Archive for the ‘Notes from the Walks’ Category

Hanging Caterpillars

Monday, May 31st, 2010
Caterpillar of the Winter Moth

Caterpillar of the Winter Moth

You may have found a number of little hitchhikers on your clothing after leaving the Wood.

These were most probably caterpillars of the Winter Moth (Operophtera brumata). These young larvae hatch in Spring and crawl up tree trunks where they drop on silken threads that can carry them in the wind to new areas, or onto you as you walk beneath the trees! This dispersal method is called “ballooning”.

The caterpillars are green loopers with pale lines on the sides and a darker one along the top. They are between 5mm and 10mm in length at this stage.

The Winter Moth is abundant in Europe and one of very few moths in which the adults are active here in the depth of winter, hence the name.

————————————————-

The content of this post is licensed under the Creative Commons BY-SA License. It contains material modified from the Wikipedia article on the “Winter Moth”.

Posted in Notes from the Walks | No Comments »

Bodging by the Bluebells

Saturday, May 1st, 2010

A new sight at the Bluebell Walk this weekend is that of the bodger. A traditional craft of the 19th century, carried out within the wood itself, bodging is the process of turning legs, spindles and stretchers for chairs.

The bodger used a springpole lathe to turn the wood, so named because it utilised the branch or pole of a sapling as a spring attached to a rope worked by a foot treadle. In a makeshift shelter or hovel he would split and then shape the wood on a shavehorse before turning on the lathe.

Demonstration of bodging

Demonstration of bodging

‘Henry the Bodger’ at the Bluebell Walk has an example of a complete small windsor chair on show but explains that the bodger was just one of the many skilled craftspeople involved in it’s creation. The parts turned in the woods were taken to a chair-making centre where the sawyer, benchman and back-man would create the seat and other parts. Finally, the framer would put it all together to create the chair.

You can see Henry working the pole lathe on the approach to the bluebells in Beaton’s Wood.

Posted in Events, Notes from the Walks | No Comments »

A Touch of Rain

Thursday, April 29th, 2010

As I can more usually be found sat in-front of a computer screen maintaining the bluebellwalk website it’s always a pleasure when I get my first chance to visit the actual Wood in bluebell season. Although today was only a brief stroll along the shortest of the walks it brought an ideal opportunity to witness the living wood responding to a change in the weather.

Being fairly early in the season, the bluebells were only about a third out and still happy to share the floral glory with that early star, the white wood anemone. The view of this two-tone flooring nestling around the coppiced tree trunks in the sun was delightfully understated and offered just a barely perceptible but refreshing fragrance. However, later in the afternoon, when the forecast rain shower did indeed arrive, I hurried back and practically dived into the Woods once more.

Taking a deep breath I inhaled the scent that could now almost be seen rising from the woodland floor. Galvanized, it seems, by the caress of the raindrops, the fragrance was so much more intensive than it had been just an hour earlier! There was something almost comforting about the aroma, sheltering beneath the canopy of trees, listening to the diminishing echo of raindrops as they were diffused on their path down through the branches and leaves.

The wood has this effect of creating a microclimate of tranquility that is difficult to tear yourself away from. But the computer called and I retreated home to investigate a way of simplifying and yet intensifying the website experience, inspired by the Wood itself!

Tim

Posted in Notes from the Walks, Website news | 3 Comments »