Today marks the 50th birthday of Woodlore’s founder, Ray Mears. In honour of this special occasion, the Woodlore team commissioned the work of a master hand engraver to produce a set of custom silver cufflinks, etched with the classic Woodlore logo.
Ray Mears opens his present from Woodlore
Happy 50th Birthday Ray!
Ray’s one-of-a-kind Woodlore cufflinks
On behalf of the entire Woodlore team, we would like to wish Ray a very happy birthday; here’s to many more years of adventures!
The following post was written by Woodlore’s Quartermaster and Aspirant Instructor Keith Whitehead:
I’m sometimes asked during the winter months if things at Woodlore are quiet. Nothing could be further from the truth. It’s true that our UK season has wound down following the end of the Journeyman Course, but there is still work to do and adventure to plan.
Keith Whitehead, working a deer hide during the Journeyman course
One of my first tasks as Quartermaster is to organise the course equipment so that it is ready for the next season. This, as you might imagine, takes some time and, sometimes, during the process of organising and sorting through the stores, I come across a lost gem that sparks the imagination. One such gem is an old catapult. When I first set eyes on it, there was a glimmer of a memory from years ago and I recognised it as being the same item pictured in The Survival Handbook, written by Raymond Mears in 1990. I received the book as a present soon after its publication and was immediately enthralled by it. This was to be one of the stepping-stones that led me to Woodlore and started my journey with the company. Continue reading
When it comes to cold weather clothing, we’ve always been firm believers in the layering system; opting for a separate base layer, mid layer and outer jacket offers far more flexibility than your all-in-one padded coat and, of course, means that you can use the garments individually at different times of the year. There are plenty of options when it comes to mid layers, but these are the three you’ll find on the Woodlore Team the most:
1. Swanndri Ranger Bushshirt
The Swanndri Ranger Shirt belongs to a very special group of garments which Ray Mears and the Woodlore Team rarely leave home without. Despite retaining the same, simple design as the 1913 original, the Ranger Shirt is as relevant to today’s outdoorsmen as it was a century ago. Made from 100% New Zealand wool, it provides excellent warmth as well as protection from wind and rain. And, while perfect as a mid layer, its rugged build means that you will use it just as much as your top layer when the winter chill begins to relent. Look no further than the front cover of the Ray Mears Outdoor Survival Handbook to see that Ray has been putting Swanndri shirts to the test for over 20 years.
The Swanndri Ranger Shirt
A new article in the Telegraph sees Ray Mears sharing his thoughts on the recent controversy over government plans to build new homes on Britain’s hallowed green belt.
In his extensive statement, Ray explains why he believes that this so-called protected land provides “a backdrop to our lives where we can maintain contact with the seasons and influences of nature.”
Ray first spoke out about the green belt during his recent appearance on BBC Radio 4’s iconic Desert Island Discs show. Speaking to presenter Kirsty Young, Ray said “We live in a time now where there’s a huge pressure to build on the green belt. Now, as I understood it, that was put aside in perpetuity by our ancestors, our elders, and I think it should still be so.”
Ray with Desert Island Discs presenter Kirsty Young
Ray added that, while he accepts that new homes are needed, “If we don’t have green spaces, what sort of people do we become, living in those spaces?”
The issue recently gained publicity following a warning from the National Trust, that half of English councils with green-belt land are preparing to allocate some of it for development ahead of brownfield sites.
Ray went on to say that the “green belt, by its nature, is rich in hedgerows and strip woodland, which link green spaces. Such ‘wildlife corridors’ play a vital role in connecting smaller habitats, which in isolation would be far less viable.”
Read the full Telegraph article
Listen to Ray Mears on Desert Island Discs
The following post was written by Woodlore Aspirant Instructor Rob Bashford:
The Art of Navigation
I have often heard Ray refer to the compass as the ‘key to the wilderness’. By this I believe he means it unlocks the full potential of the outdoors, enabling you to travel confidently in wild places. Navigation is undoubtedly one of those foundation skills, along with the likes of first aid, around which all other bushcraft skills should be built. The ability to navigate proficiently is an absolutely key skill if you plan to venture into the outdoors and its importance rises in direct proportion to the remoteness of the environment. It is very often the case that emergencies in the outdoors are the end result of an earlier navigational error.
The problem is that in today’s world of GPS and mapping software, now conveniently incorporated into smart phones, it is all too easy to think that the map and compass have become outdated. Nothing could be further from the truth. As in other areas of bushcraft, the best tools are those that are simple and robust, meaning they can be relied upon in tough environments. Those that utilise electronics and batteries do not generally fall into this category. That is not to say there is no place for this technology but it should never be the sole means of navigation. There is no substitute for the humble map and compass.
The ability to navigate with confidence is a wonderfully liberating skill, enabling you to venture further off the beaten track and really immerse yourself in wild places. The real beauty of this skill is that it is entirely transferrable to different environments. Yes, the maps may look a little different in foreign countries and there are some important variables to be aware of, but ultimately the skill of using a map and compass remains the same wherever you are in the world.
Rob Bashford navigating in the hills of Scotland
In its simplest form, navigation means knowing how far you have travelled from a known point and in what direction, a process known officially as ‘dead reckoning’. In reality there is a bit more to it than this and like many of the skills in bushcraft, observation is paramount. Learning to read the subtleties of the terrain allows you to venture into seemingly featureless landscapes, where there are no signs or paths to guide you. It also builds an inner confidence and that frees you to visit those less frequented places.
Although there is certainly scope for teaching yourself the basics of navigation, as when learning most new skills, a little instruction goes a long way. Woodlore has been running wilderness navigation courses for some years now and we have distilled Ray’s many years of wilderness navigation experience into a readily digestible format. These courses are unique, in that we teach you techniques you can use anywhere in the world, with a strong emphasis on woodland navigation. This environment mirrors the rigours of navigating in reduced visibility and is perfect preparation for the night navigation elements of the course. It is safe to say that when you can find your way confidently through dense forest at night, with only a map and compass to guide you, you can navigate just about anywhere.
– Rob Bashford
The following post was written by Woodlore’s Fundamental Instructor and Head of Operations, Dan Hume.
Following the success and popularity of our 2012 expedition, in October 2014 we will be returning to the African bush to run our Tracking in Namibia Expedition with Ray Mears once more.
We will base ourselves in the Erindi Private Game Reserve; a beautiful and unique area ten times the size of Manhattan, located in central Namibia. The reserve boasts a staggering and truly exceptional variety of African species. As just one example to give you some idea, we frequently saw black and white rhino in the same morning which, as you will probably know, is almost unheard of throughout the rest of Africa.
Please have a look at the photographs below, taken during our last trip:
The early morning and late evenings are the best time for tracking
This is the focus of our time spent in Africa; out on the ground, tracking in the bush. The students in the picture above have just picked up the trail of an Aardwolf that passed by the night before.
The following post was written by Woodlore Aspirant Instructor Sarah Day:
Fruit from the medlar tree (Mespilus germanica)
This year has been a good one for many fruits (and fungi) – bumper crops of blackberries, apples and wild plums have been gathered in profusion by all who keep a keen eye on the hedgerows. I have recently tried parasol mushrooms (pictured below). Again, it seems to have been a bumper year for these, and I’ve cooked them up with wild sweet chestnuts and rice. Rice cooked with a little prepared acorn meal is another wild food recipe I can heartily recommend.
But this year has brought me a new opportunity: the opportunity to try possibly one of the un-loveliest fruits found growing wild in the UK – the humble medlar (pictured above). The fruit of the medlar tree (Mespilus germanica) is a peculiar thing, looking something like a huge brown ‘rosa rugosa’ rosehip, or a very deformed and rotten apple. They bear the distinction of being one of few fruits that must be bletted, i.e. hit by a frost so that they are really on their way to being rotten before they can be counted as ‘ripe’ (or stored for long enough so that bletting takes place naturally). Shakespeare and various other writers clearly didn’t think much of them, the ‘rotten before they’re ripe’ quality put in an appearance in several plays as a metaphor for moral rottenness. Continue reading
Here at Woodlore HQ, we’ve asked the members of our full-time team to pick their favourite courses and kit from our range, to find out just what it is that makes them so good. Team member Keith Whitehead picked his Swazi Nahanni Shirt:
Keith modelling the Swazi Nahanni Shirt
I’m going to admit that I was a bit sceptical about the Nahanni Shirt when I first saw it. For a long time, I have been a huge fan of wool, especially for working in the conditions that we do for a large part of the year. My concern was that fleece would not be able to match my traditional choice in terms of hard wear or general practicality. I’m glad to say that I was wrong. Continue reading
In celebration of a very successful and exciting 30th Anniversary course season at Woodlore we invited the field team to join the office staff for a venison feast at one of our beautiful course sites in East Sussex.
The event took place on Saturday and we were overwhelmed to see so many of the team and their families who had made long journeys to join us in the celebration.
Collecting firewood and starting the fire to heat the rocks
After an exciting 30th Anniversary course season, Woodlore’s Head of Operations Dan Hume reflects on the year that has passed;
As the days start to become noticeably short and the pavements fade from grey to their rusty splendour, so too is our 30th anniversary year drawing to a close. This year’s course season has been jam packed with excitement, adventure and growth. The arrival of the first few weeks in February set the stage for our Arctic courses in Lapland, marking the beginning of a very special year. We continued through the early part of the year with our seventieth anniversary Heroes of Telemark expedition and our Boreal adventure, where we travelled 250km through the arctic forest on snow mobiles. Mid season, we ran a selection of British Bushcraft courses, from tracking to flint knapping and of course July was a very special month as we spent six days building a Birch bark canoe in the Algonquin way.
Birch Bark Canoe Building with Ray Mears and Pinock Smith – Day 5
The Ray Mears & Woodlore Bushcraft Blog 