Another wonderful bright spring day, although there’s still quite a cold north easterly wind. A couple of late frosts last week hasn’t dampened nature’s need to push the buds of spring through. The floor of the wood looks like a green mist has descended, while in patches the mist rises up to form isolated pockets of green fog where the low laying shrubs and young trees compete with their elders to produce the first bursts of opening shoots.

The first obvious buds (and tree identification is my worst subject) are the goat willow or “pussy willow” covering the skyline like yellow pollen in the air. The goat willow surrounds the woods like sentries on guard while the weeping willow can also be seen (bit not actually in the wood).

The outskirts of the wood show small areas of Sweet violet and scattered patches of Red dead nettle.

I also took the opportunity to try out a bushcraft experiment. I’d been reading about the properties of some trees and discovered that the birch was one of the best trees for the British Bushcrafter. I had to put this to the test by trying to use a firesteel for the first time to create fire. My ultimate aim is to create fire by friction, but like many things in bushcraft, I’ve discovered that you can very quickly get demoralised if you initially aim too high too quickly. I’ve tried a couple of times to get tinder alight by firesteel with absolutely no luck.

Finding the one silver birch on the outskirts of the wood (within my self imposed rules for resources) I carefully stripped a few small pieces of bark off the tree and put it in my pouch. I wanted to initially try this in a controlled environment, so off I went…home.

Once at home, using only the firesteel and and the birch tinder I created my first fire without use of matches, accelerant or a lighter. I was elated!! It works…I had created fire! This might seem a bit of an over the top reaction, but after so many failures prior to starting this journal, I just felt as though I had created something quite fundamental just using the most simplistic resources. I don’t know what I will be like when I create fire by friction! Thus I am calling this post “Fire – part one”. I am confident that I will be able to replicate this success in the woods as long as I have some birch bark. This will always be in my pouch from now on.

I thought I’d take a light walk in Lowt’s woods today. By light I mean minimal kit. As I’ve got a couple of days off, I’ll be experimenting with kit loads and kit lists and will post these soon. My minimal kit today just my shoulder bag containing folding saw; Frost clipper and firesteel (I don’t wear it on my belt in public places); binoculars; camera; 1 ltr water and nuts/raisons. I had my belt of course with a small possibles pouch. This contains the obligatory tinder; First aid kit (plasters, steri-strips, anticeptic wipes, paracetomol); toilet paper; swiss army knife and quick brew kit (2 tea bags; 2 sachets of sugar).

The object of the short excursion was to recce a suitable area for bushcrafting in this wood. The last time I visited the wood (see November 2005 post), I had just started thinking about bushcraft and I was stomping about like a small elephant! I was a little lighter on my feet this time. In fact so much so that I almost bumped into a Roe deer. It was slightly higher on a hill than me and started barking as soon as it spotted me. Needless to say I wasn’t light enough on my feet to follow it very far as it went further into the wood. My tracking skills aren’t that far advanced yet to follow it too far by that method either.

The deer did lead me into an area of the wood that I had not yet explored. There were some wonderful early bluebells in bloom. Another couple of weeks and the wood will be a mist of light blue.

I found a good bushcraft site, situated at the top of the hill but still well sheltered by some low evergreen bushes. I like to keep out of sight while being able to see as much as I can. A throwback to a previous profession! I also like to have my back to a any hills or small rises and any wind. Needless to say, it takes me a while to find a really good site. Take into account tree space for hammock slinging (my preferred sleep system) and local resources like wood and tinder and usually I’m starting to struggle. I bring my own water, as there’s no flowing streams or other good water resources in the area, so that really isn’t a problem. This does tend to make the carry weight for an overnight stay quite heavy. This site, although not perfect, fitted most of the criteria.

I spent a good half an hour in my new site soaking up the atmosphere and listening to the wood. All too soon it was time to go again. As I walked back to the van I contemplated how good it was to have my light walking boots on after months of wearing rubber boots (wellies) and how absolutely soaking my feet were getting because it was raining!

Tuesday 25 April 2006

The idea for this excursion (I’ll not call it an expedition as it’s too short) was a dress rehearsal for a 2-3 day expedition later on. Primarily, I wanted to know how all my kit worked out and secondly, put into practice the few skills I’ve learned so far.

My plan was to walk to an area I already knew, set up camp, make a couple of basic tools, start a fire, eat, (pre prepared stuff) and prepare to sleep, all in a half day. I would take away any lessons and adjust this for the “main event”. You might think “why is he doing this? Why doesn’t he just go and camp out somewhere?” Well, I am quite a meticulous guy and I believe that planning and training for anything is essential. Yes, I could go straight out, but I’ve not done anything like this for a good 20 years (!) I am 48 years old, and I don’t really like to leave anything to chance when playing with sharp things and burning things.

I packed my kit as in my last post, and was quite surprised at how heavy it all was. I posted my concerns on BushcraftUK and got quite overwhelming and diverse replies. Some people said the more knowledge the less kit while others say why not take enough kit to be comfortable. After all, this is Bushcraft not survival. I concluded that 28 pounds in weight wasn’t really that much, especially when water was taken into consideration. I was taking 3.5 ltrs which was 8 pounds of weight. The total weight seemed quite acceptable in the end. I would like to get the weight down and probably wouldn’t take some items if I knew the weather would be OK.

At last I was off. I dumped the van, hoisted my rucksack, and shoulder bag and on went the hat. A sure sign I mean business! I walked about 2 miles along the hedgerow and into the woods. It was a bright day, but there were threatening rain clouds. I was quite pleased with the rucksack and my packing. The weight seemed to be distributed well. A was quite out of breath and quite hot when I eventually reached my pre-determined site. I actually settled on more open area than previously recce’d. I just fancied a better view of the small valley.

I decided to time each part of the project. This might come in handy as a guide in later excursions. I didn’t really want to rush and make mistakes though. Up went the tarp and hammock. 12 minutes (too long and still having trouble with the tarp knots). I just put up the tarp when it started raining. Good! This will really test things out! I then made a couple of simple tools for cooking. A support for the Billy can, and a stake to hold it. Although simple, I was quite pleased with the result. (10 minutes). I then started gathering wood for my proposed fire. I was going to gather enough wood for a cooking fire and not a whole evening worth. There was plenty of fallen branches in the area, so this was not difficult at all. I didn’t have to cut any branches or chop any kindling.

Next, I prepared the fire under the Billy. I wasn’t actually going to cook with the open fire and Billy as I didn’t know whose wood this was. I hadn’t asked permission and in the UK, someone owns the land wherever you are. In this area, the woodland is amongst farmland. The farmers get a bit uptight when you wander around without permission. I probably would have got away with it since I was far off the beaten track and out of public view, but I decided not to. I did, however, decide to start a fire and put it out after I was satisfied that I could keep it going. In fact, I would not start up my Trangia until I had completed this task.

I gathered some silver birch bark (quite abundant in these woods) and used a bit of tinder from my pouch. Out came the firesteel and knife and…what’s happening? I’ve done this before…and still the ****ing thing won’t light. Is it too wet (it had started to rain) or was the tinder too damp or was the birch bark the wrong type? I actually started to panic! I had to light this fire. 12 strikes…15 strikes…20. I sat back. My pulse was racing. What was happening here? I knew this wasn’t a survival situation. I even had matches with me but still I was panicking that I couldn’t light the fire. My rules said “no fire…no food”. I was going to go hungry. But I couldn’t. If this was real, I would have to eat obviously. I calmed myself down. Deep breaths; rearrange the tinder, and try again. Long slow strikes is the key…plenty of sparks along the whole length of the firesteel. 5…10 strikes and…here we go. An immediate flame. I quickly added a small amount of kindling. We were away. I would be able to eat after all.

I let the fire burn for a few minutes savouring the smell of burning. This smell has always been a comfort for me. Now I truly appreciated why this was. Fire is the key to everything. Is this some primordial instinct or am I just being oversensitive in the situation? I had also learned a lesson. If things go wrong, don’t panic. Stop and think it through. I don’t even know why I did panic. I’ve been in pretty severe situations before.

Anyway, out went the fire, on went the Trangia and down went the chilli beans washed down by a cup of tea (all very British) and some nuts and raisons.

The next task was to try out the sleeping arrangements. This was the bit I was looking forward to! Off went the boots, out came the sleeping bag and then came the problems. I hadn’t tried this out at home and I couldn’t believe how difficult it was trying to get in a sleeping bag which itself is in a hammock. It was like trying to handle a slippery eel! I laughed so much that I was exhausted by the time I had figured out the best way to do this. In the end it was a case of get in the sleeping bag (half way at least) and then “fall” (gently) into the hammock, sorting out the top part of the bag after I got in. At last a bit of rest. I looked out over the top of the sleeping bag, only to see that my feet were getting wet. The tarp was the wrong way round! The short side was along the line of the hammock. I would have to sort that out at home. It had just stopped raining so this was not an issue. I laid back and listened to the woods. The whole thing had taken about 1 hour and 30 minutes. Not bad, despite the little “fire” set back.

My last task was to make another spoon. I had eaten my beans with a spoon I’d made on a previous excursion. I’m not very good at selecting wood and this selection was no exception. I spent 20 minutes carving away. I’d made a nice bowl, when the handle snapped off. It was useable, but it wasn’t a proper spoon. I didn’t even bother to take it with me.

I struck camp, tidied the site, loaded my gear and set off home. On the way I heard the year’s first cuckoo call. I also spotted some Lady’s Smock on the way home along the dried up river bank. Ironically, another name for this delicate pink flower is Cuckoo plant or Cuckoo flower. Researching this later, I found that the young leaves are good in salads tasting like cress. This has given me an idea for a future project. I might try foraging for food soon.

As I walked to the van, I thought about the spoon. No, I couldn’t give up that easily. 30 minutes later, I’d made another spoon. This one was looking good, and I decided to take it with me. I could have easily used it in the field, but I wanted to finish it off properly and sand it down.

My hike to the van seemed long but at least it was mostly down hill. I arrived home exhausted. I’d crammed a day or two’s work into 4 hours and achieved my aim of testing out all my kit.

Lessons learned: Check the tarp and cordage; practice the tarp knots. Don’t panic if things don’t go quite right.

What went well: Carried enough water, good spoon (in the end) and other self-made utensils, new sleeping bag seemed fine, packing and carrying okay.

Quite a drop in temperature today. The last week was fine, dry, sunny and warm with temperatures in the 20′s (C). Today, rain was threatening, a cool north breeze and temperatures about 17C.

I took the tarp, hammock and trangia into the woods. I’d stocked my ration bag with lunch goodies. After setting up the tarp and hammock (getting quicker at doing this now) and again practicing fire lighting with firesteel and birch bark, I lit the trangia and settled down to lunch. I had set up the tarp in an open configuration. I was able to open the front a bit more by using small bungee’s which were added to the tarp lines. The centre loop on the tarp was bugee’d directly to the tree at the front. Although I prefer cordage for setting up a tarp, I have certainly found the benefit of carrying small bungee’s in my utility pack.

I didn’t have a planned project this weekend, so I just enjoyed sitting in the wood. I’m quite surprised how comfortable the hammock is when it’s used as a chair. I don’t think I would go to the woods without it now. It’s small enough to pack into anything I carry and that includes my small shoulder bag.

I decided to take a walk into East wood. I spotted the usual Bugle, but some of the plants stems seemed too long. I wandered over and was surprised to notice that they were early purple orchids. Not really rare, but not common in this area. The soil in this area is quite poor soil and near a wet ditch. The perfect place for them. They are distinguishable by their spotted leaves, said to be the blood of Christ being positioned underneath the Cross. After taking some pictures, I followed the ditch to find some more and was delighted to find a white petaled version.

My plant spotting ended up with a large area blanketed by Germander speedwell.

The woods are now a blanket of green, and it’s very easy to vanish into it’s depths. I reflected that just a few months ago I was bounding around the woods like an elephant. Now, even with a 55 ltr pack, I seem to be able to tread lighter. The rabbits don’t run off so quickly, and the birds seem to stay in the trees…or are they just used to me being around (!) This is the 5th good camp I’ve found in this wood. It’s not as open as the other spots but there’s not a bad field of view and quite a few resources in the form of fallen branches and tree trunks.

I finished off the day by stocking up on some silver birch bark, which is my favoured tinder at the moment for use with the firesteel. I’ve heard that birch is excellent for woodcarving and I considered cutting one of the many large limbs for a wood carving project or two. I’m not sure what to do though. Any ideas?

Last night I slept in the garden. I slung the hammock and put the reindeer skin between the two sheets of the hammock (I think you can only do this with a DDHamock). This made a good insulation, but as the skin wasn’t that close to the body I didn’t overheat. It was a very mild night, and I only draped the sleeping bag over me. I hoped to see or hear some nightlife in the garden, but fell directly to sleep, rocking gently in the balmy breeze.

In the morning I went to airfield wood. It is now so overgrown, I could hardly make out the track. No one goes in these woods and it’s amazing to see the contrast between the managed woodland I was in yesterday to this wood. The tree covering is very thick, thus the wood is very cool and damp. This also allows the mosquitos to run amok. I’ve also noticed the crows aren’t as noisy. Most probably because the fledglings have now left the nests. I’m sure I saw a sparrowhawk darting amongst the trees…a silent hunter until the kill is about to be made.

The only other life form I saw was the local fox skirting the south side if the wood. I couldn’t tell whether it was “Limpy” or not.

Taking a leaf out of the American Bushman’s book, I tried some firelighting by friction. I’m using buddlea for the drill and pine for the base. I was deeply disappointed with not even a sniff of smoke. I’m not even getting any dust. The drill end gets a bit hot but both ends just smooth out. I must be doing something seriously wrong. Back to the books I think. I’m sharing AB’s frustration, but at least he’s getting smoke!! Oh well, it is Father’s Day. My son’s bought me a bottle of port, and I consider it unlucky to leave it in the house unopened…time to head home.

Walking out to the outskirts of the wood, I noticed a growing number the scarlet pimpernel. These are delightful tiny red plants. Underneath the leaves you can find black spots.

If you haven’t read yesterday’s excursion into Broaks wood, read on below. See you next week.

The last week was cold with a capital ‘C’. One day we had hailstones and another we woke up to snow on the ground. Not bad for the first week of spring but not entirely unusual in the UK. The seas around our coasts have been cooling down all winter and are now at their coldest. Strong blasts of wind from the Arctic have little chance to warm up before it arrives. Today actually saw a slightly warmer day making a couple of hours in the woods quite pleasurable. The second flowering plant I’ve seen this spring (primrose being the first) is the Cuckoo flower (or Ladies smock).

I set up the new hammock today having taken delivery of some tape. The hammock is a BCUK group buy hammock organised by Magikelly. It’s different from the DD in many ways; size being one. This hammock is massive! First impressions are favourable, although the tape isn’t as easy to tie to the trees as they are quite slippery. The small O rings I bought with the tape were also unsuitable and quickly bent out of shape, so I replaced them with karabiners.

During the week I also took delivery of a new pair of boots. I have to mention the supplier because I was so impressed with the friendly service and lightening fast (next day) delivery. Check out John Muirden and Unbeaten Tracks.

I wanted to replace my 15 year old Brasher Hillmasters. I decided on a light trail boot with a soft sole (for tracking), not too technical and all leather. The chosen boots were a pair of Rogue Rangers. Again, first impressions are that these boots will definitely fit the bill. I’ll let you know how I get on with them and the first posts regarding the boots will be how I intend to break them in.

Thanks for the visit.

Pablo.

The last week I’ve managed to have a few great days out finishing off my holiday nicely. I’ve visited all the local woods and spent Friday night out with a 24 hour excursion.

I didn’t really have a particular project, but I wanted to make a few changes to my 24 hour kit. The idea was to try and make everything fit in my new 30 litre bag. The first thing I changed was to swap out the SA Trangia for a simple Trangia burner, Hexy cooker stand and Crusader cup mix. This cut down on a lot of bulk and weight. I decided to take the larger tarp, as I’d not slept under this before. Again took the trusty DD hammock.

The other change I made was to split the utility bag into two, putting tarp pegs, bungees and cordage in one while putting the headlamp, sharpening stone and water purifier in the other. Not exactly saving weight here, but more manageable. I also decided to take just 2 litres of water in two water bottles instead of 3 litres in the water carrier. This would also save space in the bag. The result was that indeed, everything fitted nicely into the 30 litre bag (except the Nanok sleeping bag). My shoulder bag took the usual additional stuff including the new GB mini hatchet.

It was a standard night out: The cacophony of the Rookery at dusk; Badger watch with no sign of a Stripey at all (!); a nice open fire to end the evening with warmed up soup; woken by barking muntjacs at 3am; woke at dawn and climbed out of the hammock as the sun warmed the wood at 10am with a squirrel staring at me from about 3 feet away.

I also decided to try Seorus’s idea of putting the Thermarest inside the sleeping bag. The Nanok bag has a zip each side, therefore it was quite easy to slip the Thermarest inside it, get in the bag while the bag is in the hammock and zip it up (instead of getting in the bag before ‘falling’ into the hammock as I usually do). The system worked well and as stated by Seorus, the Thermarest didn’t slide around in the hammock. Usually I wake up with the Thermarest a 45 degrees to the hammock and the foot of sleeping bag pointing out at the same angle the other way! I’ll certainly try this method again.

I realised that by leaving the Trangia behind I’d also left my spork, which would make eating my lunchtime tinned Ravioli a bit awkward. So I quickly fashioned a simple fork using the Opinel. Ha! This is what Bushcraft is all about. Adapting to the situation (as simple this might be on this occasion). It was only the thought of a decent dinner waiting for me that I left the woods in the middle of the afternoon.

Today was an ideal day for taking a walk around Broak’s Wood, with temperatures in the 20′s C and clear sunny skies. These ancient woods never cease to amaze me and I’d quite forgotten that this time of year yields a spectacular display of Bluebells in the older part of the wood. English woods have some of the best Bluebell displays in the world and account for 20 per cent of the world population of the flower. One has to be aware that there are hybrids; the native Bluebells interbreeding with the introduced Spanish variety. To tell the difference, follow this link. You must be there to smell the wonderful sweet-scented fragrance of the Bluebell wood. Absolutely wonderful.

Other flowers in bloom were Red campion, Primula, Cowslips, Wild strawberry, White deadnettle, Ground ivy and Dog violet. I was pleased that I could identify these without looking them up. Speckled wood, Brimstone, and Peacock butterflies were quite abundant as well.

Oh well, back to work tomorrow!

Pablo.

S’Albufera National Park in Mallorca was originally a lagoon separated from the sea by a chain of sand dunes. Over the centuries, this has filled up with sediment to create an extensive floodplain and wetland area of Spanish national importance, harbouring a wide variety of wildlife.

The variety of the vegetation is dependent on the wetland area which in the main remains flooded most of the year. A large part of the water comes from rainfall reaching the area by seasonal streams and springs from subterranean aquifers known locally as ‘ullals’. Although the proximity of the sea water entering the area is relatively small, there is an impact of this on the flora and fauna alike.

The main vegetation is the reed and saw-sedge which grows to huge proportions. Amongst the smaller canals and ‘llisers’ (small lagoons) the fennel pondweed and hornwort grow while in the more brackish areas the rush and glasswort can be found. Amongst the dryer areas and woodland the white poplar, elm and tamarisk provide a haven for larger tree nesting birds. In the sandy areas the sea daffodil, and extremely rare ‘peu de mila’ and prickly juniper are found.

As for fauna, the fish and amphibian species do well with the eel, the Iberian frog and the European pond turtle in abundance. Small rodents can be found as well as 8 different bat species including the rare barbestelle bat. 300 moth species have been discovered as well as dragonflies, spiders and beetles.

The differing ecosystems are highly productive offering an abundance of bird life. To date some 271 species have been sighted with 61 species breeding in the area. It’s a popular wintering ground with large flocks of shovelers, teals, pochards and wigeon. Different species of heron and are among them. Other migrant species also visit such as swallows and sandpipers. The last group are ‘wanderers’ who make random visits such as cranes and the green ibis.

I started my ramble through the woods on the opposite side of the road and managed to enter through the ‘back door’ of the park. I was grateful of this, as I missed the noisy tourist entrance. I immediately started snapping away with the camera. By entering at the opposite side of the reserve it unfortunately meant that I missed obtaining the bird list at the visitor centre (until the end of the walk) and not having a Mediterranean Wildlife Guide book with me, I hadn’t a clue what I was photographing. I was however, able to sit and move on at peaceful leisure watching the antics of the wildlife on offer. It wasn’t long before I noticed a great white egret gracefully lifting from amongst the reeds closely followed by a purple heron. A later disturbance in far trees with a high branch almost bending in two could only have been a large raptor.

Speaking to one of the Rangers later, he said that it could easily have been a Marsh Harrier or even the escapee Golden Eagle that had been spotted recently. Unfortunately, despite watching for over half and hour and not managing to get closer because of one of the lagoons, I didn’t get another sight of what-ever-it-was.

I could go on and on about what I saw (at least what I thought I saw) but I wouldn’t be 100% definite on the sightings. What I would say is that this provided one of the highpoints of the holiday and I returned to base after walking about 11 kms around the reserve tired but satisfied. If like me, you find yourself on the on the island slightly perturbed by the prospect of overpriced tourist shops, beetroot-red North European visitors, and lack of significant Bushcraft time, I could only advise you to take time out to visit this wonderful area.

Pablo

At last we’ve had a bit of rain but this has also brought strong and blustery winds. It’s been reasonably mild though. The wind and rain fortunately didn’t start before I took myself into the woods for another 24 hour excursion. This time I took more kit, more water, heavier tarp and the new Bcuk Magikelly hammock for a trial run. I wasn’t too bothered about space and weight as I dragged along the Sabre 75 for a bit of an outing.

I set up as usual and collected firewood for the fire later on. I’m getting used to prepping the fire far in advance of nightfall. I use small fires and start with digging a small trench about a foot long by 6 inches wide. I then place fine twigs as kindling across the gap and layer increasingly larger twigs on the top, alternating the direction as I layer. This is my favoured method over a pyramid type fire at the moment. When lighting the fire, I always use the fire-steel and birch bark slivers. I then feed the kindling by using the small trench. This keeps the flame out of the wind, but provides a little air circulation. The birch bark produces a flame after a few strikes with firesteel without producing an ember first, which is quite handy, but I know I must practice blowing an ember into a flame sooner or later.

As the evenings are now getting longer I decided to do a bit of spooncraft before going to watch the wildlife. It’s been a while since I’ve made a spoon and this was my first effort with the mini hatchet. I was extremely impressed with this axe. After initially missing the weight of the Small Forest Axe for the heavy stuff, I was soon glad of the mini’s small blade for more intricate and delicate carving. In fact most of the carving was done with the axe and not so much with the Companion’s fixed blade. I knew this would be the case. Watch out Companion!

After wandering about looking at the night time wildlife (I’m pretty sure I saw a Barn owl sweeping silently across the field), I returned to the site and lit the fire. It was a bit windy and again I made heavy weather (‘scuse the pun) of lighting the fire, but it eventually caught and soon a nice warming fire was crackling away with a small flask of Brandy to keep away the chill.

As I’ve already said, the Bcuk group buy hammock is huge. It certainly swamps me, and that has it’s advantages and disadvantages. Slinging it like the DD leaves a large sag where I’m literally bent double, so I tied it lower but even more taught than the DD. Even so, I can’t see over its edge when lying down. Lengthways, the 3×3 tarp only just covers the hammock. The material is like parachute material and stretches a little more than the ripstop of the DD. Despite the differences, I had a good nights sleep. What I do like about this hammock is that you can sit very comfortably “athwartships” due the the extra large width. I might take this combination (Tatonka tarp and Bcuk hammock) to the Bushmoot at the end of the month.

I finished the outing the next morning by looking for a few new plants in flower. I saw some Forget-me-nots, Bugle, Dog’s mercury, Vetch, Ground ivy and the Arum lilly (or Cuckoo pint – pic). This is one flower you don’t want to mess with as most parts are poisonous (especially the red berries which show in the autumn). Apparently, the roots are in fact edible and contain a high starch content. In Elizabethan times, they were gathered for stiffening the high, pleated linen ruffs seen in the paintings.

The afternoon looked increasingly like rain, and rather than get everything soaking wet, I packed away and headed home.

By the way, I’ve added another short video to my video channel. This one’s about the Crusader cooker. See you next time and thanks for the visit.

Pablo

After a week of rain the weekend turned out nice with sunny spells. Saturday saw me back into the local woods armed with camera and the Korean Samick SKB bow. I am going to take the bow to the bushmoot next weekend, so I wanted to do a couple of practice shots. As I had the video camera with me, I had a go at doing a movie of the practice. You can see the results at the end of this post or on Pablo’s Video Channel link on the right.

After doing the shoot and after breaking two arrow points and losing an aluminium arrow in the undergrowth, I gave up and sat in my favourite spot deep in the woods. The undergrowth was growing up fast and I imagined that after next weeks moot, my return to these woods would see the secret clearing completely enveloped by the nettles. It would soon be time for a little cutting back.

After a cereal bar and some water, I went off in search of some new wildflowers in bloom in the area. I wasn’t disappointed as I soon came across large areas covered by Forget-me-nots and Speedwell. Ragged robin also made patches of early appearance as well as Common comfrey.

I was pleased to see this plant as I’d not seen it in this area before. It is a well known herbalist plant; the roots being used to make plaster of paris type sludge for setting bones and in fact some English folk names reflect this use being called ‘knitbone’ and ‘boneset’. The juice from the root can also be mixed with sugar and liquorice and used as a cough linctus. The whole plant can also be boiled and eaten like spinach.

I also spotted a clump of Woody nightshade. Unlike the nightshade namesake of the deadly variety, the red berries which appear in the autumn are not poisonous, but they will give you an upset stomach.

Next week I gear up (literally) for the moot and I’ll post my preparations on Wednesday or Thursday.

All the best,

Pablo.