You need to talk to Del the cat. His blog is http://bowyersdiary.blogspot.com/. There's tons of yew examples there. He's in the UK too. I suspect he'll be along here in a bit to help you.
George
Cheers George, I've already posted! Asking where he is!
Kendal UK I gather.
Anyhow back to answering the question.
There must be all sorts of woodland up there. The killer is not wanting to wait for wood to season. Ah the impetuousness of youth!
Impatience is my biggest fault, but the answer is to get out and start looking.
Get hold of some Hazel, Hornbeam, Ash or anything to practice on, even if it isn't well seasoned. For every bit of wood you find, if you saw or split it in 2 you will have one half to learn on now and one half to leave for a year (even 6 months or less will do it if you work it down as it's seasoning).
A stave seasoning is worth 2 still in the tree.
Make it your business to locate evrey Yew tree withing a two mile radius. The more you look the luckier you will get.
With Autumn and Winter on the way, it's the time of year when parks, woods, golf courses etc will all start to think about thining and trimming trees. Phone up a few tree surgeons.
No pain, no gain.
(I'm currently making a Hornbeam bow on my blog)
Del