At the end of this very odd year I received the award for Best Woodland Blog for CenturyWood.uk (jointly with Clare Mansell’s Little Green Explorers). These awards are run by Woodlands.co.uk, one of the two main “retail” woodland sellers, and you can see the other winners in the winter 2020 edition of Living Woods magazine and on the Woodlands.co.uk website.
The citation reads: “A lovely, reflective and regularly updated blog about running a small woodland, with photos and videos about activities, woodland issues, the ‘log cabin’, projects (e.g. using a scythe mower to clear a glade), woodland travel pieces, beavers and pine martens, and Henry David Thoreau.”
I’ve now received a box of prizes and a certificate. Sometimes these kind of things are token gestures, but in this case they are generous and genuinely useful.
- A Razorsharp anvil secateur and sharpener. I keep an anvil secateur in my “Every Time I Go” toolbox and they’re invaluable for snipping small stems, brambles, bits of rope, brambles, and the odd bramble.
- “The Forager’s Calendar” by John Wright, which looks to be full of useful information about what you can eat from your wood (or someone else’s 🙁 )
- “Managing your woodland for wildlife” by David Blakesley and Peter Buckley. This book was commissioned by Woodlands.co.uk and they give people a copy when they buy a wood.
- A useful notebook and tree identification poster.
- Branded Woodlands.co.uk pens, a mug, and a metal water bottle
- A Stanley stainless steel vacuum flask. These really are the business, work well, and are very rugged.
