Well, it's that time of year again, seem's to come around quicker every year. Here's wishing all  readers of these pages a Happy Christmas and a great New Year. Plenty of snow in the Lake's at the minute, LET'S GO!!!!. 

Well, 1st of December is here again and my thoughts are looking towards higher wilder places, to place a foot on the first snow of the year is a delight. This time last year it was waist deep in parts in the Dales, but the winter short lived.

I was running through some old pictures of snowy places the other day and came across the photo's below. I hope you enjoy.

Mike ice fishing on the Muonio river, Karesuando, Sweden

Home, on the bank of the river

Sun set in the far North, a cosy - 32 Celcius. Good kit here, is paramount.

My word I love autumn, everything is on the change or the move. The trees and plants are starting to shut down for the winter, displaying the myriad of browns and golds. The Ash, always the last inleaf and always the last to lose them still sways in the breeze. The  Walnut that i planted two years ago is showing no signs of shutting down, still in full leaf, standing guard to the entrance of our house. 

The Pink Foot Geese arrived around two weeks ago with an estimated 70,000 coming in from the Wash and so too the wonderful Whooper Swans. I wrote last year that they use our chimney as a point of reference to navigate to feeding grounds in the Bay. They are doing the same this year too, a skein flew over yesterday at about 30 feet, 12 in all with there whistling sounds as air is pushed out of there lungs as they fly.

Roe deer are showing themselves too, i have spotted around 15 over the past month, narrowly missing a Doe as she leapt a hedge 20 yards in front of my car and ran down the road before gracefully leaping the hedge on the other side of the road and disappearing into the woods.

Sparrow hawk is still cruising the hedgerows with its silent rigid flight, you can tell when it's around all other bird life shuts up and legs it for cover until the threat is passed. I was working on a riven Oak gate on Sunday and spotted a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker 10 yards away on a Willow, the beautiful black, white and red of the bird was prominent in the winter Sun.

Well we are now officially in winter mode, another season that i enjoy immensely.

    A wet misty day in Bowland 

 Hi folks, not been on the blog for sometime but been in the office over the past couple of days catching up. Take a look at the Tamarack news section about Help for Heroes, the hints and tips section see's yours truly pitching camp while on the trail. The new conservation section has a piece on a commerative wall i have just finished and will feature all conservation work that i will be involved in in the future. 

Enjoy 

Holy baloney, already into August, must find those crampons and dust them off, have i got enough firewood for the winter, re-proof my wet proof jacket and trousers. I found myself thinking these very thoughts only yesterday, but my mind raced, it's  still mid summer, no need to panic, just chill and go with the meandering flow of the long hot days, the rippling water lapping on the bow of my canoe, the fishing rod probing over the gunwale as i hang a foot in the water.

Then the rain came, my mind raced, must find those crampons, check the firewood pile, re-proof my waterproofs etc.

Well i haven't written a piece for the Blog for over a month, been really busy with people off on holiday and such things. A great trip to Germany with Tony to the Outdoor Show, making a new till area in the shop etc. The woods and hills are a distant memory at present, however, i am not keen on walking and camping in the summer time, too hot and too many stingy, bitey things around, much prefer the Autumn/Winter time. So i don't mind pulling out the stops in Summer to get all those jobs done, keep people happy and free up a load of time later on, when i prefer to be out anyway.

August is panning out to be a busy time too. Heading up to Northhumberland with the God kids and some dear friends on Friday for a week of walking and kite flying. Then off down to the Wilderness Gathering for another week of Bushcrafty stuff and plenty of Didj playing. The chap i bought my Didj off is going to be there to give me some hints and tips, cant wait.

Those of you who read these pages will see that the Big Project 2011 has been taken off the Blog. There is one good reason for this, i have taken on a bigger project for 2012. The project consists of taking on a piece of woodland and managing it for the foreseable future. The woodland in question i am familiar with, having been camping there for several years, there is plenty of work to be done over and above returning the woodland to good heart. Keep an eye out on this Blog for updates and info on this very exciting  project.

Anyhow, that's all for now.