New Artwork For Sale & New Beginnings.

 Lockdown has been a mixture of back garden birding and me planting my butt in the studio for a lot more than I was. It enabled me to get stuck into subjects I have been wanting to do for a while. First up was another Gorilla, a challenge but a lovely subject to work on.

The Peregrine Falcon has been awaiting a start for a long time, and tied in with hearing that the local Cromer Peregrines were nesting again it seemed very fitting, and a nice sight to sometimes see one of them passing the garden on food expeditions.

 A bit behind other artists in doing Koala art, I nonetheless jumped in with my piece, there was so much hair detailing some times I wondered if I had actually done anything when I looked back after a few hours!

 NOW FOR SOMETHING DIFFERENT

With no commission work needing attention I finally decided to get my Pyrography equipment out and get stuck in with something totally new. This was the start of something really fun and addictive.

First piece was a Lime and Eyed Hawkmoth. 

 I had great fun learning about this art and new I had a lot of learning to do, but it felt refreshing trying something different.

I moved straight onto the next piece of a Barn Owl. The tones from the burning depicted the owls plumage and made it more real, I was enjoying these new challenges and learning about controlling the burn.

Jumping straight into the deep end with the next piece, set on a piece of Cheery wood and measuring around 2 foot long I started on a Red Deer Stag......

To Be Continued

Much going on in May

Marvellous May.

Looking through my notebook for May I thought I had a few decent entries to write about, so I then checked through my 800 or so photos taken during May and found a few more subjects to add and came out with quite a wildlife filled moth. On a morning walk along the clifftops we saw a few more Swifts passing along the coast and my first pair of Sandwich Terns of the year. Further along the coast in the bigger towns there were good numbers of Swifts which is lovely to hear, but in Trimingham I have only noticed one pair, presumably not enough suitable nesting sites.

Common Swift

I had another 'funky' looking Buzzard over the house, it had also been hanging around Mundesley, it was associating with another buzzard at the time. Lovely to see these paler type birds, so striking.

Little Egrets

Entering the second week the birds were in full song everywhere with some migrant birds still moving through, 3 Little Egrets were a nice sight flying along the cliffs, seen from the garden. I got a Sedge Warbler and Whinchat along the clifftop fields, the Sedge Warbler was only heard as it was tucked away in set-a-side crops, Common Whitethroats were holding territories around the village lanes and clifftop scrub.

 Great Tit

Garden birds were now actively feeding their young, Great Tit, Goldfinch, Blackbird and Dunnocks all seemed to of done well. 

Goldfinch begging for food

Carrion Crow

The young birds had to keep their wits about them, the Crows and Magpies were always on the lookout for an easy meal.

Entering the second half of the month I added a great new bird 'tick' for the garden, a single Turtle Dove flew along the clifftops, high enough above the trees for me to watch it, a lovely addition and a sight that sadly is not seen enough. On the 26th Sarah and I listened to a Cuckoo calling from the coastal scrub behind the house, it didn't call for long but was a welcome sound none the less.

Painted Lady

Even with the glorious sunny days upon us, some days seemed to be butterfly-less. But a few graced us with their appearance, I didn't expect to see a Painted Lady quite so early, what a stunner they are. 

Painted Lady

Orange Tip

Green Veined White

Red Admiral

Marvellous Moths

On the mothing front the number of species being seen were increasing and adding to the year list, but I also managed to trap a few new species not recorded in the garden before. The tally for the year is now standing at 89 macro species.

Lime Hawkmoth

I've waited for a couple of years to get one of these lovely hawkmoths in the garden here, typically another one was trapped a few nights later ( more greener colouring made it identifiable as another)

Puss Moth

This is quite a large moth, lovely patterning.

Orange Footman

Pale Oak Beauty

Light Brocade

This was a welcome new moth and what lovely markings.

Scalloped Hook-tip

Some lovely new moth additions with plenty more species to be on the wing entering June, mind you they will have to run the gauntlet as I've seen a large bat, probably a Noctule by the size, active at the bottom of the garden recently!