Not a blog in the usual 'woodlands.co.uk" sense, but here are some jpgs of bees that have visited my garden.  In early Spring, there seemed to be very few honey bees or bumble bees around - so I was a bit concerned. However, these last two or three weeks have seen them buzzing around - on the lavender (they particularly like that), the teasels, the hollyhocks - with the occasional visit to nasturtiums and sunflowers. Read more...

My plan is to build wood stores at home and roof them with home made larch shingles from my wood. Lack of experience with green woodworking is my biggest obstacle to success!   I borrowed a froe to see how easy it would be to make larch shingles, but I had assumed you hit the froe with a hammer: the damage to the back of the froe caused by doing so was just a consequence of using it,  I assumed. Luckily, before getting started I did a bit of research and discovered it didn't have to be that way. A wooden froe mallet would be ideal and would not damage the fore.   The same research revealed that making a froe mallet was very straightforward.  So at the Woodlands.co.uk Open Day at Allt Ffynnon Wen I experimented with how to do so. Read more...

The butterfly conservation people are again appealing for help in the Big Butterfly Count.  This year, it runs from today,  Saturday 19 July up until  Sunday 10 August.  Taking part is simple, records are welcome from anywhere. Recordings from parks, school grounds and gardens, to fields, woodlands and forests are valuable - they all help to build a picture of butterfly (and moth) populations.  So select a sunny spot and then record which of the 21 common species (that they are monitoring) that you see. If you have a smart phone, there is an app available from the app store or google play. Read more...

I have always been interested in history since a young age and over the years this interest has developed, until one day about 3 years ago, I got the urge to buy a metal detector. Since then, I have been exploring the fields of Wiltshire and Somerset. The reason that I enjoy it so much is that it is a great way to unwind and get some exercise; though the main reason for me is that whatever I dig, someone was stood right where I am now possibly thousands of years ago and I try and imagine what it would have looked like around me back then. Read more...

Camping in your own wood (or a friend's wood) is totally different than staying at a conventional campsite.  There is more freedom, more choice and more solitude - you can do lots of things that would not normally be allowed.  Recently, I was invited to a woodland to camp with some friends where we experienced free-range camping first-hand. For any camping expedition, it is important to locate a camping area - we found a grassy glade surrounded by beech trees.  Next, you need to find a good spot on which to pitch your tent - ground that initially seems flat is, by the end of the first night, clearly very 'slopy'!   Read more...

This summer, my family and I are building a wooden summerhouse from scratch in our garden. I have designed the building myself and it will be an octagonal structure with a ‘green’ roof, external deck and space for seating and a small woodburner inside. The process began last winter, when we salvaged the timber required for the structure from the many windblown trees resulting from the winter storms. We did this a few months in advance of actually starting construction to give the wood a chance to season a little Read more...