An adventure in the woods

Yesterday was a bit of an adventure in the woods, more for our cockatiels Pete and Tom than for us (though we had a problem at the end of the day...). For the first time since we've owned the wood we took our birds up there to see how they coped with it. The goal is to see if we could take them when we camp, as we can't leave them at home on their own for more than one night, unless someone checks on them.
They had to stay in their travel cage of course - at home they're free to fly around. They were pretty calm though, and settled in after a few minutes.
though there was plenty for them to keep an eye on up in the trees...
They chatted a bit with a blackbird who came by:
and we discovered what happens to the hundreds of caterpillars that fall out of the oak trees every day...
There were also plenty of pheasants around, I got a few photos of these two scrapping:
I had a walk around to see how things were growing. The "wildlife corridor" we coppiced in 2008/9 is thickening out nicely at a low level:
You can't see it in those pictures, but the edges are becoming dense with plants and flowers that were not present two years ago, so that's working out well. We expect to come along here and cut the regrowth again in winter 2011/2012, after three years growth.

Out in the wayleave there's loads of blossom on the brambles now:
which is good news for butterflies now, and for us when we eat some of the blackberries in a few months...

I also saw this yellow iris of some sort growing near the bottom of the wayleave:
So what was our bit of the adventure then? Well, when we got ready to come home, the clutch broke in the land rover! Fortunately our friend Jenny gave Tracy and the birds a lift home, and I managed to start the landy with it already in gear and drive down to the road to be rescued:
It's now waiting at the garage to be fixed over the next week....

Mike