MAMMALS.

First of all I would like to say a big thank you to all the staff at RSPB RYE MEADS for helping with my art exhibition and to all the nice people who came along to view my work even though the weather was so awful most of the time! I even managed to sell some paintings and the response I got was very positive and encouraging. Here's to the next one? Whenever that might be? I have to say I found it a bit of a strain and felt quite unwell after picking up a virus a few weeks ago! The doc sent me to the hospital for some blood tests and I await the results? All in all, under the circumstances I think the exhibition was a success?
I even managed to do some sketching and although birding was out of the question, I concentrated on mammals and especialy on the reserve's local fox family. The star of the show is a vixen called 'ALICE' and she was seen most days coming to the visitor centre for sandwiches and peanuts! She has a litter of six cubs and they put on a fantastic display for all the photographers. She is especialy adept at catching rabbits and is a very good mother.
I have included here some other mammals that I saw in Hampshire at a wildlife sanctuary and although not strictly speaking 'wild', I could'nt resist sketching them! Other stuff is from the archive and I thought it worthy of showing? I hope you approve?


ALICE.



ALICE WITH RABBIT.



ALICE.



FOX AND BLUEBELLS.

EUROPEAN OTTER.



SCOTTISH WILDCAT.

The Exhibition and display at Rye Meads.

Art Exhibition

My solo exhibition is titled 'WONDERFUL WETLANDS. An artist's perspective' and will take place at RYE MEADS RSPB reserve, Rye Road, Stanstead Abbotts, Hertfordshire. It runs from the weekend of SATURDAY JUNE 2ND untill SUNDAY JUNE 10TH. I hope as many people as possible will come along to view my work and visit this fantastic little reserve in the Lea valley? Rye Meads is deserving of it's status as a premier breeding site for Kingfishers and I have included a number of paintings and sketches of these exquisite little birds in my exhibition. As a taster, here are some of my recent efforts inspired by encounters with wetland birds.

Signs of Spring Migration.

Lynn and I have recently returned from a visit to Norfolk and we stayed in the delightful village of Heacham. This gave us a chance to go birding along the norfolk coast between Snettisham and Titchwell, two of our favourite reserves. Despite the occasional savage weather we did get out and about every day and we saw a good number and variety of birds. Migrants were a bit thin on the ground but behind the Heacham dunes I found up to eight Wheatears and a Ring Ousel on our last day. These birds showed well and were one of the highlights of our holiday!

A highlight of a visit to Titchwell was a group of Long-tailed ducks feeding offshore. The weather was kind enough to allow us to linger a while on the beach at low tide and get close views of many gulls and waders and on the way back to the visitors centre we had a bird of prey 'fest' with Marsh Harrier, Red Kite, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel and a Merlin all in the sky at the same time. Visits to Ttitchwell coincided with extremes of weather ranging from a benign morning watching a water vole and listening to blackcaps to sitting out a violent storm in the island hide as the wind tried to blow us away!

We spent a day at Holme dunes walking the coastal path and it was a treat to see a pair of Stonechats flitting and scratching among the coarse scrub! Skiens of geese barked overhead and Avocets were as clumsy and quarrelsome as ever in the fresh water pools.

All in all we had a great time and on the way home visited Welney WWT reserve and topped up our birding list to over 100 species for the week. The star visitor having been a Sacred Ibis!

On my local patch I have noticed increasing numbers of Chiffchaff and have included here in my blog some sketches I made a couple of weeks ago. I hope you like? A further reminder of my forthcoming exhibition! 'WONDERFUL WETLANDS, An artist's perspective', It will be at RSPB RYE MEADS reserve in the visitor centre and will run from Sat 2nd to Sun 10th June to coincide with a series of events marking 'SPRINGWATCH'. Everyone is welcome to cast a critical eye over my work and also to take a stroll around this fantastic little wetland reserve. Entrance is free so please do come! Further information can be obtained by contacting Louise Moss on 01992 708383. I will post some samples of my work done specially for the exhibition in a future blog.

The Big Freeze.

Well it finaly arrived and plunged the whole of the british isles into a mini ice age with record low temperatures! The ice and snow are only now loosening their grip in the the far north and in the hills and the mountains! Minus 16 degrees was recorded not far from where I live and we had a huge dollup of snow that was as deep as it was beautiful. Large flocks of winter thrushes descended on my patch and I was priviledged enough to see Fieldfares, Redwings and Mistle Thrushes in abundance. They provided excellent entertainment and superb sketching and photographic opportunities. I visited an ice-bound Rye Meads and got great views of a Bittern and several Common Snipe while the garden feeders were well and truly ravaged by flocks of finches. I just love the juxtaposition of shapes and forms that some birds make when feeding and so I have indulged myself unashamedly in my interpretation of a group of Redwings among crabapple trees. I hope you approve?

The Bittern showed itself well in the exceptional circumstances and was forced to seek out more open, ice free water. Not that those lucky enough to see it were complaining?

Of course, where there are flocks forced together they always attract the attention of predators and I witnessed a spectacular kill by a female Sparrowhawk right outside my living room window! She came in like a lightning bolt and took out a Collared dove that was sitting on the fence! Then disappeared! The kill was instantaneous and the victim stood no chance! A blood-stained heap of feathers lay on the ground, twitching it's last life's gasp! The death of one provided a meal for another! Such are the nature of things in the wild and I stood in awe as the beautiful huntress glided into view to claim her prize. The pitiful calls of a collared dove's mate were heart renching and went on for some time! I suppose I watched for about half an hour as the breast was plucked and consumed and then the Sparrowhawk took off, carrying her prize with her. Without sentiment and silent!

I want to leave you with a sketch of some Curlews that I am including in my display this coming June at Rye Meads from my exhibition titled 'Wonderful Wetlands'. The exhibition runs from 2nd to the 10th June 2012. Full details will be published in a future blog! Cheers for now!

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.

Loose Ends.

The festive season draws close and brings to a conclusion what has been the most dramatic and traumatic year of my life! Lynn has finished her treatment and has finally gone back to work on a part time basis for the time being? My daughter is beating her depression and seems much better and I have started to turn my attention once more to Art and Music and earning a living? There have been some interesting birds arriving on my patch recently and I managed to get out to see some of them. Hen Harriers, Short-Eared Owls and a Great-Grey Shrike being among the highlights. As the weather turns I am anticipating more winter migrants turning up and I'm hoping that Lynn will be well enough for us to get out and about in order to see them?

The Great-Grey Shrike appeared out of the mist like a little ghost and alighted in a hawthorn at the top of a ridge. Shapes that were grey and colourless started to take form and substance and I could make out the line of a hedge stretching into the distance and the vague outline of fields behind. A red kite drifted into view and stooped to pick something up giving a sudden flash of red forked tail. Other birds began to materialise as the light grew stronger and I concluded that they were finches and sparrows? In a flash the shrike dashed towards us and swooped over the hedge like a small hawk, making the finches scatter in all directions! It was quite dramatic and we were treated to a lively performance for the next 20 minutes. As the mist rolled up the hill again it was as if a curtain had been drawn across the scene and we were obliged to take our leave? A magical moment!

A Hen Harrier was one of three that had been reported and together with a pair of Short-Eared Owls became the focus of attention for lots of local birders. We were on the 'Icknield Way', an ancient drover's path that crosses the chilterns and who's dust has coated many feet over the years from medieval pilgrims, anglo-saxon warriors and even the legions of rome! We followed it from Therfield Heath towards the market town of Royston and then up towards Grey's farm where at last we caught sight of our first Hen-Harrier! A 'Ringtail'. She swooped and stooped as she quartered the rough pasture and several times dropped to the ground, no doubt seizing a vole or small bird? There are lots of finches and larks here at the moment due to the farm being managed sympathetically for wildlife. A little while later we had even better views from the road leading into Therfield village! My paintings are of a pleasant memory of the occasion and even more so to see the smile return to Lynn's face after such a long time!

I am going to include a few more paintings and sketches from various encounters so as to tie up my 'loose ends' so to speak, in the hope that you will allow me to indulge myself in the sheer beauty of some of the many birds that visit my patch at this time of year? How can any artist resist the urge to paint them? or any photographer not want to capture their image? Poets may wax lyrical and great storytellers might bring them vividly to life in our imagination but lets all be thankfull that against all odds they are still here?

Although this isn't a recent sketch I saw a large flock of these gorgeous little finches at the RSPB headquarters at the Lodge in bedfordshire last week! They are very noisy and active and flocks may include common, lesser and Arctic Redpolls? I have always had trouble telling them apart? These are common redpolls feeding on Alder seeds.





Lesser Black Backed Gulls at Amwell. Hertfordshire.

May I take this opportunity to wish everyone a peaceful and wildlife-filled christmas and hope that even if you don't get everything you wished for? You at least get what you deserve?

Late Summer Dragonflies and Ripe Fruits.

Over the past month I have been watching dragonflies on my local patch and was surprised to find a few species hunting and hawking quite far from any substantial water! They seemed to like to rest at times among leaves and fruits and this gave me the idea to sketch them as I found them and to indulge in some coloured pencil technique. I used graphite pencils to create tone and depth and then built up layers of colour on top using Faber -Castell Albrecht Durer watercolour pencils. They can be easily blended with or without water and give brilliant, vibrant results! Its as near to being a child with a box of crayons again as I can remember? Totaly absorbing! Whenever I see ripe fruits and berries I cannot resist them and have to draw or paint them immediately! This year has seen a bounty of Hawes, sloes, heps and berries as well as a larder full of acorns, nuts and seeds and the winter thrushes have arrived in force to gorge themselves! I found some succulent apples hanging so heavy on the tree that the branches were arching almost to the ground! I only hope I have done them justice in my drawing?

The first frosts will signal the end for the dragonflies but not before bowing out in a blaze of glory! I hope you enjoy looking at my next two sketches as much as I did creating them?
Lynn has started radiotherapy treatment and seems at long last to have made giant strides forward in her battle with breast cancer! The prognosis is good and we are optimistic and looking forward to a positive future and being rid of this awful disease. She can walk further now and has a sparkle in her eye! We try to go birding as often as we can and we relish every moment!
My next sketch is of a Garden warbler that caught my attention one morning in my own garden as it foraged and flitted from leaf to branch almost un-noticed and silent! It stayed for a couple of days and then moved on giving a brief but joyfull interlude for which I was most gratefull!

I am always fascinated by bird migration and somewhat envious of the power of flight and the freedom it affords the feathered multitudes that come and go every season. The great journeys that birds make and the vast distances they cover are a constant source of wonder and amazement to me! Warblers are so tiny and seem so fragile and yet they always return each year from Africa and fill our hearts with joy! I know they face many grave dangers en-route yet I cannot imagine life without them? They are a constant source of inspiration and challenging subjects to draw?