Camera charged, sun shining and wellies on - time to visit the wood one last time before ownership.I arrived about noon and noticed the pheasant feeder had gone from the entrance. Followed the "path" down the bank and clambered over the fallen tree to get down into the wood. I decided to take photos of the bark of trees first and then the leaves (where possible) so that when I got home I might have a better chance of identifying them correctly. This worked until I reached what I think are chestnuts - which have not produced any leaves yet and those that are budding are so far above me I had no chance of making out even an outline. I also decided I was going to walk the boundary whatever it took - well I'm glad I did - despite the scratches, the whipped face and the amount of times I landed on my arse down muddy banks! The North West corner of Rais is hugely overgrown with Rhodos, mainly made up of youngish Birch and difficult to navigate, but then as you burst into the clearing made by the stream on the western border, you are rewarded with another massive ancient yew tree.
I tried to follow the stream south, but failed - banks were too steep and way too muddy - lost my sun glasses, lost my sense of balance and sweated like a pig, but eventually I made it to the southern border and the now familiar orange painted boundary posts.I could hear two men shouting instructions at each other from further south and kept along the border desperately trying to see what was going on through the trees. Trouble was, I kept getting distracted by Orange tip and Brimstone butterflies and endless primroses along the banks and at the foot of moss-covered tree trunks. I eventually caught a glimpse through the trees of a guy moving an orange post about 6ft nearer to me - seemingly shrinking my soon-to-be-owned land! I tried to creep, (but ended up crashing) through the bushes to get a better look when I stumbled on another orange post right in front of me - they appeared to be staking out the plot next door, by leaving a strip of no-mans land in between! result. :-)
Now unfazed by their actions, I followed the lower stream back up to the cable clearing and took some more wildflower photos before heading over to the East side to free the last sapling from it's choking protective plastic collar.Hot, sweaty and very happy I headed back to the car along the track on the eastern border and was passed by a teenage lad in a buggy-come-truck type off road vehicle. His name is James, the son of the neighbour on the Eastern border and keeper of the pheasants. He had spent all day yesterday removing all the pheasant pens and feeders and so we chatted for a while and I told him of our plans and it turns out that although his family don't own Rais wood, they have been renting it for game shoots for a few years now - hah - not any longer!
He did confirm though that Woodcocks do indeed stop here for the winter from high in the Arctic and he tries not to shoot them as they are "so pretty". He is interested in photography too and so was pleased to hear I would be putting hides in and trying to manage the wood for wildlife. He has lived there all his life and it was his family that put in the little bridges and handrails years ago when he was a kid. Nice lad. I would guess maybe 15 years old - but maybe more.Only saw one deer today, but plenty of male and female pheasants and a shed load of bunnies.
The bracken is starting to produce new shoots through the bed of trampled dead ferns of last year and I'm guessing it won't be long before it reaches hip height and the place will look massively different again. Not sure I will last without another visit before exchange -especially now I know the current owners do not even visit it!
