Mad Hatter

That little tiny top hat was actually the plug in the end of a roll of deer fencing. Me though, oh, I put it on my head and danced about.

Garry said, "All you need now is a tiny cane and a tiny monocle and you're all set."

I said, "It's a top hat for a squirrel!"

Jane said, "It's too big for a squirrel."

Me - looking at it consideringly - "It's a top hat for a HARE! Imagine the hare with the tiny little top hat, the tiny little monocle and the tiny little cane!"

"And then," said Garry, "he could pull a tiny little man from his hat."

Oh we had laughs and fun at High Wood!

I love that place. It's so pretty. I did the coolest of cool hedges post about High Wood.

This time, it was deer fencing to complete the security of the coppiced area and protect it from deer. What they've done, is clear trees so that the coupe has about 70% open sky above it. Some oaks have been ring barked which means they die slowly in situ - standing. this is because it's impossible to take timber out of High Wood and those big trees, if felled, would fill the area with branches. This way, the canopy is more open and the standing dead trees provide an incredible habitat.

The hope is that with much more light and no deer to browse the hazel, the coppice will flourish - and, in addition, the bluebells will not be grazed or any potential other flora and trees that have been unable to grow due to grazing pressure in the past.

It's exciting!!

So I thought I'd make a film to go with my hedge laying one and Great Fen one. The hedge laying one didn't have interviews as I had no mic; the Great Fen one was greeted only luke-warmly though personally I thought I did a rather good job. I thought I could improve the audio by adding an adapter and so that is what I did.

No. Don't adjust your set. No sound.

This was bad enough but I had interviewed Dan and Jane about the coppicing. And I HADN'T CHECKED.

BLOODY USELESS UNPROFESSIONAL IDIOT.

Such a shame as the pictures are so nice.

There are 36 clips of pictures plus the two interviews. Kicking myself.

But, I have a plan. I can tell the story with pictures and narration... So, for example I could talk over things like this...

And then I could add a sound track... something like this... in the background... IGNORE THE PICTURES!!!

And then I can redo the interviews when I see Jane and Dan next month. If they are willing. And make another video with real people telling the story well!