Competition - 1000 posts milestone

[Elen Sentier]

Oooops! forgot to say what was in the bag - it was horse hair (from a friend's ride/drive horse), birch bark (from my own tree) and flint.

 

[copper_head]

Elen re the pyrites use in bush craft, it can be used as the 'steel' in a flint and steel fire set. Although unsurprisingly the sparks it generates are pretty poor in comparison.

 

[Elen Sentier]

Elen re the pyrites use in bush craft, it can be used as the 'steel' in a flint and steel fire set. Although unsurprisingly the sparks it generates are pretty poor in comparison.

Ta muchley - may try sometime.

 

[Elen Sentier]

I froze because I wasn't sure at first all I could see was a couple of inches of snake sliding across my boot! Once he moved a bit further I saw it was just a grass snake and breathed again.
Colin

I'm not usually afraid of adders, might be if I found myself nose to nose with a cross one as an eye bite wouldn't be funny. Adders don't usually succeed in doing much damage to adults unless they're sick or weak. Small animals, terrier-size dogs, and small children can be very ill or die. This is useful info ...

If (note: it says "if") an adder injects venom when it bites, it can cause serious symptoms including:

• redness and swelling in the area of the bite
• nausea (feeling sick)
• vomiting
• dizziness

This is a female adder eating a rat - so you can see her markings well.

 

[TurboGirl]

We have a lot around here and I'm always amazed to see how different their colourings can be, maybe it's different light... but we get a lot of roadkill ones and sadly last year, a partially run over one which was still alive :S I'm afraid I ran over it again on the way back as a mercy and to prevent curious walkers (there's many kids stroll along that particular route) from becoming victims of a death throe.... still unsure if I did the right thing and it was certainly done with regret.