Woodlife

No pictures today?

No, there’s no pictures today and I’ll tell you why. Predicting a flurry of spring activity, on Sunday I took the hammock and camera specifically to film the exploding progress of spring. I started by tracking down the tapping of a woodpecker. Realising that the tapping was coming from inside of a tree, I settled down and waited anxiously for the incumbent to appear. A blink of an eye and a flash of red, black and white and the Greater-spotted woodpecker flew out of the hole and up to the tree line only disappear across the fields never to return that afternoon.

Undaunted, I visited the marshy area of East wood and crept up on a Moorhen and a pair of Mallards enjoying the warm rays of the sun streaming through the trees. Up went the camera, off swam the Moorhen and away flew the Mallards. I was beginning to think that this was not my day. This was confirmed when a Green Woodpecker refused to pose, and even the usually patient pheasant squawked noisily away with a loud flapping of wings that warned every other living creature in the vicinity of my presence.

Cursing the bird life, I decided set up the DD Hammock and followed the example set by the insect life. I spread myself out and warmed myself in the sun.

I like the postman

I bumped into the Postman today. “Ah, Pablo”, he said. “I’ve got a parcel for you. I think it contains your new Hammock, a Nanok Endurance -10 sleeping bag, some Maya sticks and a box of heat gel.” “Excellent,” says I. He was absolutely right. I wonder how he knew.

Sleeping bags and women’s logic

I spent a while playing with the new sleeping bag in the house last night. It wasn’t until I had nearly exhausted myself trying to neatly fold the bag back into the stuff sack when Mrs Pablo, who was sitting on the stairs grinning, said, “What’s the bag you’re trying to get it into called?” “A stuff sack,” I replied. [Pause] I looked at her for a few seconds, and then resumed my flurry of activity, this time literally stuffing the bag into the stuff sack. The bag, being expelled of air as I stuffed it in, easily went into the sack. Women’s logic, eh?

Spring clean

I’ve given the site a bit of a spring clean. There’s a new link to my videos on the right, which includes one I made on Sunday about setting up a DD hammock. I’ve put in a Kit Pics area, which I hope to update regularly with err…pics of kit

24 hour excursion

The sunny, warm, spring weather continues across the UK. With night temperatures expected to rise over the weekend, I’m off to the woods on Friday for a 24 hour excursion. If the straps for the new hammock don’t arrive, I’ll probably just use a bivvi bag and the new Nanok for a bit of ground dwelling. See you after the weekend for a report on how it went.

See you soon, Pablo.