Greenfields Forest Camping 2013

The last time I was looking online for campsites I came across Greenfields Forest Camping a 10 pitch site in the Dorset countryside.  It sounded perfect, camp in amongst the trees with geese running around, all the natural wildlife in the woodland and the deer that the owners keep in the field next door.

Greenfields Forest CampingWe decided to make a booking at the end of the season, keeping our fingers crossed for good weather.  When we arrived we were cheerfully met by Foo one of the owners, who gave us a choice of whichever pitch we liked as we were the only ones booked in on our first night.

Sleeping in a forest was great, complete darkness apart from the full moon and although I thought the noises of the forest would keep me awake, I slept a solid 10hrs!!! I think it was thanks to my amazingly snuggly sleeping bag that kept me so warm.  I have to have some home comforts! 🙂

It was to be a leisurely break so a cooked breakfast was definitely on the menu.  Thankfully we put up a tarp next to the tent that we cooked under and didn’t get much rain at all, only at night but we were under part of an acorn tree that was dropping nuts. I like to think there was an old angry squirrel in the tree throwing them at us, but maybe my imagination was getting away from me!

Greenfields Forest CampingOn the site there is a very peaceful lake, which is where we spent all of our days just sat watching and photographing the wildlife.  Dragonflies were a challenge and although I got a few photographs it was like they were playing peek-a-boo flying out from the grasses and back in.  The butterflies were much more obliging sitting pleasantly still for minutes on end.

We had an amazing few days and the owners, Foo and Tim were lovely and very accommodating.  I think we will definitely be taking a trip back again next year.

Humanitarian Op – Bunny Rescue 2013

In August we noticed a black rabbit hopping around the site at work.  A notice was put out asking if anyone had lost a bunny, but no one replied.

Lucky2013 01To start with, it looked as though it had integrated with the wild rabbits but after some reading and some watching it was obvious that he was out on his own.  He seemed to disappear for about 3 weeks but then we saw him again in the car park – not the safest place for any bunny!  To my surprise as I approached him, he hopped over and looked in my hand for food.  We decided he was hungry and started to leave him some food in the undergrowth where he appeared to be living.

After seeing him a few times and happily eating out of my hand, we decided to seek approval for capture and re-homing.  The re-homing was easy, I decided to keep him!  The capture not so easy!  I had built up some trust as he would spot me offering food and bound 4-5 hops to come and see me, but he didn’t seem to like being stroked so instead of breaking the trust I had gained, I carried on offering food.

We had put hay in an area where we knew he sat and had seen him sat munching it.  So we replaced the hay with a cat box full of hay and a little carrot hoping that he would go in.  We knew he had ventured in as the carrot had gone! The only problem we had was being in the right place at the right time to shut the door!

On a Monday after work, we waited Lucky2013 04next to the cat box with string at the ready to close the door. He was over the other side of the hedge on the grass so I went over with a bit of carrot to say hello.  He excitedly hopped over to get his treat.  Walking back over to the box I asked him to follow and amazingly, he did! Poking his head in the box for carrot, he finally went fully in the box and we pulled the string! He stamped his foot once then settled down for his journey home.

Lucky exploring‘Lucky’ is now happily living with me, to start with in a pen in the kitchen while his hutch was renovated!! Give a Dad a hutch and they turn it into a mansion!  He has now settled in and likes to run around on the kitchen floor and is happy to be stroked but not picked up, so a little more work needs to be done before he has a trip to the vets.  We still don’t know if he’s a boy or a girl! But he has a great friendly personality and is very intelligent and tidy, rearranging his hutch all the time! I have plans to find him a bunny friend for company in the future 🙂