Camp Ibex started September 2018

Camp Ibex ... My  latest ecology garden started September 2018 .

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. 

Archimedes Screw homemade using airline and metal tube 14 Feb2020 DSCN9809

Been toying with this design for years using plastic hose to make an Archimedes screw... Finally got round to making it and it works :)

Walters Amazing Casting DSCN0060

The Geology between Alora and Campillos including Parque Ardales

Note timescales and rock ages are according to modern Geological thinking and not necessity the true ages and timescales.

To the south west of Alora runs the lower Guadalhorce valley. This valley floor is comprised of Quaternary rock ( sedimentary rock 2.5 million years ago till present ).
To the south and south east of Alora is Eocene rock ( up to 60 million years old) To the center of this outcrop almost directly south of Alora is younger Miocene rock ( up to about 25 million years old).

To the west north and north eat of Alora is a large band of Oligocene rock up to around 30 million years old.

Directly east of Alora is a large area of Silurian rock ( up to Approx. 350 million years old) which continues past and through the Montes De Malaga all the way to Sierras Tejeda and western foothills of Sierra Nevada.

If we now travel in a straight line from Alora north-westish to Campillos we pad through the following rock types ....
- Oligocene ( up to approx
 30 million years old).
- Next we come to a area of metamorphic rock with some outcrop outcrops of Silurian to the east , north and west ( up to Approx. 350 million years old).

The Junction ... Living on a on a motorway roundabout in the UK

Due to part of my Zander Camp being discovered and having half my fishing stuff and machete being stolen I decided it was time to make a new camp somewhere away from the Joe public. Zander camp was on the edge of a park where many people Walked their dogs and the youth of today mountain biked in the woods near my camp.

Above: Short video of original Zander fishing camp deep in thicket of  Elm suckers.

I looked for suitable areas of woodland on Google maps where the public wouldn't visit much and decided the best woods might be near a junctions of the M* motorway not far from ******* where I fished and ******** where I went to  ***** church on Sundays and some evenings.

The site of my first camp was in the woods amongst two fallen trunks covered in ivy. I erected a very small cheap tent between the two fallen trees and put a camo tarpaulin over the tent. I soon decided that I didn't like this camp it was too shady and dark. However i  used this camp as a base from which to find a more suitable area.

Across the road was a larger area of woodland approx 2 acres . I worked out that the trees averaged 48 years old as they would have been planted the around the same time as that section of motorway was opened ,1971. I found this info online. Also this is the same age as me so it's interesting seeing how big trees get over the span of my own life. They're certainly a lot bigger than me and already looking mature.
The mix of trees are Ash, Oaks,  Scots pine, field maple . There's also a shrubby understory of hawthorn , some black thorn
and some small Elm any larger elms have succumbed to Dutch elm disease and there are a few skeletons of larger elm here and there.

I set about finding a good spot to erect my cheap fishing bivvy shelter. I bought this from sports direct for about £14 and by itself it's fine for light rain. I tended to use in conjunction with a 2m x3m camo tarp of polythene which is completely water proof.

I settled on a spot amongst some Scots pine trees as the ground was slightly raised and drier here. It was right in the centre of the woodland area. A slip road completely encircles this wood but the tent cannot be seen from any direction here being near the centre. At night I have to be a bit more careful as a torch light can be spotted through the trees but most people in cars are driving quite fast and probably wouldn't pay much attention to lights.. it could be a house light or motorway light for all they know.

The Camp which I have named Rondoval camp has developed over the several years since I started it.
Using the fishing bivvy as a frame the first thing I did was use two camo tarps .One tarp over the bivvy making it more waterproof and one overlapping tarp coming from above the entrance of the bivvy at a diagonal down like a long sloping porch that eventually meets the ground. I then slept under this porch on my camp bed with the bivvy acting more for storage. I keep candles,books  mainly on nature and some clothes in waterproof plastic storage boxes .

The next major project was to completely surround my extended bivvy with a series of  lean to debris shelters in a circle. This almost has a mini fortress like effect. it's main function being to protect from wind and make the whole place more camouflage. Also can use a torch etc within the circular debris walls and it is less easy to see the light from the road.

Above: early days at the Rondoval about 2016 when I had just finished surrounding the bivvy with a lean to ready to add leaf debris.

Above: digging a Dacota fire Pit and a quick tour of the Rondaval camp in 

its early days .  

Next I set about creating a lounge area where I could stand up and walk around under cover if it was raining. I could also build a Dakota fire pit to cook on . There is no shortage of fire wood covering the floor of these woods as the trees are constantly shedding lower branches especially the large Ash trees.

The lounge was made by creating a square framework of straight Ash poles . These were mainly made from the many ash saplings that grow in the glades of the wood. Mature Ash trees let in a lot of light compared to other trees and under them many ashy saplings grow, seedlings of the parent trees.

Once the large square framework was built I installed a slightly higher long horizontal pole as the main roof beam or midrib. A large tarpaulin was draped over the beam and had a shallow slope down in both directions from the beam. I was able to stand up under this and walk around a little. 

Using a garden trowel I next dug a Dacota 🔥 fire pit in the lounge area. This , as you will see in the video above, comprises of two holes dug into the ground next to each other with a connecting tunnel under ground. The connecting tunnel is the hardest part to do. The fire is created in one of the holes and draws air from the other hole using the connecting tunnel. The Dacota fire pit is useful in several ways ... It attracts less attention at night as some of the flame is hidden underground or depending on the depth of the pit or size of the fire you may not see any flame. Also it keeps out the wind when starting the fire and also it's very easy to balance saucepans over the flame you can rest it over the four sides of the hole and is especially easy in conjunction with some kind of metal grid .

Creating the Debris Lean-to's mentioned before. 

As previously mentioned i completely encircled the sleeping quarters of the Woodland camp with several joined up lean tos. I used the existing trees as the uprights  these were Scots pines and field maples about six or seven trees that immediatly surrounded the sleeping quarters . 

I attached several horizontals about three feet high  from tree to tree . These were held in place by forked upright posts wedging the horizontals againist the trees . No nails or ropes were used thus keepin the trees healthy and unrestricted. I will need to do a diagram explaining the technique i used .  

Next i leant diagonally against the horizontals many ash poles averaging the thickness of two fingers. These were lined up like diagonal bars the entire length of each horizontal and some were secured to the horizontal by cable ties or cordage. 

Next I put green tarps over the diagonals to make lean to  space undewaterproof and the space under each lean-to dry . I now mainly store firewood under these lean-tos. Also a wren has made its nest under one for the last two years. Over the tarp I piled up debris ... autumn leaves, pine needles, pine cones , wood mulch, humus and sticks. This helps camouflage the whole camp and keeps wind out. 

Zander Camp and my Zander fishing at Tewkesbury.

Section 1 - Introduction 

The summer of 2016 I had been on a fishing expedition to catch my first Zander on either the river Severn or Avon in Tewkesbury Gloucestershire . I had been trying to catch these elusive zander for nearly two years but had failed to catch any , due to many other distractions such as catching bream, improving my bushcraft skills and exploring the nearby forest of dean.

My zandering expeditions involved leaving my little cottage in cornwall and travelling overnight by megabus up to bristol.i would then often sleep for a few hours at bristol university in the student cafe which stays open all night. next morning i would then transfer to another bus to gloucester. then yet another bus took me up to Tewkesbury. My trips up to tewkesbury would be every other week ... one week in cornwall followed by one week in Tewkesbury followed by one week in cornwall and so on.

My accomodation in Tewkesbury was initially a fishing bivvy combined with a Camo Tarpaulin. This was quickly erected in the grounds of Tewkesbury Abbey underneath a big old cedar of Lebanon. later i moved to the  back of the abbey garden, behind a yew hedge near the compost heap. My friend from Cornwall richard who was also living "up-country" sometimes camped with me . I would get to the abbey late at night maybe 11 o clock, climb the locked gate and set up camp. I would try and be up  to dismantle my tent before 8 am when the gates were unlocked however sometimes i would oversleep and be disturbed by early morning dog walkers in the abbey gardens. they never said anything to me upon seeing me and my bivvy but i felt uneasy about the situation and after a few months i decided to find alternative camping.

I moved locations to the woods near the famous Tewkesbury battlefield i think its called the blood field. This is where one of the important battles took place during the wars of the roses and its where prince edward is said to have been slain.
Going through the middle of these woods is a power line and consequently every few years the saplings growing beneath the powerlines have to be cut back to the ground.. coppiced if you like.
This area is ecologically interesting as these saplings are actually elm suckers that have sprouted from the nearby mature elms .most of the mature elms have now died succumbing to dutch elm disease (which is a fungus ...Ophiostoma ulmi or O. novo-ulmi). However despite the large trees dying their suckers live on, the reason being is because they are being coppiced .. cut to the ground . Dutch elm beetles , the carriers or vectors of the disease, only attack mature elms that have reached a height of 4 to 5 metres.
I decided to enter and explore the dense area of elm suckers which were about two metres high at the time. Because of the density of the vegetation i could see that perhaps this was an ideal place to make a camp.

I started by cutting a narrow tunnel through the suckers using secateurs and hand saw. this tunnel continued for approx 15 metres into the elm and other undergrowth . the tunnel changed direction a couple of times so it didnt look so obvious as a tunnel. ps. i have made a similar camp to this in cornwall, tunneling through dense stands of young blackthorn at the bottom of a disused field.

Section 2 creating the Elm- bender at Camp Dead-Elm 

Creating the bender.Eventually i came to an area where i decided to set up camp . i created an open area 8ft x 8ft in the elms suckers cutting them down close to the ground . i decided to call my camp Dead Elm as the clearing i had created was in the shadow of a dead elm tree approx 4 metres high and pecked on by woodpeckers.

My next job was to select and cut six long straight elm suckers each approx 6ft in length. once cut they were trimmed of all side shoots and stuck into the ground in a perimeter circle at even distance from each other. see diagram. they were then bent over so that their ends joined in the middle and tied together with the cheap plastic rope you can buy from the poundshop. I try to use natural coloured rope ... green, brown or grey.i added more lengths of sapling horizontally around the framework to create extra strength and rigidity to the bender. The bender frame was now ready for covering.

 I used a 3m x 2m camoflage woodland tarpaulin which covered most of the bender framework and tied it onto the base of the framework using the gromit holes on the edges of the tarp.

Section 3 Zandering Lower Lode (River Avon) 

As mentioned at the beginning of the book my original reason for coming up to Tewkesbury was to catch Zander
( although there was another reason a woman involved which isnt really part of this story) .

Tewkesbury is unique for fishing as it is the joining point of
two important UK rivers , The Warwickshire Avon Joins the mighty River Severn here. Zander a species from Europe,
 have been introduced into the river severn for a couple of decades now and they soon spread from the severn
into the Avon.

Basically i hadnt much of a clue how to set about catching my first zander. now three years later
after much trial and error i have caught quite a few zander.
now i know the techniques and locations its not that difficult..

My first attempt at zander is actually on a you tube video unfortunately it has more dislikes than likes possibly due to my naff filming skills and waffling on so much!! . It was on the Avon just above the lower mill (there are two mills in tewkesbury). I first had to catch my bait ...  roach (as deadbaits)..using a swimfeeder and maggots. it was freezing conditions but I caught a couple of roach casting alongside a barge on the opoosite bank. the first roach was too big for catching the average zander so i released it. the second roach was smaller and so i humanely dispatched it. I mounted it on a simple ledger rig onto a treble hook and used a trace ( in case i hooked a pike whos teeth can easily cut through nylon) . The treble hook i used was probably a bit too large for average size zander and i wasnt totally happy with the size of the roach still a bit on the large size. I thought to myself im more likely to catch a pike with this size bait and hooks ... and sure enough near the end of the session i caught a pike of about six pounds. My first ever zandering session ended with no zander but i was happy i caught the pike .. my first in ages. Ill go back to the zander story later in the book.

Zander Camp

I named the Bender i discussed earlier my zander camp as it was from here I did my zandering expeditions . I made an additional lean too near the camp in the woods the roof was made of a nettle thatch where using cloves and a machete I collected bundle of mature nettles and tied then in big bunches. These were layed over a lean to framework of elm branches as elm suckers were in great abundance here under the electricity pylons.  The nettles too were in massive abundance along the banks of the Mill Avon and it was now mid summer when they has reached their maximum size and before they started to die down in autumn.

Gardens I have Created over the Years