Winter Wanderings.

As I write this, the snow is once again upon us! The temperatures across northern europe have plummeted to more than minus 30 degrees? At the moment where I live it is a balmy minus 8! Recently I was able to get some sketching in before the cold had strengthened it's grip and was rewarded with the sight of carpets of winter aconites stretching along the edge of an ancient ditch that borders our local golf course. A song thrush was busying itself amongst the leaf litter and melting frost and it emerged from time to time with a snail or two. Nuthatches were noisily chasing each other through the naked branches and woodpeckers rattled and drummed from high in the canopy. Once again I find myself in a paradox of winter sounds with yet just a hint of spring in the air? Have the birds changed their tune a little too early or are the long cold fingers of siberia stretching out towards us once more? Don't discard your thermals just yet!

There are Larch and yew trees on my walk some of which are of great antiquity and I often see Goldcrests scrambling among the needles in search of insects. How these tiny birds manage to survive our winters is a miracle but even after the most severe weather they always seem to bounce back? If you stand perfectly still they will pay no attention to you and carry on regardless.

I have some exciting news to announce? The RSPB have invited me to exhibit some of my paintings and sketches at their RYE MEADS reserve to coincide with the Springwatch events taking place around the country. It will be held on the weekend of June 2nd/3rd and I hope to have my work on show through to the following weekend? I will give more details in a future blog and I hope to have lots of new sketches done by then? I am also extremely pleased to tell you that Lynn has responded well to her cancer treatment and is at last gaining confidence enough to ditch the headgear and show off her gorgeous new hairstyle! I will sign off this current episode of my blog with a coulple of winter birds. A Kingfisher from the river Lea and a Goldeneye seen at Amwell nature reserve. I dedicate these to winter birders everywhere.