We ran our Tracking & Nature Awareness course at the weekend. I had a great time and also learnt a lot from the students. On most courses I learn something new from the people who come along, but this time we had some very knowledgeable people join us and it was a pleasure to spend time with them and learn so many things.
The weather was fantastic throughout and a good time had by all. Saturday was spent working on our senses and some rudimentary people tracking skills; a big thanks to Kev for helping out.
On Sunday we saw lots of birdlife and found lots of sign on our walk around King’s Wood, including badger latrines; we followed a trail from the latrines to the set and had lunch nearby. The picture below is of Kaz sniffing badger scat!
We also found lots of deer sign, including tracks and scat. We also found a few skulls, including a male fallow skull with antlers. We were silently stalking through the woods, and I think we were pretty close to the deer, when some not so quiet dog walkers came nearby; that’s the way it goes sometimes and the woods are there to be enjoyed by all.
In the photo above, we placed bluebells on a wood ant nest. As the ants release formic acid, it turns the bluebells pink! We took lots more photos, which you can see on our Facebook page.
We’re running the course again in October, so get in touch if you want to join us.