Woodlife Trails

I’ve been meaning to check out some new local woods for a while now, but only got the opportunity when some neighbours mentioned that they knew the landowner. They would ask them on my behalf if I could use the woods.

The woods are surrounded by fields, but it doesn’t take long to walk along the edges and access the wood. The first thing I noticed was the similarity to my normal woods. No woodland management, a whole load of fallen branches, and little undergrowth because of the dense tree canopy. There is some evidence of coppicing, but only on the outsides of the wood.

Having a quick look around, I noticed plenty of deer tracks (probably Roe deer) and fox. I also discovered that someone had built a watch ladder. I guessed that no-one had used it for a good 5 years judging by the growth around it and the general state of the structure. The rope had decayed, so I quickly set to work making it safe by renewing the rope. It wasn’t long before I was sitting at the top with a great view of what appeared to be a crossing of 4 animal trails. Someone knew their stuff when they built this.

I had lunch near the edge of the wood. It was a fine day, and I made use of a couple of fallen trees as rests. I tried out how the tarp would fit around the area and slung my hammock. Looking around, I thought this might be an ideal area to construct a semi permanent shelter. A good winter project. This was an exciting prospect. New woods, plenty of fallen wood and trees, and plenty of wildlife to track.

As my attention turned to lunch, I wandered what everyone else has in their ration bag. I take the same sort of stuff every trip (not very adventurous). I always have enough for 24 hours which includes, a tin of beans, a tin of fish, tea and sugar, packet soup, condiments (salt, pepper) packet porridge, cereal bar, nuts and raisins, home made jerky, hygiene wipes and a spoon. I normally take a piece of fruit with me as well. Sometimes I add fresh meat and vegetables, but then I would take the civilian trangia to actually cook on (as opposed to just heating up the food).

For these day trips, I would probably get away with a packed lunch and a thermo flask of tea, as I’m out for only 6-8 hours, but I actually like using the trangia (or where possible an open fire – even better).

I finished the trip with what has now become standard procedure on my small excursions. I fell asleep. I woke up to see a grey squirrel sniffing amongst my belongings. It was so close I could touch it. Out of the many definitions of bushcraft, one has to be being close to nature. Well, you can’t get any closer than this. Ok, so it’s only a squirrel, but I actual felt that I was part of the wildlife in the wood, not just a visitor. Maybe this was a sign that I was welcome here.