We have a resident robin! He heralds our arrival every week, and he was the Woodland Welcome for many of Sweet Chestnut Group this week. In fact, the bird song all around Deggs Wood was particularly vivid this week ahead of the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch.  https://www.rspb.org.uk/whats-h...

Woodland welcomes this week included: Sparkling frost, crunchy leaves, a little robin in the play area, my frosty breath. There were some eagle eyed nature spotters this week. They managed to find a very tiny Jelly Ear Fungi and remembered that it was most likely growing on Elder wood...

On the menu today: Toffee Crab Apples & Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire  The blackbirds and pigeons have made light work of my crab apple tree's crop this year. Fortunately a local farmer had kindly donated a big bag or crab apples for one of my favourite winter treats to make aro...

This week we learnt about the ancient art of pewter casting and each child had the opportunity to create a mould, melt the pewter over the campfire in the long spoon called the crucible and pour the molten metal into their mould to create a pewter shell. It took concentration, patience and accuracy...

Some say that the number 13 is an unlucky number and when we first looked at today's weather forecast. We felt a little bit unlucky. Having talked about why it wasn't safe to go to the woods in high winds. We then talked about the job of a meteorologist and found out that it contains 13 lett...

The children were introduced to the Japanese art of Hapa Zome (leaf dye in Japanese) in order to make bunting for our very smart new Forest School kitchen area. They also made wax rubbings of leaves. Inspired by one of the children's really effective use of black wax crayons on sweet chestnut le...