Social Madness

So, there's Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ and now Google+ communities.

In an attempt to get the community programme started on Google+, here's a couple of communities to join.

Survival, Bushcraft and Wild Camping

Wild Food, Foraging and Natural Resources

Please let us know if you find any more.

One man's junk ...

Just a Bottle?

Everyday objects have a great number of uses beyond those for which they were originally designed. Sometimes, even a basic modification can transform the mundane into a life saving tool. We've covered a nail, a piece of string and now this third article on imagination covers plastic bottles.

Plastic bottles are more likely to be found with you and your situation or washed up the beach than occurring in the woods or desert sands. If, however, you were to find such an item in a remote survival situation, then you ascertain that at some point, human kind were around and this may be a useful datum for signalling or locating civilisation, should you resort to navigating your way out. Though plastic itself has a huge lifespan, labels and colouration can be affected by the sun and the elements, so a tatty old bottle with a faded label might indicate that someone was here, but it was a while ago. As with all packet food, take a quick check for an expiry date. This can be a ballpark indicator of at least the minimum time since the owner was about.

Wild Food & Natural Resources Course - November

Autumn is almost over with many trees now bare, though some still retain their glorious colourful leaves. The season for ground fruiting fungi is pretty much over and you might think because all of the nuts and berries have passed that there is very little to eat, but there are plenty plants that work well in the winter, not only because there is little other competition. So without further ado, let's see what's about this month.

Lights, Camera, Action ... Heat, Dehydration, Crash

It was never that bad :)

I found myself on a film set the other day. This might sound glamorous, but it's a lot of waiting around, being told what to do and then doing it over and over again. You can't go very far and you don't really know when it's going to end. When working on a film set, knowledge of the human body and application of survival skills can get you through the day. With lots of down time and unpredictable events in a hot and largely resource free environment, it's easy to to get overheated, fatigued and dehydrated. Using your head and being opportunistic is the only way to ensure you're on form and not exhausted at the end of it all. This article is not about film set survival, more an insight into managing yourself in an situation over which you have little control.