Totem Poles the First Entrance Feature

There has been a lot of activity in the woods this week, chain saw, totem poles, diggers, cranes, entrance features and the local press.
Roger Day has sculpted the two totem poles and brought my drawings to life. He has worked long hours on these and it was exciting to see the crane putting them in place. They depict species native to these woodlands and celebrate a more diverse habitat and increasing species numbers.



the machine has a free spirit (like the animals it created) tamed by Roger



small tent protection from the rain so cow wheat
carving can continue  



each pole is 5m long  before being placed in the ground 

 

spirtual guardians for Wildart Trail visitors and the future

In the Totem Pole page at the top I have included more photos of the totem poles and the process leading up to their marking the entrance to the Wildart Trail. Thanks to all involved, it was a team effort including Soverign Forestry Contractors and the Kent Wildlife Trust.

New Pages:

I have recently discovered that you can make pages within this blog and they appear at the top under the picture heading up the whole blog. I thought by starting a new page for a each new feature on the Wildart Trail as they progress would be a good idea!

There is alot of things going on in the woods right now; So I decided to start with the giant ant making workshop run by Alan Sage about a week ago. Then start another page about the large totem poles currently being sculpted by Roger Day.  



Roger Day chain saw carving a Totem Pole and er.........Cosmo in the background





technique called 'random weaving' ...................... giant ant




and a couple of Woodpeckers



Nomination for The Culture Awards

In the post the other day this arrived

enclosed with a letter gongratulatiing me and explaing this was the first of what is hoped to become an annual event to celebrate the rich cultural life in the district. It went on to say if I wanted to see information about this years winners then go to http://www.creativecanterbury.com/main.cfm?objectid=67

So congratulations to the winners and although it is my name is on the certificate, this is a partnership project and I have been working with several members of staff with The Kent Wildlife Trust who are enabling the Wildart Trail to happen. It is encouraging that the local authority recognises the efforts made by members of its community especially when times are difficult.

great spotted woodpeker

 

green woodpecker






 

three down one to go

Three of the four totem posts have now been completed and installed. I probably explained earlier that each post is a record of class work and exploration into woodland life by students at local Primary Schools.



Class 6 Churchill Herne Junior School



Class 6 Wallis Herne Junior School





Class 6 Szarbo Herne Junior School



More generally speaking items / events  for the Wildart Trail are beginning to happen these include entrance features, willow weaving workshops, seating, sculptures and more, these will unfold over the summer with some kind conclusion by autum 2011. I will post on this blog in much more detail as items are made, and events draw nearer.  Feedback about the trail so far has been positve and regular dog walkers have mentioned the increase in activity and are expectant !..........The main  improvements to the car park  have also been finished with parking for disabled visitors and much improved surfacing and demarcation, fencing and a pair of swankey new entrance signs.   

The Updated updated map

So here is the latest version of the trail map, which probably looks no different to the last one, but a tweek here and an adjustmant there, I think I might have even needed to move a tree at one point or a couple of red dots.


trail map showing features along the route

Canturbury City Council are hosting a networking event on the trail this Thurs 26th May. Things have started but most of it is not in place yet but I am looking forward to meeting friends and collegues talking about what will be installed while walking round. Other developments include possible sculptures with students from Christ Church University.

I have drawn up some initial ideas for two totem poles which will form the entrance feature showing animals that visitors will be likely to see. I have to say designing totem poles was a little harder than I anticipated. One pole had animals all with the same shaped ears and it was'nt working.

 



May Sticks. 'Living in fear of Arson',
a song title by Michele Shocked, which is true to say during this month in the woods, with large areas looking like scenes from sci fi movies





Tales from the Woods

Today I took Cosmo to work with me in the woods. I negotiated the entrance and surfacing works for the new car park and spent the whole day routing local school childrens designs onto tree stumps. As the nearest entrance  was closed I only saw two people all day. One of them the imfamous Sid the Schnowser who I have spoken about on another blog.



Cosmo always on the look out for squirrels



detail; toadstools



I did as many as I could in one day, they dont take too long if your prepared to cut boldly. I sketched them on the stump first with a coloured pencil, the rather boldly cut out shapes. Often I could not see the junctions of the lines, and once or twice cut through bits where I would have rather not! The main toad stool above should have had the stalk reaching down to the ground but I cut it off my mistake as the whole thing was covered in saw dust. But you would have never even known that if I hadent have told you eh...! I liked designing things to fit in what are nearly circles, and these designs remind me of coins in some way. They are woodland currency depicting animals, insects, fungi and plants etc. 

Highland Cattle in the padock nearby,

I have included a couple of owls as I have heard them at dusk walking Cosmo

 The two above show different insects and the one on the left is the fiercest beetle I have ever seen!



Butterfly and leaves



I really enjoyed my day, but Cosmo drank all the water and I was thirsty when I got back home after leaving through an extra gate that was not there when I arrived in the morning.

It seems all the permissions have been granted by authorities and conservation bodies including Natural England, so things should start happening over the rest of the spring and summer months.

The Final Schools Workshop

We ran a workshop along the lines of the ones done previously, this one was in the Junior school closest to where I live. Anyway this class had been to the woods before with KWT and were very talkative, they were actually really noisey. So noisey in fact I thought that after about 20 minutes they would have all shown me their drawings about 4 times and start throwing stuff about and tell me stories about firing their brothers air pistol or something similar.

Although noisey they continued to work and my prediction was utterly wrong. They carried on working very well, right to the end of school. I listened to a few stories while we worked, one or two might have been a little on the tall side, but they just worked in a noisey way!

some of their work was amazing

again working best with good reference material provided bt KWT


The other thing about this workshop was that I carried this socking great tree trunk up a number of flights of steps. This was a finished example from one of the previous classes workshops were I had carved their designs onto the tree trnck. I wanted to show then what the finshied thing would look like. They were excited then right at the start.

There will be a total of four of these mini totem poles made, and many more of their designs will be cut into the top of flat tree stumps cut by a chain saw when coppicing. I will start these in the woodland within a week or so and will post photos then.

the Blean Woods is home to the very rare Heath Fritillary Butterfly

This is the finished pole for class 6 Szarbo in my garden



deatil including 'Cosmo' further in the background

 And the final piece of news is that I updated the map of the trail features, as things have developed slightly and some things being eliminated while others added, or modified this made the old one rather out of date.

the updated map