Woodlore’s fundamental instructor Dan Hume shares his thoughts of Woodlore’s latest Flint Knapping courses:

Woodlore recently ran two flint knapping courses in the beautiful Sussex countryside. Guided through the skills by expert Will Lord, the weekend was based on the fascinating ‘Amesbury Archer‘, and during the course we replicated some of the tools and other items found surrounding his burial site.

Prehistoric tools of the trade

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The following article was written by Aspirant Instructor and regular blogger Sarah Day:

Sarah Day

This season I’ve been working quite a variety of courses and I’ve been struck by how different they are in terms of overall feel. The Fundamental Bushcraft courses are very fast-paced, with lots of skills and lectures being crammed into the week. The Campcraft course meanwhile is slightly slower-paced, to allow for adjustments to using a heavier more powerful tool like the axe. The Tracking Course is much slower, but no less intense; I would say that it has a more academic feel – not that you spend the week studying books, but because you are encouraged to study the minutiae of the woods, to really slow down and try and take it all in.

But whatever the prevailing atmosphere on even the most intense of courses, the aim is rarely to cause stress or fear; to test you certainly, and make you push yourself, but not to actually be stressful. The WEM courses are slightly different.

We put a hell of a lot of time (usually in the evenings, that’s when you might catch us whispering and cackling in a conspiratorial way), effort and material resources (the makeup box is awesome) into turning first aid from an academic exercise to a practical one; because that’s where a lot of first aid training fails – it doesn’t prepare you for actually doing it for real.

A typically realistic first-aid scenario from the WEM3 Course

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2012 has seen a whole host of new courses being added to the Woodlore roster, covering such skills as navigation, flint knapping and tracking. Arguably though, the most important skill to have in Bushcraft is the ability to create fire and, as we all know, there is more than one way to do it. Woodlore’s first ever Fire Lighting Techniques course took place last week to teach exactly that, with a cracking team of Dan, Keith and Steve at the helm.

Fire Lighting Techniques – 2012

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For those of you who are unaware, Woodlore has now been running a series of First Aid courses for over four years. Nowadays, a quick search online will reveal dozens, if not hundreds, of first aid training providers. But what makes a Woodlore First Aid course so special is that we gear them specifically for those of you who spend time in the outdoors. What’s more, each course revolves around highly realistic scenarios, aimed to really put your learning to the test.

Students rush to the aid of a gunshot wound victim on the WEM2

So if you work in the outdoors, go camping alone or with friends, or are planning a more serious expedition, then the Wilderness Emergency Medic (WEM) range of courses that Woodlore run will provide you with first aid training that could prove vital in the field.

This year’s Level 2 course took place at the end of June and, with the help of Woodlore’s ever-inventive team, is now firmly in the running as one of our most gruesome courses yet! The aim of this method of teaching is to prepare our students for the worst; understanding first aid is one thing, but being able to apply that knowledge at times of high pressure is essential. A word of warning though – stop here if you’re squeamish…

Aspirant Instructor Sarah Day plays her part in a burns scenario

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No stranger to spending her nights outdoors, Woodlore Aspirant Instructor and regular blogger Sarah Day shares her love of camping out under a tarp:

Sarah Day

Sleeping under a tarp is a daunting experience to the uninitiated – we are so used to having four walls and a floor (even when camping!) that going without seems ridiculous. However, most of the Woodlore Field Team camp out under tarps/ hootchies for at least some of the season, and they do bring several benefits.

I often find it difficult to sleep in a tent now; they can seem a bit airless after a tarp and, although on cold mornings the prospect of leaving a toasty warm sleeping bag is uninviting, once I’m up the cold is generally invigorating. I love lying in my sleeping bag, warm and comfortable breathing the sweet smelling air you only get after a night of gentle rain.

Tarps also force you to be organised with your kit. I always bring too much stuff with me – I’m often out for weeks at a time, but much of it is half-finished projects, books and examples of things for lectures. Being under a tarp makes it essential not only to be organised but to form out some sort of routine. At the end of a day I always put my kit in the same places, my fire flash and certain things from my pockets go into my hiking boots which have the insoles pulled out so they can air. My clothes are folded and put back in my rucksack and my head torch is looped round the drying line strung under the tarp. My Swannie is folded into a pillow with a shirt wrapped around it like a pillow case and my rucksack is propped up against a stick, purposely driven into the ground with my Swazi draped over it as a rain cover (especially if it’s still damp from a day of April showers). Because I follow the same pattern every evening, I know that my kit will be fine, whatever the weather. So, when I’m woken up in the middle of the night to the first pitter-patterings of a rain shower, I can lie there warm and smug, allowing the rain to lull me back to sleep.

A squirrel pup found at the course site

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With Woodlore’s 2012 course season now well underway, Aspirant Instructor Sarah Day shares her thoughts on working and living in the outdoors at this time of year:

Sarah Day

I started working at Woodlore in 2006. But since then I’ve not been able to work courses during the early part of the season due to other commitments. I think I’d forgotten just how much I love spring.

Watching summer mellow into autumn is a different affair, the last flush of colour before you wake up one morning and know the summer is over. The day when it seems the birch leaves have turned yellow and started to drop almost overnight; it always makes me feel a little sad. I love winter, and I love autumn but the end of the summer means the end of the course season and a few months until I’ll be back outdoors properly again.

Spring is a season of firsts – the first Woodlore course, the first butterflies and bluebells, the first bumblebees. The woods are so alive with the hustle and bustle of life that it’s impossible to ignore. The changes are so much more tangible than in other seasons too. For two weeks I watched buds on the beech tree near the store tent swelling almost imperceptibly, then burst into a riot of vivid green in the space of three days. The leaves start thin and crinkled, like a butterfly that’s just emerged from its chrysalis, but quickly spread into a beautiful emerald canopy, until the whole wood is dusted with a delicate sprinkling of green. It looks good enough to eat – and some of it is – nettles, hawthorn, dog rose shoots, ramsons and beech leaves are all spring delicacies.

The sun setting over one of Woodlore's bivi sites

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