After a week of rain we were very lucky with the weather for our annual Blessing Of The Bower event on top of the WallDown Scheduled Ancient Monument. The children of Woodlea Primary Schools Rabbit Class did a fantastic job building the bower in the morning and definitely earnt their cakes as a reward!

A great week with two Oakmoor students enjoying the Ranger Life on their work experience. Risk assessments and paperwork not the most fun element but water testing and riverfly surveys much more fun!

A very well attended AGM for us this evening with a round up of the year that was and then a fascinating presentation on the role of the vet team at Marwell Zoo.

Our May Junior Ranger sessions have involved searching for bones in owl pellets and trying to reconstruct a whole vole skeleton.

The early bird …. hears the dawn chorus and gets a full English cooked over the fire. Once a year is more than enough times to be getting in to Hogmoor at 4am!

We had a wonderful day at the annual Oakhanger May Fayre. Ken was reunited with a family member in the beer tent and doesn’t really remember much of the afternoon!

We were delighted to donate our unused trailer to one of our volunteers who us also a scout leader. The trailer will be used by multiple units to transport equipment, definitely a merit badge in there for us somewhere!

Will you be the winner in our Easter Trail competition with our friends at Cafe 1759?

It’s a Happy Easter from Ken in the woodlands!

Our Junior Ranger session in Hogmoor Inclosure was den building this week. The perfect spot for a cup of tea and a biscuit!

In our Junior Ranger sessions this week we thought about using our senses. We trusted our friends to take us on a journey around the woodland whilst blindfolded (some friends proved more trustworthy than others!)

At Junior Rangers the children are encouraged to make their own drinks, often learning through trial and error when they add to their cups. This however is a different kind of abomination and I am not sure any of us are going to look at hot chocolate the same way again!

Sometimes its the little things that make a big difference! This gate and box at Hogmoor had been damaged so instead of a simple repair we took it off of its hinges and swapped it around so that it now opens directly onto the site making this entrance much more accessible. We cant do everything but we do try and do what we can to give everyone access to nature. We've also scraped back the path to help with mud and drainage in this area.

Our Junior Rangers enjoyed den building today. The perfect place to sit with a cup of tea and a biscuit - of course Claire and Julie had to test them out!

Today the Saxons visited Hogmoor Inclosure! Woodlea Primary Schools Year 4 class enjoyed creating hurdle fencing, making butter by hand (and strong arms!) grinding buckwheat for flour and preparing a delicious stew of cabbage, pearl barley, turnip, onion and more cabbage. Everyone had the chance to try the lunch cooked over the fire.

What a great day talking to the conservationists and outdoor workers of the future at Oakmoor School

All the team at DVT are first aid trained and when we do our refresher it isn’t class room based - here is Claire practicing the recovery position on a hill in the rain!

Every year we welcome the cows to the Ancient Meadow to graze. This year we are delighted to have six Highland Coo and Coo Crosses. Please say hello over the fence but don’t get in the way of the horns!

Carols At The King Oak has become an annual event and the fairy lights and mulled wine by the fire really get you in the mood for Christmas.

Every year the team and volunteers enjoy a Christmas meal together. The Royal Exchange in Lindford were our hosts again this year and our new Chair Of Trustees Paul enjoyed making his first Christmas speech.