Roughly two years ago from time of typing , about April 2018, I was given notice to pack up my ecology allotment near Chacewater Cornwall which I had named Camp Impala. I had many plants growing here as well as a grass roofed shed and other sheds where I stored some of my books. I had also built an open sided greenhouse amongst a thicket of Bamboos using Perspex sheets as roofing and had a living willow framework.
I had developed Camp Impala over ten years and was totally despondent that the land lady wanted her field back for her horses. I decided to call it a day with ecology gardens as I had a few years previously lost my ecology garden I had created in a derelict tin mine ( Wheal Busy) .
I was going to just leave everything there and let it all get bulldozed but then my friend "Mr C" said why don't you put all your plants and other things over on my land. Mr C has about five acres of land some of it is marshy willow woodland and as a bonus there is a small river running through and also a small brook .
We began moving my stuff using his tractor and trailer and after about a month or two of hard work , including renting a mini digger for the larger apple trees , we had moved about half my stuff to my new garden which I named Camp Ibex.
The first jobs were to reinstall my pond this is a very large round raised cattle-drinking pool about two metres across. I had to Pollard several willow trees around the pond to create a sunny glade.
The first of my plants to be planted at Camp Ibex was a Sasa veitchii bamboo on the 13 September 2018.
Another difficult job was replanting eight quite mature apple trees. Difficult because the ground where we planted them was stonier than we expected and had lots of buried logs. Many of my plants were either re planted or put into big pots and tubs for planting later or selling.
My main preoccupation since arriving at Camp Ibex has been the creation of dams along the brook , following the style of beavers using rocks, logs twigs and earth. The new pools I have created have already attracted many dragonflies, water beetles, and iv even spotted a brown trout recently.
I am now going to make my first entry for today on my activities of the day...
Teusday 18 Feb 2020
Finished digging a connecting channel from the brook to pool 4 . I will do a plan sketch to show the location of this channel but it was a satisfying feeling seeing the water run down the channel to pool 4. I then started widening pool 4. An island has now been created between the main brook and the diverted channel and pool 4 . As I widened pool 4 I threw the earth onto the new island as it is very marshy at the moment and needs to be raised to a level that I can plant the island with Bamboos shrubs and various herbaceous plants.
There are several mature willows in this area that I plan to Pollard in order to let in lots of light for the ponds and the new plantings. These willows will resprout and will need to be kept cut back/harvested every two or three years.
I plan to plant cattails along the edge of pool 4 as well as in the other dams and these can be harvested as an edible crop.
Wednesday 19 February 2020
Time of typing 16:02
Spent last night in my caravan at Ibex. I made the mistake of working in the rain yesterday and my jeans and jacket for quite wet. It got quite cold in the caravan by 9 pm as it is still February after all. Took my jeans and jacket off. Thankfully I had long John's underneath which weren't too wet and once I got under my duvet I warmed up to a comfortable temperature. There's no heating in the caravan and I have to use layers of blankets or dry clothing to keep warm in winter.
Didn't get started working till about 11 am . Heard Cs tractor arrive which gave me incentive to start work.
I started the day by clearing up behind my caravan where a branch had fallen across my view from the window during some storms before Christmas. There was also some bundles of heather screening i moved to my wigwam. Then I got started on cutting up a willow tree that had fallen down onto the glade behind my caravan . It was also covered in masses of ivy that needed cutting up. I tired of this job after half an hour but managed to make some progress still lots to cut up and pile up but there's no rush.
When I am pollarding willow or processing fallen willows I tend to pile it up in high compacted heaps rather than burn it. This allows it to rot down and the piles are beneficial for insects, hedgehogs etc. The thicker logs are piled separately to be used later on the woodstove .
Next I continued work on enlarging pool 4 and heightened the dam. I also installed a overflow pipe. Heightening the Dam made the pool considerably deeper and probably goes over my Wellington boots in the deeper areas. The dam I created for pool 4 still needs more living willow sticks inserted vertically into it. These willows will root into the dam and stabilise it considerably should there be any flash flood that could wash the dam away.
Thursday 20 Feb 2020
I wasn't planning on being at Camp Ibex today but I left my wallet in the caravan yesterday was very annoyed as it's a long treck from Redruth to Ibex to get it. Anyway it worked out ok as whilst waiting in Truro for my list with Mr C. I saw my good friend and brother Alan who's a fellow believer in Jesus. I haven't seen him in a while so it was good to catch up.
When Mr C and myself arrived at Ibex we were pleased to find the missing ladder which had gone missing. Mr C had forgotten to look by his newer caravan.
I continued work at the dragonfly ponds . The island I have newly created had fallen willows that were half dead but overgrown with brambles and ivy. I set about cutting up the whole lot and managed to complete the job before home time. I ought to think of planting bushes here that are good for nesting birds. Berberis springs to mind.
I also continued enlarging pool 4 and deepening it, the clay comes up fairly easily in big lumps from the bottom of the pool.
I was very pleased to find frogspawn in pool 3. I can see why the female frog chose pool 3 as it is furthest from the stream and therefore safest from being washed away downstream and furthest from predatory fish etc.
Camp Ibex update Thursday 27 February 2020 time now 19:13
Went to Falmouth early for cupsa teas and beans on toast at Spoons. The plan was to stay in Falmouth if weather was awful but it brightened up so I headed to Truro where Mr C. Picked me up in his unimog tractor at about 1030 and we headed to camp Ibex.
After a cup of tea and chat with C in my caravan I began my first task and uncovered a load of herbaceous plants which C had unknowingly piled soil and weeds on top of during the dormant season.
After uncovering half the area I needed a change and I headed to the dragonfly ponds.
My job here was to start pollarding and processing two 🐐 goat willow trees that were growing at the far end of pool 1 ie not the dam end. Both these trees were in quite poor condition with lots of dead wood. The reason might be that when the channel was diverted over ten years ago the roots might have been severed. Can't think why else as willow is a hardy tree. Having said that there was lots of new growth on one tree ie new long whippy shoots but also a lot of dead older growth. This tree should Pollard quite well I think and gives the damaged roots a chance to regenerate.
It was a lovely feeling sitting on a log next to the pool with the sun on my back whilst I processed the willow branches with secateurs and a small saw. This is what being a woodsman is all about .
Weds 4 March Thurs 5 th March
Couldn't wait to get back to Ibex after a few days of being stuck indoors so awful was the weather . We have had three storms over the last few weeks... Storm Ciara, Storm Dennis and Storm Ellen. Water levels are very high.
I have to walk for thirty minutes from the nearest bus stop to Ibex along a main road where cars travel pretty fast it's always a bit of a stress to walk as you have to keep an eye on approaching traffic.
Arrived at Ibex about threeish and I set about reducing a willow I had coppiced previously. This willow was leaning over from the island over pool 1 and when I felled it it came down so the crown was on the opposite bank so this is where I worked from. I brought over by trolley a big section of cypress trunk which I used as a seat as reduction using secateurs and a saw is a time consuming business.
C is looking after two new caravans for a mate and I also had to help him and his mate for a short time camouflaging one of the caravans so it's not so obvious from the road.
I processed a fair amount of the tree before retiring to my caravan for the evening. C also stayed the night in his pad but stayed up talking for an hour or two before we called it a night.
As it was pretty cold I used a very thick large sleeping bag which has been in my store cupboard for a long time... One of Cs old ones it was marvelous and warm.
I felt led to pray deeply before sleeping and really felt that I entered into God's peaceful presence and knew him more as Father through Jesus his son. Got lots of revelation and peace about things I'm stressed about at the moment.
Thursday 5 March
Got the rudely awoken by C at eight in the morning he had already gone into non stop talk mode I could have done with another hour in bed but he wanted a coffee which I had to make. It was raining but by about 930 it stopped and I started back to work.
I finished processing the tree mentioned yesterday I then cut a whole load of willow wands from trees I pollarded last year. I then cut back a buddleia , the entire Bush all around as it was threatening to shade out a nice clump of asters I had planted. These asters are producing new young shoots and I can see it's really spread underground since last summer.
Next I crossed over to the island and started processing some other branches I had cut last week. I then finished another water channel that heads down from pool four down through trees and rejoins the main stream. This has created another island.
Finally at about two o'clock I collected up the willow wands I had cut earlier and continued with my wattle fence. It's now about waist height and looking good.
I called it a day,.me and C had a coffee and last chat. On the way out I photographed a fungi which C had found. I think it's a Turban fungus which is deadly poisonous. I think it's been growing on some discarded spruce or larch poles that were thrown by C into the willow and bramble undergrowth as this fungus only grows in Conifer woods not willow woods.
I walked the longish walk back to the bus stop and stopped at some woods on the way that had a lovely clump of moss consisting of two species one with distinctive capsules on stalks. This area of woods appears to be growing on old mine waste as there are many mounds and dips now colonised with mature oaks , beech and rhododendron etc. It's very damp here, there's a stream running through, and mosses and ferns grow high up the trunks of the oaks . They grow way over head height
18th July 2020
Amongst other jobs my main job today was deepening pond four by hand (well by Spade) . The earth is put on a pile adjacent which i hope will become a dryplatform to create some kind of shelter on .
CAMP IBEX UPDATE 14 Aug 2020
I refilled and deepened pond 4 about three to four weeks ago . Last week the pond skaters have started to colonise and yesterday i saw small diving beetles . Update on pond 4 at Camp Ibex since it was refilled and deepened three weeks ago i spotted the first small diving beetles using it yesterday and a week ago young pond skaters had started to colonise . There are also thousands of gnat larvae and pupa . A film of algae has formed on the soft sediment at the bottom of the pond .
Update on camp Ibex 19aug 2020
Large downpours last night whilst I slept in caravan. This morning I spent a pleasant 15 minutes studying the pond skaters on the pond washing their legs with their other legs. The gold fish were active on the surface all different ages and colours. Work wise I got my big triple ladder and pollarded the tall willow between the caravan and the pond as it's in a mess. There's still couple of branches left to cut that are hard to get to and involve moving the ladder into difficult areas and probably acrobatics.
I also planted a Pseudosasa japonica bamboo at the edge of the glade it's been waiting there ages to be planted. I potted up a water lily which I put in my new tank in the front of the caravan. I also collected a red water lily, some Canadian pond weed and white and blue Irises for my friend David . Over at pond 4 there was a good flow of water through the pipe due to the downpours last night .Also water had created it's own passage through the mud dam which I sealed up by compressing mud into the hole. I dammed the inlet stream with two concrete blocks to decrease the flow of water in.
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