What happens when you give a 4-year old a DSLR camera?

Don't worry, he didn't break it! But he did take lots of pictures!

The photographer is my nephew Joshua, and he's actually not quite four, but will be in a few weeks. He's with us because my sister Cath and my brother Andy, plus Rachel, Joshua and Chloe are visiting this week. It was interesting to see the photos Joshua took, as it showed what interested him. It was people first, of course, such as his Mum and Dad with Tracy:

My sister Cath:

His Dad and his uncle Mike:

and his sister Chloe, sleeping in our firewood shelter to get some shade:

but then he moved onto objects that interested him, like where the water came from:

the fire:

his name written on a stool with charcoal:

coppiced trees:

part of the firewood shelter:

The base of an oak tree (remember this is all from a height of 3 feet, so the top of the tree is a LONG way off, and maybe not interesting because of that...):

and finally some lifting tongs:

When he wasn't taking photos he was either toasting marshmallows:

looking cute:

looking strange:

or looking scary!

After lunch we went to the other side of the wood to pick up some more materials for our firewood shelter. There wasn't room for everyone in the car, so Andy and Joshua rode in the trailer, which was great fun!

Oh, and before I forget, Cath had a go driving the car as well, up the woodland track, as she doesn't have a driving licence so can't normally have a go.

Over the other side of the wood, the foxgloves are looking amazing now:

But after admiring them we got down to work:

Even Chloe found she could help:

and Joshua found he was easily strong enough to get involved (and earned himself £1 to go on a fairground ride later as well...)

One last pic - Joshua's been looking for things he can take back to his pre-school class to show them what he did over the holidays, so he was delighted to find this pheasant feather to add to his collection of stuff:

That's all for now...

Mike

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School visit

Falling trees, fires, mud, holes and a class of four to five year olds? No problem! :-)

The school visit was a great success, Tracy and the other adults took the class on a walk round the wood to see all kinds of stuff, including me coppicing, then they all came back to the camp to play at making dens and helping get a fire going using some bellows. After lunch they toasted marshmallows on the fire, which went down well!

In the afternoon they helped me fell a tree! We did this by roping an easy-to-fell chestnut to an oak (two tree lengths away) as a an anchor, and then letting the kids do the pulling on the rope after I'd done the felling cuts. All heavily supervised of course! Here's the video:

The neat thing is that after felling the tree I used it to make a bench for them - we'll deliver it to their school shortly.I'm looking forward to seeing the drawings and writing that the kids will no doubt be doing about their visit to the woods!

Before they arrived I did a couple of hours coppicing along the footpath, I'm just about up to the holly tree (which is staying), and on the other side I'll meet up with Tracy's work area:
I also saw something interesting in the cant we cut last winter - honeysuckle making its way up the new growth on a coppice stool. I guess it can keep up with the chestnut to some extent, so maybe we'll have a paradise for the White Admiral butterfly soon?
Right, off to the desk job for a couple of days, then back in the wood on Thursday and Friday...

Mike

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