Patrick Jansen, a customer of Woodlore’s who purchased one of our Large Crooked Knife Blades earlier this year, kindly sent in some photos of his finished knife, complete with an engraved handle made from common walnut:
Patrick’s finished knife
BBC Wildlife Magazine online
How do you become at one with the landscape and follow the animals that live there? Well, BBC Wildlife Magazine spent a day in the woods with Ray Mears and asked that exact question.
You can now read the full interview with Ray online, complete with useful tracking insights and stories from his past adventures, from the following link:
Ray Mears: How to track wildlife
If you’re interested in learning about tracking and giving it a go yourself, why not take a look at our Woodlore Tracking course, or the Animal Tracks & Signs guide book.
The following text and excellent photographs were kindly sent in by Woodlore customer James North:
Dear Woodlore,
I have just returned from my month-long trip to Tanzania and would like to thank you for all your help you gave me when I phoned to ask about equipment. My Rogue boots were sublime, my Golden Eagle sleeping bag kept me toasty even at 4,000 m and my Karrimor SF rucksack was solid throughout the trip.
James North (left) with friend Jack Greenyer, at the summit of Mount Meru in Tanzania
An excellent selection of staff and student photos are now available to view in the Woodlore Photo Galleries area for the first ever Woodlore Wilderness First Aid course, which took place earlier this month. Be warned though, they’re not for the squeamish…
Woodlore instructor James Bath on the WEM2 course
Field staff member Tom with students during one of the navigation tasks
Last week we ran our first ever Junior Expedition Skills course. This is an advanced course for our younger woodloreans who have already completed the Junior Fundamental Bushcraft course, and are looking for ways to advance their skills in the field. Continue reading
This moth was spotted resting on a pair of boots on one of our Fundamental Bushcraft courses earlier this month. Can anyone identify it?
The first person to leave a comment with the correct answer will win a £10.00 Woodlore Voucher.
The moth, correctly identified as the Black Arches (Lymantria monacha)
As many of you have pointed out, this moth is in fact the Black Arches moth (Lymantria monacha). Siegfried was the first to answer correctly, winning a £10.00 voucher, but well done to everyone who got it right.
Last week we ran our first ever Woodlore Wilderness First Aid course, the second stage in our brand new series of wildnerness first aid courses run in conjunction with Fusion Medical Limited. The course was a great success with all of the clients getting involved with the realistic and challenging first aid scenarios they were faced with, ranging from minor cuts to severe burns and major head injuries. All the scenarios and injuries are based on real-life situations that could occur at home, at work or in the wilderness.
Woodlore instructor Dan Hume plays his part in one of the first aid scenarios
We now have a biography for Jamie Cooke from Fusion Medical Limited on the Specialist Instructors page of our website. Jamie and his team from Fusion Medical Limited provide the first aid teaching on the series of Wilderness Emergency Medic courses Woodlore offer.
Cone wars, an epic battle of wits and stealth, fought in good-natured jest, saw the Woodlore staff up against the students of the Junior Fundamental Bushcraft course.
It began one evening; three resourceful students were spotted acting suspiciously, doing what can only be described as a ‘naughty run’ – a bit like a cartoon burglar. Their ammo gathering foray was quickly cut short though by a pincer movement by Nick and Tom, but not before a jumper, sleeves tied to form a bag, full of pine cones had been collected.
Their planned attack in ruins, the students spent the rest of the evening around another group’s campfire looking at animal skulls from Sarah’s nature box. When they returned to their tarps however, they discovered they had been well and truly coned! Sleeping bags and rucksacks were stuffed full of the ammunition they had collected that evening.
They vowed to fight back, and so began a relentless campaign, which would by its conclusion result in the coning of a staff tarp, two rucksacks, a pair of boots and a Land Rover…
The first attack on the Woodlore Land Rover
During the recent Junior Fundamental Bushcraft course, a number of interesting wildlife sightings were made:
While out on a nature walk one day, the group spotted a beautiful fallow doe with a young fawn; they stopped on a well-lit section of track and looked back at the group for a few seconds before carrying on. In the middle of the night, one of the students woke up to find a badger pottering about near his tarp. And, last but not least, a huge grass snake was found near the tarps which, by the look of its bulging appearance, had just eaten.
The somewhat bloated looking grass snake spotted on the Junior Fundamental
Back in May of this year, Woodlore received an e-mail from customer Jason Clark:
Dear Woodlore Team,
My name is Jason and I am currently in the process of planning a cycle ride from John O’Groats to Lands End, and will be carrying my camping kit on my bike and wild camping for the whole 24 days of the trip. The difference with my trip is I broke my leg last June and currently have a cage around my left lower leg; as far as I’m aware, I will be the first person wearing a frame to do this journey.
I’m raising money for Help for Heroes, as a lot of the guys can be inflicted with similar injuries to what I have.
Well, the months have gone by, and last week the following e-mail made it to us:
Well, I completed my trip – 1,015 miles in 21 days, which was a few days faster than planned.
Jason’s bike (complete with Woodlore Badge on his pannier, of course) photographed at a view point just above Loch Craggie and Loch Loyal in the mid-North of Scotland
The Ray Mears & Woodlore Bushcraft Blog 