A quote for Cody Lundin

"He who wishes to study from the book of nature must walk with his feet upon its leaves"

Paracelsus 1493-1541

Another quick trip

We spent a few hours out in the woods today and very enjoyable it was. Alan set the fire and lit it very easily and all I had to do was sit back and watch, bliss!

Well under way

He also treated us to a full woodsmans lunch

And it was slow roasted and lightly smoked, all served with crusty bread!

And showed us some of his very fine carving skills, a good day all round!

Mid week Meander

We went out for a quick dander just to see what's happening, and it's nice to see that spring has well and truly sprung!

Sorrel

Lords and Ladies

Bluebells

Birch sap just starting to flow

Very slow at the minute

Took about 2 hours for around 100mls of sap, another week or two and the Birch will be ready to Tap properly! 

Impromptu Day Out

A few of us headed out today to a site we hadn't been to in quite a while, it's a nice wee place although limited in resources so we don't go there very often. Anyway Sandy and Stephen set the fire today and that was a challenge cause the ground was seriously saturated

The fire had to be set with natural tinder and only from what was found around us which was not easy as everything was soaking..still, some grass was found and dried in our clothing, gorse, hogweed and birch bark finished off the bundle and although it was damp, a few attempts with the ferro rod got the whole thing well under way,not an easy task, well done guys..

food was soon on the go

A quick dander around found a lot of Rabbit activity

And while Sandy set up a squirrel pole

Davy took 40 winks and let the rest of us do all the work!

For those of you guys who couldn't make it today, you missed a good day out but this year will provide many more, we all look forward to it.

The Flower Of Winters End

This little white flower is normally one of the first to appear after winter hence it's name, the Winters end flower, white flowers are my favourite.



Folklore about this little flower tends to be quite contradictory, with it's presence often in churchyards and grave yards, some say it is earth bound spirits trying to leave their graves and gain access to heaven. Some say it's a flower of ill omen and should never be brought into the house.But I like to think of it as the flower of hope, according to legend snowdrops first appeared when Adam and Eve were driven out of the Garden of Eden to a land where it was winter. An angel consoled them by promising that, even here, spring would still follow winter. As a token he blew upon some falling snowflakes which, as soon as they touched the ground, were transformed into snowdrops. In this way hope was born. Ever since then, snowdrops have appeared during the bleakest winter weeks as a sign of the better times to come, and that certainly is how we like to view them.

Mr Fox

He was out on the hunt today and left something behind..

Pretty obvious evidence

Look what it contained, now this was too big for a little bird, so we were guessing that Mr Fox had managed to grab a pigeon, but we needed more evidence..

And sure enough, after following his trail for a while, here it was...

And you can see that  the quill has been well chewed, sure sign that this was what old reynard had left behind.

There seems to be something good to enjoy every time we go out, but we would like to spend more time around the fire just shooting the breeze and dreaming, it's not about having tasks or challenges, it's not about pushing yourself, it's not about forcing yourself to do something new each time you go out, it's actually about enjoyment, and what we like doing is sitting and watching the flames dance, that is pleasure, that is contentment, and thats what we intend to do some more of!...maybe next time!

A thing for Mora's...

An old scandinavian saying is "your knife is your life" and I can't think of a better truism when out in the woods. I went through the whole custom knife thing buying from a lot of the top makers in the world but was never completely satisfied, I just can't understand why a bit of metal and wood which you can buy for  pennies should end up costing hundreds of pounds, skill or no skill, aesthetics or not, but a 5000% mark up is too rich for my blood. So for the past 4 or 5 years I've been going back to my first love, the Mora knife, it does everything ( and more) that a custom will and they are as cheap as chips, although I still haven't got rid of the magpie in me yet.



This is a part of my collection, and as you can see they are well used and I'm not afraid to modify them if I need to, something I would never do with a custom.Each one in the picture is different, either by steel ,maker or model, but they all originate from Mora of Sweden, if you don't use a mora, you're not a real bushcrafter.

 MORA FOREVER !

 

Wet weather tracking

 It's been very wet this weekend but wet weather shouldn't put the bushcrafter off, as a matter of fact there are things that can be taken advantage off in circumstances like this, and although we are getting a bit fed up with tracking (unless you are hunting what's the point ,right!)  we went back on the permission again but with no snow this time and no more signs of the otter we had a look for other signs and low and behold

what could it be?, a confusing track, front and back overlaid prints.

Slightly more distinct in this pic

you can even see the nail marks in this one!!

Quite a mound of earth outside this hole, someone's been busy

and we followed him the whole way home

Mr Brock is now in residence!!