Camping At The Woods

Myself, brother and nephew spent a night at the woods. After first brewing a cup of tea on my wood stove, we took a tour around wildlife spotting. Reaching the end of the wood we heard a screeching from above to then see a buzzard circling. That screech is an eerie sound, almost like something from Jurassic Park. I guess it is a raptor after all and probably shares some genetics. I'd imagine being small, fluffy and on its menu would be pretty terrifying.

We also saw a wasps nest in an old root hole with some grubs wriggling inside. One mystery though was what looked like a rabbit hole but with a great deal more earth piled up than I would imagine a rabbit would make. It looked too small for a badger sett so I'm guessing a fox had been trying to get to a rabbit. It was soon time to set up camp before the light drew in.

Next up was food. My brother took responsibility for this and got a BBQ going in a new portable cooker he was trying out for the first time. We munched on an endless supply of burgers and sausages while dessert was bananas and chocolate bubbling in tin foil. Dessert was one of those things that is quite common to do on a BBQ but oddly I'd never had, probably because I tend to only like bananas in their raw form. But it was actually pretty good.

I had my wildlife camera with me and we decided to position it where we thought it might photo some deer. My nephew had a bright idea to use a few left over raspberries to lure the animals toward the camera.

We took another tour of the wood as darkness enveloped us but didn't see anything more exciting than a few bunnies. It was then time to get some kip. I had been a bit worried about how everyone would sleep. Not because of us being in a wood but rather our proximity to Gatwick. It's not too noticeable down there being active but is more of a problem trying to sleep. The flights stop overnight but begin at 6am. Despite the background drone of jets we managed get a reasonable lie in. Breakfast continued the previous nights meat and bread theme with bacon rolls washed down with copious amounts of tea, all done on the wood stove.

We checked the camera but it hadn't snapped anything, probably because it was too close to camp. We had seen the deer the previous day so expect they were giving us a wide berth.

My brother was obviously keen to practice his camp craft and starting building. Various lengths of wood were lashed together in a flurry and a bench like shape began to emerge from the pile. He didn't have time to finish before leaving and needs me to finish it off the worktop.

Before long it was time to pack up the tents and head home. Overall I think it worked out pretty good. I think my brother and nephew enjoyed the chance to camp out and I expect it's something we'll repeat. For my part, it was good to spend some time just wandering about the wood. I'm normally so short of time and too busy being busy to take time to have a closer look at what's around me. Taking a moment to look at what is going on is something I should try to do more of.