Forest corral

Just beyond Burly New enclosure, near Little Early, someone has put a lot of effort in collecting the wood and creating whatever this corral or shelter or whatever it might be. I wonder how long it'll remain a forest feature. You'd be surprised if left in peace, how long these ephemeral structures retain a presence, even if in ruin.

Dugout

 

We came across a partially constructed, sometime abandoned dugout on our walk this morning. We pass this way regularly, and haven't previously noticed the site, even though it looks as if it's been there for some time. It would've been fairly well camouflaged mind. There's a wall of sticks once clearly daubed with clay, grass and moss build on a platform of excavated clay, evidence suggests it once had a roof; it's not very big though, 1.5m by 2m say. I can think of better locations and conditions, it's very wet abouts, even in the dry season. Still, bravo for having a go I say, and better luck next time. I have to admit to having considered building something out myself.

Gimme shelter

I love finding shelters amongst the stands, it means children are being socialized to the forest and nature. I wonder how many though, I don't think it's that common. I can only speak for our local woods, which 'used to be' packed with camps, dens and dirt jumps, not so much nowadays though; in fact I can't remember the last camp I saw over there. We'll lose something of ourselves if we wholesale abandon nature for the screen world; it'll be something essential and difficult to regain too.

Gimme shelter

I like seeing shelters and camps amongst the stands, they mean at least some of the coming generation are being introduced to the joys of the natural world. Exposure to nature builds a connection, that connection builds a relationship, and that relationship develops and deepens with continued exposure. Until relatively recently everyday life was exposure to nature, it's well-being tied directly to ours. Now though being for the most part removed from the natural world, we've got to actively seek making that connection. Building shelters and camps is as good a way as any to start. It's where my love of the natural world was kindled. It's essential our species connection with the natural world isn't weakened any further. 

 

Bit of a tangent, but. Years ago we had a friend who'd moved down from London, and one time thought he'd come camping with us to Dartmoor; at the time we regularly camped on the moor. His reaction to the moor has stayed with me. Dartmoor blew his mind, and he wasn't a fan, he'd never experienced that degree of nature, prompting questions like 'why are there no street lights?' and 'where are the shops?'. He was an urban human, the natural environment was a mystery to him. That amazed me.

Cabin in the woods

 

I don't know how long this, what was a, fantastically well constructed shelter had been hidden amongst the stands, some time I reckon. I first clocked it back in 2018 and was immediately struck by the time and effort that had obviously gone into it's construction; it was sturdily built and fairly weather proof, which is not the case for most of the forest's shelters, in fact it was unique amongst them. Once Burley New Enclosures grand design, the finest shelter in the forest; more recently a woodland bong house; today I was disappointed to find it had been completely flattened by the forestry, you could see the tractor tracks. Shame really, I always favour leaving these and other woodland creations to fade naturally over the years, it adds to the woodlands aesthetic. 

Repairs

I spend 20 minutes or so on this morning's walk undertaking some remedial repairs to Burley Old's 'Hermitage'. I'd noticed over walks of late that it had become more of a sieve than a shelter and thought I'd do something about that. Recent winds ensured that there was plenty of canopy detritus of all sizes littering the woodland floor, plenty of leaf litter too. I was pleased with my efforts, by the time I'd finished many of the gaps and holes were filled, returning the shelter to darkness; one thing I noticed though during my maintenance was that in the near future more substantial structural work would be required if the hermitage was to endure. I have to say, even at my age, I really enjoyed 'playing' in the woods and was totally absorbed by the activity, the weights on my mind temporarily fading into the background. And you wouldn't believe it, but in that twenty minutes or so, in that small area, I walked just over a mile!    

 

The long house

The Long House in Burly Old.

Bing bong

Deep in an enclosure, in a secluded block of mixed though mainly deciduous woodland, is located the finest debris built shack in all the forest...a proper job, though just beginning to fail. Still, it's well built of sturdy woodland detritus, and as a consequence the shack has stood here amongst these stands for at least 10 years. What's this I spy inside today though? Oh I say, bing bong! Well I never, what have the woodland folk been up to!

Testing testing

Looks like someone's been out in the woods testing their bushcraft skills, really recently too, those pine branches on top aren't too long cut, and there's still fresh food waste nearby. Nice little shelter, simple but effective, and definitely left to be reused. Interesting choice of site, it's a closely packed young coniferous plantation, though recently (last couple of years) damaged by fire, leaving it far more open and exposed that it would naturally be.  Still, the close stands provide good cover, enough to conceal a small fire from a distance, and a degree of shelter from the elements. More people practice their bushcraft/survival skills or wild camp out in the forest than you'd think. I come across the evidence regularly, and that doesn't include those who leave little or no trace behind them.

Burley Old hermitage

Burley Old is filled with man made curios, probably the longest serving and most enigmatic is one I know as the 'Hermitage'. It's been a feature of Burley Old for as long as I can remember, over 30 years, I think. I named it the Hermitage for it's proportions, it's a fair size, very well constructed and maintained (whether by the same person I don't know), although it only has a very small space inside it, only enough for one person to sit. It reminded me of a wooden interpretation of those beehive huts you find in Ireland, which I believe were types of hermitage. It's an ambition of mine to spend the night sat in the 'Hermitage' ... I've just not had the bottle yet. It's a weird old wood.  

Burley Old

These views from the gate show you how the forest is changing, top one's the 30th March, the one below is today. Bit by bit the canopy unfurls, ushering the season of dappled light, by far the best kind of light. The enclosure's gates are all now fixed open to allow the ponies seasonal access to the woodland. I do love this woodland, it's the one I've visited the most, for 30 years or so, and I still visit it most frequently. It's wonderfully rewarding visiting a place so frequently, you get to have a deeper relationship with it, understand it more, know it more, you notice the subtle changes as well as the bigger events, and know when others have been there. You know the wood and the wood knows you. I was thinking how it's like a living memory album, I see a tree and it holds a memory, another holds another, and so on, of times and people which come to life in my minds eye. It's not just my memories stored here either, others roam these woods, and to them it's theirs, just like to me it's mine. I get to glimpse their memories too. I see their shelters and dens, I see their art, I've scoured the trees for graffiti, and there's plenty to be found, from the Admiralty marks of old, through a cluster of American wartime graffiti made by those on their way to the beaches in 44', to the usual initials, declarations of love, band names and miscellanea. The wood is steeped in histories. I do love this woodland.

Last post

Yesterday it was a new build in the woods, today the remains of an old one. These unassuming withered boughs, now much reduced from their former glories, have been propped up against this young tree for in excess of 15 years, maybe nearer 20. They were once part of a teepee type construction, small, though you could sit inside of it, and for most of those years the structure remained accessible and a feature of the wood. I've watched as over the years, bit by bit, the sticks and branches have fallen away, creating a jumble round the base of the trunk as they slowly return to the earth. The decline was slow at first, although in recent years it's accelerated.  Still, it's amazing to think an afternoons playful construction would enjoy such longevity.

Woodland development

There's a new build in Burley Old, and it's none too shabby, in fact it's quite the grand design. Woodland detritus shelters come in all shapes and sizes, and a lot of work's gone into this one. A lot of thought has gone into the selection of materials and it's construction too. Bravo to the creators, not just for a super building job, but also for adding something to the wood, another woodland curio, more organic art. I feel quite inspired.

Leafy den

Somebody has built a very tidy little 'leaf hut' or 'debris shelter' in Wilverley enclosure. A nice wedge shaped version of a standard a-frame shelter, solidly constructed with tightly woven sides, and about a 10 - 20 cm leaf litter covering. And, you know what...although the forest floor is wet, it is perfectly dry inside. It was clearly built before the recent wind and rain, as the area around the shelter where the leaf litter for the covering would have been gathered was deep in leaves again, accordingly the shelter looks very organic, as if poking up from the forest floor naturally. It just goes to show how effective a shelter you can construct from woodland debris, and how it blends with its surroundings, had it been a lower profile, it would have been easily overlooked at not too far a distance. Of course you can always improve, and you can never have too much covering on a shelter, the deeper the leaf litter the better.

Grand designs

Shelters are a common sight throughout the forest, kiddies camps, youths hangouts, bush-craft experiments and then every now and again you come across a shelter where the builders have really got into their project...a woodland grand design, if you like.  And this beauty, hidden away in Burley New is a grand design indeed. Man, someone has gone to a lot of trouble with this woodland shelter. Best one I've seen in some time. Usually, the shelters are mere skeletal affairs, with a lot more covering needed to be effectual, this though is far more developed, and serviceable. I reckon you'd sleep three, plus equipment, in it comfortably. This would've taken some time to construct, it would've take quite a while to gather the materials alone, the woodland floor for some ways around the shelter has been cleared to acquire the boughs and branches, and the bark strips would have come from farther afield, the harvested conifers which lay in stacks along the enclosures tracks.  A lot of work. Nice job.

Stick house

And the second little piggy built his house out of sticks, and it wasn't too shabby, neither. The best stick shelter I've seen in a while. On the Pennington Marsh walk there's only one small tract of woodland near Keyhaven, on the return route. It really is small, immature trees stunted by the harshness of their environment.  Approaching it I thought the view through the woodland looked clearer than I remembered it, at first I though the trees had grown a lot, but not in the few years we'd not walked here, surely. I saw a shelter and thought I'd take a peek, on closer examination I noticed a lot of sawn branches in its mix, then looking around I saw that most of the accessible branches on the surrounding trees were gone, hence the clear look of the wood. That and they'd used every piece of fallen wood too, making the woodland floor artificially clean too. From a forestry and timber production point of view the shelter builders have done the trees a favour and not really done any damage. Although, I don't think that was in their minds at the time, bad little piggies. Still, a well built shelter.

Tree-pee

A lot of shelter skeletons out in the woods this year, it must have been a good year for building camps.

Gimme shelter

A fellow woodland mentalist chum of mine gave me the heads up on this fine shelter amongst the stands of Camel Green as a possible overnighter site. The shelter is certainly well constructed and solid, more so than many I come across and with a touch of refurbishment would be serviceable. My only concern is that it's quite close to ranger vehicular access, and what with wild camping in the forest being prohibited, it could pose problems. Still, nice shelter.

Ruins

Would you believe that these fallen boughs are still standing where they were placed after nearly 20 years, but they're the remains of a wooden teepee shelter built here in the 90's. Amazing, isn't it. This transient and ephemeral structure, probably thrown up in an afternoon, still has a presence (if a touch tentatively) in the woods. It doesn't look much now, but it was a fine structure back in the day, tightly well fitting boughs made for a teepee like shelter which could afforded a degree of protection from the elements... as long as those elements didn't get too tasty.  You wouldn't know it was ever anything man made if passing by, and that got me thinking, I wonder how many shelter remains I must unknowingly pass whilst out walking.