Tag Archives: woodland

Red Deer Stag Kills Man

A 78 year old man from Prievidza (a town in the west of Slovakia) has died in hospital a week after being attacked by a stag. Apparently, it was a spontaneous attack as the man tended his orchard – the stag charged and skewered him with its antlers. More can be read here – noviny.skContinue reading “Red Deer Stag Kills Man”

Autumn bushcraft in the Carpathians

When I’m at the village house I go to the forest at least twice per day, usually morning to retrieve the trap camera and just before dusk to set it. When I’ve got chance I also like spending the day time wandering about in the woods looking for edible fungi. This weekend we took theContinue reading “Autumn bushcraft in the Carpathians”

Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria)

While I do love hunting for edible mushrooms, nothing is nicer than finding a fairy ring of Fly Agaric deep in the forest. For many years I harvested them but for the last few (including this year) I’ve preferred just taking photos. With the right preparation they’re edible and medicinal. However, I recommend that noContinue reading “Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria)”

White-backed Woodpecker?

Whenever I’m alone in the bush, there are several species of birds and animals which always keep me company – the Raven and Lesser Spotted Eagle fly above the trees making their calls (sometimes the eagle flies through the forest and its wing beats send whooshing sounds through the leaves), woodpeckers knock on trees, JaysContinue reading “White-backed Woodpecker?”

Fire Salamander

I was out in the forest yesterday after the heavy storm the night before. I couldn’t hear any animals due to the sheer amount of water still dropping from the dense canopy above. However, the forest floor was basically crawling with Fire Salamanders (Salamdra salamandra). The one in the photo was about 5 foot offContinue reading “Fire Salamander”

Adventurous visitors

I’ve just had three friends visit, one old and two new, John, Pete and Tilly, for a long weekend. They drove here from North Wales, which is an exhausting two-day drive each way. Because they were only here for a few days, we tried to pack as much in as possible. We visited the UNESCOContinue reading “Adventurous visitors”

The woods are alive with the smell of garlic…

Ah, Spring! Thus far, the only thing growing is copious amounts of extremely aromatic wild garlic. That’s the green stuff on the ground. Lots of uses for it, though – so long as you like garlic. Not much worry about vampires at this time of year, luckily enough. Sometimes, the Carpathians are overrun by theContinue reading “The woods are alive with the smell of garlic…”

Laughton Forest

Just had a flying visit out to the UK as my grandmother’s not particularly well. Whilst out there, my brother took us to Laughton Forest, which is a Forestry Commission training ground in Lincolnshire. There’s such a difference between Carpathian and English forest but I enjoyed the park-like aspect of English woodland – plus thereContinue reading “Laughton Forest”

Ural owl

Today, whilst out walking, I finally got the chance to photograph a Ural owl (Strix uralensis). Unfortunately, it kept flying further and further into the bush until hundreds of branches and twigs separated us. I forgot to switch on manual focus so it was a bit of a nightmare with the auto option due toContinue reading “Ural owl”