The following post was kindly written by Woodlore Aspirant Instructor Sarah Day:
The recent fall of snow offered great opportunities to see tracks and signs left by wildlife. It was a real eye-opener, and made me realise how much I must miss normally.
Animal tracks in the snow
The following post was written by Woodlore Aspirant Instructor Sarah Day:
Rose hips are one of my favourite wild foods, and the sight of a few of them clinging to an otherwise bare hedge is always welcome in late winter. They are delicious and full of vitamin C, but tricky to eat.
Rose hips (or haws) – the fruit of the rose plant
The following post was written by Woodlore Aspirant Instructor Sarah Day:
A Canoe Trip in the Snow – Approx. 27 km – River Stour, Suffolk
“When there’s ice on the river, a wise man sleeps with his canoe boots.”
(Mine froze solid during the night – most unpleasant, though a dip in the water made them flexible enough to put on, they were still very, very cold.)
A night-time walk in the snow along my nearest river was enough to convince me that I needed to get the canoe out and paddle my favourite river; the Stour in Suffolk. Having just outfitted my canoe with airbags and skid plates, it seemed like a perfect excuse to get back out on the water.
The following post was kindly written by Woodlore Aspirant Instructor Sarah Day:
Though spring can seem a long way off during the final throes of a British winter, it won’t be long before the new course season starts!
For me, this year is especially exciting because I will be working on some courses that I’ve never worked on before. Some of my outdoorsy books have been removed from their shelf and are lying around the house in various stages of read-ness, the backs of my notebooks are full of diagrams of things I want to make, lists of kit I need to mend and things I need to do in preparation for the new season.
However, one aspect of preparation that isn’t always mentioned in conjunction with Bushcraft is fitness. Although the set up of a camp and the day-to-day running of it demand more walking about than an average day in an office job, many of the skills that form part of your outdoor arsenal are aimed at minimising the amount of energy required and working efficiently; but that doesn’t mean being unfit is fine – it’s not.
Recently some senior members of the Woodlore Field Team received swift water training at the National Water Sports Centre in Nottinghamshire. We were instructed by an extremely experienced group of fire fighters, who make up part of an international search and rescue team.
Practising defensive swimming in fast moving water
When we are in the wilderness, bridges and ferries become a rarity, yet sometimes we are still faced with no option but to negotiate rivers, streams and lakes, and so we regularly find ourselves entering water that potentially can be cold, deep and fast-flowing.
It is no surprise that water is one of the most dangerous elements we face outdoors and it is therefore essential that any outdoors person can swim and is confident in water. As outdoor professionals, running courses in and around water, it is also essential that we have an understanding of the hazards presented by water and a knowledge of how to prevent and deal with problems, should they occur. This recent training provided us with that knowledge and offered a refresher for the more experienced members of our team. Continue reading
Woodlore Field staff member Rob Bashford
Please join us in welcoming six new members of staff to our Field Staff Biographies page. We are very pleased to introduce Mark Booton, Rob Bashford, Ross Burt, Steve Corbyn and Susan Hipkin as yearling members of Woodlore’s Outdoor Team, following their assisting on various courses during the 2011 course season. Click on the above links and get to know them if you’re joining us for a course this year!
All six new members of staff have fitted in perfectly to our fantastic and ever-professional team, and we are very pleased to have them on board.
We are already looking forward to our new UK course season beginning in April, and it is with great pleasure that we also welcome the following people as new course assistants for 2012: David Southey, Joel Toren, Mark Callard and Nigel Hopkins. They have all recently passed our intensive recruitment process and we look forward to working with them this coming season.
Over the past month we created a brand new area on our website, to introduce you to our full-time office team. If you’re a regular customer of Woodlore, you’ll hopefully be familiar with us enough to know that we’re a friendly bunch who are always happy to help our customers!
At the core of Woodlore is a loyal and diverse team, dedicated to providing the best possible service to our customers all over the world. Why not take a moment to get to know our team by clicking on the link below:
(…if you can beat the squirrels of course!)
The following post was kindly provided by Woodlore Aspirant Instructor Sarah Day
During a walk around a local wood, I noticed the ground was littered with thousands of ripe chestnuts – while I picked some of those (extricating them from their spikey cases with the toe of my boot) more were falling out of the trees; luckily none hit me – I imagine it would have hurt! It makes me wonder how people would have extracted the nuts thousands of years ago when most folk would presumably have been barefoot or wearing soft moccasins – maybe they just squashed the cases with a log then picked out the nuts?
Ripe chestnuts peeking from their husks
It was interesting trying to notice clues as to which husks held the best nuts. Obviously some of them were bigger, but I found the best way to tell was to look at the back. Where the nuts had grown to a fairly good size there was a cross of un-spikey husk showing – some of these held 2 or 3 good sized nuts. The other clue was to avoid husks that were browner in colour, as these had mostly fallen before the nuts were ripe or had already been raided (and rejected) by squirrels; I concentrated instead on husks that were still light green.
Woodlore Nordic Skiing Expedition
With the Woodlore Winter Expedition courses fast approaching in early 2012, we asked Woodlore Head of Operations Dan Hume to write us an article of his memories from the Woodlore Nordic Skiing course.
I have very fond memories of my time spent in Norway in February 2008. Perhaps it’s a course that almost lurks in the shadows and goes unnoticed but it really was so much more than I expected and truly was one of the best weeks I’ve spent outdoors.
Brian Desmond who led the course, is a very experienced person in his field and he introduced the group to the basics of skiing over several days, pushing some members of the group onto more difficult terrain when appropriate. We had time to practise our newly learned skills whilst being amongst breathtaking scenery.
Keith Whitehead, Dan Hume and James Bath of the Woodlore Team
It is with sadness that we announce that long-time team member James Bath will be bidding farewell to Woodlore later this year. Since joining the company in 2006, James has become a key member of the team, ultimately earning the role of Woodlore’s Head of Operations in 2010. In 2009, James became one of only two course leaders to reach the level of Fundamental Instructor, alongside fellow leader Dan Hume.
Continue reading
The Ray Mears & Woodlore Bushcraft Blog 