At the weekend, Mark was good enough to host a meet at his wonderful woods just outside Reading.
Although there was a flat area where the ground dwellers pitched a variety of tarp configurations and tents, I was quite pleased I took the hammock where area selection wasn’t too much of an issue on the slopes of the small hill.
The parachute and the windbreak served us well as the communal fire got going and liquid refreshement started to flow. Particularly refreshing was John’s sloe gin.
After breakfast on Saturday, we all mucked in to prepare the stew. Rabbits were skinned (it was good to have another go at this) and the veg was prepped. Honey and cider were added to the carrots, celery and onions for the stew. The spuds were peeled and put into another couldron.
While the stew was simmering, four of us went tracking. Armed with plaster of paris, the intention was to get some good casts of some tracks. Unfortunately, it was wet underfoot and the intermitant showers had washed out most tracks we saw. We did identify Roe and Muntjac. Rod also later picked up on a Fox trail underneath the leaf litter. Both Rod and Mark are experienced trackers and I was pleased to pick up some more tips.
We followed the small stream in the valley and came across Grey heron and Pheasant tracks. On the muddy sides of the stream we saw tracks that were of our main quest; that of the Water vole. Again they were too washed out to get a cast. Holes in the bank were clear signs that they were resident.
On the way we spooked a Muntjac foal. With four of us it was difficult to walk quietly and it jumped across the stream and away into the wood. A great sight though.
On the way to the lake we tried out some wild plants. Bittercress, young Hawthorn leaves, Wood sorrel and Burdock were all on offer. Some Cuckoo flower (Ladies smock) were just out of reach.
We ended up at the lake and took in the view before walking across the field back to the site.
Just before the stew, George showed us some different ways of firelighting involving flint, steel and either charcloth or rope. I’ll write more about this later.
The stew was as good as it looked. With the addition of mashed potato and Rabbit cooked to perfection, the meal was delicious. The only time when there was silence in the group. The meal was washed down with beer, cider and some brandy to finish it all off. Ben had fashioned an oven out of a large tin and two lots of cakes were produced for pudding. Who says you can’t eat well in the woods?
All too soon, Sunday was upon us and amidst a couple of showers we packed up. We parted with the promise of another moot in the not too distant future.
Thanks to everyone there for a great weekend.
Pablo.
Welcome.
This is the home of Woodlife. You will find links to Pablos Woodlife (blog) the Woodlife Social Network (forum) and Woodlife Trails (courses) all on this page.
Dear Pablo, sorry to be a pain but when reading your web site i have to hilight text the reason for this is if i dont it does not show all of the text and i sort of have to gues at what your saying. So just thought you would like to know other than that what a superb blog and i hope that one day mine could be similar.
Thanks for this Drew. I’ll investigate further.
Pablo, same as Drew – I need to make the text larger in order to read it. I think if you made the text fully white (#ffffff) it would stand out better against the dark background.
I enjoy your blog very much Pablo, and though we live in somewhat different environments ( live across the big pond) the basics are the same. Keep up the good work!
Great write-up Pablo.
Nice pictures too.
It’s hard to beat good food, good friends, and the outdoors.
B
Pablo,
When I scroll up and down the page certain areas of text will disapear. This tends to more prevalent on a page that has a number of photos within it.
Other than that Pablo, great site and a great resource. Thanks. Andrew
The text is fine in Firefox.But the pages scrolling speed is dead slow.
Other-wise MS internet explorer has most of the problems.
.PS. love the blog
…..and there is a bug(Java?) in the polls results.
sorry about this.
……..and in the info tag. The slide show dose not display properly in Firefox.
good write up mate. can’t wait for the next moot.
Nice one Pabs – lovely blog you have here, I often drop in to see what mischief you have been getting up to LOL
Regards
Dave
love it
nice write up pablo, top job
Always intereresting to see your write ups Pab. look forward to seeing you again soon with the Sloe gin
Pablo I really enjoyed your story on Marks moot along with your website I have enjoyed the out the woods for over thirty years and have been out in all 4 seasons in New England It looked like a good time for all. I look forward to future stories. keep up the good work on your knife construction as well. Rich.