Wilder Woods

Extra note about the w/e – here is a list of the birds we heard/saw with Martin Prothero:

Robin, wren, blackbird, song thrush, mistlethrush, chiff chaff, little owls, tawny owls, buzzard, great spotted woodpecker, great tit, blue tit, jay, carrion crow, raven, willow warbler, green woodpecker, pheasant, heron, wood pugeon, goldcrest, tree creeper. On the walk- yellow hammer, chaffinch,skylark, dummock, linnet, sisken

Thanks to Beth, one of our longest serving volunteers, for this fab write up:

Volunteer weekend in the woods- 20^th and 21^st April

What a treat to be able to spend a night in the woods! We started early Saturday evening preparing Pizzas and sorting out sleeping arrangements scattered around the woods-either in hammocks, the yurt, tents or shelters- and then shared a delicious meal around the fire- Celia and Deb did a great job with the pizza oven, Torrin and Ian roasted tasty mini sweet corn and Juliet’s baked bananas were a big hit too! As darkness fell and the temperature dropped we gathered around the fire and Deb and Ian kept us captivated with a few well-told stories. After sampling some of Deb’s Mead we all turned in for the night with thoughts of the early start the next morning and braced ourselves for the chill of a clear night! After a few hours’ sleep most of us woke to our 4.45 am alarms and dragged ourselves bleary-eyed to the fire-circle to get ready for the dawn chorus. With a much needed cuppa and Sue’s flapjack we sat and listened to the birds while Martin from Somerset Wildlife Trust did a great job of helping us pick out each bird’s song from the chorus. We even had a visit from a tawny owl who was very surprised to see us at that hour as it swooped into the woods! Once the birds had settled down Jane organised the cooking of a fantastic fry-up and we then went for a lovely sunny walk through Green Down and surrounding fields with Martin pointing out even more bird song. When we got back to the woods our thoughts turned to woodworking! Martyn supervised the felling of a small ash tree which was then cut into lengths for splitting and carving into spoons and bowls. Hannah and Alex joined us and everyone eagerly set to chopping and shaping their wood, helped at each stage by Martyn, whilst Ian used his own pole lathe. The wood-working shelter became a hive of activity and before long the hours flew past and we forgot our early start! I’m very pleased with my spoon, even though it is still slightly mallet-shaped! Thanks so much to Deb, Jane and Martyn for organising such a fab weekend and also to Martin from SWT for his brilliant bird knowledge too. It was lovely to spend an extended length of time in the woods with such a great bunch of people!