World of Bushcraft Net Making

And so a cold sunny Wednesday saw me head to the MK41 district to my fifth of six World of Bushcraft workshops, this one being net making with senior bushcraft instructor Adam Logan. After a brew he showed me some previously made nets for catching both fish and fur and did a little legality talk. As we were outside the brews Adam made probably kept us alive as there was a real nip in the air.

 

We then started on making the top two rows from which the net forms. I'm normally pretty on the ball with knots (see here, here, here, here and here as examples) so the fact that I couldn't quite suss out net making did frustrate me as the knot is a sheet bend which I am familiar with albeit tied in a different way for a net. 

So as I started to make the top part of my net my banana fingers did initially let me down but I got there in the end. I said to Adam that I didn't mind too much if I the workshop net wasn't  a pretty boy example because I was just as interested in getting the techniques sorted and a bit of practice in.

 

LHS picture credit:Adam Logan 

Once the top part was sorted to the correct length I threaded a line through the top loops to tie up, and the row to which the needle was still attached was at the bottom ready to be added to.

 

And this is the start of the net threaded up tightly between two points so that I could work on it with an over, under through, clockwise turn, under, through and pull. 

Picture credit: Adam Logan

It is quite literally like knitting and you just rinse and repeat for the vast majority of the time. I also learnt how to expand and shrink down rows and add new cordage in (this was linen by the way) and I reached a suitable finishing point with the odd minor hitch (no pun intended) along the way. Despite the fact that it was cold and the repetitive nature of net making I found that the time just flew by and it's with thanks to Adam that I got the net making monkey off my back.

The other recent World of Bushcraft workshops I've attended to date are:-

Kuksa Making

Coil Basketry

Map and Compass

Willow Basketry

I've also done a 1-2-1 Bow Drill Session with Jason Ingamells to review my technique

Stonehenge and Avebury Rings

The very first blog page I did was about an impromptu visit to Stonehenge. The page is long since gone but I wanted to revisit the site because it was before the new visitor centre was opened and I wanted to tie it in with a visit to Avebury Rings which was, ahem, a stones throw away.

 

With the weather set fair I booked my visiting slot (which you previously didn't have to) and as a National Trust member I got in without charge to this English Heritage site. The guy in the ticket office said that because it was a quiet day I could do the stones visit or visitor centre at any time but I'd booked the first slot to make sure that the amount of folk at the ring was minimal.

The cursed M25 had slowed my journey and I'm guessing that I caught the second shuttle of the day (they run every five minutes) as there were a few folk already there so I decided to do the first circuit and get the shots and then cruise round at my leisure thereafter. Having been before I did a second circuit and headed back and it was only when on the shuttle back that I realised that there was a free phone app that I could have downloaded beforehand.

When the shuttle alights you are guided back to the centre through the shop (neat hustle), I walked briskly through but before I left the site I tried and purchased some Christmas Mead. It was rather nice and, minus the spices, proved that I had made a decent brew myself recently.

And onto the visitor centre. After passing through a near 360 degree display depicting the site 'back in the day' it was onto the artefacts. They are largely arranged in central cases and there is a fair bit of stuff in them but it gave me the feeling that there is a lot of space not filled with anything, although to be fair the space is probably filled with tourists in the high season.

After a quick look around the 'construction workers huts' (which where either shut or had  a sparse amount in) and a nosebag in the car I set off to the National Trust run Avebury Rings which took me through part of an army range and I had the bizarre experience of an armoured personnel carrier giving way to me as it venture across to the other side! 

Just before reaching the car park I pulled over to take a picture of Silbury Hill which is Northern Europe's biggest man made mound. There is some uncertainty as to it's use and  I love that we don't have all the answers about the ancients and what they did.

 

As this was a quick jaunt after Stonehenge I hadn't read up about the site and  was genuinely surprised at the size and scale, and I've now discovered that it is indeed the biggest ever stone circle site. The village of Avebury is a quintessential  one with some chocolate box houses but it is pretty much sited within the rings with several roads crossing it too so it is carved up between several fields.

 I'd recommend walking boots or wellies and I'd also suggest a little more time than Stonehenge too because it isn't as compact and indeed you can go in and amongst the Avebury stones which adds a little mood to the walk, only shattered by a brief 'Whump, whump' from the nearby army range, and an incessant whirr from an army helicopter just after. I rather like the above left hand side picture with an ancient and modern place of worship together and indeed Avebury chapel (out of shot) is partly built of sarsen stones, the smaller modern pillars denote where stones have been removed.

After visiting both the main attractions I have to say that I think Avebury has the edge; don't get me wrong the Stonehenge site is brilliant and Avebury, ahem, didn't run rings round it but it is rather touristy with coach tours arriving in fair number as I left, and of course a shop with every conceivable souvenir item stamped with the iconic image. I'd say the shop and café make up half of the new centre. The Alexander Keiller museum barn wasn't open on the day I went which was a bind, this only left the stable gallery to visit which lost out to a drink in the café. It was only when I returned home that discovered that this was the building with the artefacts in and not the barn...Read up first is the lesson to learn I guess.

The journey revealed more isolated stones and barrows (man made burial mounds) and I've often wondered what our countryside would look like when it was much more wooded than it is now, but equally what would the Wiltshire area have looked like with all the henges and barrows in place?

2016 Flora and Fauna Sightings

Anyone who has seen a blog page on here will probably be aware that I have been taking a long service  sabbatical .  I don't normally bother keeping written records of nature sightings (the only thing I do is to try and see at least twenty bird species whenever I go on a trip somewhere) but I decided to keep a record of all birds seen during 2016  that I saw, not just from the start of the sabbatical in May but from new year's day. I then thought soon after that as this is a one off I'll go for it and record all flora and fauna to the best of my ability.

This is the town where I live and I'm fortuitous on that I'm as close to open country as I am the town centre and have a winding old road through countryside to the North, open fields to the West and a spring fed SSSI nature reserve sprawling to the South just over a river and a navigation channel which takes fresh water to London. I've also taken this Urban Botany blog by Paul Kirtley and expanded on it.

It proved to be hard, there are 240 solitary bee species alone, let alone moths and hybrids and whilst I can't guarantee that I've recorded everything I saw (especially the bugs) I've given it my best shot and will add anything I find that I've missed. 

I've put all the list in alphabetical order and used the following codes:-
(c) Indicates captive or cultivated
(g) Indicates that they were seen over or in our garden (they may have been seen out and about as well though). 
(s) Is for sightings on our family holiday in Switzerland 
(h) Is for for heard
Italic denotes sightings within the 'nature zone' around where I live 

 I've added some 2016 pictures to liven it up a bit and whilst I've kept like with like the sightings won't necessarily correspond with the pictures above them (so for example the Nuthatch recording certainly isn't the Grebe above it). So here is my self indulgent/ hard work list for 2016.

Birds

Avocet, Aylesbury Duck escapee

 

Barn owl (h)(c), Bearded Tit, Blackbird (g), Bar-Tailed Godwit, Blackcap, Bittern, Black Headed Gull (g), Black Tailed Godwit, Blue Tit (g), Buzzard (g)

Canada Goose, Chaffinch (g), Chiff-Chaff, Coal Tit (g), Collared Dove (g), Common Tern, Coot, Cormorant, Crow (g), Curlew.

 

Dunnock (g)

Egyptian Goose, Eider

 

Feral Dove, Fulmar

 

Gadwell, Goldcrest (g), Goldfinch (g), Goosander, (Great Crested Grebe, Greater Black Backed Gull, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Goshawk (c), Green Woodpecker, Grey Heron (g), Greylag Goose (g), Grey Wagtail, Golden Eagle (c)

 

Herring Gull (g), House Sparrow

Jackdaw, Jay

 

Kestrel, Kingfisher

Lapwing, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Linnet, Little Egret, Little Grebe, Long Tailed Tit (g)

Magpie (g), Mandarin Duck,  Marsh Harrier, Martin, Moorhen

Nuthatch 

 

Osprey

Pheasant (Common), Pheasant (Ring Necked 'Vicar'), Pochard

 

  

Red Kite (g), Reed Bunting, Raven, Ring Necked Parakeet (g), Robin (g), Rook, Roseate Tern

 

Sand Martin, Shelduck, Shoveler, Siskin(g), Spotted Redshank, Song Thrush (g), Skylark, Starling (g)

 

Tawny Owl (h)(c), Teal, Tree Pipit, Tufted Duck

 

Wigeon, Wood Pigeon (g), Wren (g), Willow Tit

 

Yellowhammer 

 

Animals/ Reptiles/ Amphibians

 

Adder, Deer (Muntjac, Roe, Red, Fallow, Sika), Fox, Grey Squirrel (g), Red Squirrel, Hare 

 

Rabbit, Wood Mouse, Rat (g), Stoat

 

Trees/ Shrubs

Alder, Ash, Aspen, Sea Buckthorn, Snowberry, Beech, Elder (g), Field Maple,  White Willow, Monterey Pine, Guelder Rose, Hawthorn (g), Hazel, Hornbeam, Horse Chestnut, Larch

 

 Lime, Pendunculate Oak, Poplar, Scots Pine, Rowan, Silver Birch (g), Sycamore, Sallow, Sweet Chestnut, Spruce, Spindle, Weeping Willow, Wild Service, Wych Elm, Yew, Douglas Fir, Osier

Plants/ Flowers

Alexanders, Angelica, Alpine Aster (s), Alpine Rock Rose (s), Alpine Avens (s), Alpine Water Avens (s), Alpine Aster (s), Alpine Willowherb (s), Amphious Bistort , Arum

 

Blackberry (g), Blackcurrant, Bluebell, Bristly Ox-tongue, Broad-Leaved Willowherb, Broom, Buddleia, Blackcurrant, Black Vanilla Orchid (s), Buttercup (Bulbous and Creeping), Brown Clover (s), Barren Strawberry, Black Bryony, Buckshorn Plantain, Bladder Campion, Broad Leaved Dock, Brooklime, Bugle, Birdsfoot Trefoil, Bistort, Biting Stonecrop, Broadleaf Plantain (g) 

Campion (Red and White), Cat Tail (Lesser and Greater), Chamois Ragwort (s), Chickweed (g), Cleavers, Common Mallow, Cobweb Houseleek (s), Coltsfoot, Centuary, Cowslip, Cow Parsley, Comfrey, Common Whitlow Grass, Creeping Cinquefoil, Corncockle, Common Figwort, Common Ragwort

 

Daisy, Dewberry, Dandelion (g), Dogs Mercury, Dog Rose, Edelweiss (s), Enchanters Nightshade, Evening Primose, English Stonecrop

Few Flowered Leek, Feverfew, Field Pepperwort (s), Fennel, Fat Hen, Fools Watercress, Foxglove, Field Bindweed

 

Germander Speedwell, Gypsywort, Gorse, Great Bladderwort, Great Burnett (s), Ground Ivy, Gentian (s), Gooseberry, Ground Elder, Giant Hogweed, Green Alkanet, Grounsel, Greater Stitchwort

Hairy Bittercress (g), Hazel, Heather, Hemlock, Hemlock Water Dropwort, Herb Robert, Hogweed, Honeysuckle, Henbane, Hogweed,  Hedge Bindweed, Hoary Cress, Hounds Tongue, Hops, Hedge Bedstraw, Hymalian Balsam  

 

Ivy (g), Ivy leaved Toadflax

Jack-by-the-Hedge, Japanese Knotweed

 

Knapweed

Lesser Celandine, London Bur-Marigold, Lady's Smock, Lemon Balm

 

Marsh Marigold, Mistletoe, Monks Rhubarb (s), Martagon Lily (s), Mayweed, Meadow Vetchling, Milkwort, Marsh Samphire, Marsh Sow Thistle, Meadowsweet

Nettle, Nipplewort

 

Old Man's Beard (g), Orange Hawkweed, Orange Balsam, Orache, Ox-eye Daisy

Parsnip, Prickly Lettuce, Perrenial Rocket ,Pignut, Purple Saxifrage, Pansy, Pale Perisca, Primrose, Pirri-pirri Burr, Perforate St. Johns Wort, Pineappleweed

 

Ragged Robin, Ramson, Red Sorrel, Red Campion, Redshanks, Raspberry, Redcurrant, Red Dead Nettle, Red Clover, Rocket (g), Red Poppy, Ribwort Plantain

Shepherds Purse, Sea Mayweed, Sea Wormwood,  Sea Spurry, Strawberry, Spear Thistle, Sea Lavender, Sneezewort, Sea Purslane, Soapwort, Sea Beet, Sheep's Bit Scabious, Sorrel, Solomans Seal, Spotted Medick, Skullcap, Sundew, Speedwell, Sea Purslane, Silverweed, Scarlett Pimpernel, Sea Kale, Sow Thistle, Self Heal

 

Three Cornered Leek, Toadflax, Voilet, Thrift, Teasel, Vervain, Vipers Bugloss

White Dead Nettle, Wood Speedwell, Water Mint, Wood Spurge, White Campion, Woodruff, Water Pepper, Wood Sorrel, White Clover, White Bryony, Wood Sage, Windflower, Wood Avens, Watercress, Wayfaring Bush, Woody Nightshade, Wild Mignonette, Water Figwort, Water crowfoot, Water Plantain

 

Yarrow, Yellow Pimpernel, Yellow Rattle, Yellow Archangel

Fungi

Artists Bracket Fungus, Cramp Ball, Jelly Ear, Fly Agaric, Honey Fungus, Sulphur Tuft, Birch Polypore

Sea life

Hermit Crab, Limpet, Mussel, Periwinkle, Bottle Nosed Dolphin, Porpoise

River Life

Lily, Roach, Water Boatman, Rudd, Perch, Pond Skater, Whirligig Beetle, Black Ramshorn

Insects etc

 

Bluebottle (g), Fleshfly (g), Greenbottle (g), Blue-Tailed Damselfly, Brimstone, Crane Fly, Comma, Common Hawker Dragonfly, Peacock, Emperor Butterfly

 

Damsel Fly (Banded), Holly Blue (g), Flesh fly (g), Large Red Damselfly, Humming bird Hawknoth, Orange Tip 

 

Peacock, Red Admiral (g), Red Tailed Bumblebee (g), Scorpion Fly, Ladybird (g), Small Tortoiseshell, Woodlice (g), Earwig (g), Speckled Wood, Small Copper, Edible Snail, Yellow Lipped Snail

 Garden Spider (g), Garden snail (g), Tortoiseshell (Small), Hornet, Wasp (common or garden). White-Tailed Bumblebee, Clouded Yellow