Wood Learn Forest School

30/03/2024

We're running an URBAN foraging workshop on the 28th of April, so we went out today to measure the route distance. Guess how many edible or medicinal plants we found in the 1.5 mile route!

29/02/2024

We'll see you out there ;)

01/12/2023

Last call for a festive 'autism-friendly' forest school tomorrow!

Autism friendly forest school where we explore the forest, build shelters, learn safe knife use, have campfires & free play under the trees

27/10/2023

We are on holiday in the Netherlands right now and after two days of rain, mushrooms have popped up everywhere!

° Earthstar
° Porcelain Fungus
° Phaeolepiota aurea - Golden bootleg?
° Giant Polypore
° Shaggy Ink Cap

05/10/2023

For those concerned about or interested in Asian hornets, their risk to our environment and how you can get involved in recognising and reporting them.

30/08/2023

Yesterday we found two new entrances to our local woodland's badger sett. Newly dug soil everywhere plus a sod of earth with clear claw marks. (Knife for scale - total length 160mm.)

11/08/2023

Well, Jesse understands the concept of 'holidays'. No sooner was the tent up than she was settled and heading off to sleep.

06/08/2023

When we deliver our foraging workshops, we always explain the difference between 'going foraging' and foraging as a way of life. Today is a prime example!

We went to Tottenham Hotspur stadium in London to watch the Spurs v Shakhtar Donetsk game, and on the walk back to the car, happened upon a patch of fairy ring marasmius... No foraging basket, no mushroom knives... We cut the stems with our finger nails, and transported them in an empty chalk tub from the boot of the car!

Oh and also spotted a Jersey Tiger Moth.

A great day out and a lovely little mushroom haul to take home!

02/08/2023

Ah, summer holidays, long lazy days.... Oh, no, wait.... We've been up at setting up the tyre swing for their show Peter Pan Forever. Can't wait to see it this weekend! Tickets still available for tonight too, if anyone fancies an adventure to Neverland!

31/07/2023

Is it Friday? Is it Monday? Who can know for sure during the summer holidays? But apparently, Jesse figures Geoff's had enough of his ice cream and it's her turn now!

16/07/2023

This girl is so patient! Here she is being decorated in forest floor debris by one of her teen friends 😂

09/07/2023

A brilliant beach session today for 'Pirate School'. We were on the beach with the as the pirates and mermaids prepare for their roles in Peter Pan Forever!

08/07/2023

A little bit different today as we had the day off! We went to the county fair for a visit with the animals and to say hello to all our coppice worker friends. Aren't they doing an amazing job keeping traditional skills alive?

01/07/2023

We do this thing, Geoff and I, that when we go on holiday we always take a small bottle of vodka with us, so that, as we walk around a new area we forage as we go, adding bits of what we find to our vodka. This way, when we get home, we have a foraged reminder of our holiday.

Some of our favourites have been the rosemary and blackberry vodka from Chesterfield, the fuchsia and cherry from Northumbria, the summer fruits from our walk across Scotland and the wild hops vodka from France.

It's always sad when a bottle ends, but it's a wonderful way to relive the moments from our adventures together.

29/06/2023

A most gorgeous day for beach school, catching crabs, exploring nature, having fun and making memories!

28/06/2023

Dates now available for the summer holiday Junior Forester programme.

Visit www.bookwhen.com/woodlearn for more info, dates and booking.

28/06/2023

Frying up fish on the beach on a Wednesday. How's work for you today?

24/06/2023

Edamame, with foraged samphire and sea purslane salad for dinner tonight, with feta and tomatoes and a lemon-garlic-butter dressing. We topped it with pretty, non-toxic, though not edible, sea lavender flowers that were lying on the ground. A great way to spend an afternoon and a perfect meal to top it off.

21/06/2023

We don't have a lot of horses in our forests, unlike our friends across the water in the New Forest, so we decided to make our own. My little group whinnied and neighed their way around the forest school area, and they didn't even know they'd been practicing their fine motor skills, gross motor skills and in some instances, patience too! Not to mention all the effort in whittling their sticks to size! I'm also pleased to be rid of all those odd socks 😅

11/06/2023

Jesse can be frustrating at times, like when we are in the parking lot in the forest waiting for people to arrive, or seeing them off. She is lead-reactive, on the one hand, and on the other, she just wants to play... And there's one particular Malamute that she just doesn't seem to like (probably because he won't jump and play with her!) She barks ferociously, and pulls or lopes towards other dogs - then stands there sniffing their butts and wagging her tail at them. In the car park she's a bit of a nightmare, but once we head into the woods, she's amazing, and so tolerant with the children we work with. This lad wanted her to get into the hammock with him. It took some persuading, but she did and they were both perfectly content having a little cuddle.

The other thing she did this week - another boy started screaming on the rope swing. He was playing, but she didn't know that, so she flew past me, leapt into the air and grabbed his shirt in her mouth, bringing him to an immediate stop!

What a girl to have on your side in an actual emergency!

06/06/2023

We work in various forests around the Island. While we are licensed to have fires in the forest, the public are NOT allowed fires in Forestry England forests, yet 3 - THREE times - since the last rains on the Island we've turned up for work to find giant fires have been made ON.THE.FLOOR in a coniferous forest. 🤦🏼‍♀️

That means that the forest floor is literally made up of - in this case - 70-odd years of pine needles, layered on top of themselves. Which also means that the surrounding trees are pine or fir trees, filled with flammable sap. Heat sinks as deep as it rises, so having an open fire over coniferous roots can literally boil the sap in the roots, leading to exploding tree bombs around the site. (Ever wondered how fire travels underground and trees in those big forest fires in the US and Australia spontaneously erupt? That is how!)

Even we, who make a living in the forest, don't have fires after weeks of no rain, and yet today we arrived on site with a school group to find yet another unattended, still smouldering fire, which was clearly large and hot enough to create a crater of 1 meter across and 10cm (4-inches) into the ground.🤯💔

The forest is a tinder box! Please do not have illegal fires in the forest. Please speak to your children and your friends about not having fires in the forest. They are free to use, but they are private land.

Forestry England don't currently charge parking in our forests (most mainland ones do!) But if they have to employ rangers to patrol more often, who'd like to guess how they'll raise the funds to pay them...

30/05/2023

Another NAS Isle of Wight Branch session coming up on Saturday. Come join us for some forest fun!

Autism friendly forest school where we explore the forest, build shelters, learn safe knife use, have campfires & free play under the trees