Woodlore Blog

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

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

Woodlore’s first two Applied Bushcraft courses took place in Wales last month, with field staff members Paul, James, Emma and Dan on hand to help students with the challenge of travelling light in the backcountry.

The weather in Wales managed to live up to its reputation by delivering a very wet and windy couple of weeks, but despite this, students of both courses seemed to have a great time and got stuck in with the tasks at hand.

Applied Bushcraft students walking amongst the Brecon Beacons in Wales

An excellent range of photos taken by the students of the second week’s course can now be seen in the Applied Bushcraft 2010 Photo Gallery.

Topics covered on this course include:

• Preparation & Planning
• Risk management
• Clothing & equipment
• Lightweight shelters
• Trail foods and nutritional requirements
• Keeping food fresh & safe from wildlife
• Trail cooking
• Caring for your feet and trail first-aid
• Weather – appraisal and forecasting
• Navigation techniques
• River crossings & other hazards
• Survival equipment & emergency bivouacs
• Communication & Signalling
• Laws and regulation
• Ethics & environmental protection

We’ve recently had a couple of cancellations on this year’s Journeyman courses, taking place at the end of August. The Journeyman is Woodlore’s advanced-level Bushcraft course that takes place in Scotland, which people can attend once they have passed the Woodlore Fundamental Bushcraft course.

For more information please do not hesitate to call the office on 01580 819668 or, alternatively, book your place on the website. Please note that these places will sell quickly, so please book soon to avoid disappointment.

A new photo gallery is now live on our website for the Introduction to Bushcraft course, showing some of the pictures taken by staff and students over this year’s course season.

Just one of the leaf shelters built by students this year

For what seemed like the first time in years, students were lucky enough to have the sun shining over them while pitching their tarps, learning fire-lighting techniques, cooking over the campfire and building their leaf shelters.

The following article was kindly written by Woodlore field staff member Sarah Day:

I found this moth larvae on an apple tree in my garden. It is the larvae of a vapourer moth as far as I can tell though it doesn’t have the ‘tail’ tuft shown in a lot of photos. The odd thing about this species is that the female is flightless, looking a bit like a hairy overweight woodlouse! They live on a variety of trees and shrubs, as well as broad bean plants it would seem, as they have demolished mine very efficiently.

A larvae of a vapourer moth found in Woodlore field staff member Sarah's garden

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Earlier this week, Steve from the Woodlore offices went with Ray to visit our brand new Applied Bushcraft course in Wales. Arriving on the Monday night, they awoke to join the students for the day’s task – river crossings.

The first part of the task involved wading across running water with the help of a staff. After a demonstration from course leader Paul Kirtley, the students got stuck in, two-by-two, carefully edging their way across the river.

Once everyone had made it across the river and back, the group moved upstream to deeper waters. Here, instructor Dan Hume demonstrated how best to cross the river when wearing a rucksack, using the bag’s buoyancy to his advantage. Again, after the demonstration, it was the students’ turn to cross.

Ray Mears explaining the importance of using a staff for support when crossing the river

Course leader Paul Kirtley demonstrating the crossing

Students Sean and Purnima tackling the river

Carefully working their way to the river bank