Articles
CyberTracker the system
This article was originally published in The Bushcraft & Survival Skills Magazine in September 2019 as 'CyberTracker'. ....... The ‘Tracker’, it’s an evocative word conjuring a kaleidoscope of images of frontier life, indigenous tribes and man hunters. Stick the word Cyber in front of it however and the imagery becomes...
Thoughts On Debris Shelters
Without doubt ‘shelter’ is one of the prime considerations when spending any time outdoors. Arguably it starts with ensuring you’re properly fed and hydrated, next you may consider that you have adequate clothing to meet the environmental conditions that you find yourself in. Finally, as most people perceive it, somewhere...
How to light a campfire
The campfire is perhaps the most iconic and desired aspect of outdoor life. Together with the obvious, making food and water safe, fire also acts as a focal point and a morale booster. This latter effect cannot be over stressed especially in the more remote regions of the world. Native...
Tracking Basics
When asked to imagine the process of tracking, most of us would conjure a line of footprints stretching off into the distance and a buckskin clad mountain man with his nose to the ground. Occasionally, following animals by the signs they leave behind can be just like this, although you...
Secrets in Scat
It may well be considered a strange and even bizarre claim to fame but as result of my natural history study and interest. I have, after many years, become the proud (if that’s the right word) owner of a collection of droppings from most of the UK’s land mammal population....
The Root to a Good Meal
In the wild diet starchy carbohydrates are difficult to find at least in the woods and hedgerows and in any meaningful quantities. A quick glance through any wild food book reveals lots of salad options but few veg to really get your teeth into. Springtime does however reveal energy laden...
Spring Greens
Despite the vagaries of the British weather, the sussex plant community seems to carry on regardless with a host of new life pushing through the saturated and often frozen ground. A walk through a typical broadleaved woodland in February and March may surprise you with the variety of plant life...
Poland Winter wildlife and Tracking Trip Report
Many things stand out in the memory after a trip of this nature but two in particular are etched in my mind. The first is the sight of a European bison walking slowly out of a pre dawn mist across a snowy meadow in Bialowieza forest, the powder snow being...
Why Learn Latin?
Or, as I am sure some of my students would say, "please, why oh why learn latin.." Latin has been used for the naming of all things natural mainly because it is a 'dead language'; it is no longer spoken and can therefore no longer evolve and change. The hope...
Nature Is In The Detail
For the last few years the interest in bushcraft and the outdoors has grown immensely to the point where it has almost become an obsession. Constantly I am asked by students where their progression within the subject lies. My answer is always the same; "study nature". There are no areas...
The Importance of Hedgerows
Hedgerows are an artificial habitat most of which were created in the 18th century as modern agricultural practices began to form. It is thought however, that they may date back at least to Iron Age settlements and were used as boundary markers as well as a method of controlling livestock....
