Totem Poles in the Paper

It is always nice to see what you've done in the paper, my friends and relatives certainly have and contacted me to tell me. These poles have been in a a few weeks now and I can see the freshly cut wood just starting to change colour. I guess they will eventually turn a silver grey colour.



right to left: Kathryn Barton, Rob Turner, Roger Day and a yellow telehandler


In the kitchen yesterday, my youngest daughter shouted 'whats that bird on the garden fence'? We all looked round to see what we think was probably either a Goshawk or more likely to have been a sparrow hawk fly off across the back gardens of our neighbours. Coincidence as the I never seen any thing like that in my garden ever before, yet a couple of weeks after the totem poles went in. A sparrow hawk is the basis for the bird of prey on the top of one. The joke at the time when carving it was that I should paint it black, as it has a swept back appearence resembling a stealth bomber.




bird of prey based on a sparrow hawk



There will be other features installed along the Wildart Trail over the next few months or so. 

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