A day at the beach and more!

So back in to the new term and the trips are coming thick and fast, so far been to rainham marshes, and Trent park (and a wood i forget the name of!) and Walton (on the Naze) and Jaywick and clacton. Intresting things were learnt at each.

However after the trip to Jaywick and clacton it was off to John and Rachels for dinner and to spend some time with them and there little one. Unfortunatly the little one hasnt been too well so John had been off work. Did mean I can get there without having to wait around for him to get home.

So we had some time chatting then Buffy (the other guest) arrived, and much laughing and fun was had, however we soon started chatting about dinner and food when john relised he didnt have any!

So off to Tesco and steaks are purchased and leeks and other such foods. Back to johns and a Slap up dinner of Steak Mash and other stuffs with a port and pepper reduction! YUM. After dinner and it was time for bed for the little one and time for me to head home.

Rather than taking the horrible A12 i took the lovely quiet back roads and had some fun driving in the countryside, Saw a few foxes, a couple of Muntjac deer playing and a Fallow deer disappering in to a hedge and of couse the rabbits in a field. However, on the way home i saw a small grey animal walking on the road with straw on its back it took me a while to relise it was a badger, lolloping along the road in front of me. After about 20 metres (with me driving slowly behind it at some decent distance.  It disapeared in to a hedge and well that was that!

A new year

So that was 2010? hmm not going to go in to personal life here by ok that was an intresting year.

The last estates skills lesson of the year and indeed of the course we went back to the farm and were meant to do some more hedgelaying, however, my self and a class member had preplanned to get some phesant and trout and to do a bit of a cook up. This ended up being a session in which i taught the group there about prepairing phesant and trout and cooked what I call KFP or kentucky fried phesant. Very simply a phesant breast and leg are stripped, and cut in to small ish pieces approximatly 1″ square, and then covered in flour, Egg and then in to my secret mixture (Bread crumbs, Paprika and Smoked paprika with a dash of cayenne pepper if you like it and maybe a bit of turmric) ensure the meat is well covered then fry until golden brown, and it turns out beautiful!

College finshed in mid december and so I got 3 wonderful weeks off.  Of course I went in to college to hand some work in over the holiday, wouldn’t have felt right having no contact.

The 23rd of december found me at hatfeild forest picking up two deer carcasses (or how ever you spell it) and then butchering them in to joints for the freezer and 2 of the other lads on the course. A new skill and a fun one to learn (thanks to HFW and the River cottage team for there video)

Then there was 2 weeks ish of bordom…. sounds terrible I know but i was bored silly, I have learnt over the last 4 – 5 years I am a people person never happier than when instructing or helping people with a task, so I think this leads to my future ( or so I hope) and working with young people (and not so young) and becoming an educational ranger.

oh I must mention 2 major ish events of the holiday, Number one a friends party where I met up with Alex a good friend and one of my leader team (when he isnt at uni) (oh and the man behind http://medicalalex.wordpress.com/) I must have been the oldest guest at this party by 4 years, with alex being the next oldest! not a fun thing, but the birthday girl had fun so thats all that matters,

And then of course was new years eve. I spent this with a group of scouters and partners in Stevenage way and very nice it was too, until my silencer fell off the car. Laying under a car on a busy road trying to free a silencer was not how I wanted to start the year, but ho hum

Thats pretty much all for now, this terms started and great fun already. The 4 parts are Inverstagative Project (you wont hear much about this as its lots and lots of reading), Chainsaw and Tree Felling (lots and lots of fun) Urban Enviroments (Whoo Trips!) and Costal Habitats (Whoo more trips!)

Hope everyone had a good Christmas and 2011 is going your way

 

Del

“Umm we just found a grenade”

Last week while in a estate management class while doing some hedge laying one of the lads came over to our lecturer (who I was talking to at the time and came out with “umm we just found a grenade” so off we trooped to have a look before calling the police…

Diffrent oppionions were thrown around about how it ended up there, would it still be dangerous (answer yes) then one of the lads said there was no pin…. Oh Cripes, soon as we heard that my self and a fellow student asked if there was a spoon (the handle that flys off). Nope came the reply no spoon, so its either deactivated or a dud, neither exactly safe! However when one of the lads got a better look he saw a metal plate attached to the end and a hole in the top. So he pulled it out!

 

It didnt go boom!

 

It looks as though it was converted to a Paper weight or display item after the war and somehow ended up in a hedge in enfeild!

Copicing!

This task was completed in two sections, firstly the coppicing of the Corylus avellana and then the processing of the wood produced.

The coppicing of the C. Avellana was conducted in small teams of two, this allows for one team member to fell the tree and limbs and the other member to watch the area and ensure that it is safe.

Effective coppicing of C. Avellana should be carried out at between 7 and 10 years to be effective and to supply the correct size of wood that we require.

The coppicing is carried out using a bow saw with a green wood blade. The cuts must be made cutting so that the stump that is left slopes away from the centre of the stool. This stops rain water flowing back on to the stool and causing it to rot.

It is important to remove all the poles from a stool as it will encourage the full regrowth of the stool at the same rate, and increases the size of the habitat created.

After coppicing the C. Avellana poles were carried to a processing area. At this point they are first sorted from the brash (unusable material), this brash is put on to a pile and left to one side in a pile and rots away and creates a viable habitat for animals including grass snakes (Natrix natrix) and for fungi to grow on. The Poles that were selected are then split in to those to be used as stakes, these then need to be 6 foot long (1.8m) and between 1 inch (25mm) and 2.5inches (60mm) in diameter. These are first cut to length, then the small branches and buds need to be removed with the use of a billhook, this is used with the blade cutting down the pole, and with the tree between the blade and the user’s leg.

Once the stakes have been cut to length and had the side buds and branches removed the base of the stake needs to be sharpened to a point to aid the driving in of the stakes. The poles that were not selected for the stakes are then checked for length and if over 8 foot (2.5m) are prepared like the stakes however without a point on the end, this is due to the lack of a need to drive it in to the ground.

Hainault Forest Work Month 1

So today was the first of an ongoing project at hainult forest. This session had 4 of us, including the Team Leader Tony, and Bubba and Katie and Me, This was dispite 15 people signing up. The heavy rain lastnight probibly put alot off. This was a great oppitunity to get some pratical experiance in some of the techneques we have been taught on the course. We Started by clearing out some brambles, Mixed with Nettles and other such plants including a couple of Roses. As we got deeper in to the area we were clearing we found a line of logs, well rotting, that had probibly been in place for 10 or more years. We thaught it was likely that these logs were from the oaks that had stood around the pond for a time before being cleared out and placed here for a habbitat site. As we got to this point we noticed a small creature running away. This creature was cornered and photographed so we could assertain what it was and it turned out to be a common (or Smooth) Newt. In my opinion it was  female and was in its terrestral stage (meaning its not aquatic) it is quite possibe that we had awoken the poor thing from its hibernation. After lunch and our numbers dropped to 3. And on we pressed, there was plenty more work to do, moving our spoilheaps from the path to on the felled and rotting oaks so that they can be used by the forests inhabitants. After we cut a little deeper in and then decided to call it a day before we got soaked!

So we got somewhere, just hoping next time we can get even further, oh and with less wasp stings!

*I will be adding photos as soon as I have them off the Camera*

Climbing with the Bear

6.30 on saturday, what an ungodly hour. Still it saw me getting up to help some members of my Scouting district cross the border in to our Nehibouring districts and run a climbing tower for them. When I eventually found the place we set the wall up and we started to arrange our selves, As im not a climber I normally end up doing harnessing and helmet fitting, and once again this was my role (along with a few other people). I also had the jobs of crowd control with thoes waiting, and ensuring people went to the right places at the right times, well nearly!

Just after 10.00 am a familiur face turned up, a gentleman with the name of Bear Grylls, thoes of you who know Scouting will know he is the cheif Scout. So they decide to get Bear to do the Zip wire, That meant he needed a harness, and guess who got pushed forward, yep yours truely. So after making sure Bear was safely in his harness, We watched him whizz down the zip and then sign autographs for the kids, and some of the leaders. Im slightly sad I didnt get one, but im sure there will be more time for that in the future. After Bear left there was alot more Climbing and then home, To prepare for tomorrow and sort paper work for college.

All in all a fabulous day.

Week one, A Wrap

Monday, Estate management:

• Health and safety,
• Tool Use
• Boundaries and Fences

Tuesday: Plant Science

• Cell structure
• Root Structure
• Stems

Wednesday: tourism and Recreation

• Who
• What
• Where
• Why
• How is the countryside used for tourism and recreation including about 100 uses for the countryside (be it legal or other wise)

Thursday: Day off

Friday: classification

• How do we classify things,
• Kingdoms
• The break downs
• Who lead it,
• What they learnt
• Aristotle
• Mendel
• Darwin
• Linnaeus

Saturday plans: Climbing for Scouts

Sunday plans: Ranger work at Hainult Forest

Then back to College for Estate Skills

Timber!

Today we had some real pratical tool time, so we went to one of the colleges woods and had some time to practise and learn about the woods. One of todays tasks was to remove some Sycamore as its crowding out some of our native trees and so it was decided it was time to lose some. Over the last 3 days some of us have become good working mates and so 3 of us went off with 2 saws and a pair of loppers and started removing little sycamores, all was going well till we saw a slightly larger tree. Being the sort of people we are we decided that it was going down so after talking to the teaching team we started to fell the Sycamore. Starting with the birds mouth cut, or birds gob as its also known we cut a wedge out that was approximatly 1/4 of the tree deep. After this we started a cut behind the bird gob and so thats it. Well until we are just 10% from the birds gob making a hinge now at this point its vital to listen to the tree, as it will tell you before it goes. So the tree said it was going and we all backed off to a safe distance and then….off it went, unfortunatly due to us congratulating each other …. we forgot to yell timber.

Still after the tree hit the floor it was time to process it, Cut it in to workable lengths. In this case 4 – 6 foot lengths to make a Wildlife pile from to allow invertabrates and small mammals and other wildlife to over winter in. After cutting all the wood up it was time to pack up and head back to the college for a lunch and then a Tour of the site.

All in all a Fantastic day and the best so far!

A long tramp,

Today was a trip to Hatfield forest and a walk about looking at the trees and enviroments, and the wildlife (or lack of it). This was a good day to gel with the other people on the course and get to know each other, As we were with the level 1 and 2 students some of what we were discussing was discribed as “Boring” but we enjoyed our selves.

A Few of the Topics we covered were

Trees

Animals

Road Kill (and the Ethics and Law of Eating it)

Deer,

What wood burns

Do we need forests

All in all a really good day and much fun had.

Day one, week one, Term one

So today was the introduction day, and we got to meet all the people we will be on the course with, other students and some of the staff.

After a rather long “key notes” talk it was in to the class room to meet some people and then off to the library for an introduction, then to the computer labs to see whats going on in there and to find out about some of the extra help that is there if needed.

Tomorrow its off for a walk in the morning (in Epping I understand) and then back to the college for some pratical work.