Male Fern (Dryopteris filix-mas)
Yesterday’s visit was necessary to take delivery of some materials for my new shelter build. The forecast showed rain and thunder but I didn’t have a choice. It turned out to be ok overall. I had a number of jobs to do and it was fine when I arrived nice and early at 8 am. It was warm and very humid. I filled some trugs with logs to take home and I now have a fully stocked logshed in readiness for Winter – yikes did I mention Winter?
Growth of ground plants goes crazy at this time of year and my paths are getting overrun. I normally use the petrol brushcutter but it’s noisy, smelly, heavy and generally horrible to use. I’ve been looking into other options for light clearance and found an old hand scythe in my cellar. I replaced the small handle with a long one from an old broom as an experiment. It worked well with softer growth like nettles, dog’s mercury and other ground cover but didn’t cope well with bramble, the main enemy. This is an area of path I cleared and it was much more pleasant than using the machine. The handle is not very comfortable to use, a proper scythe is probably much better.
I had four tree saplings to plant that I had grown on – three silver birch and an oak. The ground was nice and soft from the recent rain and a good time to transplant. As they were in pots and not bare rooted, you can plant at any time of year as long as there is no frost in the ground. I netted them round to keep deer and rabbits/hares from browsing.
The delivery came after lunch and I headed to the shelter to do some preparatory work on the ground. There were two small rotten tree stumps to remove. Within minutes there was a crack of thunder and the heavens opened and I got inside my existing (though rotten and mosquito infected) shelter. I love sitting in it during a storm. You can hear the rain hitting the tree canopy but it acts like and umbrella for a while. Then it filters through as a heavy but gentle shower. I imagine it would be fantastic to strip off and just stand in it. (Note to my neighbours – don’t worry I won’t be). There’s something truly enchanting about being in the middle of the woods in pouring rain. After about half an hour it cleared up and I was able to carry on. Jobs done, I packed up a little early – hot, tired, sweaty but hugely satisfied.
Diary of a man and his woodland 