Well after much consideration I am, I thought I'd start with my most recent course with Woodlife Trails.
I was looking forward to catching up with friends and meeting some new ones too! I started by catching up with Pablo, JP, and Austin Lill, who has become a good friend since we met on Frontier Bushcraft's 3 day Taster course in May last year.
The course title rings true to the meaning of this instructional weekend, ''Wilderness Immersion''. Although we were not quite in the middle of ''Wilderness'' we were in a beautiful ancient Victorian hunting woodland, looked after by the National Trust. The woodland is 1000 acres of diverse species of plant life and wildlife and so is a great setting for it.
The course is the first of a set of three, structured to go into real depth of tracking.
This one is designed to teach basics and immerse yourself into your environment and really know your surroundings. Your advised to slow down, relax and take it all in.
Now how it started. I arrived very early but this was not a problem as All the guys helping to run the activities were there already and I was welcomed quickly around the fire for a brew, but before the brew I decided to set up.
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| Knots in my usual way ''Evenk slippery figure-of-eight hitch'' followed by a ''Taut tarp hitch'' and ''Slippery adjustable loops'' for the Guy Lines REF: Ray Mears Essential Bushcraft |
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| All set, soon after I decided to raise the furthest corner with a length of Hazel to open up the view. |
All set up now and catching up, We were soon accompanied by the remainder of the course participants who all quickly set up and we went through some health and safety and a brief introduction of us all.
We then went to see if we could spot some badger activity with Pablo as it started to get dark. Sadly we didn't see a peep, probably all the noise from us all setting up.
It likely did contribute towards us all slowing down a bit though.
Once we had all returned and were ready to move again, Trooper took us out for some night vision introduction. Some science behind how our eyes work, and the use of night vision equipment. We were also given the golden rule of: White light is for emergencies only! This is because it effects how the rods in our eyes adapt to the darkness.
The next day we did some more tracking activities including sit spots and zoning in and also met up with the participants of a day course. We then went through all the basics of tracking. Different sign, compression shapes and our senses. This was all whilst walking through the beauty of Hatfield Forest.
The excrement of animals can tell us loads! what they have eaten, how long ago they were there, sex and age in some cases and of course we know which species left it.
Here a few examples...
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A more recent specimen, this was still wet.  
Muntjac poo, Woodpecker poo, Rabbit poo... You name it Pablo had a box of it!
Well that is quite enough poo for now!
Part of us all slowing down and learning to be a part of the woodland we did a Bare foot drum stalk. This was a blindfolded, bare foot listening experiment that meant following a drum beat. interesting results but I wont spoil it!
After this Pablo's words were ''you can put your shoes on now, if you want to that is''
I took this as acceptance to walk bare foot for the rest of the day, I've done this before normally when it's hot and I don't fancy sweaty socks and boots. But this was longest bare foot period and also over some rough ground.
A magical end to the day course, we were discussing the 8 s' as we were a herd of deer came towards our position, they legged it pretty quick once they saw us... A perfect end to the course for the folk that joined us for the day.
We said farewell to the day participants and moved back to be briefed on our next challenge, for the course was not yet finished for us.
We were staying out in a lightweight camp set up, taking notes and observing what was happening around us.
  
My set up and the view of my lightweight camp. I choose this point because I could hide myself away and the wind direction was travelling in the right direction for me to watch out at a field and the tree line beyond it.
After the experience earlier with the deer, I really wanted to see them again this time I wanted the upper hand and be able to just watch them.
I got comfortable and waited, I enjoyed watching the birds and the rabbits. The insects quickly moved back into where I had set up, the rabbits approached closely and the birds were calm, the woodland then went quiet... like someone just switched it all off. It was not long before I switched off also.
As part of the night away we also had a second set of eyes. We had to set up trail cam's.
I shaped a stick into a wedge shape to help get the angles right and this is the area I had it set to watch.
There was a lot of tracks there previously and I thought I may get lucky...
Sadly I didn't capture anything. I enjoyed my night out, but I wanted to see deer. This didn't mean I didn't learn a lot, or that it ruined anything for me. It was just a personal desire to really sit and watch them. But it wasn't over yet...
We still had the morning and it was then I got my wish... I had no equipment as I had just got up and well, nature called. I saw a few deer I sat and enjoyed it. I went to reach for my camera only to realise It was still with my tarp about 15m behind me I didn't want to risk startling them at first and after literally 10 minutes of watching them I decided to risk it. I had Pablo's 8 S' in mind I crept back and grabbed my camera I did the same back to where I was and I grabbed these images and watched for a further 5 minutes.
 
I got my wish after all and the lesson was to be patient and prepared. Keep your wits about you and observe always.
A great story to tell when we all got back for a de-brief.
we packed up and went t walk down to the cafe to finish up on our way we looked out for more tracks and signs.
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It's a squirrel front foot. Another great find which sums up the whole week end. It was fantastic and I recommend it to everyone whether your interested in tracking or bushcraft or not at all, it really teaches you a lot more than just that. It teaches you about yourself.
