Back to Danemead Part 1

I returned to Hoddesdon this weekend and Danemead Scout Campsite. Originally I was going to be teaching a small group of leaders, but for various reasons some people cancelled and for most of Saturday it was only me and my friend Stuart.

As I arrived and got out of my car there was a large party of Long-tailed Tits and Goldcrests moving around feeding in the trees. As I was watching I heard the short, loud, distinctive "tsu-weet" of a Yellow-browed Warbler (Phylloscopus inornatus), a bird which breeds in Siberia and Russia and migrates to Asia and has wondered off course. Each Autumn this uncommon vagrant arrives in varying numbers for a brief stay as they make their journey south. During my years of serious birding I spent many ours chasing around looking for them. This bird called several times and then departed with the tit flock and I did not hear it again for the rest of the weekend.

There is a brief piece of video of a Yellow-browed on YouTube here

Stuart had purchased a Tentipi (made not that far from my cabin in Sweden) and was keen to get it set up and try it out.


Here is a view from the front.

After erecting the tipi, we cut and split some logs for fire wood

and then got a fire going and put the kettle on.

Another surprising find, especially for mid November was this Comma butterfly

It gets its name from the white mark you can see on the underwing.

To be continued!!

Spruce Whisk

While out in the woods one weekend I was making stinging nettle and potato soup and wanted to whisk the potatoes and nettle leaves. I considered lashing a handful of twigs around a stick but then came across a fallen Spruce. I cut the very top out of the Spruce, peeled the bark away and this is what I ended up with.

Perfect for the job!

And here's the end result..

My wash bag - literally

Whatever I carry with me when out, I like each item to have more than one use. So when I was given some leather off-cuts by a friend, I had the idea to make a simple leather bag for carrying my toiletries.

I cut a piece of leather 14 inches in diameter and pierced a series of wholes around it,

through which I threaded a length of leather thong with a Reindeer antler tip as a closure toggle.

Picture taken using camera mounted on Gorilla Pod on my arm

But how does this have more than one use you may be thinking......

Well of course I can use it to carry my toiletries

and after having applied several coats of boot wax it now holds water and so I can also use it as a bowl for washing and shaving in!

As I said.....literally a wash bag!

Tutorial assistant

Trying to take pictures for tutorials is often a challenge. Trying to demonstrate something while holding the camera and pushing the shutter button makes life very difficult. Although my camera fits into my pocket to enable me to carry it at all time, even the smallest tripod will not.

I am hoping that my most recent purchase will change this. It's called a Gorilla Pod and you can read about it here; Gorilla Pod and there are pictures here.

The mounting is released by pressing a button at the front and this can then be screwed into the bottom of the camera. Then to quickly attach the camera to the tripod, you just slide the mount onto the pod.

I can use it to provide pictures from my view, using a two or ten second shutter delay like this

and here are a couple of other ways I have used it recently

Another tinder for flint and steel

I am always seeking new tinders to add to my tinder pouch for use with flint and steel......char cloth, true tinder fungus, false tinder fungus and so on. Recently I have discovered a new addition which is certainly not as messy to carry as char cloth and doesn't disintegrate like fungus. I know it works fine with a battery and a firesteel but had never considered it for use with flint and steel. As you may have guessed by now it is of course very fine grade wire wool! I bought two large rolls of 0000 grade wire wool on Ebay last week.


For this demonstration I used a piece of chainsaw file, locally sourced flint and dry grass for the ember nest.

I must apologies for the short duration of video clips that I use, but unfortunately I have such a slow broadband speed that anything over 14 seconds does not upload.



Tease the wire wool apart and then place on the flint and use as you wood with char cloth.

My friend Jeremy was keen to try once I had demonstrated it to him.

One for Jeremy

This is how I made my half leather, half wood sheath but I am sure there are many other ways.


The items you will require are part-tanned leather, silver foil, and awl, sewing needles and thread, a nail with the point rounded and a small round file.


The piece of bur you have selected for your sheath must first be cut in half (I used a hack-saw), then draw round the blade and carve out the wood on both halves to the thickness of your blade and mark out the shape for the finished sheath.

Glue the two pieces of wood back together and once dry carve the wood to the desired shape. Drill a small hole in the end of the sheath that reaches to where the blade will sit and this will allow any moisture out.

I used a round file to make two grooves around the top of the sheath. The leather will be worked into these grooves and as it dries and shrinks it will be these grooves that hold the sheath together.

Using newspaper pack out any narrow parts where leather shrinkage would prevent the knife being withdrawn. Then cover the handle with foil which will prevent leather dye staining the handle and make it easier to withdraw the knife after the leather has shrunk and dried.


Soak the leather until it is soft and pliable and if you want to make any pattern in the leather now is a good time to do it. Place the knife in the sheath and then wrap the leather around and secure the ends with bulldog clips.


I used "saddle stitch" to sew the sheath together, using an awl to make holes in the leather. Once sewn together mould the leather using the rounded nail and work the leather into the two grooves. The leather is then left to dry and of course shrink and then any excess can be cut off.

Singing the blues

Many of you may know John Lord as a practitioner and teacher of primitive skills but he is also a very good musician and singer. Last Saturday evening he was performing as part of a blues band and I was invited to the gig in one of his local pubs.

Here are the band

From left to right; Graham, John Mark, Paul and guest guitarist Phil Harding.

John and Paul were singing

John also played Harmonica

and sax.

My favourite performance of the night was "Honky tonk woman" and hear are a couple of short video clips from that one.