This Saturday I held another wild food course. And within just one week from the last course many things have changed in the hedgerows. The Beech leaves are fully out, Jack-by-the-hedge is almost in full flower, cherry blossoms are out, and the subtle white flowers of the wood sorrel were nodding delicately in the wind.

As always I covered lots of wild foods and hidden uses, but the most astonishing thing throughout the day was the lack of torrential rain which was falling a mere 15 miles away. The weather reports were all doom and gloom and I was convinced it would rain. The deciding factor came when I opened my camera bag, which is apparently directly related to weather conditions, and until yesterday seemed to have a good record of attracting a downpour, but we were lucky! Don’t get me wrong, I like the rain, but not so much when I’m teaching for 7 hours on the trot.

A few pics from the course

I finished at 5pm and then had another job, which was to lead a ‘mini’ guided walk of plant lore. This finished just before 6pm and then my friend Andrew and I decided to have a fire and cook a few things over it. It was a warm night but we still opted for a big fire and had a few cold (home brewed) beers around it, and some organic homemade burgers and sausages. So, by the time I finished it was midnight, one very long day! It was great to get a bit of time off though and listen to the wildlife from around the fire. We heard lots of roosting birds, geese settling down for the night and a few barks from the local population muntjac deer.

Couple of dodgy looking lads

And lastly an image of Lucifer himself, rather cunningly using our meal as a nose!