Rolf's Wood

Rolf's Wood A privately owned woodland, where you can rest and bathe in the forest air. A place where there is peace and the opportunity to focus on nature.

Nemophists welcome.

We saw about 10 white tailed miner bees around a rabbit burrow yesterday. It is awesome how much they can move, this one...
16/07/2026

We saw about 10 white tailed miner bees around a rabbit burrow yesterday. It is awesome how much they can move, this one effortlessly moved a piece of granite half it's own size without pausing.
There were ten more bees in and around the burrow entrance.
Normally I am too busy to take time to watch what is going on in the woods but I had my friend's 15 year old grandson helping move logs and big boulders, I taught him how to make Holzhausen and he taught me patience.

16/07/2026

A giant wood wasp, and a smallish wood wasp both laying/drilling eggs. At one time there were 4, of varying sizes, within a meter of each other. Seems like yesterday was the day for egg laying.
I know they are harmless, and last year one crawled along my trousers leg for a full five minutes, but I'm still wary - the film Jumanji has a lot to answer for.

I am used to seeing giant wood wasps in my woods at this time of year as they drill down into the Spruce to lay new eggs...
16/07/2026

I am used to seeing giant wood wasps in my woods at this time of year as they drill down into the Spruce to lay new eggs, but I've never seen any wasp with this (cluster of eggs?) on its rear. It can't possibly be it's own eggs because the ovipositor is so thin.
Anyone out there who could enlighten me?

We went to Logan Gardens to see the relatively new Woodland walks (only about 40 years old) but also the walled gardens....
10/07/2026

We went to Logan Gardens to see the relatively new Woodland walks (only about 40 years old) but also the walled gardens. My woodland is about 75 miles east and only a few miles north but the climate is sufficiently different that I'm not tempted to replace my Spruce with Palms.
The shrubs and flowers are all very nice but I'll stick to my native plants for now.

Here is a very useful bit of kit for moving heavy logs.
10/07/2026

Here is a very useful bit of kit for moving heavy logs.

Here's a rare thing, I make one cut, hammer in three wedges, make the other two cuts, whack the wedges all the way in - ...
06/07/2026

Here's a rare thing, I make one cut, hammer in three wedges, make the other two cuts, whack the wedges all the way in - and the tree falls over. There is now enough space for the trees to fall without getting hung up in all the others.
Alas this is where the real work starts, taking all the branches off, cutting it to the correct lengths and then carrying them to the yarding point to be milled into posts and planks later.
I shall celebrate this efficient piece of logging by having my afternoon nap.

01/07/2026

After owning and working in a woodland for 7 years, and successfully avoiding ticks, I found one on the back of my neck today, a place I never see and thought would be a low risk area. I regularly check my legs and arms, use insect repellent and avoid long grass and areas where ticks might be waiting for their next meal to pass by.
I felt the tiny little creature, about the size of a grain of sugar and foolishly pulled it out, not thinking it really would be a tick.
There is always a tick removal tool in my car and in my wallet, and the plan is always to use the tool like a mini claw hammer and get between your skin and the ticks mouth parts, pull it straight up and remove it in one piece.
They can infect you with Lyme disease, which can be very serious, and can be treated with a brutal dose of antibiotics.
Speed is of the essence and the little blighter had probably been half buried in my skin for 5 or 6 days, ideally you want to deal with it within hours.
Having pulled it out, and therefore potentially having squeezed it's infection into my bloodstream I did the right thing and sought medical attention, a pharmacist can remove it and apply antibacterial cream, but the pharmacist referred me to the doctor, who was able to see me within 20 minutes !
When I pulled the tick out I popped into the tick removal pouch and was able to show it to the doctor - low and behold there it was in two bits, I had managed to pull the entire thing out, decapitating it while I rolled it between my fingers and into the pouch. The doctor looked carefully at the wound and concluded it was clean and probably infection free.
I will keep an eye on it (via a mirror) and if no redness (typically a bull's-eye type redness) develops then all is good.
Schools are out, walks in the country and woodlands are in, so please be aware of Lyme disease. Look it up on the NHS web site and take sensible precautions, but still go out. The risk is real, but small. I got away with it for 7 years, hopefully it will be seven years before I get another one.

A rare walk through the woods today after a hearty breakfast at Bainloch Deer Park . I was driving a minibus group from ...
29/06/2026

A rare walk through the woods today after a hearty breakfast at Bainloch Deer Park . I was driving a minibus group from Dumfries, while they did a deer feeding tour I walked slowly through the woods marvelling at the colours of the leaves, flowers, fruits, nuts, mosses and lichens. The long grass and bracken highlighted the deer and badger paths, and where the deer had settled for the night. The dead-hedges that Rosemary has built over the years have settled and are covered in a blanket of moss and lichen which gives beautiful shelter for a whole host of creatures.
It is the margins, where light and rain can get in, that are the most abundant in flora and fauna, I will keep you posted as to the changes which will come with the felling and thinning over the next 18 months.

The last flicker of life in the stump of my biggest Ash tree that I cut down two years ago because it had been infected ...
29/06/2026

The last flicker of life in the stump of my biggest Ash tree that I cut down two years ago because it had been infected by the fungus Hymenoscyphus fraxineus (Ash dieback disease). Last year's new shoots can be seen as they grew and promptly died again.
The Ash is such an important tree, supporting a huge variety of life, that I am keen to find disease resistant replacements. On my way to the woods I see many Ash trees at the roadside and it is increasingly obvious which ones are infected and have fully died, which ones are struggling and probably will die in the next year or two, and which trees (about 1 in 10) look unaffected.
I am resisting the urge to take seeds from the healthy trees this year, but next year I feel that I could select seeds from four or five of the healthiest looking ones and make a nursery to bring on a good number of replacements.
Apparently the seeds can take up to seven years to germinate but there is a newly developed, and relatively simple, method of getting them to germinate in a matter of weeks.
Woodland management is a long term activity requiring action now in order for our grandchildren to see the results.
"There are two good times to plant a tree, now, and ten years ago".

Despite the heat I did manage to get my Logosol F2 to work, however I need to make the footings more level and stable. O...
27/06/2026

Despite the heat I did manage to get my Logosol F2 to work, however I need to make the footings more level and stable. One more guide rail would be nice so that I can cut 4.5 meters more comfortably. The first 6 or 8 lengths will be for the saw and gantry itself (plus the practice / learning).
It's all coming together, slowly.

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Dalbeattie
DG54NU

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