First of all apologies for the delay in writing another entry as the last few months have been extremely busy for all of us at Woodcraft School. We have been working hard delivering our educational packages and establishing and improving our teaching areas. I have also been trying to cram a few woodland experiences into the mix for my own personal refreshment. I am fortunate in that I never seem to tire of the outdoor life instead relishing time spent in nature either with or without other people.
Following a rather slow start our local fungi population seems to have sprung into life at last, typically a few weeks after our scheduled fungi foray and now I am finding ceps, bay boletus, orange and brown birch boletus and a host of other species. Not quite a river but a definite trickle compared to the last few weeks. I can only assume that the dry autumn is responsible for this dearth of opportunity and that the recent winds and rain have finally kicked started the season. It’s perhaps Murphy’s Law that the frost will arrive before we can take full advantage of the harvest.
Autumn is one of my favourite seasons especially if it arrives in its proper guise, by that I mean cool, bright days and an absence of strong winds. Days like this allow me to indulge one of my favourite seasonal activities of simply enjoying the autumn colour before the winter winds prise the leaves from the branches and the trees take their annual rest. I love to walk in areas I am already familiar with; some of the species hidden in our hedgerows announce their presence often with flaming brilliance where previously only shades of green was obvious. Many times I have past familiar places and not known before the autumn that some of these trees where there at all. Two of the best hiders are the gloriously golden field maple and the subtle rufus tones of the guelder rose often set against a cluster of scarlet berries. Don’t over look the obvious, with the right light upon it even the humble bracken takes on a seasonal purple hue which many people never seem to notice. I also use the colour and the fallen leaves to find unusual specimens whose leaves are normally hidden in the dense canopy of the woodlands. This year I have located a tulip tree, a stand of red oaks and some norway maple I had not noticed before. These non native species had been planted as an experimental timber crop and then have evidently been forgotten about.
Around camp
Nights are noisy at the moment our woods seem full of tawny owls intent on fattening up on the seasonal glut of small rodents. Foxes have also become quite vocal as this year’s youngsters are pushed away from the territories of their parents to fend for themselves. Often their passage can be tracked through the woodlands at night as the pheasants lift off with their unmistakable alarm call, normally just as you are nodding off. Badgers too are busy foraging to stock up before winter and are moving larger distances and cropping up in unusual places, three meters from my bed in fact quite recently. In the fields around the woodland we have our normal influx of Scandinavian thrushes, fieldfares and red wings although not as many as normal but perhaps the weather patterns haven’t made for good migration.
I have also noticed woodcock moving into the woodlands in larger numbers although we always have a small resident population it definitely increases at this time of year. Looking like a large wader these birds rely and on camouflage lying still in the leave litter and only taking off when you are almost upon them. The take off involves a great flurry of wings and the release of droppings and absolutely never failing to make me jump out of my skin.
Winter leads to a slight slowing of our workload and allows for more projects and activities to be undertaken. I will endeavour to post more regularly on our site, in the meantime enjoy the season’s delights.
