Woodlore Blog

BBC Wildlife Magazine online

How do you become at one with the landscape and follow the animals that live there? Well, BBC Wildlife Magazine spent a day in the woods with Ray Mears and asked that exact question.

You can now read the full interview with Ray online, complete with useful tracking insights and stories from his past adventures, from the following link:

Ray Mears: How to track wildlife

If you’re interested in learning about tracking and giving it a go yourself, why not take a look at our Woodsense: Tracking & Nature Awareness course, or the Animal Tracks & Signs guide book.

The following text and excellent photographs were kindly sent in by Woodlore customer James North:

Dear Woodlore,

I have just returned from my month-long trip to Tanzania and would like to thank you for all your help you gave me when I phoned to ask about equipment. My Rogue boots were sublime, my Golden Eagle sleeping bag kept me toasty even at 4,000 m and my Karrimor SF rucksack was solid throughout the trip.

James North (left) with friend Jack Greenyer, at the summit of Mount Meru in Tanzania

Before leaving, I saw your competition about where your Woodlore sticker has ended up, and decided I would take my sticker to new heights. Whilst I was out there I climbed Mt. Meru and decided the flag pole at the summit would be a fitting place for my Woodlore sticker to end up.

James' sticker in pride of place on the metal flag found at the summit of Mt. Meru

Once again, thank you for all your help and for stocking such fabulous kit.

James North

An excellent selection of staff and student photos are now available to view in the Woodlore Photo Galleries area for the first ever Wilderness Emergency Medic Level 2 (WEM2) course, which took place earlier this month. Be warned though, they’re not for the squeamish…

Woodlore instructor James Bath on the WEM2 course

Field staff member Tom with students during one of the navigation tasks

Last week we ran our first ever Junior Expedition Skills course. This is an advanced course for our younger woodloreans who have already completed the Junior Fundamental Bushcraft course, and are looking for ways to advance their skills in the field.

James cooking lunch for the group over the campfire

Fundamental Instructor James Bath had this to say about the course;

It was really good to see some faces back after their Junior Fundamental courses, and it was fantastic to see them progress and take their skills to a new level.  On top of that, they made the best feathersticks I have ever seen on any course.

Tom and the students take a break from their trek to do some tree recognition

A small photo gallery is now online to give you a glimpse into some of the activities carried out during the week, which can be seen in our Course Photo Gallery pages.

Karate Kaleb

This moth was spotted resting on a pair of boots on one of our Fundamental Bushcraft courses earlier this month. Can anyone identify it?

The first person to leave a comment with the correct answer will win a £10.00 Woodlore Voucher.

The moth, correctly identified as the Black Arches (Lymantria monacha)

 As many of you have pointed out, this moth is in fact the Black Arches moth (Lymantria monacha). Siegfried was the first to answer correctly, winning a £10.00 voucher, but well done to everyone who got it right.

Last week we ran our first ever Wilderness Emergency Medic Level 2 course, the second stage in our brand new series of wildnerness first aid courses run in conjunction with Fusion Medical Limited.  The course was a great success with all of the clients getting involved with the realistic and challenging first aid scenarios they were faced with, ranging from minor cuts to severe burns and major head injuries.  All the scenarios and injuries are based on real-life situations that could occur at home, at work or in the wilderness.

Woodlore instructor Dan Hume plays his part in one of the first aid scenarios

We now have a biography for Jamie Cooke from Fusion Medical Limited on the Specialist Instructors page of our website.  Jamie and his team from Fusion Medical Limited provide the first aid teaching on the series of Wilderness Emergency Medic courses Woodlore offer.

Cone wars, an epic battle of wits and stealth, fought in good-natured jest, saw the Woodlore staff up against the students of the Junior Fundamental Bushcraft course.

It began one evening; three resourceful students were spotted acting suspiciously, doing what can only be described as a ‘naughty run’ – a bit like a cartoon burglar. Their ammo gathering foray was quickly cut short though by a pincer movement by Nick and Tom, but not before a jumper, sleeves tied to form a bag, full of pine cones had been collected.

Their planned attack in ruins, the students spent the rest of the evening around another group’s campfire looking at animal skulls from Sarah’s nature box. When they returned to their tarps however, they discovered they had been well and truly coned! Sleeping bags and rucksacks were stuffed full of the ammunition they had collected that evening.

They vowed to fight back, and so began a relentless campaign, which would by its conclusion result in the coning of a staff tarp, two rucksacks, a pair of boots and a Land Rover…

The first attack on the Woodlore Land Rover

The note left by students after 'decorating' the Land Rover

A pair of Rogue Boots filled to the brim

Well, it'd be rude not to do the insides too, wouldn't it?

The note left after the second attack

During the recent Junior Fundamental Bushcraft course, a number of interesting wildlife sightings were made:

While out on a nature walk one day, the group spotted a beautiful fallow doe with a young fawn; they stopped on a well-lit section of track and looked back at the group for a few seconds before carrying on. In the middle of the night, one of the students woke up to find a badger pottering about near his tarp. And, last but not least, a huge grass snake was found near the tarps which, by the look of its bulging appearance, had just eaten.

The somewhat bloated looking grass snake spotted on the Junior Fundamental

Back in May of this year, Woodlore received an e-mail from customer Jason Clark:

Dear Woodlore Team,

My name is Jason and I am currently in the process of planning a cycle ride from John O’Groats to Lands End, and will be carrying my camping kit on my bike and wild camping for the whole 24 days of the trip.  The difference with my trip is I broke my leg last June and currently have a cage around my left lower leg; as far as I’m aware, I will be the first person wearing a frame to do this journey.

I’m raising money for Help for Heroes, as a lot of the guys can be inflicted with similar injuries to what I have.

Well, the months have gone by, and last week the following e-mail made it to us:

Well, I completed my trip - 1,015 miles in 21 days, which was a few days faster than planned.

Jason's bike (complete with Woodlore Badge on his pannier, of course) photographed at a view point just above Loch Craggie and Loch Loyal in the mid-North of Scotland

From the first day in Scotland, I set off and was faced with high winds and rain but I was determined it would not spoil my adventure. As the days went on, the wet weather and head winds continued and the trip very much turned into an exercise in keeping my equipment dry and in working order which, when you have a frame on your lower leg, is a test of determination and organisation if nothing else!

Overall the trip was an incredible experience where I learnt new ways of overcoming difficult situations and also just how deep I could dig mentally and physically when it was called for.

Woodlore would like to congratulate Jason on what was surely an extremely testing journey, and for completing it in such a great time for a very worthy cause.

Woodlore have some very exciting kit news today – after more than a year of research and product development, with Woodlore working closely alongside Swazi Clothing, we can finally reveal the latest addition to the Swazi/Ray Mears range:

The Swazi/Ray Mears Narwhal Gore-Tex Anorak

The Swazi/Ray Mears Narwhal Anorak is an extremely lightweight jacket, made from the durable 2-layer Gore-Tex PacLite fabric, making it completely waterproof, windproof and highly breathable. It’s an ideal piece of clothing for lightweight backpacking, stalking, cross-country skiing, or any activity where space and weight are critical.

Having been instrumental in the design and development process of this garment, we are very happy to see this project come to fruition. The Swazi/Ray Mears Narwhal Anorak is now available exclusively in the UK from Woodlore.