First full day in the wood

Wow - I ache in places I never knew were possible but have had such an amazing day.
We started by hacking and clearing a path from the edge of the wood beside the track to the clearing underneath Rai (the electric pylon). Didn't take too long and we were soon nursing an infant fire with our new kettle on the go.
Next came the creation of our first set of steps - to get from our "camp" area, up the muddy bank into what we have started calling the south valley (it's really only another dip in the bumpy clearing, but it is further south and has the stream running through it). It was obvious the deer use the bank in the same place as there was a ton of prints and slot marks where they have been scrambling up the side - I hope our new steps haven't made life harder for them. Whilst clearing the Rhodies from the bank we also uncovered a number of mouse or vole holes and even saw one of the wood mice scuttling between the undergrowth a few times whilst we were having our brew. He didn't seem to mind us being there at all and tomorrow we will be building a wood wall in front which will give him back some of his protective cover as well as giving us a bay shaped campfire seating area (if the plan works anyway!).
The boss made good use of his chopper to take down an almost dead, storm-damaged silver birch which was resting dangerously on a nearby healthy tree and so it had to come down. Some of the wood was then used to create a 4' square "bunker" for our old tools so we don't have to keep carrying them in and out of the wood. Not very secure, but we figure if people want to go to the effort of finding, uncovering, removing and carrying a bunch of old garden tools out the steep banks to steal them, then they clearly need them more than we do.
Can't wait until tomorrow, when we put in the second set of steps from the top of the clearing down the opposite bank into camp. It's a windy path and steeper, but we have worked out how to make them now so should be a breeze. I can't wait.

weather looking grand for our first weekend at Rais...

Whoo hooo!!! finally...

...at 10:17 this morning we became Rais Wood's new owner guardians. So chuffed. Torrential rain is forecast and flooding feared, but I am meeting the land agents on site at 5pm tomorrow to collect our paperwork and free beginner's guides! We are camping with friends this weekend, so no first overnight stay or bonfire brew just yet, but with any luck next weekend will be spent really getting a good look at all corners of the land.

How much longer!?!?

Still not exchanged, despite our solicitors having the money and the signed contracts etc. Apparently the vendor's signed contracts got "lost in the post" (Grrrrrrrrrr) so have now been emailed a new set and fingers crossed it all happens next week.

Fallow Deer feeding at dusk

Killed time with a mooch round the charity shops this morning and bagged a good haul of books about wildlife in the woods and in particular Sussex woodland. So after a few hours gardening and some food I settled down to read through one of them, brilliant. All about decoding the signs of wildlife and identifying tracks etc. so by 7pm I was back in my wellies and on my way to Rais with my binoculars. Fantastically warm and sunny today, so the sun was still an hour from setting and I was able to get into a good comfy position on the banks of the clearing. Saw two different types of deer, and although they were a long way off, they allowed me to watch them eating before heading up into the wood on the Eastern side - the photo is a long way off, but good enough to see the tail pattern for ID purposes. I think this is a fallow despite not having any spots.

Dryopteris carthusiana - Narrow Buckler Fern

When the deer had gone I saw a mammal of some kind run across the bank in front of me, but no clue what it was. About the size of a bank vole, but quite dark in colour. I stayed for a bit but it didn't reappear so I set off following the well trodden deer tracks to get some better pictures of the ferns I saw last visit. Turns out there are a whole heap in the wood and with my new found knowledge of Pteridophyta, I knew I needed better photos to ID them properly. (I do hope I have got them right now - although some fern geek is bound to correct me if I haven't). It was getting quite dark in the wood as it approached 830pm so I headed back to the car before realising I no longer had my mobile on me - D'oh. So I retraced my steps back to the spot I had been sitting watching the deer in the clearing and thankfully it was there on the moss - a blessing really as I then heard my first Tawny owl doing a crystal clear call across the wayleave. Perfect. Am going to need to start taking the vitamin B12 again though, because the flying, biting insects were swarming in clouds around my head - so worth it though. Roll on completion day.

Dryopteris affinis - Scaly Male Fern

Home made campfire cooking gear

Our new height-adjustable campfire kettle stand! It's awesome. Made from some old suspension spring clamps and some metal tubing from a large car masking-tape roll cutter, but I love the fact that old scrap can be put to such a perfect use. Can't wait to use it!

The vivid lime green of spring

Bluebells in the East

A quick dash through the wood today, in between gardening stints at home, to capture the bluebells before they are gone for another year. So glad I did, the place has changed so much in just a week. Felt warm, sunny, and so alive. Caught a glimpse of a large brown bird of prey too, as it flew across the wayleave in Flourish wood and disappeared into the trees on the West.
Many more new wildflowers have emerged, one that I struggled to identify as have never seen the yellow pimpernel before - delicate little number, and I certainly didn't realise Britain had so many native ferns that all look very much alike. I have settled on this large clump being "Lady Ferns" but apparently I will be able to check properly in the Autumn when the scales form on the underside of the fronds.

Lady Ferns

I discovered another new tree too, turns out to be a Rowan. Stunning and growing just over the stream where it drops into a deepish pool with very steep banks - not an impossible place to create a walk-in secluded forest shower one day.

Rowan - Sorbus aucuparia

The local searches came back this week from the solicitor and thankfully there is nothing of any concern and so we signed the contracts and the transfer deed and I posted it through the solicitors door today. I am working overseas again this week so I wanted there to be no hold-ups on account of my absence. Hopefully all that needs to happen now is to exchange the contracts and pay the money! with any luck Rais will be ours within the next two weeks.
Downloaded a couple of apps on my phone this morning too, one to help with identifying bird song which I am seriously bad at. I can pick out the bigger birds, many woodland types like Jays, Pheasants and Woodpeckers as well as blue tits and my beloved Tawny of course, but the LBJs (little brown jobs) still confuse the hell out of me. I also downloaded an app for identifying butterflies but I haven't tried that yet. Much to see, much to learn and even more to do. I can't wait.