Pablo’s Woodlife: Wildlife, Tracking and Bushcraft

The weather turned nasty on Bank Holiday Monday, making the woods a “no-go” on account of the very strong winds, so Mrs P and I decided to take a short trip to West Stow. This is a reconstructed Anglo Saxon village c450 with a small visitor centre.

Braving the elements, we walked around the visitor centre and we were pleased to see that reenactors had taken over the village for the weekend. We were able to take shelter in some of the buildings where a good fire was on the go (and some delicious smelling stew - unfortunately not available to the likes of us).

There were demonstrations of cooking, weaving and weaponry. I took particular interest in the Seaxes (the knives), axes and clothing.

Each person would have a two or three knives on their person. This made me feel better as I normally have the same. They carried a small utility knife called a hadseax (2 -4 inches), a couple of longer knives (also used for fighting) of between 6 and 14 inches. One of these were worn dangling horizontally on a belt in front of the person. The blade would have been uppermost presumably to save the edge.

A spear was used for hunting and was also the primary fighting weapon. In rare cases a long sword was also carried into battle. Bows were used for hunting but rarely used in battle. The “honour” of being face to face with the enemy made the bow virtually redundant apart from larger battles where it was used almost as a “sniper” weapon to pick off vulnerable enemy.

Each tool had a dual purpose, and the axe was no different. Each cutting tool was used for domestic purposes as well as for use for fighting (apart from the sword which was used only in battle by those who could afford one).

The reenactors showed some fighting techniques including the shield wall.

The battle masks were also interesting and copies of some of the helmets showed remarkable workmanship. Mrs Pablo insisted on trying one on in the visitor centre. “Very fetching, dear.”

Each person carried a large leather pouch and sometimes a couple of smaller pouches to carry personal effects and of course flint and steel in the traditional “C” shape for firelighting.

I came away with a small hand forged 2″ seax that I intend to sharpen up, modify slightly and use as a neck knife. The shape is interesting and is described as “broken back” and is based on one or two found on site in the burial areas. This showed how personal they considered the Seax to be. The shape is believed to be more effective for the fighting element as opposed to the utility purpose. Interestingly, Saxon may be derived from Seax making the Saxons “The Knife People”.

The visit has jolted me in to realising that I’m still using a lot of technical kit and clothing and perhaps I should to try out more natural materials (without going around and looking like an Anglo-Saxon reenactor that is). It has also inspired me to have a go at making some more stuff myself. I think I’ll give the mask as miss though!

“Darling, you can take that mask off now. Oh sorry, you have”.

Monday should see a write up of a weekend spent with “The Tribe” in East Sussex. Until then.

Pablo.

At six in the morning, it started. The barking. That annoying 6am barking! The barking that makes even the most avid naturalist shout “Shut up - I don’t care if it is the money shot! Just stop that barking!”

At first I thought it was a muntjac but when I slowly (I’d constrained myself by then) poked my head out from the hood of the bivi bag, I saw 5 fallow deer about 25 yards away. They were looking at me but being a strange hooped bivi bag shape, I don’t think they could tell exactly what I was. I was probably close to their normal morning browsing trail. I noticed a nice dark, almost black, melanistic one amongst them.

There was a mature doe to my right. She was stamping and barking at regular intervals. They say it’s an alarm call. I’m sure it is an alarm call but I also get the impression it’s to try and spook the object of their attantion into movement so they can tell for certain where it is and what it is.

The stand off lasted a good 15 minutes and I managed to get some good footage before they wandered off. All the time I could almost read her mind. “Are you what I think you are?”

After breakfast of bacon, sausages and egg, I made a last check on the main tracks to see what had happended during the night (not a lot it seemed) and made my way back to the car. Forecast for tomorrow - Rain!

Thanks for the visit.

 Pablo

In some posts I refer to my previous Bushcrafting days (well, survival as it was then). This was before I was rudely interrupted by my career and academically making up for lack of concentration and effort at school. Well, most of my old kit has well and truly been disposed of but I keep coming across a few remnants.

Recently, like an archaeologist discovering some long lost buried village, I excavated a familiar looking box from the depths of the attic and excitedly looked inside in the hopes of finding some ancient Bushcrafting artefact.

Half expecting the usual piece of mouldy webbing, I sat back in amazement as I discovered an old notebook, remnants of what looks like a survival kit, my old knife and a pouch. What delight! Should I contact the British Museum?

I examined the pages from the notebook and remembered that I had laboriously copied out most of the pages from Lofty Wiseman’s SAS survival guide into a portable notebook format. (I should have waited – there’s now a pocket version). But there are also a few pages detailing what I carried for those first tentative excursions, which made interesting reading.

I still make lists like this to this day and I was quite surprised at the similarities. I noticed that even then I carried a shoulder bag, which I called a wildlife bag. I remember this being an old maroon coloured camera bag.

I remembered carrying a belt rig with knife, water bottle, large utility pouch and survival pouch. I wouldn’t wear that cumbersome set up today, but of course I still carry a knife and possibles pouch.

My main pack was an old ‘A’ frame Bergen (an old remnant from my time in the services) and now sadly ‘extinct’. I noted that this would have contained (and I quote from the notes…)

“…a poncho (for lean-to), green string, foam lay, machete, sleeping bag, spare clothes/waterproofs, thick jumper, socks, provisions (hydrolised meals), burner (hexamine), extra water-bottle, plastic bag, bungees/rope).”

Mmmmm… No sign of a comfy Thermarest or hammock there! Nor a luxurious Trangia!

I also found the front page of my Adventure training log book (what happened to the rest of it?) which detailed a Mountain Expedition Leadership qualification in (cough) 1983. (God I feel old!) I remember doing this in the Lake District. Ah… the memories come flooding back. We were called “woolly-hatters” by the rest of the Army Physical Training fraternity.

The knife was similar to the one recommended in Lofty’s book and is 5 inches long and almost a Bowie type shape. I can just make out “Solingen” on the blade, which is an area in Germany as famous for its steel as Sheffield is in UK. I can’t make out any other details. The handle is antler. Quite a nice grip actually.

I would probably say that it’s not really a suitable size for my use now, being too short for a decent chopping tool and too long for use as a general Bushcraft knife. I don’t actually remember using it that much at the time perhaps because I had - and still have - a Martindale No2 Golok (another recent find).

The leather pouch? The less said about that the better! A terrible effort at making a compass pouch.

Pablo.

I’ve been laid up with some kind of virus for the last few days, so it was good to get out for a few hours today.

My main mission was to try out some new kit. (That’s what happens when you’re bored at home with only a laptop for company).

First on the test rig was a new tarp. I purchased this from www.genuinearmysurplus.co.uk. Excellent service and only a fraction of the price Mr Mears sells the same ones for at £40. Size wise, it’s exactly the same as my small tarp 2.75m x 1.75m but it is much more flexible with extra ties, poppers and eyelets and of course it’s in Auscam.

I’ve had this Jaavenpaa leuku and puuku set for a few weeks now. I love the sheath system but the jury’s still out with regard to the stainless steel 7in leuko. I’ll do a full review soon, but I think I’ll try and get a carbon version of the leuko at least. There’s already a little dink in the blade and that’s with what I consider normal use.

 

I couldn’t resist this bargain gas burner from the local surplus shop. I’ve seen smaller but for £10 you can’t go wrong. Am I going hi-tech? Well, I couldn’t help being impressed with the speed and cleanliness of the system (I’ve never used a gas burner at all); and of course the ability to vary the flame. I’m not going to ditch the bushbuddy yet though.

While in the surplus shop I picked up some black goretex high leg boots almost brand new for £35. Ideal for next winter. I also picked up two German army shirts for £10. These will be nice and cool but robust for the summer and one of them will be ideal for tracking being flektarn camo (who’s that handsome bloke modelling it?)

No wander in the woods would be complete without the usual sighting of a fox cub or kits as they are sometines called (well, these days it seems to be true). Today was no exception. This little fella was wandering about on his own. Despite following him for a while, I couldn’t locate the earth but it couldn’t have been too far away. Looks like this will be one for another day. I was just content that despite many fox sightings in my little patch, I now know there must be a den as well.

Thanks for the visit.

Pablo.

I’ve been practicing a technique recently which was shown to me by George at the last Reading meet. It involves a piece of cloth like a polish rag or a small bit of rope, a piece of elder or hollow metal tube, flint and a steel.

Firstly, you take the polish rag or rope and twist it through the hollow tube. It helps initially to have the end of the material pre-burned. Make sure there’s enough material pushed through the end of the tube to allow your thumb to press on the material without touching the burned end.

Put the end of the material onto the flint so that the burned part is right on the edge of the flint. Use your striker (or ferro rod) to create some sparks which should land on the burnt end of you material. You can waft the material around a little to get the ember going. There’s no real need to blow on it. All you have to do then is transfer the ember or apply directly to your tinder bundle.

To extinguish the ember, pull the material down into the tube and put your thumb over the top to starve the ember of oxygen.

This is a pretty good way to carry around ember making material and a small version could go in a survival tin or possibles pouch.

My video below also shows the technique.

Pablo.

Weatherwise, it’s been a fantastic week. This weekend was the same and next week looks good as well. The temperature has been in the mid 20’s centigrade with bright sunshine.

I’ve had a great week going out most evenings and, of course over the weekend. I had a little more success with the badgers, filming 2 adults and two cubs.

I also spotted this little lapwing chick well camouflaged in amongst the ruts left by four-wheel drive vehicles.

I had a wander around some new woods. I’ll talk about these woods in more detail later. I was content on this ocassion to meander along the pathways and explore the new areas. On my travels I spotted fallow deer, a pair of munjac and a lone fox cub. I found myself a nice sit spot and had a brunch of bacon, egg and beans.

The woods are vibrant with new growth. Bugle and ground ivy covers the woodland floor but there’s also scarlet pimpernel, early-purple orchids and doves-foot cranesbill.

This year I’m not just trying to identify wildflowers, but trying more to understand their medicinal and edible properties. I plucked some leaves of this garlic mustard to complement a salad. It tastes like garlic too but it doesn’t have the long lingering after taste of normal garlic.

Of course, the ever present nettles are pretty versatile as well, particularly the young leaves.

Thanks for the visit.

Pablo.