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| Inside the Immac Hide |
I made the netting screen yesterday, even sewed an old chain into the length along the bottom to weigh it down around my camera, but when I hung it today, I feel it's just a little too narrow to allow two cameras on beanbags side by side with enough slack not to leave any gaps, so I've brought it home again to make a second one. Hanging two side by side should do the trick.
Simon had already been hard at it for an hour when we turned up, digging out yet more Rhodie roots and as the piles grew we decided it might be wise to hack a shortcut path to the site of the mammoth "Beltane" fire in the wayleave where they will be ceremoniously burnt to cinders in a couple of months time. Tracey and I started at the fire end and worked as best we could towards Simon coming from Holly bridge, hoping to meet in the middle.Two of us and only one of Simon should have meant we covered twice the distance, but since we seem to be collectively known as "Cripple and Flid" these days, and I have a hideous cold stripping me of any real strength, we didn't really stand a chance, especially as, soon after we started, Tracy comically face-planted in what she later named "Simon's Ridge", (I have a funny feeling it's a name she may live to regret). Who knew Simon's ridge was full of inch-thick brambles!
Flee started the day building a shelter to keep the worst of the rain off the firewood pile - which was handy as the sun disappeared mid afternoon and light drizzly rain started falling which then turned to tiny hail stones. Our first fire in the new firepit held out though and after Cripple's gorgeous homemade roasted butternut and red pepper soup for lunch we took down the old bright green plastic wood store (another temporary eyesore gone) and Flee put in some much needed steps at the bottom of the new route into camp as well as the uprights for the clay oven wind break and a flexible clamp for my new microphone on the outside of Immac. |
| Gray's "Green Room" |
Over the west side, where Ant has almost completed Rhodie-eradication, we found what we believe are clumps of white and grey Badger belly fur, scattered all over an old tree stump. They look to be fresh and we pondered whether we had found Brock's scratching post, is he moulting this early in the year? we don't think anything sinister happened as there is not a speck of blood anywhere. Could it be that he has a skin condition? - not sure what else would cause such quantities of fur to come out in one go - unless of course we have the Christian Gray of the Badger world wandering in our wood! It's mating season afterall and apparently the male Meles meles likes to talk dirty to his sow for up to 90 minutes first, making some kind of churring gargling noise, then takes a swift bite from her nape before getting down to business! I know I'm desperate to see Badger's at Rais... but I didn't really want to start with the remains of boar-porn!
