting a campfire for warmth, food and...telling campfire stories. Because I always heard that fires were not allowed or you had to ask permision for them (how do you ask permission and to whom?). I have some wilderness camping experience but not in the UK. Thanks for any information from the UK bushcraft experienced!
Looking for advice on where to go where fires are allowed
- Thread starter evenk
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Yep, wild camping it technically illegal without the landowners permission. IF you are interested in wild camping then your best bet would be to search for it on the web as there are a few sites that go into it.
Your best bet is to find a friendly land owner and ask very nicely if you can camp on their land. I have two small woodlands that I use that are owned by a farmer ( I knocked on his door after asking around) and a friend of mine. Some scout sites will sometimes allow non scouts to camp on their sites but the rules on fires is very strict.
I would advise you to avoid having fires unless you have gained the landowners permission. Asking around is the best thing to do. Maybe a call to your local bushcraft/survival school would be helpful for advice on where to start searching in your area.
In more populated areas you could also come unstuck with having fires on the beach as the local bylaws will cover such things and they can be different in different parts of the UK
I know that compared to some other parts of the world the UK is very restrictive, but it is possible to find people that will allow you some freedom on their land, seek and you will find
That's the beauty of bushcraft, there is so much to it that fires are just a small part :biggthump
Hope this helps
Your best bet is to find a friendly land owner and ask very nicely if you can camp on their land. I have two small woodlands that I use that are owned by a farmer ( I knocked on his door after asking around) and a friend of mine. Some scout sites will sometimes allow non scouts to camp on their sites but the rules on fires is very strict.
I would advise you to avoid having fires unless you have gained the landowners permission. Asking around is the best thing to do. Maybe a call to your local bushcraft/survival school would be helpful for advice on where to start searching in your area.
In more populated areas you could also come unstuck with having fires on the beach as the local bylaws will cover such things and they can be different in different parts of the UK
I know that compared to some other parts of the world the UK is very restrictive, but it is possible to find people that will allow you some freedom on their land, seek and you will find
That's the beauty of bushcraft, there is so much to it that fires are just a small part :biggthump
Hope this helps
Very wise advice Tony.
It does seem strange that we live in a country where everyone is petrified of having fires, we seemed to be so condition into thinking that if we have a fire anywhere we will then be sent to have a chat with Satan.
If we look at some simple evidence it should show that there is no reason why we are all so terrified of having a small fire.
Many woodsmen are instructed to burn all of the brash that is left over from coppicing, hurdle making and any other woodland skill. I bluntly refuse to burn anything in the woodland, not because of the fire risk but purely because your destroying the carbon cycle that a wood depends upon and not only that you will end up with a sterilised patch where the fire has been and this patch is prime real estate for invasive species like Bramble, Birch and Sycamore which will run riot throughout the woodland..................whoops, I was going off on one then!
Anyway, the point is that it is impossible to set fire to English woodland. When was the last time you heard of a woodland on fire? Well, your answer should, never and you would be right. It is a fact ( and you can prove this to yourself) that our trees just don’t burn, any piece of wood/log/pole that is over 4 inches in diameter is fire proof. You have a better chance of setting water on fire. The stuff is fire resistant. Ask anyone who has bought a ton of firewood that is green – it just doesn’t burn. So, I can safely say that it is safe to have fire within the woodland.
If you remember back to before the late 80’s we used to have stubble burning. This was the art of setting fire to the straw that was left over after harvest had finished. There was a time when this was allowed. Basically, after the combine has cut the corn it separates the corn from the husk and holding the husk up is a stalk and the stalk is straw. This is ejected out of the back of the harvester after it been through the system and the corn has been removed. Thousands upon thousands of tonnes of unwanted straw just had diesel poured onto it and then you would just add a match – no more straw.
This went on throughout the country but is now banned. Point being, our farmers/landowners would just set fire to our countryside without a care in the world but no one died from it, no one had the whole of their farm land/woodland destroyed by this practice, well, the add tractor and combine went up in flames.
There is nothing to fear from having a fire in this country.
My advice is stick to the Countryside Code and you won’t go FIRE wrong!
Jack.
It does seem strange that we live in a country where everyone is petrified of having fires, we seemed to be so condition into thinking that if we have a fire anywhere we will then be sent to have a chat with Satan.
If we look at some simple evidence it should show that there is no reason why we are all so terrified of having a small fire.
Many woodsmen are instructed to burn all of the brash that is left over from coppicing, hurdle making and any other woodland skill. I bluntly refuse to burn anything in the woodland, not because of the fire risk but purely because your destroying the carbon cycle that a wood depends upon and not only that you will end up with a sterilised patch where the fire has been and this patch is prime real estate for invasive species like Bramble, Birch and Sycamore which will run riot throughout the woodland..................whoops, I was going off on one then!
Anyway, the point is that it is impossible to set fire to English woodland. When was the last time you heard of a woodland on fire? Well, your answer should, never and you would be right. It is a fact ( and you can prove this to yourself) that our trees just don’t burn, any piece of wood/log/pole that is over 4 inches in diameter is fire proof. You have a better chance of setting water on fire. The stuff is fire resistant. Ask anyone who has bought a ton of firewood that is green – it just doesn’t burn. So, I can safely say that it is safe to have fire within the woodland.
If you remember back to before the late 80’s we used to have stubble burning. This was the art of setting fire to the straw that was left over after harvest had finished. There was a time when this was allowed. Basically, after the combine has cut the corn it separates the corn from the husk and holding the husk up is a stalk and the stalk is straw. This is ejected out of the back of the harvester after it been through the system and the corn has been removed. Thousands upon thousands of tonnes of unwanted straw just had diesel poured onto it and then you would just add a match – no more straw.
This went on throughout the country but is now banned. Point being, our farmers/landowners would just set fire to our countryside without a care in the world but no one died from it, no one had the whole of their farm land/woodland destroyed by this practice, well, the add tractor and combine went up in flames.
There is nothing to fear from having a fire in this country.
My advice is stick to the Countryside Code and you won’t go FIRE wrong!
Jack.
Many thanks to everyone who answered my query. This problem is never mentioned in survival and bushcraft books as if it was the simplest thing in the world to just go off and live in the wild. I will do as you suggest. I always fear that if you ask landownwers they will think you are bonkers :-D !, loonies from London!
Jack,
I manage woodland; we are coppicing and burning everything in the wood. Could you tell me more about the effects on the carbon cycle?
Unfortunately my logs come from the wood, and they are green and wet! They do burn, but takes a good half-hour of roasting for them to go up.
I manage woodland; we are coppicing and burning everything in the wood. Could you tell me more about the effects on the carbon cycle?
Unfortunately my logs come from the wood, and they are green and wet! They do burn, but takes a good half-hour of roasting for them to go up.
Jack
English woodland might not burn but Welsh certainly does. There are large patches of the Forestry plantations on the hills near me that were burnt out last summer, of course these are spruce etc. Suspect similar plantations in England would burn under similar conditions :-?
English woodland might not burn but Welsh certainly does. There are large patches of the Forestry plantations on the hills near me that were burnt out last summer, of course these are spruce etc. Suspect similar plantations in England would burn under similar conditions :-?
Aha Jack so there's a finer point of definition here...always good to learn stuff like that.
I'm certainly much more careful (paranoid) about fire management if I'm up in amongst the spruces etc, OK so it's great to be able to get your kindling etc by reaching out to the trunk of any tree, but don't want my cuppa to burn down a hill-side of trees...these forests (?) do provide a home for a wide range of wildlife some of which you won't see in, ahem, woodlands.
I'm certainly much more careful (paranoid) about fire management if I'm up in amongst the spruces etc, OK so it's great to be able to get your kindling etc by reaching out to the trunk of any tree, but don't want my cuppa to burn down a hill-side of trees...these forests (?) do provide a home for a wide range of wildlife some of which you won't see in, ahem, woodlands.
OK, wildlife I've seen which lives in the forests of planted conifers growing on the hilltops in South Wales? Still not sure whether my terminology is tripping me up here though....
Crossbills, Nightjar, Goshawk, Redpoll and most of the more common birds although things like Goldcrest are more easily seen in the conifers, IME. The first four I've only seen (in my area) in the conifer plantations (what is the right terminology? :-? ) Without the Foresty Commision unwittingly providing it I doubt Goshawk would have found suitable habitat to breed in. Ravens do well in these forests but that may be an accident of geography since they tend to be on the hills.
Mammals: Fox, Badger, Hare, Fallow Deer, Rabbit, Grey Squirrels, Shrews and other small rodents (although most of the evidence I've got of those is from Owl pellets)
I have lots of fun wildlife watching etc up in these forests. In fact I've found a great way to guarantee to get good views of foxes hares etc, leave the camera at home
Crossbills, Nightjar, Goshawk, Redpoll and most of the more common birds although things like Goldcrest are more easily seen in the conifers, IME. The first four I've only seen (in my area) in the conifer plantations (what is the right terminology? :-? ) Without the Foresty Commision unwittingly providing it I doubt Goshawk would have found suitable habitat to breed in. Ravens do well in these forests but that may be an accident of geography since they tend to be on the hills.
Mammals: Fox, Badger, Hare, Fallow Deer, Rabbit, Grey Squirrels, Shrews and other small rodents (although most of the evidence I've got of those is from Owl pellets)
I have lots of fun wildlife watching etc up in these forests. In fact I've found a great way to guarantee to get good views of foxes hares etc, leave the camera at home
Justin Time said:OK, wildlife I've seen which lives in the forests of planted conifers growing on the hilltops in South Wales? Still not sure whether my terminology is tripping me up here though....
Crossbills, Nightjar, Goshawk, Redpoll and most of the more common birds although things like Goldcrest are more easily seen in the conifers, IME. The first four I've only seen (in my area) in the conifer plantations (what is the right terminology? :-? ) Without the Foresty Commision unwittingly providing it I doubt Goshawk would have found suitable habitat to breed in. Ravens do well in these forests but that may be an accident of geography since they tend to be on the hills.
Mammals: Fox, Badger, Hare, Fallow Deer, Rabbit, Grey Squirrels, Shrews and other small rodents (although most of the evidence I've got of those is from Owl pellets)
I have lots of fun wildlife watching etc up in these forests. In fact I've found a great way to guarantee to get good views of foxes hares etc, leave the camera at home
Ok Justin.
But you get my point. If we look at the history of plantations then it soon becomes evident that they haven’t be here for long. 400 years ago the Navy was concerned about the supply of timber for their fleet. This is the beginning of a new form of woodland management. The plantation was born. Plantation does is exactly what it says on the tin, trees are planted, new ‘woodland’ is formed as opposed to the natural regeneration and the coppice system.
The first plantations were Oak and Beech, then in the Victorian era it was Larch and Scots Pine and now most of our plantations are a mix of Sitka and Norway Spruce (the latter being our Christmas tree), Douglas Fir etc etc. It is interesting to note that the FC are now looking to revert these PAWS ( Plantations on Ancient Woodland Sites) back into broadleaved woodland.
Our woodlands are in fact, the most diverse habitat outside of the tropics..........., a rather frightening thought that.
Our woodlands are this diverse purely because of the presence of so many different forms flora and fauna ( hate that term) and they come with age. For a woodland to be fully laden with wildlife you need to have all four components that make up a woodland in place and they are :
Ground layer
Field layer
Scrub layer
Canopy layer.
The majority of plantations have two of these missing ( I will let you spot which two) so by association, you are missing the vast majority of wildlife as they depend upon these layers for survival. But why are they missing? Think about it.
The woodland I work, has, to date, 39 species of wildflower, 23 species of wild birds. This woodland is only about 25 acres in size so we are obviously missing most of the raptors. Foxes, and especially Badgers nearly out number the trees! I have never known so many sets in one wood. The next coppice wood that I will be moving to is part of a woodland that is over 600 acres so, in theory, we should see more flora and fauna. The woodland is fascinating as it has everything in it:
Plantations of
Oak
Beech
Chestnut
Sitka and Norway Spruce
Douglas Fir
Corsican Pine
Scot Pine
Coppice.
Hazel
Chestnut
Ash
Oak
Pollards
Beech
Oak
Ash.
It has secondary woodland, new plantations and a whole host of archaeology...............it’s a god forsaken place, but somebody has to work there!
Perhaps we will move this thread to the Woodland section as it is quite relevant. And you are a privileged man to see Goshawks I have never seen one in Dorset, I think mainly because they require such huge, quite territories and we just don’t have that sort of habitat in Dorset. Bearing in mind the fact that the Gos was wiped out in the early part of the 19th century and only started to make a come back in the sixties, then you most be really pleased to see them, I most get to Wales one day soon.
Best wishes.
Jack.
To come back to the question of fires in the wilderness I just wanted to ask one more question to Tony:
- you mention "your local survival/bushcraft school". I haven't heard about the existence of such "local" schools, I thought you could count bushcraft schools on the fingers of one hand for the whole country (and for any other country for that matter).
To Jack: I agree with you about fires damaging the balance of the forest. In any case it leaves this burnt spot on the ground. Even my methylated spirit- operated stove leaves one on the ground and I always feel sorry that it seems we humans seem unable to live in nature without destroying something, even when making themselves a cuppa with a little stove...
Regards,
- you mention "your local survival/bushcraft school". I haven't heard about the existence of such "local" schools, I thought you could count bushcraft schools on the fingers of one hand for the whole country (and for any other country for that matter).
To Jack: I agree with you about fires damaging the balance of the forest. In any case it leaves this burnt spot on the ground. Even my methylated spirit- operated stove leaves one on the ground and I always feel sorry that it seems we humans seem unable to live in nature without destroying something, even when making themselves a cuppa with a little stove...
Regards,
evenk said:
Local would mean the closest one to you, which could be very close, or not! There are quite a few schools in the UK (30ish) and we will be getting a list of them up on the site quite soon. Some of the schools have been around a long time, I think Woodlore has been around for about 20 years and from there they come down in age. There really are some excellent schools out there. Be cautious though because there are also some that might not be such a good choice. Make sure that the school is going to give you what you are looking for, a bit of research is always useful.
Jack,
I had great fun volenteering (sp?) to help clear a section of plantation from a natural woodland with bowsaws. Great fun! Do it!
I had great fun volenteering (sp?) to help clear a section of plantation from a natural woodland with bowsaws. Great fun! Do it!
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