I went for a nice wander yesterday in my local wood.
I was just thinking how lucky I was to have such a resource on my door step. I can go up there all day and not see another soul.
The wood and its surrounding feilds and wetland is about 173 acres and have mostly hazel, Ash and Hawthorn.
I have been going up there since I was a small boy and I still find new things.
It was nearly sold to make a golf course but luckily the local people kicked up and the woodland trust stepped in and bought it.
I think they have done a good job so far with 57000 new trees being planted and lots of new habitat creation.
Anyway a few pictures.
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| Collect tinder as you go and dry it out in your pockets |
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| More tinder |
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| Rose Bay Willow herb |
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| A very dry little hollow under a tree. Maybe a future sleeping spot |
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| A Badger set. There is a large population here |
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| One of the 3 ponds. Sticklebacks are in abundance. |
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| Found a nice flint nodule so did a bit of knapping. |
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| A few blades |
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| Collected a few elder wands for drying into hand drills. |
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| My fire site. |
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| Insulation platform. I used elder here becuase it is straight and easy to break. |
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| My little fiskars hatchet. It is brilliant. I Have a GFA but allways use this because i like it. |
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| Nice fire going with ferro rod and dried grass for tinder |
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| cooking nettles for a snack. |
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| chopsticks |
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| Hedge garlic. Not as strong as it usually is for some reason. |
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| Lime buds. |
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| Very tender and tasty |
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| Another experiment |
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| With a bit more carving I reckon I could get half a litre in this one. When i finish and seal it I will post a pic. |
5 comments:
Here you wont find flint just like that at all. The only places to find flint are the old harbour sites at beaches where the ship long ago had flint among other ballast weight and as they loaded ships,they threw rock into beaches and shore waters. You have to know old places to find any flints.
Hey Andy, nice to see what you've been up to. I like how you are integrating bushcraft skills into your time in the woods. Good stuff.
All the best
Paul
http://paulkirtley.co.uk
excellent stuff mate, funny you should mention the Garlic Mustard, i collected some today on a short wander up the lane and it was quite bland compared to previous years, may be because it's early int he season i guess, just gives me an excuse to keep trying it.
Superb looking woods by the way, im off up mine (well my permission) next week for a few days, pics to follow.
I can't imagine living anywhere that I couldn't get into the woods on occasion. I'm glad you've got a place, too.
great post mate. Hoping to get an invite out there some day soon :-)
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