As some of you may know, I am the warden for a Woodland Trust nature reserve. Now, the Woodland Trust do not generally support camping on their land, but on the other hand they do support the public actively using and enjoying their reserves in a responsible way. Having a week off, I came to an agreement with the site manager that I would spend most of a week on site, camping with minimal impact (no open fires) and in the course of the time spent carry out survey work and recording, in line with my role as biodiversity volunteer for the site. I have already built up a level of trust with the manager over the previous 18 months, so the only proviso made was to keep my site low profile so as not to encourage others to camp ad-hoc.
Accordingly, my wife took me the 10 miles to the reserve, and waited whilst I offloaded waaaay too much stuff (such as enough food for a month, and a similar amount of wood already dried and cut to size for my woodburning stove).
Virtually the first thing that happened was that I dropped a water bottle onto the road as I started unloading, and broke it, but that was no disaster. The second was nearly more serious. I slipped going down a hill to where I camped, and hit myself in the leg on an elder tree branch. The result was just a nasty bruise, but a pointed branch would have been much more serious.
I found a flat spot near a stream and close to the resident badger set, and set up.
There was a very handy old fallen tree that made a perfect kitchen area.
The view from my hammock.
Having set up I went for a walk, first checking that my camp was hard to spot.
When I turned around, I saw this chap. His reaction was to sit down, and I eventually got some decent shots. He didn't seem to be in great condition, but on the other hand there has been illegal fox shooting on this site, and at least this chap was still alive. I had the feeling that this was a good omen for the rest of the trip.
The site itself consists of improved grassland that was planted with trees 5-7 years ago and which is now maturing nicely, an ancient arboretum with adjacent orchard and unimproved grassland. I spent a lot of time walking around taking pictures. The following gives some idea of the site.
I took a lot of shots of the wildlife on the site, but I will post those elsewhere. Instead, here are a few more bushy shots:
Aldi tinned cassoulet as my first evening meal. I recommend this if you find it.
Sausages are compulsory
So is bacon
And you have to carve a spoon. I actually carved 4, and a spatula, but this is the best one and I'm pleased with the tooled finish. The tools are what I used, and the wood is rhododendron. Note the much maligned but perfectly serviceable mora spoon knife with nasty pointy tip deliberately snapped off.
There were a few nice sunsets too, and I was conscious of the 'sunlight' theme of the BCUK photo competion for May. I may enter one of the shots below, but there are other candidates that I want to consider.
Here's one for British Red, since there are 5 beehives in the walled garden in the orchard. I had a long chat with the beekepers when they visited to check the hives.
One thing I did want to do was clear an oak log that was down across a fence. I have a wetterlings hatchet and a laplander saw so it took a while, but I got it done.
My site manager visited and checked on me, and was very happy both with my set-up and the cup of earl grey that I made him. We chilled for a bit, and the next day I helped him with a guided walk around the reserve.
By the end of the week I hadn't left the 72 acres of the reserve for six days, and after walking up and down the hills, wading through brambles (the wood that I camped in is hugely overgrown and largely pathless), climbing gates and fences (access between elements of the reserve is limited at the moment as the reserve is still in the development stage), I was completely mellow and utterly exhausted. I took well over 700 photographs, and had a fantastic time. I fell asleep in the sun in the orchard, didn't see a soul for 48 hours, saw my first goshawk, learned the call of a tree pipit, and found trees on the site that I hadn't noticed in the previous 18 months.
The site as I left it.
I learned loads in the process, from wildlife identification, camera use, spoon carving (using green wood makes it so much easier), my camp craft got much better (I was tidier and much better organised), and got a good idea of how much wood that I use on a daily basis. As a bushcrafter, it was just a wonderful trip.
All the same, the most beautiful and wonderful thing that I saw in the whole six days was my wife arriving to pick me up at the end.
Accordingly, my wife took me the 10 miles to the reserve, and waited whilst I offloaded waaaay too much stuff (such as enough food for a month, and a similar amount of wood already dried and cut to size for my woodburning stove).
Virtually the first thing that happened was that I dropped a water bottle onto the road as I started unloading, and broke it, but that was no disaster. The second was nearly more serious. I slipped going down a hill to where I camped, and hit myself in the leg on an elder tree branch. The result was just a nasty bruise, but a pointed branch would have been much more serious.
I found a flat spot near a stream and close to the resident badger set, and set up.
There was a very handy old fallen tree that made a perfect kitchen area.
The view from my hammock.
Having set up I went for a walk, first checking that my camp was hard to spot.
When I turned around, I saw this chap. His reaction was to sit down, and I eventually got some decent shots. He didn't seem to be in great condition, but on the other hand there has been illegal fox shooting on this site, and at least this chap was still alive. I had the feeling that this was a good omen for the rest of the trip.
The site itself consists of improved grassland that was planted with trees 5-7 years ago and which is now maturing nicely, an ancient arboretum with adjacent orchard and unimproved grassland. I spent a lot of time walking around taking pictures. The following gives some idea of the site.
I took a lot of shots of the wildlife on the site, but I will post those elsewhere. Instead, here are a few more bushy shots:
Aldi tinned cassoulet as my first evening meal. I recommend this if you find it.
Sausages are compulsory
So is bacon
And you have to carve a spoon. I actually carved 4, and a spatula, but this is the best one and I'm pleased with the tooled finish. The tools are what I used, and the wood is rhododendron. Note the much maligned but perfectly serviceable mora spoon knife with nasty pointy tip deliberately snapped off.
There were a few nice sunsets too, and I was conscious of the 'sunlight' theme of the BCUK photo competion for May.
I may enter one of the shots below, but there are other candidates that I want to consider.
Here's one for British Red, since there are 5 beehives in the walled garden in the orchard. I had a long chat with the beekepers when they visited to check the hives.
One thing I did want to do was clear an oak log that was down across a fence. I have a wetterlings hatchet and a laplander saw so it took a while, but I got it done.
My site manager visited and checked on me, and was very happy both with my set-up and the cup of earl grey that I made him. We chilled for a bit, and the next day I helped him with a guided walk around the reserve.
By the end of the week I hadn't left the 72 acres of the reserve for six days, and after walking up and down the hills, wading through brambles (the wood that I camped in is hugely overgrown and largely pathless), climbing gates and fences (access between elements of the reserve is limited at the moment as the reserve is still in the development stage), I was completely mellow and utterly exhausted. I took well over 700 photographs, and had a fantastic time. I fell asleep in the sun in the orchard, didn't see a soul for 48 hours, saw my first goshawk, learned the call of a tree pipit, and found trees on the site that I hadn't noticed in the previous 18 months.
The site as I left it.
I learned loads in the process, from wildlife identification, camera use, spoon carving (using green wood makes it so much easier), my camp craft got much better (I was tidier and much better organised), and got a good idea of how much wood that I use on a daily basis. As a bushcrafter, it was just a wonderful trip.
All the same, the most beautiful and wonderful thing that I saw in the whole six days was my wife arriving to pick me up at the end.
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