Summer camping in the woods

Well, the British Summer has been wetter than usual, but this week we managed to get a couple of days off to coincide with some sunshine, and went to camp in the woods for a night...

This was the first time we'd both been camping there since I got a new phone, so we took advantage of it to set up a solar-powered woodland wifi hotspot, so Tracy could use her ipod and keep up to date on facebook!

We had a great dinner, cooked mostly on the BBQ:

Using our own charcoal of course

Here's the end result, including sweetcorn, chicken kebabs and halloumi cheese!

Of course, for taking photos of food I should really be using a new iPhone 5... :-)

After dinner we settled down around the fire for the evening...

As usual on a first night sleeping in the woods, we woke up early. As it was sunny, I wandered around getting some photos of the sun coming up...

Later in the morning we went to watch the wildlife. There were several flocks of a variety of small birds moving through the wood, though it's hard to get photos of them at this time of year, due to the leaves on the trees. I managed to catch this Robin briefly:

and then got several of a Treecreeper preening:

I also got these pictures, which at first I had thought were of the treecreeper too, but on closer examination I think they might be something else, though I'm not sure what...

Lots of insects around too, like this Red Admiral butterfly:

A Small White:

A Silver Y moth (thanks to Heather for the ID)

Loads of dragonflies:

and lots of bumble bees too:

When we were packing up the tent, we also rescued this cricket(?) from getting squashed:

and I found this weird insect, which looks like a bit of algae off a tree, trying to eat me:

And finally, insects are of course food for spiders...

Mike

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Woodpeckers and butterflies

When we arrived at the wood yesterday, I saw a black and white bird take off from near our camp. At first I thought it was a Magpie, as we do get them there occasionally, but when it landed in a nearby oak I realised it was a Greater Spotted Woodpecker! Sadly the light wasn't that great, but I still got some of my best photos yet of this bird, and it was great to see one down in the coppiced area by our camp - a first since we bought the wood.

Later on the sun came out, and with it the butterflies. I was pleased to get my first photo of a Red Admiral this Spring, and also this was the first time we've been able to take a photo of one at the bottom of the hill in Sweep Wood, as the coppicing has let the light in:

They're not the only things flying around though - there's swarms of St Marks Flies up the hill in Sweep Wood (thanks to Patrick Roper for help with the ID):

The dangling bits are just their legs:

Here's a male one landed:

Their name comes from the fact that they're often seen around St Mark's day - 25th April.

Also in Sweep Wood are lots of flowers, including some new ones since the coppicing. The Bluebell flowers are fading now, and the seed pods are swelling:

But they are being replaced by some white flowers:

Not sure on the ID for these, any comments welcome!

The Foxgloves are preparing to flower, though I expect we still have a few weeks to wait:

There's also this new one, which I think is a Stitchwort, but not sure about that:

The Buttercup is another new arrival, though I guess it will only last until the trees close canopy in a couple of years:

The plum tree at the top of the hill finished flowering a while ago, and a strange thing has happened - not only has it been growing fruit, it's also grown some strange pods, which are now going a bit mouldy. Any comments on what's going on here would be appreciated! Here's a pod next to a fruit:

Some fruits and a pod on their own:

and here's the inside of them:

Back in our camp, the pears on one of the fruit trees are looking more conventional:

The trees in the part of Sweep Wood we coppiced in 2009/10 are doing really well now. The trees we singled to grow on as possible future standards have a lot of side-growth, now there's more light. Here's a Sweet Chestnut and an Ash:

and even the Hazel that got chewed by rabbits last year is having another go at growing:

The whole area is really looking amazing now, a bit of a low-level jungle!

Mike

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