1st December
George and Gavin returned to Liddells to work in the Top Strip. They cleared a one metre strip along the inside of the road wall, thus reducing Clare’s five year plan to a possibly more manageable two. They completed all of this by 4pm. The work will certainly make pulling brambles out of, and repairing the wall considerably easier. They created windrows with the cut material that was too small for logs. The windrows add additional habitat.
A wall awaiting repair
Chain saw sharpening for the last stretch
Windrow
2nd December
The path from the bottom gate appears to be a roe deer highway.
Dave arrived ready to play fast and loose with the rest of the earthfasts. He removed four more boulders.
Rob continues his efforts to subdue the mole population on the Top Grazing. He has caught six moles to date. Wetter weather makes his job more difficult as the moles dig deeper. When the moles surface after this the molehills compete in size with the boulders.
John saw the first Woodcock of the year in the Pit Wood.
Hal and Beth arrived for a foraging session.
Roe roads
Mole subways
Clare threw down the gauntlet and Dave accepted the challenge
This earthloose enabled a new small pond to fill up
Beth transformed her foraged material
10th December
Clare set about a project she had been putting off for a long while and tackled the large bag of wax she had collected over four years left over from honey spinning and frame replacement. The wax first has to melted and filtered. An old pair of stockings proved to be ideal although the photo does make the process appear more sinister than it is. After no more wax can be squeezed out, the bundles are removed; the wax cools and sets on the surface of the water and can be lifted off. It then needs to be reheated and filtered a second time. The clean wax can be used for cosmetics, polish or, Clare’s choice this time, waxed food wrappers. The residue is called ‘slumgum’ (a sure candidate for an OED Word of the Day), and can be used to make fir cone fire lighters.
Recovered wax before processing
First melting and straining
Cleaned was
17th December
Rachel and Adele returned to the hide for some music making and treated the birds to a carol concert.
21st December
John has been continuing his work on the interior of the shepherd’s hut and made a foldaway table.
Mel arrived to help John free some of the Junipers from their tubes and create alternative protection. This should help the shrubs grow to their natural form which is bushier at the base than the tubes allow.
The padlock enjoying its very own table
Freed Junipers
22nd December
Several blog readers have commented on the absence of John’s photographs recently. Spurred on by this and by his attempts to address his NRS (Non Relaxation Syndrome), John spent a happy few hours wandering around Liddells with his camera.
27th December
Dave brought what he likes to call ‘his beheading axe’ to some of the wood George had taken out of the Top Strip. The log shed is the beneficiary.
30th December
The last footage of the year from the trail camera which is back in the Pit Wood. Two roe does seem to be playing Follow My Leader and a hare is perhaps trying to catch up with a tortoise.
John and Clare wish all Blog readers a less complex New Year!
24th December
John did a wintery walk.
Looking into the Orchard
The Big Pond. John has no skates.