Woodlore customer and Camp Craft course attendee Andy Vaughan kindly sent us the following article:
Hi Woodloreans,
Just thought I would send you a campcrafty picture – it’s been a rather long time in the making, but I finally finished my shave horse. It seems like forever since I did the Campcraft course back in April!
Andy and Susan’s shave horse (click for full size)
Ray Mears on the set of 'Wild Britain'
Broadcast date: Monday, 8 November 2010, 8:00PM – 8:30PM
Episode 5: Heathland – Ray Mears visits the Brecklands of East Anglia
In this, the fifth episode of Wild Britain with Ray Mears, Ray explores one of the country’s least-known habitats – the ‘Brecklands’. One of the driest places in England, the Breckland is an unusual natural habitat, comprising of gorse-covered sandy heath, yet it is an area of considerable interest for its unusual flora and fauna.
Despite often bearing the brunt of the hottest summers and coldest winters in the country, the area is home to an abundance of exciting wildlife; brown hares, the rare stone curlew and the noisy pool frog – that until recently was extinct in Britain – all call this habitat home.
Ray also ventures below ground to explore an ancient flint mine, where he discovers a red deer antler that has remained there since the stone age.
The following post was very kindly sent to us by Woodlore customer John van Zanen:
Hi Ray and Woodlore Team,
After doing the Woodlore Tracking course this year I am keen on getting better and better at tracking. I bought one of the books that Jeremy recommended and can’t stop reading about the subject. This Tuesday I had a ‘father and son day’ and when I asked my son what he would like to do he said, “Let’s do some pace tracking.”
So, with only Monday to prepare, I had to come up with some markers for our pace tracking exercise. I went with my son and daughter to the chemists and bought 46 wooden tongue spatulas (the thing a doctor puts into your mouth when you have to say “Aah”) for the price of 2 Euro’s.
Then it was time to visit another chemist shop to buy some paint to colour the spatulas. I bought two tins of Dylon paint which is normally used for dyeing clothes. I used scarlet red (nr. 32) for the red markers and fluorescent green (nr.64) for the green ones (5 Euro’s for both tins).
At home me and my kids soaked the spatulas in the paint for about 10 minutes and after soaking we rinsed the spatulas to get rid of the redundant paint. For drying the spatulas we used a hair dryer. The kids could do all this themselves and were enjoying making their own kit. The wooden spatulas absorbed the paint quite nicely and it beats having to paint them one by one.
After drying the spatulas we rolled a water based no-colour finish on them so we would not end up with green and red hands after an hour of pace tracking. This really made a nice finish to our home made markers. They look great we think.
I’ve included a picture so you can see the result of our work. It might just be a good tip for anyone who has done the Woodlore Tracking course and wants to make some markers of their own. My son and his friend had a great time pace tracking yesterday.
John van Zanen, The Netherlands
John’s son and his friend with their home-made markers
Ray Mears on the set of 'Wild Britain'
Broadcast date: Monday, 1 November 2010, 8:00PM – 8:30PM
Episode 3: Wetlands – Ray Mears explores the lowland wetlands of Somerset
In this week’s episode, Ray Mears takes to his canoe to explore the atmospheric lowland wetlands of Somerset. This beautiful habitat is one of the largest feeding grounds for wildlife in Europe.
Ray spots egrets hunting for food, before searching for food himself when he gathers reedmace pollen to make a tasty pancake. He also finds a colony of young herons nesting in nearby woodland and takes a close look at the striking but ferocious emperor dragonfly, a creature that has remained unchanged for 250 million years.
But the highlight of the trip for Ray has to be catching a glimpse of an otter gliding through the water at dusk.
Ray Mears on the set of 'Wild Britain'
Broadcast date: Monday, 25 October 2010, 8:00PM – 8:30PM
Episode 3: Hay Meadow – Ray Mears explores the countryside of Somerset
In episode three, Ray Mears explores a quintessential British habitat – the hay meadow. He travels to the Mendip hills in Somerset, where nearly half of Britain’s hay meadows and unimproved grasslands can be found filled with a beautiful and diverse mix of wild-flowers and grasses. Continue reading
Hilleberg V-Pegs - now in stock
Continuing on from our range of Hilleberg Tents, Footprints and Mesh Inner Tents, Woodlore now stock a range of Hilleberg spares and accessories, including replacement tent poles, guy lines and V-Pegs.
To view the full range, please visit the Tents category of our Online Shop.
Ray Mears on the set of 'Wild Britain'
Broadcast date: Monday, 18 October 2010, 8:00PM – 8:30PM
Episode 2: Shingle Shore – Ray Mears explores the north Norfolk coast in East Anglia
In the second episode of the series, Ray Mears explores Britain’s shingle shore, which covers 10,000 miles of our coastline. Ray is on the north Norfolk coast in East Anglia, one of the few places in Britain where large areas of shingle beach, sand dunes and salt marsh sit alongside each other.
Episode One - Deciduous Forest
For those of you who missed the first episode of Ray’s new series last night, fear not – the full episode can now be watched online on the ITV Player for free, from the following link:
Wild Britain with Ray Mears – Episode One
Last week saw Woodlore’s final course of the season take place – a Fundamental Bushcraft course run by Woodlore Fundamental Instructor Dan Hume:
It’s been a very busy and exciting year. I think we all felt the bite of autumn last week, preparing us for the coming winter. – Dan Hume.
The following feedback and photo were sent in by Krzys Lender, who attended the last Fundamental course:
Hi Folks,
Please find attached a couple of group photos from last week’s course. I’d like to say again what a great week it was and that Dan, Emma, Kevin and Nick were simply brilliant instructors who were patient, encouraging, motivating and inspirational. Thank you all so much!
I have booked a navigation skills course for next year so hope to see you all again.
FAO Emma – Just as you predicted, I found my cordage when I got home. It’s rubbish so I’m off out later to collect more nettles to make something better.
Regards,
Krzys
Here at Woodlore, we’re already getting prepared for and looking forward to the start of next year’s UK course season, which kicks off in April 2011. Hope to see you there!
Ray Mears on the set of ‘Wild Britain’
Broadcast date: Monday, 11 October 2010, 8:00PM – 8:30PM
Episode 1: Deciduous Forest – Ray Mears in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire
I love the forest. The more time I spend within it, the more connected to this secret world I become. Five hundred years ago, three quarters of Britain would have looked like this. We’re lucky that there are still places today where we can witness this incredible wildlife first hand. – Ray Mears
The Ray Mears & Woodlore Bushcraft Blog 