The Woodlands.co.uk Blog - December 2008
The Woodlands.co.uk Christmas Quiz 2008
How much useless information have you tucked away in your mind? If it’s not in there, it’s all in this year’s selection of blogs. A copy of Roger Deakin’s “Wildwood: A Journey Through Trees” to the first 6 replies with the correct answers. E-mail your answers to catherine@woodlands.co.uk . Answers will be posted in January
Owning a Wood - the first few weeks
Novice wood owners, Gordon and Enid Chambers, give their first impressions. After they’d finally “moved in”, did it live up to expectations?…. Read more…
Falconry and Woodlands
Evan Davidson flies birds of prey in and around the Yorkshire area. He explains how his interest in falconry brought him to us …
I first got involved with Woodlands.co.uk about four years ago when I noticed one of their signs beside woodland they manage near Harrogate. The local area holds good rabbit numbers and the bird I was flying at the time, a female Harris hawk, needed to learn to fly in close tree cover. Read more…
Catching and Gutting a Fish
There is nothing more satisfying than being able to catch and prepare your own supper. Alex McKenzie, bushcraft expert, demonstrates how to catch and clean a trout in the first part of the Woodlands tv Bushcraft Series. Read more…
Brambles (Rubus fructicosus)
The bramble is a common native species. It is found in many different types of plant communities from woodlands, to heaths and dunes though it is not found in native pine woodland, and is generally more common in lowland than upland woods.
Cricket Bat Willow
Everyone knows that cricket is the sound of “leather on willow”, but it’s not any old willow. Cricket Bat Willow is a variety all of its own – Salix alba ‘Caerulea’. This fast-growing and straight-stemmed variety of willow produces wood that is tough but lightweight and does not shatter easily - ideal for cricket bats.
The Sussex Trug
In the days before plastic containers, the “trug”, a wooden basket, was the common way of carrying and measuring. They came in every size, from tiny up to a bushel. Although they were found all over the country, nowadays they are particularly associated with Sussex and Thomas Smith of Herstmonceux who “reinvented” this ancient style of basket in the 1820s using local materials. Queen Victoria made the distinctive, shallow garden baskets we are familiar with fashionable when she bought some at the Great Exhibition of 1851.