Chipper not so chipper today

Nuthatch

I spent some time in the hide yesterday trying out my new microphone and earphones, listening to the woodland activity and was amazed at how much the thing captures - and from such a distance too. The only issue I had was that I had forgotten to take the furry windsock to put over the foam, and so there was a low level buzz in the background which was a bit annoying. Will try again next week. Also only realised after taking this picture of a Nuthatch that the winds had brought down yet more debris scattering the floor and ruining my shot. Must remember to scan my backgrounds and not get lazy - hot spots like this pale arch-shaped stick just don't leap out at me when I am looking through the viewfinder at this gorgeous bird - but it's massively irritating me now. Grrrrrr.

Not a lot of sleep and a crick neck started my Sunday a bit worse for wear. Still, it made a change from working through a hangover.

pegged-out clay oven base & new fire pit

A mid morning start saw sunshine and clouds and a fairly chilly 5 degrees which wasn't for standing around in too long. Thankfully as the day wore on it did warm up at bit and the amount we got done was certainly testament to the lack of idle time.

Tracey and I started on levelling off the base for the clay oven, removing the reeds and foliage currently growing in the way, whilst the boys set to work fitting my new luxurious seat in the Immac hide - I say new.... it's the old passenger seat from "Bee", our well travelled, 1972 VW campervan which is currently undergoing another overhaul. The new seats going into the bus will hopefully allow me to reach the pedals and finally drive her, but instead of getting rid of the old seat that has travelled 11,000 miles round Europe with me sat atop, we decided it would make the perfect, if not the comfiest, hide seat ever. It is being fitted in full working condition too, so I will have tilt action in the backrest as well as the ability to slide forward and back on the runners when needed. Can't wait. No more numb bum, backache or wobbly-log-perching for me. 

Extending the bank bench seating in-line with the new campfire

The plan for the day was to get the piles of rhodie brash passed through the chipper and spread as mulch along the paths.  So the very heavy "Beast" was dragged over toad bridge ready to get chipping and the idea was to have the rest of us chopping the brash into manageable lengths ready for Flee, who would feed it in, thus making the most of the fuel and not having long periods of machine idle time. The first barrow load came through no problem, then it was almost as if the Beast had remembered last week and simply said... uh oh... not doing that again and just stopped and refused to start again. We had to remind ourselves that the thing had stood idle for 5 years and last weeks first run had been so easy - we should have known it was a little too good to be true. So the big yellow rhodie-muncher had to be dragged back across the bridge, all the way back up to the Landy and will be taken back home for some much needed TLC. With any luck she will be purring and chipping again before too long.

Meanwhile, back at camp, Ant was focused on moving the camp-fire. He dug a new fire pit, used the turf to fill in the old one, and removed the hazardous tree stumps from the walkway.  Tracey and I later added a long log bench to minimise the trip hazard en route to the wood pile - all we need now is another weekend to christen it.  

Chloe-Anne and Fynn

After lunch of steaming bowls of chilli-come-spag-bog and bread rolls, we set about working on some odd jobs that needed doing round camp... clearing away the A frame beds, finishing off the steps up to Fox ridge and making a start on extending the bank bench seating now that the fire had moved.  Flee installed two new shelves inside Immac... one for my camera and another for my wine and I reset the trailcam over by Trap Number 2. 

My brother and 7 year old niece spent the day camped out over the Eastern side in their favourite spot, getting a cooking fire going and exploring the streams and waterfalls over that side. Chloe made friends with Fynn almost instantly and they spent the day following each other around and occasionally passing by the Yardarm on circuits of the wood or to show us that her second front tooth had finally come out!

So much done, so much to do, but feeling really quite pleased with the progress so far. Slightly nervous about making the clay oven, but chuffed we have at least started and have a plan starting to come together. Slowly and thoughtfully is the way forward.... we only want to build it once!

Lovely morning at the wood watching this hungry chap...

Chipping Sunday

The "Trident Tree" on the East side

Due to a bit of a late night last night, and various unrelated injuries shared amongst us, we all agreed to have a lazy one today and chill out at the wood rather than work, so we woke the fire up after a few months soggy slumber and soon realised just how much we'd missed the comforting crackle and the smell of burning wood (if not the smoke). It wasn't long before the kettle was on and sausages were sizzling.
We took a good walk around the East side to see just where we might tackle the clearance and work out where the high priority sections of stream need to be. Some really beautiful parts over there, at least they will be when we can get to them. We followed deer paths criss-crossing the woodland and had a few hairy moments getting up and down the ghyll - one in particular had me and Tracey in giggles, with my hand on her arse whilst she scrambled for grip sliding down the mud banks. We thought it safer to return to the Yardarm for sausage sarnies and a cup of tea instead.

"The Beast!" - My new best friend.

Feeling revived, Ant set to work digging out his per-visit-quota of roots in the Alder carr, which spurred me on to cut back a few more stragglers on the bank.... Tracey joined in and before we knew it our non-working plan was in the bin and another pile of cut brash was forming. Flee took this as sign to get the industrial chipper fired up; "The Beast" has been stood idle and empty of fuel for about 5 years now and so we were expecting it to be a little stubborn to start, but after some gentle words and a bit of patience, it was roaring and ready for action.

Firebricks ready to make the clay oven base
and newly chipped rhodie mulch lining
the working area

One chipper tank of fuel lasted, we think, about an hour and allowed us to chip an entire pile of cut brash, producing 3 wheelbarrows full of mulching material. We used the material to line the worst of the steps and part of the kitchen area where we will soon be stood to build the clay oven. The challenge is to build something big enough for a 14"pizza or enough potatoes for a decent Sunday roast for everyone. We have about 50 storage heater bricks to use on it and so we are aiming for a base 5 x 4 bricks, and two bricks deep, My task this week is to research the build, come up with the right sizing to fit the base and produce a materials list. The clay will be dug from Rais of course, but the wood-wool, hay or straw will need to be sourced for the insulating layer as well the sharp sand for mixing with the clay and also for making the sand dome mould initially. I'm looking forward to the end result of course, but I have to say puddling clay, barefoot in these temperatures is not something I'm keen to get started on.

Valentines spent with the love-to-hate Rhodies

Sun was shining today when we left for Rais, and came and went throughout the day, but boy was it cold. Numb fingers and toes by 4pm, but another 3 piles of Rhodie brash to show for it and a helluva lot of root balls axed out by the boys.
After removing all the storage heaters from our new house, we had a whole load of fire bricks which were taken down into camp today - in the recently re-welded wheelbarrow.... they will be ideal to make the base for the clay oven in the coming months. Looking forward to Rais pizza nights and roast spuds on a Sunday.

The hazel windbreak seems so far to be surviving but it's difficult to tell with only a week having passed. The new buds are still green and firm but it remains to be seen as to whether it will survive. Tracey and her new replacement flask appeared shortly after we arrived, but sadly Flee is nursing a bad back and so the male team this week was made up of Ant and Simon battling it out at the biggest-Rhodie-root-in-one contest.
Tracey and I began again on the Eastern side, cutting back the Rhodie down to stumps while Ant took an axe to the remaining roots on the West side and Simon made good progress on the banks of the stream. A few of the root-balls are being re-homed this week to form a windbreak in someone else's garden; so after the torturing they receive at our hands, at least not all of them will end up being chipped or burnt to death, (more's the pity).
At some point in the past a Scots Pine had come down and landed on top of a massive Rhodie across the stream making it a complete bitch to workaround, particularly as the whole tangled mess was full of bramble too, but after a mighty soup lunch we managed to clear it and at least see what we were dealing with, Going to take a fair amount of work to shift the logs off the roots to get them out but Simon reckons doable - which is good as the alternative killer chemical option I'd rather keep as a last resort.
Something is overwintering in the badger sett too - but sadly not a badger. I will reset the camera trap one lunchtime this week to see what it is, but I suspect rabbits. The pheasants are still roosting in the Yardarm and making a dusty mess of the kitchen workspace, but at least they are warm and dry which was more than could be said of  us lot - the sun was warm, but the general temperature just a little too cold still for sitting around too long. Or maybe that's just an age thing?

The next round of Countryside Stewardship will open for applications on March 14, Natural England has announced!

https://capreform.blog.gov.uk/2016/02/12/countryside-stewardship-2016/

another wet and wild weekend

Could it have got any windier this weekend? thankfully no major storm damage at Rais. A lot of debris on the woodland floor, and some very eerie noises as the trees leant against each other and jostled for swaying space.  Thankfully the wind is welcome relief when you're working hard outdoors; I got pretty hot and red-faced hacking my way through Rhodies on the Eastern side of the stream, pausing only to yank brambles out of the ground. Most of them came out surprisingly easily, roots and all, but the stench of stagnant water and the odd one coming out with such force it flicked filthy water and sludge all over me wasn't pleasant. I went through three pairs of gloves this weekend and I know that I'm going to feel it for a few days to come - my arms are already punctured a hundred times by brambles and look like I've gone ten rounds with a feral cat. Might have to invest in a pair of gauntlets instead of gloves.

The sun was in and out all day today and at times the skies darkened and the winds picked up again to the point where we could hear what sounded like the trees howling from across the clearing, the rain thundered down, but within a few minutes all was calm again; the sun was out and the wind had stopped as if nothing had happened - most bizarre.

Back at the Yardarm I decided to create a wind screen to try and make brew-breaks a little more comfortable on days like today. I needed to clear the valley path across the way-leave at some point soon anyway, so I decided to use the cut Hazel growing from the stumps to weave a low greenwood screen.
I have no idea whether or not Hazel cuttings will root if pushed into the earth - I know Willow does as I've tried it, and the wild honeysuckle we accidentally cut last year and then shoved back in the soil on the other side of the Yardarm has surprisingly also now produced new leaves so there's no reason to think the Hazel will not do the same. So I pushed each bunch of hazel cuttings into the bank before weaving and we will simply have to wait a few more weeks to find out if I have a temporary windbreak or a living Hazel screen - fingers crossed.

Ant took out some monster Rhodies on the banks around camp and we will soon be at a point where we have to start burning and shredding the rapidly growing piles of root balls and brash before the birds start nesting in them.  Days are getting longer and it's only another month or so before the clocks change and spring will be in full swing - can't quite believe how quick the weeks pass - but we are making good progress.

Turkeytail fungus (Trametes versicolor) is everywhere at this time of year and very obvious without the leaves and greenery covering everything up. Beautiful colours and such variety  - just a shame it's not edible -apparently it was used in days of old to decorate hats! hmmn - not sure it would go with the wedding outfit I have planned for next month, but, as fungi goes, it is pretty stunning up close.