Nature Based Bushcrafting

Over the last few months I have not done much in the way of bushcraft so there has been a slight lack of How To …. tutorials coming out. I plan to change that after the Moot (where I will be looking for inspiration) however I have been getting out on little trips recently to photograph nature.

This post is just to record some of the moments I have had over the last few months. Starting with an accidental shot of a very wet and bedraggled willow catkin. It was a damp day and I was trying to get a close up of a bug but after looking at the picture found the catkin to be of more interest.

Pussy Willow

Not long after ripping a muscle in my calf I hobbled out into my garden and applied the 20 metre rule. That is stand still, kneel down, sit down and lie down but continually look around you for approx 20 metres and you should see something worth shooting. When I eventually laid down I came up close and personal to these beautiful little Forget-me-nots

Forget-me-nots

There was a re-wilding theme on the BCUK website a couple of months ago and I was stuck for ideas. Not long after the closing date I remembered this place outside our village. Proper re-wilding you could say 🙂

DSC_6902
Re-wilding

Back in April I went out for a walk with my kids in Morgaston woods and the bluebells were just coming through. I spotted this slightly thicker patch and after getting the kids to lie down (it was a job with all the pricklies) I got this rather nice shot. The angle of the shot made the bluebell patch seem much thicker than it actually was.

Peek a boo

Another one from my garden during my hobbling period. I was particularly taken with the water droplets on the primroses.

Spring days

My son has been undertaking some nature observations for his naturalists badge at cubs. we have been getting out and about as much as we can identifying trees and flowers such as these lovely Ramsons.

Naturalist badge – IDing the Ramsons

Spring would not be the same without a picture or two of some fluffy creatures. I thought this Greylag geese family looked particularly impressive at The Vyne National Trust property.

The Greylag family

This was a ‘face off’. I spotted this deer in the shadow of the woods while out looking at the bluebells. I had to change the lens on my camera as she was a fair distance away. Normally they run off by the time I change lenses but this one kept me square in her sights the whole time.

Staring contest

We moved on from just identifying plants for Finlay’s naturalist badge to tasting them as well. We tried out a whole range of leaves including the likes of these Jack by the hedge plants.

Naturalist badge – IDing the other garlic – Jack by the hedge

Some of the best finds were literary stumbled on like this complete fox skeleton in the New Forest. It was found by some of my Junior Sea Cadets and we laid it all out onto this log to get a real good look at it. Many of these kids have never been out of the city before so this was quite a find for them.

A Foxy find

I spotted this little butterfly sitting on a Herb Robert flower while visiting my friend Fraser from Coastal Survival a couple of weeks ago. Normally these little devils are away before you can get near them but this one just seemed to be soaking up the sun.

Delicate beauty

One of my favourite pictures was taken last weekend at The Vyne National Trust property. I heard a splash by the side of the lake and turned to see this Coot with a large Signal Crayfish in its beak.

The joy was not to last for the Coot though as another Coot came along and stole the crayfish away – such is nature sometimes I suppose.

A top spot

So although I have not been out doing practical bushcrafting much I have been getting out and observing nature with a keen eye – so you could say it was the more nature based side of bushcrafting.

Cheers

George

Nature Challenge – Day 4 – Re-wilding

Last month the theme of the monthly photography competition over on Bushcraft UK was ‘Re-wilding’. I kept my eyes open for a decent shot but to no avail, then of course as soon as the month’s competition closed I spotted lots of locations.

I went out today to capture these scenes of nature starting to re-wild these human-made spots around my village.

Photo 19-04-2016, 17 23 28
Disappearing phone box

I spotted the disused phone box first. From one angle it looks like it is still in use but from the other side nature is slowly starting to hide it as the ivy envelopes it.

The building below I likened to a vase as it seems to be holding a wide variety of plants from trees, bushes, ivy and (if you get close enough) flowers.

Photo 19-04-2016, 17 23 30
The building that became a vase

In another location there is an area of land that has had some commercial buildings pulled down. In amongst all the rubble are loads of tyres. They have been there so long now they are teeming with life. At the very bottom you can see the lichen that is colonising many of the tyres.

Photo 19-04-2016, 17 23 31
Rubber life

My favourite picture was of a burnt-out car that has been left abandoned in this area. Right in the middle of the boot area a small patch of Herb Robert has managed to gain a toehold in this otherwise sterile metal structure.

Photo 19-04-2016, 17 23 32
Herb robert colonising

Tomorrow’s instalment I think will be on insects as they seem to be becoming active now.

Cheers

George