PK Podcast 55: John Rhyder – Woodsman, Naturalist, Educator and Senior Tracker
John Rhyder is a naturalist, woodsman, wildlife tracker and writer. He is both founder and Head Instructor at Woodcraft School in the UK. John is one of the most experienced educators in the field of bushcraft. He’s also an innovator.
He is the originator of the first accredited bushcraft programme in the UK and has since gained accreditation for related programmes too. John previously worked and taught in arboriculture, conservation, and habitat management. He has been teaching since 1994, making this a full-time career since then.
John continues to push his own knowledge and skills forwards. John is certified through CyberTracker Conservation as Senior Tracker. As such, he was the first person at this level in Northern Europe. John also works an evaluator assessing the CyberTracker system in this region.
As a writer John has contributed many articles for various publications and has authored three books. John’s latest book, Track and Sign, was published by The History Press in March 2021. The same publisher has also re-published John’s first book, Woodcraft, which was originally self-published in 2018. Additionally, he has produced a field guide containing life sized drawings of Britain’s mammals and birds.
I’ve known John a long time. Indeed, he was the instructor on the first formal bushcraft course I took as a student, many, many years ago.
So, it’s my great pleasure that John joins me on this podcast.
How To Listen To This Podcast
You can listen to this podcast here on my website by using the player above. Just press the play button.
You can download the podcast episode .mp3 file by right-clicking on the download link to save the .mp3 file down to your local machine/device.
Subscribe to The Paul Kirtley Podcast on your favourite podcast app:
Subscribe to the Paul Kirtley Podcast on Apple
Subscribe to the Paul Kirtley Podcast on Spotify
Subscribe to the Paul Kirtley Podcast on Player FM
Subscribe to the Paul Kirtley Podcast on Radio Public
Connect with John Rhyder
Woodcraft School websiteJohn Rhyder Woodcraft School FacebookJohn Rhyder Instagram
Links Mentioned In This Podcast
Tracking in the Bialowieza Primeval Forest, Poland
Trailing in Borecka Forest, Poland
Global Bushcraft Symposium 2022
Get the GBS presentation videos, including John’s (GBS2022 video link)
Tracker Certification North America
European Wildlife Tracking website
European Wildlife Tracking Symposium
Louis Liebenberg – The Art of Tracking, The Origin of Science (free PDF download)
John Rhyder’s Introduction To Wildlife Trailing Video
Books Mentioned In This Podcast
Hugh D. H. Soar – The Crooked Stick: A History of the LongbowJohn Rhyder’s books from his own website (signed copies)Liebenberg, Louw, Elbroch – Practical Tracking: A Guide to Following Footprints and Finding AnimalsPreston Taylor – Tracking The American Black BearPreben Bang and Preben Dahlstrom – Animal Tracks and SignsJim Corbett – Man-Eaters of KumaonJim Corbett – Jungle Lore
Thanks For Listening!
Thanks for joining me on this podcast. If you have any comments about this episode, please leave them in the comments section below.
If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons at the top of this page. Thanks!
And Finally…
If you listen on Apple, please leave an honest review & rating here.
Equally, if it is possible to leave a rating, review, or both, on your favoured podcast platform or app, please do so. It is much appreciated and helps highlight this podcast series to others who may be interested.
Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of this podcast and I read each and every one of them.
Related Material On Paul Kirtley’s Blog
PK Podcast 54: Dave Holder, Wilderness Living Skills Instructor and TV Survival Consultant
PK Podcast 46: Kevin Callan, The Nicest Man On The Meanest Link
PK Podcast 45: Tristan Gooley On Unlocking Nature’s Clues and Signs
6 thoughts on “PK Podcast 55: John Rhyder – Woodsman, Naturalist, Educator and Senior Tracker”
A new podcast! Yay!!! Two hours of easy listening… That will keep me plenty occupied on my flight to Ivalo, Finland on monday. Getting ready to guide a group on a ski expedition through Urho Kekkonen National Park. Plenty of animal track & sign to be studied in the snow 😉
Having gained most of my education post school, City & Guilds, HNC and Tech Iosh – I found the conversation very interesting.
Thanks Paul
Very interesting interview.
Thanks Michael. I’m glad you found this one interesting 🙂
Warm regards,
Paul
A great podcast, thank you Paul and John. well I’ve bought the books off John’s site, I was unaware of the detail of his Woodcraft book prior to this. but I now feel I need to go and watch Jonh’s presentation from GBS22 again 🙂
Hi David,
Thanks for your feedback on this podcast. I’m glad you enjoyed it and that it brought some more reading to your attention 🙂
Yes, when you have some additional knowledge or a new perspective, it’s always good to go back to things you have previously listened to, watched or read, to see what else can be gleaned. I hope you enjoy re-watching John’s GBS presentation.
For anyone else reading these comments, John’s presentation can be viewed as one of the many in the amazing collection of talks in the 2022 GBS video bundle here -> https://www.gbs2022videos.com/
Warm regards,
Paul