So, as the snowdrops display cheerfully, despite the near constant downpours, we are looking forward to the spring and onwards to another great summer like 2015.  If you’re reading this outside  North Devon, don’t worry, we weren’t in a tropical climate bubble that you missed out on last summer, the weather was just as rubbish here, but despite that, it was a great summer in Yomer Woods because we welcomed a surprising number of wild camping guests and they were all so lovely!

I wasn’t sure what the appetite for no frills camping would be, but it seems that it is healthy and growing.   Clearly, lots of people want nothing more than some space of their own to build a fire and relax far from the everyday and the crowds.  Everyone so far has been delighted with their time in the woods and we’re looking forward to seeing many of them again as well as meeting lots of new visitors this year.  In fact, we’ve already had our first two visitors this year who spent 3 damp January nights in hammocks suspended between the trees and left smiling!  For now though, whilst campers are welcome, it’s  probably still a bit parky for all but the most hardy.

 

It’s been a busy winter for one man and his chainsaw as the softwoods have been thinned and wood piles stacked.  Now, as it hopefully gets a bit drier, there is some work to be done on the rides and a few further clearings to be created before the end of spring.

Our first 2016 workshops are in the planning for late spring.  On 6^th and 7^th April there will be two woodland music events for children, hosted by brilliant musician, teacher and friend, Alistair Brown.  Then, hot on the heels of the snowdrops, the bluebells are already poking their heads up and we will be repeating last years popular Bluebell Arts workshop doing something bluebell inspired in late April – exact dates to be determined by the bluebells!  Please keep an eye out for further details.

So, as I sit typing this in bed on what had started as an ok day – following the torrential downpours of yesterday -but which is now, hammering hailstones on my roof, I hope the snowdrops’ optimism isn’t misplaced and that winter really is on the back-foot and we can all look forward to drier and sunnier times ahead.

 

 

What a beautiful May, one of the best I can remember,  so many warm, dry days made it especially lovely to be out and about  watching the changes that happen so very quickly at this time of year.  After the primroses, the next of the floral displays was a riot of bluebells carpeting the woodland floor.  We took advantage of the display to run a children’s art workshop, where we wandered, sketched, and then sought to capture their beauty in felted wool pictures.  The children were fantastic company, supremely talented and totally absorbed, and our talented artist leader Clare Russell, was wonderful as ever.    One eight year old boy was reluctant to begin sketching – ‘How will I know if I’ve done it right?’ he asked me.   I managed to convince him that there were no rights or wrongs with art and he got on down to it.

As the bluebells began to fade, the Blackthorns and then the  Cherry trees came into flower, most of the other trees came into leaf and, as the Blackthorn has moved from flower to leaf, the Hawthorn flowers have come out.  I’ve found some new trees, which I’ve failed to identify  by their blossom – my tree guide is of little help – so I will be watching carefully for some kind of fruit to help me identify it.  I will have to watch very carefully, this place is teaming with others watching out for signs of fruit, determined to get in there first.

 

 

After the reported deaths in my last blog, there have been plenty of successful new arrivals on the animal front too this spring.  Angus and Grace heard what they thought was Seb -who’d disappeared into the undergrowth – making weird animal noises on a recent walk (something to which he is prone).  It turned out to be Bambi himself, a leggy roe fawn stumbling through the brashings, mewling for its mother.  He stopped crying when he spotted G & A, who left him alone shortly afterwards to allow him to be retrieved by his mother.  On another day, Angus caught in the open what he thought was a maimed hen pheasant.  As he approached, she fluffed up, hissed and a little chick peered out from under her feathers.  Her feathers looked like they were covering a good few more.  Angus was especially pleased to see her after discovering an abandoned nest a few weeks ago.  The pond is full to bursting with tadpoles and the children fished out a nymph the other day – a pretty scary looking individual – though we’re unsure if he’s planning on becoming a dragonfly this spring as they apparently spend up to four years in the water. 

So we move into June, with a drop in the temperature and Gales forecast this week.  With the new leaves and everything unfurled there is at least plenty of cover for those young animals.  Our small camp clearings are getting cushiony with new grass, and if you fancy camping, sheltering beheath the woodland canopy may be the best place for you too!  We are planning to camp this weekend – the weather is set to have improved by then – and we are looking forward to some more wild encounters.

 

 

So, we now have a loo with a view thanks to Angus’ skills with a saw and a shovel.  We spent the morning in the woods helping to erect the lav. serenaded by the persistent call of the cuckoo and then left Angus to fit a sink and water butt while we headed home for lunch.

On the way we spotted a freshly killed pigeon, the recent lunch of a sparrow-hawk, which had had its breasts neatly removed (I’ll spare you the picture we took for our woodland diary)!  Seb thought this was very wasteful of the hawk but declined my offer to take the legs and head home to knock up a soup.  This was only the most recently spotted kill in a wood where untimely deaths seem commonplace.   Last year we found a clutch of duck eggs deserted on the pond island, so when we spotted a duck patiently sitting in the cover this year, we were hopeful that we might have some ducklings on the pond.  Sadly, Unlucky Ducky fell victim to a predator.  Hawk, fox or badger?  We’re not sure who got to her – apparently badgers will swim to retrieve a duck egg, shells of which were scattered about the wood – perhaps all three had a part in it, but we were all uncommonly sad to see her go.  We also found a deserted nest of pheasant eggs the other day  – hope the mother got away.

On a cheerier note, with this great weather we’ve been having, the May has burst  into flower  and the hedgerows are looking stunning.  According to the saying ‘n’ere cast a clout till May is out’, I guess we can say it’s official, put away the woollies, winter is properly over.  

Welcome to our first blog about Yomer Wood.  This beautiful woodland very close to our home of many years, has become a family obsession.  Angus is rarely seen now without a muddy mattock or chainsaw in hand, the kids are permanently mud splattered from head to toe (the toes were commented on by Seb’s sensei at Karate today, much to my maternal embarrassment) and I lie awake at night thinking up new ways of sharing our little bit of heaven in Devon. Our first decision has been to create some ‘wild’ camping sites, so that others can experience the beauty and peace of this spot.  Angus’ mattock has therefore been hard at work levelling a few sites.  Whilst we want to provide camping  in the ‘old fashioned way’, we have made some allowances for comfort and created a compost loo and open-air stream shower.  Angus tried it out the other day and I’ve been in there digging out the sides too, and the water really isn’t that cold.  It rises from a spring in an adjacent field, so it’s really clear too. Whilst Angus has been hard at work, the kids have been hard at learning in their new outside school room.  Apart from getting to know all manner of plants and trees, spotting deer tracks and building dens,  their most recently enjoyed task was dissecting owl pellets and identifying the various bones and larvae they discovered there.  A smelly, but apparently thoroughly absorbing pastime.  Our first woodland event, is now in the planning, and all going well, will be an art workshop for older primary children in the next couple of weeks with the lovely and talented Clare Russell and I, using what promises to be a fantastic display of springtime bluebells.  Keep an eye out for more information and use the contact page if you want me to contact you with the details as soon as they are firm.