Early morning sunshine at Deerpark

Martin, ranger at beautiful Deerpark in Cornwall, took this amazing photo early in the morning. In the forefront of the picture is his dog Zak, a much-loved staff member of Deerpark! Below, Martin talks about the photo and the other wildlife he’s spotted in the last couple of days…



“When I took the shelters down this morning, low winter sunrays split between our 100 foot plus Douglas firs, making a wonderful vista. At the time of this photo, a jay, which is a member of the crow family, was calling in the treetops. Recently we saw roe deer on a night vision walk here. Yesterday an egret was perched in the oaks by the bottom pond – that’s a brilliant white heron usually seen at the coastal estuaries. Soon the salmon will start to run our small stream. There may not be many but their 8 pound size is impressive.”

To find out more about staying at Deerpark, click here.

A spicy September

As late summer rollerskates into early autumn, our mild September is, so far, a distinct improvement on August’s endless drizzle. But there is a definite autumnal feeling hanging in the air. The trees are starting to part grudgingly with the first of their leaves. And, just in time for the new school term, smooth, brown conkers are lining the floor under chestnut trees, ready to be stashed away by zealous would-be champs.

But a word of warning: these polished beauties are not the solid, soon-to-be-triumphant gems they might seem. A spokesman for The Campaign for Real Conkers has said that our wet August has made conkers fall before they’re fully ripened. Apparently, the ones that have already fallen are too soft for battle and a well-timed whack from a rival will result in their fragmentation. For any serious conker aficionados hoping to compete in the World Conker Championships on October 10th in Ashton, Northamptonshire, the experts advise using prized conkers from last year or foraging for a champion treasure in Wales or the south west of England, where the weather was better.

But the wet August wasn’t all bad for autumnal crops. If you haven’t already, it’s time to veer away from the the likes of New Zealand braeburns with their astronomic carbon footprint and resolutely choose British. Our combination of chilly winter, sunny spring and early summer has resulted in what is being hailed as the tastiest crop in years, even if they are a little smaller than usual. Try your local farmers' market and see what you can find.

If you grow your own tomatoes and are now left with a glut just as the salad season draws to a close, here’s an easy solution: tomato chilli jam. There’s no exact science to this recipe but mix a kilo or so of tomatoes, a few cloves of garlic and a couple of onions (all roughly chopped) with a substantial glug of cider vinegar, a squeeze of lime juice, a couple of finely chopped super spicy scotch bonnet chillies (remove the seeds if you don’t like too much heat) and a smorgasbord of warming herbs such as cumin, coriander, cloves and cinnamon and bring to the boil. After half an hour or so of intermittent stirring, add 100g of demerara sugar. Stir regularly for another 45 minutes and place in warmed, sterilized jars. Once it has cooled, put in the fridge where it will keep for a month or so. Delicious with cheese and the perfect alternative to a bottle of wine if you’re heading to friends for dinner.

Summer lingers longer in the forest

There’s good news and bad news – it’s started raining. That should come as no surprise for two reasons: believe it or not August is statistically one of the four wettest months of the year and, let’s be honest, this is Britain and it simply can’t stay that dry for that long!

Rain might be bad news if you’re planning a holiday day in the open air. Then again the forest isn’t exactly ‘open air’, there is stacks of shelter and you can find heaps to do without getting too wet. Actually being in the forest in the rain is rather wonderful. The rattle of rain in the leaves high above you followed by the gentle drip and soft thud of fat drops onto pine-needles is a glorious sound. Better still on these warm summer days a gentle mist floats above the forest floor off to the sides of the pathways and tracks. Best of all, because rain always comes to an end, you get that moment when the sun breaks through the cloud and lights up a forest glade. It’s all very magical and, if a shower or two is inevitable, I’d much rather be in amongst the trees than out on the beach!

The good news is that this steady rain will mean summer lingers longer in the woodlands. Big and tough old trees don’t mind it dry so much, they have deep roots and can drink from a long way below the surface. But dry spells stress out smaller plants and flowers which quickly flower and go to seed to preserve continuity of their next generation. After that they wither and die and the forest floor can look rather sad and sorry. But not this year.

The recent rains over these past couple of weeks have freshened up everything – we even have green grass again! Leaves that were decidedly thinking about changing colour have decided to hang on tightly to their branches for a little while longer. And the blackberries have plumped-up and hang fat, sweet and juicy on the briars – good for the birds and bees, and I always harvest my share too for making bramble jelly or blackberry jam. I made 4 pounds this weekend with a recipe made much more simple by the discovery of special jam sugar with added pectin on the supermarket shelf. Add about 250mls of water to 3 pounds of blackberries and gently simmer for about 10 minutes. Slowly stir in a whole bag of jam sugar and bring to a gently rolling boil for about 20 minutes, stirring regularly so it doesn’t catch. Allow to cool for a bit then pour into sterilised jam jars (you’ll need four). If you want to check that it’s setting put a teaspoon sized dollop on a plate you’ve cooled in the fridge. Leave it for one minute then push the edge with the spoon – it should start to crease.

With a stock of preserves in the larder all I need to do now is wait for the nights to draw in so I can sit next to the log burner in my cabin and enjoy toast and jam and tea! It looks like being a glorious autumn and there is no finer way to celebrate.

Forest Holidays sites are open all year round and there is still some availability for early autumn. As you can see above it looks like being an especially fine year to come and visit.

Mother Nature’s Glorious Coalition

The two goslings shown in the photograph were born on Election Day. Naturally one was named David and the other Nick. They’re being ‘shadowed’ by head goose Victor and a couple of senior matron geese. In general geese are a pretty tight bunch and look after each other. When you see skeins of them flying in a ‘V’ formation overhead what you might not realise is that they take it in turns at the front to set the pace for the others. All the honking is to let the leader know that the guys on his wing are still in touch. They’d make the perfect political party!

June is the month when everything in the forest coalesces to show nature in all her glory. Even the things that seemed a bit slow of the mark after the snow and frosts of winter seem to make an effort and have now caught up. All is present and correct, buds are full to bursting, dragonflies are buzzing around the waters’ edge (did you know that dragonflies can go both forwards and backwards at around 60 mph?), and as we get towards mid-summer’s day nowhere on earth could be busier.

It’s a time when all the ancient elements – Earth, Air, Fire and Water – make their presence felt in abundance; although I’m glad to say the only fires we see are the many barbeques that take place on the verandas of our fabulous Forest Holidays log cabins. Walk around any of our sites in the evening and the smells are tantalisingly good, so too the sounds of chinking glasses and splashing from the hot tubs. Because we’re naturally some way off the beaten track we take extra care to stock our Forest Lodge on-site shops with local produce for the Barbie and also keep the wine fridge full. (Real ale fans will be delighted to hear we also do a good line in whatever the local brewery has to offer!)

June generally sees a mixture of visitors to our various Forest Holidays sites. It’s not yet high season for summer holidays so we get older folk (often along with their four-legged friends), younger mums and dads with children not yet at school, romantic couples and just teams of friends who come to bike or walk the forest trails. They all have one thing in common – they love the great outdoors.

Whilst we don’t normally talk politics, mention of our Election Day geese brings to mind that soon the real Dave and Nick will be presenting their first budget, and by all accounts it will be a tough one. It’s good to know then that down in the forest you can still afford to escape for a few days far away from the outside world – we always have a few short term bargains on our website so if you want to get away at short notice check our www.forestholidays.com

If you’re a football fan you don’t need to worry about missing the world cup – all our cabins have good sized TV’s so you’ll be able to catch all the games then jump into the hot tub with a beer or two to celebrate (or wash your cares away!)

This month's forest trivia:

The oldest tree in the UK and perhaps in Europe is believed to be the Fortingall Yew near Aberfeldy in Scotland, and is thought to be 5,000 years old.

Orchid seeds are so small that one million of would weigh less than 1 gm.

In a life time, the average person eats eight spiders.

Snug as a bug in a log cabin!

People say nice things about the wooden cabins they stay in when they come on a Forest Holiday. But our log-based hospitality doesn’t extend just to humans (or their dogs) but some of the smaller guests on our woodland sites – the bugs!

The photo above is of a ‘bug hotel’, specially built by our rangers around autumn time for beetles and bugs. During summer they creep and crawl around the forest floor, or hover through the forest canopy. However when it comes to winter a bug’s life is all about finding somewhere nice and cosy to settle into during the cold wet months. The ideal place for our human visitors may be a comfortable log cabin complete with log burning stove and hut tub on the balcony but your average bug’s idea of heaven is a jumbled up pile of wood and stones with lots of cracks and crevices to snuggle into.

This winter our bug hotels have been more needed than ever by our six-legged friends. Even by any bugs’ standard this has been a year for a late lie-in deep in a covering of twigs. Even if they were thinking of venturing out the recent snows and cold spells will keep them snoozing for a few more weeks yet. It’s still a slow old start to spring and we think we’ll be seeing one of those years that, when the warm weather finally comes, will explode into glorious activity all at once.

That’s why so many of our visitors come back two of even three times every year. Well over half the population of the world lives in towns and cities these days and are really rather cut off from the glories of nature and her annual cycles. Come for three or four days now though, then the same again in summer, and in autumn, and you really can see what the seasons mean to us ‘out-of-townies’ (bugs included!) Perhaps that’s why many of our regular visitors like to come back to the same site and even stay in exactly the same cabin. By getting to know the view from their big picture windows they can more easily see how the seasons revolve.

For the next few weeks however nature will keep us guessing about when she plans to spring into life. Suddenly of course we have the added interest of seeing just how the cloud of ash from the volcano with the unpronounceable name in Iceland will affect matters. If there’s one thing you learn as a forest ranger it’s that no two years are ever the same.

Do come and see for yourself. Simply visit our website at www.forestholidays.co.uk. Whatever the weather we promise we’ll keep you as snug as a bug in a log pile!

This week’s forest trivia:

Did you know:

• Slugs have 4 noses
• Oak trees live for around 900 years – 300 growing, 300 in majestic middle age, 300 in graceful decline
• A duck’s quack never echoes (and nobody know why)
• Owls are the only birds that can see blue
• The UK has the largest concentration of ancient trees in Northern Europe

Spring must be just around the corner – and not before time

It’s hard to know when spring should start – sometimes the world definitely seems to be warming up but this winter you could be excused for thinking just the opposite. Anyway it’s certainly been a slow start to seeing the season turn this time around, but life is rapidly coming back to the forest and it particularly all kicking off at ground level.

Snow actually keeps the earth reasonably warm and as it melted you could start to see green shoots poking their heads above the white blanket. Most plants on the forest floor have to wake up early and get a burst of growth in while they can still get a good amount of strong light before the canopy of leaves forms and shades the ground. That’s one of the reasons you tend to get a better flora in deciduous forests than evergreens.

So, the bluebell tips are up and thrusting, and the snowdrops are already well in flower, in their annual race to preserve the species. Some plants, such as the wonderfully aromatic wild garlic which, when it grows thick, carpets the forest floor once more in white, prefer dappled light and come later. It’s good to see wild garlic making such a comeback on all these TV cookery programmes – we use it all the time in soups and salads and it has a sweeter more floral taste. Tread on it whilst walking through the trees and the scent is enough to make your mouth water with hunger. (Although when if finally dies off in mid-summer the niff can be a bit strong!).

But it’s not all peace and quiet and vegetarianism in the forest. We have some lovely streams and rivers running through the woodland which teem with life and we regularly go out with our nets stream ‘dipping’ to see what we can find. The river bed is an altogether more scary and competitive and vibrant place to live, especially with spring just on the horizon.

One recent dipping trip turned up a rare visitor in our waters – a Perla, or stone fly lava. It’s something of a scary monster in river bank terms, an inch long (so about as long as the top joint of a man’s thumb) and highly carnivorous. It might not look that terrifying to our eyes, but imagine it at human scale and you’ll know what the fresh water shrimps and baby tadpoles feel like when they see it coming!

Of course under the rules of Mother Nature even the most ferocious Perla is still a part of the food chain. In a few months time it will hatch on the top of the water and have an ephemeral life, hoping to mate and lay its own eggs before almost certainly being eaten by a trout or salmon. This in turn may end up mistaking a fisherman’s fly of the same design as the Perla for the real thing and end up on my barbeque. I do enjoy a nice trout for supper – looks like being a good year for them.

Welcome to a winter wonderland

Our cabin sites are open year round summer and winter to show the forest its true glory throughout the seasons. Everybody who works in the forest has their favourite season. Some like spring when the buds fatten and show the promise of the future. Some prefer the dappled light of high summer when the air is thick with the scents of trees and forest floor alike. Personally I like autumn – a time to reflect on what summer brought (and to pick mushrooms!)

However one thing we all agree on and that is that when it snows the forest is a true place of wonder and we’ve had a wonderful few weeks at the turn of this decade.

Snow in the forest plays great tricks on your senses. The first thing you notice is how quiet the forest goes as the snows muffle the normal noise of creaking branches, and the birds fall silent puffing up their feathers to keep warm. It’s important to try to feed the birds at this time of year, and equally important to put out water every day for them to drink as most of the natural water is frozen.

Snow also brings great light to the forest and you can see through the trees across the blanket of white. It also brings the ground to life as every animal and bird still busy writes its signature as it goes to and fro about its daily business. Some birds hop and some birds run – you can tell which by whether their footmarks are side-by-side or one-by-one. Scurrying squirrels leave scampering tiny tracks – often with a swoosh in the snow where their bushy tails touch down. The deer leave tell-tale scrapes in the snow where they scratch through looking for food.

We always lose a tree or two when it snows. It may look white and light and fluffy but it can weigh down the branches and snap them clean off, or even bring whole trunks down. It’s always a bit sad to lose a friend that way, but dead wood is just as important to the life of the forest as a proud pine. Everything in the forest needs a place to live and fallen boughs make the perfect home and nesting place for all the bugs and beetles that in turn provide supper for smaller animals and thus keep the forest food chain well stocked.

Mother Nature knows what she is doing. To every thing there is a purpose and every now and then she sends a bit of a blizzard along to shake things up. It’s best to be indoors in your cabin next to a warm log fire when the world is whirling white all around. But it’s great to be out and about on the first blue sky morning.

Actually one thing all our Forest Holidays visitors seem to love doing when it snows is to sit in the hot tub on their balconies with the warm water bubbling away, glass of wine (or even champagne!) in hand watching the endless flakes fall from above. Who said romance is dead – even in sub-zero temperatures?

As you can see from the attached photo, we even get the odd camper come and stay in this weather. Come to think of it, it doesn’t actually get much odder than that!