Blog - Diary of Long Wood

My Wood

My Wood

by Matt Marples, 22 March, 2012, 9 comments

Some of you may know me as I’m the Regional agent for East Anglia. I own my own wood and wanted to share with you my wood over the year. I’m often asked by owners on what commitment in terms of work a wood entails. This will depend on the woodland and your needs and aspirations. However, I thought it might be useful to give a regular update on my own woodland. I’m blessed with the best wood in the world or that’s what I think. It’s my wood. It’s called Snipes wood after one of my old dogs and it is 150 metres from my back door and surprisingly despite spending my working life in woodland - I love every moment I spend in it yet do very little work with it. First thing every morning I walk around the wood with “Stig “the dog and love seeing the sun rise as I head back for home. Read more...

Spending time in woodland - an escape from the tyranny of modern time

Spending time in woodland – an escape from the tyranny of modern time

by Angus, 26 August, 2011, 0 comments

Nature is the biggest public clock, but it operates in ways that contrast with our rather industrialised way of measuring time. Nature's time is seasonal and much less uniform than the digital clock but it is also more forgiving. Things happen in a woodland when the time is right, rather than as a result of man-made regulation, and this very "natural" sense of time is what many people like about being in woodlands. Owners often tell us about how their woodland is an escape from modern life but it is particularly the escape from being a slave to clock-time which comes across most strongly. This enjoyment is of course linked to taking "time out" - it is a good thing to take time off work but it is a further escape to get away from being organised according to the clock. Read more...

Discovering Long Wood - a year in the life of a small wood - December

Discovering Long Wood – a year in the life of a small wood – December

by heather, 8 January, 2010, 3 comments

Heather and Rodney kept a diary for twelve months in 2008, and this is the final instalment. They do some overdue detective work, and make some surprising discoveries ... Read more...

Discovering Long Wood - a year in the life of a small wood - November

Discovering Long Wood – a year in the life of a small wood – November

by heather, 27 November, 2009, 1 comments

Rodney is well pleased with the single-handed completion of his log shelter. Heather meanwhile is inspired by the fluttering and swirling leaves creating a glorious carpet ... Read more...

Discovering Long Wood - a year in the life of a small wood - October

Discovering Long Wood – a year in the life of a small wood – October

by heather, 6 November, 2009, 3 comments

This is Rodney’s month for assessing his forestry progress so far, and for his greatest engineering achievement to date... October Read more...

Discovering Long Wood - a year in the life of a small wood - September

Discovering Long Wood – a year in the life of a small wood – September

by heather, 2 October, 2009, 0 comments

Heather has been studying the mushrooms in Long Wood. Rodney’s labours with the hemlock are bearing fruit in the form of a three-sided log shelter – not finished yet, but looking good. Read more... September Read more...

Discovering Long Wood - a year in the life of a small wood - August

Discovering Long Wood – a year in the life of a small wood – August

by heather, 4 September, 2009, 0 comments

Not just a whole load of old bracken after all ... By August, Heather has discovered no less than eleven varieties of fern in Long Wood while Rodney has been building up his log structure... read Heather's diary entry for August Read more...

Discovering Long Wood - a year in the life of a small wood - July

Discovering Long Wood – a year in the life of a small wood – July

by heather, 10 July, 2009, 2 comments

Long Wood is teeming with wildlife, but mainly it’s invisible. Heather and Rodney are becoming skilled in reading the evidence identifying foxes, badgers, roe and fallow deer, woodpeckers, and much more ... Read more...

Wild Flower Guide

Badger

Read our guide to wild flowers of woodland and hedgerow

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