Bats are easy to overlook during the day. While they may be active around woodland edges at dusk, they spend much of the day resting in sheltered places, including tree cavities, cracks, loose bark and other natural spaces. Learning to recognise a possible roost is…
Fog and mist can change a familiar woodland surprisingly quickly. Paths that were easy to follow a few minutes earlier may become harder to recognise, distant landmarks can disappear, and it becomes more difficult to judge how far away things are. Even a woodland you…
Staying warm in woodland is not just about wearing a thick coat. Wind, damp clothing, cold ground and a lack of movement can all make you feel chilly, even when the weather does not seem particularly cold. Knowing how to manage these conditions is a…
Watching wildlife in woodland takes more patience than many people really expect. You might spend twenty minutes standing quietly and see nothing more than a robin, then notice a squirrel moving through the branches as soon as you stop looking for it. The secret is…
A good woodland visit shouldn’t leave a lasting mark on the place you’ve enjoyed. It’s easy to think that moving a branch, picking a few plants or leaving a small piece of rubbish won’t make much difference, but repeated actions by lots of visitors can…
Autumn is a rewarding time to explore woodland and hedgerows, especially when you start noticing the nuts developing beneath the trees. But finding a nut on the ground doesn’t automatically mean it’s ripe, edible or worth collecting. Some are ready to gather, others need more…
After a spell of rain, a woodland floor can look as though every twig and branch is too wet to burn. Yet not all wood gets wet at the same rate. Some material stays sheltered beneath dense foliage, while the inside of a dead branch…
Imagine you’re walking across open countryside when someone in your group gets injured. You can see fields and footpaths all around you, but you don’t know the name of the nearest road or how to describe your exact position to the emergency services. This is…
When you’re walking in the countryside, a small symbol on a gatepost, wooden fingerpost or trail marker can tell you that you’re following a recognised long-distance route. Learning to spot these markings makes walking less uncertain and helps you understand the signs you’ll encounter along…
Cooking outdoors doesn’t always require a metal pot, a camping stove or a kettle over a fire. One traditional technique, known as stone boiling, uses heated stones to warm water in a separate container. It takes patience and careful preparation, but it’s a fascinating way…
Getting a fire going isn’t always about adding more tinder or piling on extra kindling. Sometimes, a small amount of carefully directed air is all that’s needed to help an established bed of embers burn more strongly. A traditional fire blowpipe is a simple tube…
After a spell of heavy rain, some parts of the ground dry quickly while others remain muddy for days. You can often predict where the water will collect before the rain even starts, simply by looking at the shape of the land, the soil and…
