A trip to the secret wood!

I came across this place by accident in a rather weird place.

An old campfire site. The place has been used sometime in the past

An old hide.

Birch Polypore

Sheep sorrel

Not much water about,unless you know where to look.

I wanted to test the birch to see if the sap had started flowing yet. Its a bit cold still but worth a try. Shame i didnt have a knife. However i did find dome old thick glass.

And some slate

A few wacks with a rock and i had a small blade.

Just an exploratory slice. Not sap yet, but a definite increase in moisture.

I tested out my slate axe on a dead stem because i didnt want to damage the living tree more than needed.

One hit from the axe opened quite a bit hole. However you do lose alot of material with every hit.

Someone has been collecting birch bark.......

A fungus used for tinder when dry.

A really old can, I reckon about 20+years old. Also a cooking pot.

A nice robin red breast in the snow.

I was waiting to get some pictures of foxes in the snow and saw this little guy watching me.

Some interesting sign.

A scuff of strange white stuff.

Deep prints.

A deep scrape on the rock.

The answer................

A horse and rider.

The first picture is when the horse walked across the rock and slipped leaving a smear of hoof material.

The last picture is a scrape from the horseshoe. Something like this does not cnaturally.

The sign was under a beech tree. I knew there was a rider because a bracnch had been broken at head height to clear the way for the rider.

Good fun.

Weighted spring snare

 Hello,

I was out in the woods with a friend today and we decided to have some trapping practice while waiting for the coffee to boil. We made this trap for fun and would not use it as it is illegal.

It is a  snare using a pivot attached to a tree to lift it off the ground. Quite effective.

The trigger is two notches that fit together.

The heavy limb acts as a weight and keep the system under tension.

The noose here is paracord. It would be better to use wire.

This is one of the people who inspires me.

A true primitive in modern times, fantastic.

http://livingprimitively.com/

Abo

Wicker fish trap.

I came across this tutorial and thought I would put a link up. This guy is a legend. His arts and crafts are breath taking and he is a nice bloke to boot.

http://www.bushcraft.ridgeonnet.com/basicbasket.htm