excitement on the trailcam

It was a very dull, damp, dreary day yesterday – in fact just what you expect for November in England! I had a long list of tasks – plant some saplings, clean out birds’ nest boxes, bring logs back and a few others to boot. As it turned out it wasn’t all that productive. The first task was to recover the trailcam and see what’s been around during the last two weeks. I was not going to be disappointed – just the opposite. As the files downloaded to my laptop, I could see thumbnail shots that were clearly deer and was that a very small one I just spotted? Excitedly I opened the night-time clips and found that our muntjac pair have now got a baby! Wow. Not particularly good for UK woodlands, as I said last time, they are on the list of undesirable and harmful non-natives. But taking my forestry manager’s hat off and putting my wildlife photgrapher’s one on, it’s incredibly exciting. Lot’s of clips too. It just got better and better, other clips showed a fox and some roe deer. I have edited the clips and uploaded them here.

https://vimeo.com/302851931

I texted one of my neighbours (Steve) to see if he was around. He’s an enthusiastic wildlife spotter and excellent photographer and I hoped he might be at his woods. By chance he was, he came around and we were able to share notes on our woodlands. Soon my next door neighbours arrived and we looked at the footage over a nice cup of coffee. Who said it was dull in the woods?

I had brought some oak saplings that I grew from acorns and a few silver birch and set-to planting them up. There are a few failures in the cleared area where I had planted a year or two ago, so I filled the gaps. In forestry terminolgy it’s called “beating up”. It’s ideal weather, the ground was moist and frost free.

The woods are very wet now, refreshed after the long dry summer and my water butt is full to the brim. The oveflow was dripping and I hit on the idea of connecting a pipe to it, laid below the ground and running it to small pond. There is no natural water course anywhere near but this might just work.

Lunch was another cooking experiment. An idea I got from watching Steve’s latest wild camping video. He made a simple but tasty looking meal from shrink wrapped fresh pasta parcels and instant cuppa soup. I brought ricotta and basil pasta parcels and cream of mushroom soup. Just to be a bit more adventurous I also brought fresh mushrooms and garlic powder (we ran out of garlic cloves). I was going to use the rocket stove but it started drizzling and time was getting on. So I retired to the shelter with my gas stove. I cooked the mushrooms in my Zebra billy pot and set them aside, the pasta was boiled for around 6 minutes then drained. The soup just needed boiling water. Then put the lot together. The meal was a success, easy and enjoyable.

My neighbours had felled a tall cherry tree which got well and truly hung up in a small oak tree. It took us about half an hour of cutting and pulling sideways with a rope to free it. I finished my planting and filled some trugs with logs and by then it was getting dark and drizzly and time to pack up. One last walk about and I spotted this small fungus growing on a twig, latin name Auricularia auricula-judae . It used to be known as Judas’s Ear, then corrupted to Jew’s Ear but in today’s world of political correctness it’s renamed Jelly Ear or Wood Ear. They are edible but to be honest you wouldn’t want to eat it.

 

Autumn at it’s best, a surprise, time in my shelter, cooking

The early morning drive down to the woods yesterday was bathed with the beautiful golds and yellows of autumn trees. This year is one of the best I have ever seen for colours. In another week or two it will all be gone, so I was glad to have been able to see mine at it’s best yet. The best colours are to be seen on the beech, oak and hazel. I stepped out of the car and all was silent apart from three nearby wrens tick-tick-ticking away at each other.

I could hardly wait to check my trail cam in it’s newest location. There were 33 captures and the first half looked disappointing –  grey squirrels or blanks. Then a surprise – muntjac deer. These small deer are not native to the UK, originating in Asia and introduced here around 1900. Apparently they are thriving and on our hit list of undesirables and can be very damaging. They are cute though and for me, quite a thrill to see them in my woods. The second to last clip on the video shows a pair so there may be some more before long!

I wanted to finish the guttering on the shelter. I had left it with a temporary, leaky fix on the down pipe. I took a peak in the water butt, expecting a small amount of water and was amazed that it was half full already. It wasn’t long before more rain came and confined me to the inside of the shelter. I hadn’t expected any rain but was happy to spend time making a few homely additions (some hooks and a hanging rail) and making some bodgers’ mallets from some oak logs. They are handy for helping split small firewood, chiselling or knocking wedges in when felling. The shelter is looking more workmanlike now with a good supply of dry logs for some warming, wintry fires.

I had decided to build my culinary skills using the rocket stove and cook an omelette. Quite adventurous for me, I am not renown for my cooking and omelette is something I repeatedly fail at, even at home. It always sticks but my dear wife has shown me the correct way, so I was keen have a go. It was to be mushroom and black olive omelette (I like odd combinations) and I set about skillfully preparing my vegetables, lighting the fire and mixing the egg. I nearly ruined it at this stage. I had some small sachets of salt and pepper. I opened the salt and poured half in, then opened the second sachet and started to dump the whole contents in, only to realise that the pepper looked suspiciously like another salt packet. Whoa, I just managed to stop half way. So I fried off the mushrooms and olives then poured the egg in. I have repeatedly said how wonderful the cast iron skillets are at not sticking. They are as smooth and slippery as Donald Trump. Well not this time! I have just created a new egg dish – “scramlette”. A cross between scrambled egg and omelette. I have also decided it will be the last time I will try this particular delight. Judge for yourself and if you like the look I can give you the recipe and method.

Mushroom frying, so far so good.

Eggs in, not looking too bad.

Yikes – “scramlette”. It tasted ok though a bit salty!

Let’s get back to something I can do – showing you my woodland in it’s autumn glory. I’ll leave you with some of the best images.

 

 

Rocket stove, this and that and a lovely day at the woods

Hot on the heels of my last visit, I returned yesterday. The main reason was that my Woodland Trust volunteering role as a fixed point photographer was due. I get my travel expenses paid, the weather looked good, so why not take the opportunity and get a few jobs done too. Since we altered the clocks I have been waking up between five and six am so I headed off early to beat the traffic. It was cold but the sun was coming up. Fill the bird feeders and get busy finishing the guttering on the shelter. I needed to fit the new piece that was broken and attach a downpipe and position the water barrel. The pipe was some old grey waste pipe I had in my cellar but it’s slightly too small in diameter for the black fittings, so I bodged it with some gaffer tape. I shall take some mastic next time and do a better job. The grey pipe and barrel look a bit naff to be honest but I might add some camouflage later. The shelter is almost complete now but it needs a few “homely” touches to bring it to life. Not sure what they will be yet, maybe some fire accessories – chain and hooks, billy can and a few woodworking aids like a mallet etc.

I set my trailcam up in a new location so looking forward to seeing the results next time. Can you spot it?

I took my W.T. photos then made lunch. I love the rocket stove and wanted to use it again.  This time I decided on Indian spiced veggie burger, fried onions and cheese in a breakcake. (How ambitious is that?) My pal gave me two pieces of good advice when cooking over a fire – prepare everything first and control the heat by pulling the sticks or embers in and out. Seems simple enough but they are crucial to success and worth emphasising. Preparation isn’t just about having your raw food ingredients ready and cut up but also having all the utensils out of their bags and ready to use, condiments to hand etc. Also getting the fire going and having enough prepared logs or sticks next to your fire or stove. Last time I struggled a bit to control the heat. The rocket stove needs constant attention because the small sticks will flare up at first and die down quickly. So a steady but small supply of sticks are necessary. I found that three or four is all you need once the fire is established. If the flames get too hot, simply pull a couple of sticks back out of the opening slightly. Push them back in to increase the heat. It’s just like turning the knob down on your cooker at home.

The cooking was a success (not burnt this time) and delicious. I love the cast iron skillets too. They do not stick and a quick wipe over with a kitchen towel brings it back up spotless.

Whilst cutting down a small sycamore, to make some shrink pots with, I noticed an odd hole in the ground. Something (a badger most likely) had dug the earth and exposed a hole that was white coloured. A tentative closer look showed it to be crawling with wasps. I had come across a similar one a couple for years ago, didn’t know what it was and got too close and was stung. This time I was on my guard but still wanted a closer look and a photo. The white lining was the remains of the nest that presumably had been eaten by the badger (it would be full of nutrious grubs). This was the best photo I could get. The wasps would be busy trying to repair or retrieve what was left.

I’ll leave you with a few photos of the woods in their autumn colours.