A brand new six-part series begins later this month on ITV1, as Ray delves into the spectacularly diverse landscape of Australia to look at some of the weird and wonderful life forms that are able to live and survive in the land Down Under.

From the expansive waters of the Great Barrier Reef and the vast wilderness of Arnhem Land, to the teeming Cooper Creek billabongs and the ancient heartland of the rainforest, each episode of Wild Australia sees Ray explore the dramatic physical geography of the region, the extreme weather conditions that occur there and the wildlife species that have adapted to survive in those environments.

Ray encounters rare and extraordinary creatures such as the prehistoric cassowary bird, the weedy sea dragon, and the tree kangaroo, as well as witnessing a three-month-old humpback whale calf learning to swim in preparation for the long migration to Antarctica. We also follow Ray as he ventures deep underwater alongside giant manta rays and green sea turtles.

Travelling among the dense eucalyptus forests of the Bush, the scarlet sands of the Red Desert and the dramatic shoreline of the southern coast, Mears meets with local wildlife experts and guides, witnesses the ancient tradition of farming with fire, discovers a gallery of ancient aboriginal art and comes face-to-face with a giant saltwater crocodile.

The first episode of Wild Australia will be broadcast at 8:00PM on Monday 25th April on ITV1.

The very first episode of Ray’s brand new Wild Australia series will be broadcast at 8:00 PM on Monday 25th April on ITV1. In this episode, Ray embarks on a marine adventure that promises humpback whales, giant turtles and an abundance of exotic fish and birds, as he explores the Great Barrier Reef.

Starting on the Queensland mainland, Ray takes a boat out to Hervey Bay with whale expert Wally Franklin. Renowned as one of the best places in the world to find humpback whales, Hervey Bay is visited by these majestic creatures every year as they make an extraordinary 5,000 km migration from their tropical breeding area north of where Ray is, to the feeding grounds in Antarctica. It’s the longest migration made by any animal, and on the arduous journey the whales make just one stop, at Hervey Bay.

With Wally’s expert knowledge of the waters, it isn’t long before Ray makes his first sighting, as he witnesses a mother humpback whale teaching her three-month-old calf the moves needed to survive the long migration to Antarctica.

“Watching such a young calf master her whale moves has been a unique experience for me. It’s like seeing a toddler take its first steps and that’s a very special moment to witness.”

Ray then flies out to Lady Elliot Island, first appearing above sea-level some 3,500 years ago and located at the southernmost tip of the Great Barrier Reef; it is one of the most complex and diverse eco-systems on the planet, with over 12,000 species of marine life.

It’s here that Ray goes scuba diving on the coral reef and discovers giant turtles and shoals of big-eyed trevally fish, but there’s one fish that Ray really wants to see – the manta ray, the gentle giant of the reef – and he does not leave disappointed.

It’s not just the marine life that depends on the reef; the island really belongs to the birds, with over 200 species of birds being found here. Ray discovers that in the 19th century the island’s vegetation was virtually destroyed by miners digging for bird droppings (or guano), which were prized as a fertiliser and used in gunpowder. Over the last 10 years a team of passionate conservationists have been restoring the island’s trees.

Helping marine biologist Maggie O’Neal plant a pisonia tree, Ray finds out how that particular species of tree can actually kill the black noddy birds that nest in them in order to use their corpses as a fertile compost, given the unforgiving ground of a coral island.

As Ray says: “Nature does have a dark side sometimes.”

Episode two of Wild Australia will be broadcast at 8:00PM on Monday 2nd May on ITV1. In this episode, Ray explores the wetlands of the Northern Territory in Arnhem Land, one of the most remote wilderness landscapes of Australia.

Beginning his journey at Mount Borradaile, on the edge of the sandstone plateau overlooking the Cooper Creek flood planes, Ray finds an area that is home to not only a vast array of native birds, but also to Australia’s most deadly predator: the saltwater crocodile.

These wetlands are the main breeding grounds for the saltwater crocodile, and as the floodwaters have retreated, all the crocodiles are gathered in one area, competing for the limited territory. “Although this may look like paradise,” Ray says, “there’s a good reason I’m in a tin boat and not a canoe. There’s a hidden danger lurking in the mist.”

Heading down the billabong, Ray reaches stone country, a remote and sparsely populated territory that also houses a gallery of ancient Aboriginal artwork. Ray also joins locals Connie Nayinggul and her grandson Moses on a fishing expedition to catch some barramundi, which they then cook in a traditional ground oven using paper bark.

Finally, Ray travels with land manager Greg Towns across the dried up mudflats to witness the dramatic spectacle of farming with fire. Here, among giant flocks of grazing magpie geese, they help burn away large meadows of alien and destructive grass that is killing the native birds.

With his time in this particular part of Australia at an end, Ray says: “I love Arnhem Land; it’s one of my favourite places on our planet. There’s a wildness here that is really profound, it touches you deep inside. It really justifies the existence of wild areas, to remind us of how our planet should be.”

Episode three of Wild Australia will be broadcast at 8:00PM on Monday 9th May on ITV1.

In this episode Ray is in Victoria, just South West of Melbourne in the You Yangs National Park, where he meets up with researcher Janine Duffy in a dry eucalyptus forest.  There they go in search of koalas and find a young male who nervously tries to establish his own territory.

Ray then moves down to the open grasslands and tracks a mob of Eastern grey kangaroos, before visiting the Mount Rothwell Conservation Reserve. There he meets an unusual marsupial – a predator – this is almost extinct on the mainland of Australia: a tiger quoll, a smaller relative of the Tasmanian devil.

Finally, Ray journeys through a wet eucalyptus forest to Lake Elizabeth and, canoeing across the quiet waters, finds himself surrounded by rare and unique duck billed platypuses.

Episode four of Wild Australia will be broadcast at 8:00PM on Monday 16th May on ITV1. In this episode Ray is in Australia’s tropical rainforest, in the Wet Tropics, on the north-eastern coast of Australia. It’s the oldest on the planet, so old it stretches back to the time of the great supercontinents.

Ray starts his adventure by hitching a lift on a research crane, 47-metres above the ground, to get a bird’s eye view over the rainforest. From there he can see the geographical position responsible for this lush vegetation: the Great Dividing Range in the west, and the Pacific Ocean in the east.

As Ray heads back down to terra firma, the sun becomes a distant memory as he passes through layers and layers of leaves and branches – the forest’s canopy – a roof of vegetation which allows only a third of the sunlight to reach the ground.

Ray says: “This rainforest is so ancient that all life-forms have had millions of years to perfectly adapt to their habitat.”

One such species is the mind-boggling moth larvae, which has evolved to look like lichen, with even the way it moves appearing as if it’s being blown by the wind. There’s also the lichen spider, whose camouflage is so evolved that it snares its victims without the need for a web.

Pursuing his journey further into the rainforest, Ray travels through 400-metres of jungle on a zip-wire. Meanwhile, Ray’s cameraman Martin Hayward Smith has been filming an animal that can only be found in this part of the world: the elusive tree kangaroo, a marsupial which lives like a monkey and looks like a bear.

Finally, Ray gets on a quad bike for his last quest: a search for the notoriously elusive cassowary bird, a giant prehistoric flightless bird that lives deep in the rainforest, who, with its 12cm claws, is able to disembowel its enemies.

Ray’s expedition comes to a dramatic end when he encounters a cassowary with its chicks in tow.

Ray says: “What a magnificent thing to see. That really is the pinnacle of my visit to the rainforest. It’s an iconic bird, a vital, beautiful component of this forest. It’s from a time gone by. That has to be one of the very best things you could see in wild Australia.”

It was a pleasure to hear from one of our regular clients about his experience of the Carving Master Class with Ray Mears. Charles made contact with us after attending his course and gave us this lovely feedback:­­

Wood carving – an activity that is practical, calming, skilful and quite often entertaining all at the same time.

I recently had the privilege of spending a day improving my carving ability whilst on the Carving Master Class with Ray Mears, a course bought for me (as I expect many people’s courses are) by my wife.

A stroll down into the woods with a course assistant brought us to a clearing with Ray already hard at work splitting a large sweet chestnut log into foot and a half long planks. Logs for seats, the trusty old camp kettle suspended over a open fire and a beautiful sunny day – what could be better!

The spoon I finished to a rough standard by the end of the day

Having attended a couple of the other Woodlore courses, including the Fundamental Bushcraft, I had at least a small amount of carving experience. However, looking back at my first attempts and post course work, it was quickly obvious that the majority of my past efforts seemed to bear more resemblance to a miniature caveman’s club, than the finely carved, decorated and finished ladles, spoons, bread boards and drinking cups that Ray had on display.

I had a lot to learn!

After introductions, the first part of the course focused on the tools we would use for carving, primarily axe and knife, and how to sharpen them effectively both at home and in the field.  After Ray had, in short order, selected, split and axed out a roughly spoon shaped object, it was our turn to select our ‘blank’, the length of timber from which we would eventually summon forth our spoons. The first moments of hilarity arrived with people choosing a variety of timber sections ranging from a few inches in diameter and roughly smooth to a good six to eight inches of knobbly rough looking log.

As a testament to Ray and his team of skilled instructors and assistants, all managed to split their log and begin carving. Everyone was encouraged to proceed at their own pace and Ray stopped and frequently showed us all the next steps in the process – thinning down, shaping and decorating.

Ultimately, myself and the rest of the day’s participants followed Ray’s expert guidance and tuition, eventually roughing out a spoon shaped object from our original split log to a stage where it could be taken home to be sanded and decorated.

The day as a whole was thoroughly enjoyable and I would highly recommend it to anyone regardless of experience. For me, more carving, of a variety of items and styles, is now firmly on the horizon.

The finished spoon after some work at home

– Charles Simpson

Episode five of Wild Australia will be broadcast at 8:00PM on Monday 30th May on ITV1. In this episode, Ray heads along the Great Ocean Road, which runs along the Antarctic-facing coast of Australia, the longest South-facing coastline in the world.

Starting his journey in Port Phillip Bay, Ray takes to the waters in the hope of spotting a creature he has only ever seen in photographs: the weedy sea-dragon.

It’s not long before Ray gets lucky and he says: “Amazing, that is an incredible creature. It just looks like a piece of dead seaweed until you get close and then you see these little beating fins, it’s fantastic. But it’s very well camouflaged.”

As Ray braves the cold waters for a second glimpse, he is taken by surprise as another unique species of marine life appears out of nowhere: the Burrunan dolphin. With only 150 Burrunan dolphins estimated to exist in the world, two are swimming by Ray’s side.

Ray then visits a penguin colony on Middle Island, nicknamed the ‘penguin superhighway’ by the locals, where guard dogs protect the penguins from foxes, and he then takes to the seas to discover the creatures of the deep waters.

There, Ray witnesses albatross, balls of krill and a pod of fast-moving common dolphins – athletes built for the open ocean which are like bullets in the water.

Back on the road again, and Ray reaches the dramatic rocky outcrop of Cape Bridgewater, and it’s the caverns there that are the chosen home of the last of the rare marine creatures Ray is there to see: Australian fur seals.

The Australian fur seals are the largest of all fur seals, famous for their big eyes and pointed snouts, and their streamline shape and strong flippers make them skilful hunters. They may move like slugs on land, but underwater they are action heroes.

Wild Australia with Ray Mears Episode 6

The final episode of Wild Australia was broadcast at 8:00PM on Monday 6th June on ITV1.  If you missed it, you can now watch it online via the ITV Player for a limited period of time by clicking on the image above.

In this episode of the series, on his journey to the heart of the country, Ray flies past the Uluru monolith on a chopper; camps under the stars and meets many marsupials including the star of the desert: the Red Kangaroo.

Since Woodlore’s inception many decades ago, our aim has always been to offer the most prestigious level of training in bushcraft and wilderness survival skills. As such, we pride ourselves on our dedicated team of instructors, whose passion for the subject shines through in their teaching.

And so it is with great pleasure that we have our second in the new series of blog posts today focusing on Aspirant Instructor Sarah Day. If you’ve been thinking about booking a course with Woodlore, here is your chance to get to know the instructors who may be guiding you this year.

Aspirant Instructor Sarah Day

Name:

Sarah Day

Hometown:

Colchester

How many years have you been working with Woodlore?

9

How did your journey with Woodlore begin?

I was Christmas shopping with mum, back in 1995 and spotted an interesting looking book. It was the old ‘Survival handbook’, by Raymond Mears. I couldn’t stop reading it, I think mum spotted a good potential Christmas present and bought it. It kindled a fascination with the subject of bushcraft which eventually led me to Woodlore.

Which Woodlore courses have you attended as a student?

• Birch Bark Workshop
• Canoeing in the Ardeche
• The Journeyman

And which Woodlore courses have you previously worked on as an instructor?

• Camp Craft
• Family Bushcraft
• Fundamental Bushcraft
• Introduction to Bushcraft
• Junior Expeditions Skills
• Junior Fundamental Bushcraft
• Traditional Living Skills
• Woodlore First aid courses
• Woodlore Tracking course

What is your profession outside of Woodlore?

I am a seamstress; I make everything from wedding dresses to historical costume- one recent project was a Dr. Who costume! I’m also involved in a Stone Age living history group that will be going into schools, so I have been doing lots of tanning (of furs and leather), cordage making and other things to prepare for that. People often comment that Bushcraft and Dressmaking is an odd mix, but I think they have a lot in common; they both involve problem-solving and design, they both require an appreciation for different materials and how they can be used and both benefit from a close appreciation of textures, colours, and shapes.

One of Sarah’s degree pieces- each dress was inspired by a different tree. It took 3 days with a soldering iron to make the silk look like birch bark.

What are your interests?

I love making things, I have done a bit of flint knapping, basketry and hide working, pottery, as well as sewing, embroidery, and knitting! I also love canoeing. I got the bug when I worked in Canada for a few months, and now it’s my favorite way to enjoy the outdoors.

What is your most memorable course experience?

It’s hard to choose, there have been lots of great wildlife encounters on courses, from the fallow doe with a young fawn we spotted on a plant walk to the blue tit that attacked my hat! But the people are memorable too, I think the ‘Cone wars’ episode will always be a favorite; we had a great bunch of students on that Junior course and the ensuing hilarity as we tried to prevent the kids filling our rucksacks/ hammocks/ cars with pinecones, while trying to load their sleeping bags with the things was very memorable and still makes me chuckle.

The first attack on the Woodlore Land Rover

Which skills have you learnt as an instructor that you have found the most useful during your own adventures?

I love being absolutely confident with fire. It seems like a pretty basic thing, and it is! But being confident that I can get a fire going whenever I need to means I feel no trepidations about going off exploring, and seeing new places.

Which skills are you hoping to perfect this season?

I really want to experiment with basketry; I have done a bit of bark basketry, but I would like to become competent at coiled basketry which is a very versatile technique and well suited to the kinds of materials you can find out in the woods.

What is your favourite meal to cook outdoors?

It’s got to be fish and seafood; mussels cooked in the embers are a different animal to the soggy wine soaked ‘moules’ you get in restaurants, and fish cooked simply over a fire is the tastiest thing on earth (with the possible exception of venison steaks or pigeon cooked on a Muurikka pan). Of course, that all has the benefit of little or no washing up!

What would be your dream travel destination?

Canada, or possibly Sweden, I want to go on an extended wilderness Canoe Trip, for a month or so. Even though I was in Canada for 3 months, I didn’t manage to go on a canoe trip. At the time, I was very new to canoeing and didn’t feel confident enough in my paddling ability to undertake a trip alone, or with far more experienced paddlers from the camp I worked at. Now it’s something I often think about.

Ever since we began stocking Julius Pettersson’s hand-forged knife blades, craftsmen and women the world over have been sending in photos of the superb finished knives they’ve made using these carbon steel blanks. From the more traditional reindeer antler, right through to reclaimed bowling balls, we’ve seen an incredible variety of materials being used to make an equally wide range of handle styles. Shown here are just a few of the more recent submissions:

William Blake

“Here is the Julius Pettersson Knife I completed in 2013. The choice of handle materials reflects my family history: The wood is black walnut, taken from my grandfather’s ranch in Oklahoma before the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers flooded most of the ranch to create Sardis Lake. I am Penobscot Indian (a band of Abenaki) on my mother’s side and decided to use birch bark I gathered in Maine, which I would think also suits a Scandinavian knife very well.” – William Blake

Shawn Glass

“This is my first attempt at using one of the wonderful blades from your store. I used brass for the bolster, some African wenge for the middle of the handle, and some oak for the end cap, reclaimed from part of a building that is very special to me.” – Shawn Glass

Daryl Cunningham

“This was the first knife I had ever made and was inspired by Ray Mears’ visit to the forge of Julius Pettersson. The blade is one of the best I own. I know it’s not perfect but I kind of like that it has that real hand-finished quality. As for the blade itself, it rarely needs more than a strop and still makes me smile every time I use it.” – Daryl Cunningham

Andrew Packer

“The wood (yew) was collected in my local forest on a family trip whilst camping with my wife and daughter; it was my first trip out after my kidney transplant in 2014. We dried the wood out in our woodshed and I eventually used it to handle the Pettersson blade. We now use this knife for our family trips.” – Andrew Packer

Richard Eadon

“My first (but probably not my last) Julius Pettersson knife. I used reindeer antler and curly birch.” – Richard Eadon

The Julius Pettersson Hand-Forged Knife Blade

Have you made your own handle for the Julius Pettersson knife blade? If so, send us a photo and we may include your knife in our next blog post.

A brand new six-part series is due to begin on ITV1 at 8pm on Monday 11th July. In this stunning new series, Ray explores the geography, flora, and fauna of six dramatic French landscapes, including the high mountain ranges of the Alps, the coastal waters of Brittany, the chestnut forests of the Cevennes and the wetlands of the Camargue.

Wild France with Ray Mears

Since Woodlore’s inception many decades ago, our aim has always been to offer the most prestigious level of training in bushcraft and wilderness survival skills. As such, we pride ourselves on our dedicated team of instructors, whose passion for the subject shines through in their teaching.

And so it is with delight that we continue the new series of blog posts today focusing on individual members of our team. If you’ve been thinking about booking a course with Woodlore, here is your chance to get to know the instructors who may be guiding you this year.

Woodlore Aspirant Instructor Nick Thompson

Name:

Nick Thompson

Hometown:

Bexhill

How many years have you been working with Woodlore?

7

How did your journey with Woodlore begin?

I’ve always camped with the minimum of kit (initially through economic necessity!), using a tarp and thoroughly enjoying the closeness to nature. I realised I wasn’t the only one with such an interest after attending the ‘Wilderness Gathering’. Then, through speaking with an ex-member of staff, I sent in my CV following which I was invited attend a recruitment selection.

Which Woodlore courses have you attended as a student?

• The Journeyman

And which Woodlore courses have you previously worked on as an instructor?

• Camp Craft
• Family Bushcraft
• Fundamental Bushcraft
• Introduction to Bushcraft
• Junior Expedition Skills
• Junior Fundamental Bushcraft

What is your profession outside of Woodlore?

Having always had a love of trees, I work as much as I can as an arborist but being a bit long in the tooth now, I vary this with more general work hedge cutting, fencing etc.

What are your interests?

Aside from just ‘being’ outside in nature, walking, climbing, swimming, reading (esp. poetry) and karate.

What is your most memorable course experience?

Listening to and watching a Nightjar on a beautiful clear night at Eridge. I’d never heard one before and, it was fascinating.

Which skills have you learnt as an instructor that you have found the most useful during your own adventures?

It’s the aggregation of skills that give confidence and, a way of implementing them that makes my own exploits more efficient and enjoyable.

Which skills are you hoping to perfect this season?

More proficiency (speed) in carving

Understanding and navigating by the stars

What is your favourite meal to cook outdoors?

I always really enjoy the panassed Salmon cooked on courses, but the trail meal I enjoy is Feta cheese and couscous, augmented with tasty ingredients such as Wood Sorrel, Lady’s Smock, Rose Hips etc.

What would be your dream travel destination?

Anywhere wild! Easter island?

Wild France with Ray Mears – Episode 1

The very first episode of Ray’s brand new series Wild France was broadcast at 8:00PM on Monday 11th July on ITV1.  If you missed it, you can now watch it online via the ITV Player for a limited period of time by clicking on the image above.

Ray Mears visits The Vanoise National Park in the high Alps. Here he meets local goat herder Audrey who enlists his help moving her goats up to summer pastures. He explores the seasonal nature of the mountain and how humans and wildlife have adapted to the altitude and extremes of weather.

Ray also meets local park ranger Alex who takes him up to see some ibex. He gets up close to see ibex jousting and hopping down the sheer cliff faces. Further up the mountain, he enlists the help of donkeys to carry his kit.

During his trek Ray comes across playful marmots, enjoying the sunshine before making his way to the very top of the mountain to find one of the rarest birds in Europe, the bearded vulture.

Wild France with Ray Mears

The second episode of Wild France is due to be broadcast at 8:00PM on Monday 18th July on ITV1.

Ray travels to the Ardeche, where miles of gorge and limestone cliffs characterise the region. He discovers a cave with a long history in the area and is given special permission to abseil in through the original sky facing entrance.  Deep in the cave he finds a stunning array of stalactites and stalagmites, before crawling through narrow tunnels to see new chambers, sealed off from the public. Once back on land he starts out his journey down the Ardeche river by canoe.

Along the way, he meets local wildlife ranger Olivier, who shows him a Viperine, frogs and teaches Ray some the traditional uses of local plants. They climb high up the cliff face to find a cave used since prehistoric times and Ray finishes his journey watching beavers busy on the river.

Wild France with Ray Mears

The third episode of Wild France is due to be broadcast at 8:00PM on Monday 25th July on ITV1.

This Camargue is a vast wetland which includes ancient salt pans, huge expanses of river delta, inland salt-water lakes, and reed beds.

Ray travels to meet the French cowboys – the ‘guardians’ who’ve made it their home. He meets the beautiful white Camargue horses the cowboys ride and watches as they use their skills to round up some powerful Camargue bulls.

Ray visits the salt pans to discover how the salt influences the ecology of the area before heading off to meet some of the region’s most famous residents, the flamingos.

Wild France with Ray Mears

Episode four of Wild France is due to be broadcast at 8:00PM on Monday 1st August on ITV1.

Ray visits The Cevennes National Park, one of the most uninhabited regions in France. He travels deep into the Chestnut forest to meet Laurent, a local farmer whose family have grown chestnut trees for generations. He sets up a campfire to cook some chestnuts to make a chestnut soup.

He continues his journey, meeting a local bee-keeper who builds traditional hives from tree trunks before heading off to find an animal who would once have been common to this area, the wolf. Living in the park amongst the wolves are vultures and Ray hears the story of their successful re-introduction to the area.

The latest book from Ray Mears, entitled Out on the Land, is now available to pre-order.

Each copy sold through Woodlore will come individually signed by Ray Mears himself – a service that is not available through any other stockists.

Please click here to pre-order your copy today

All pre-orders will be dispatched following the book’s release date of 8th September 2016.

“This book has been thirty years in the making. It is written as a collaborative effort between two friends who share a passion for the north woods, its people and wildlife. Through our work in our respective countries we are both fortunate enough to be acknowledged as authorities on bushcraft and survival skills, and for more than twenty years we have worked together teaching survival in Arctic Lapland, some 200 km north of the Arctic Circle.” – Ray Mears.

Wild France with Ray Mears

Episode five of Wild France is due to be broadcast at 8:00PM on Monday 8th August on ITV1.

The hills of Provence in Southern France are loved for their ancient olive groves and lavender fields. But this is also where a very special scrub-land known as the Maquis or the Garrigue is found. On the limestone outcrops, prickly juniper, scattered pines and dry-habitat aromatic herbs such as lavender, sage and thyme carpet the hillsides.

Ray explores this classic Provence landscape, visiting the beautiful ochre canyons and heads off to the gorge to look for the rare Bonelli’s eagle.  Ray also uses his tracking skills to find a whole family of wild boar.

Wild France with Ray Mears – Episode 6

The final episode of Wild France was broadcast at 8:00PM on Monday 15th August on ITV1. If you missed it, you can now watch it online via the ITV Player for a limited period of time by clicking on the image above.

Ray visits the rugged West Coast of Brittany. He heads out by boat to discover the nearby islands. On his journey he gets up close to bottlenose dolphins when they come swimming up to his boat.

He meets a seal colony and finds some seaweed fishermen before heading back to land. By the rocks, he discovers a family of peregrines who’ve built their nest dangerously close to land and meets Joel, a local shellfish specialist who takes him down to the beach to look for shellfish and learn about Brittany’s high tides.

Since Woodlore’s inception many decades ago, our aim has always been to offer the most prestigious level of training in bushcraft and wilderness survival skills. As such, we pride ourselves on our dedicated team of instructors, whose passion for the subject shines through in their teaching.

And so it is with delight that we conclude the recent series of blog posts today focusing on Aspirant Instructor Tom Seward. If you’ve been thinking about booking a course with Woodlore, here is your chance to get to know the instructors who may be guiding you this year.

Aspirant Instructor Tom Seward

Name:

Tom Seward

Age:

27

Hometown:

Marlborough

Years working with Woodlore:

8

Courses attended as a student:

• Fundamental Bushcraft
• Camp Craft
• Journeyman

Courses worked on:

Family Bushcraft, Fundamental Bushcraft, Introduction to Bushcraft, Camp Craft, Junior Fundamental Bushcraft, Junior Expedition Skills, Wilderness Navigation, Applied Bushcraft, Woodlore Tracking, Journeyman, Fire Lighting, Family Wildlife Walkabout

Courses working on this season:

• Introduction to Bushcraft
• Woodlore Tracking
• Carving Master Class with Ray Mears
• Fundamental Bushcraft
• Junior Fundamental Bushcraft
• Family Bushcraft

What is your profession outside of Woodlore?

Outside of Woodlore I am a self-employed Tree Surgeon. I work mainly as a contract tree climber, working 5 days a week, sometimes 6 days a week in the winter.

What are your interests?

I enjoy a wide variety of outdoor pursuits, which include; Deer stalking, Game shooting and Beating and Picking up on pheasant shoots in the winter. I love walking and spend most weekends taking my dog for walks in different parts of the country. I also enjoy off-road driving in my land rover; I have been to Wales several times exploring the different off-roading routes and have been to different countries such as Morocco and Spain. I am currently planning my next trips to the Pyrenees Mountains and the Artic circle.

How did your journey with Woodlore begin?

My interest in Woodlore started when I was a teenager, I loved the outdoors and had always enjoyed watching Ray Mears programmes on TV. I managed to read a lot of his books and one day I attended a book signing of his in my local town. It was here that I learnt about Woodlore and the different courses they offered.

I attended and completed two courses, the Fundamental Bushcraft and the Camp Craft. At the end of the Camp Craft course I was invited to attend the recruitment weekend and was then offered an assistant’s position.

What is your most memorable course experience?

I have had so many memorable times at Woodlore it is hard to pick just one. One of my favourite things is spending so much time outside and being able to watch all the different wildlife in their natural habitats. One evening two colleagues and myself were sitting beside the campfire, it was very quiet and still with just the bats flying around, out of nowhere a sparrow hawk swooped down and snatched a bat out of the air and flew off into the night.

Which skills have you learnt as an instructor that you have found the most useful during your own adventures?

I have learnt many useful skills since I started at Woodlore, the ability to interact and communicate with different people from all walks of life. I have also learnt patience and to have a thick skin during the really wet and cold times, to not give up, and persevere until you reach your goal.

Which skills are you hoping to perfect this season?

I would really like to expand my knowledge on woodland flora and little plants so I can better identify them in the wild. I would also really love to master the fire plough.

What is your favourite meal to cook outdoors?

My favourite meal of all time has to be steak, and it is best cooked on the Muurikka Pan over the campfire.

What would be your dream travel destination?

My ambition is to travel everywhere, however my number one place to go has to be New Zealand. I would love to go hunting and hiking in the mountains over there and see all the dramatic scenery. My dream driving destination would be through the Himalayas or to drive down from North Africa along the coastline to South Africa.