Wildlife
Carved Stones along the River Aire
Earlier in the year I worked with Arup, (an independent firm of designers, engineers, architects, planners, consultants and technical specialists in the built environment), to create a memorial walk along the River Aire in Leeds. They had seen a stone I’d carved previously and thought that something similar, scaled up, would suit the project. […]
A vole scurries for cover
The burnished copper tones in the Owl and Oak Leaves stone roundel express themselves magically – each time I move the inlay shines, glimmers and glows a myriad of metalic pinks, gleaming reds and rich shimmering browns. It will be lovely to see the emphasis change as the scene weathers and softens, time enhanced […]
A Mole and a Mole Sculpture
A feverishly digging mole, scraping at the damp silt and shifting stones and pebbles in its path. I watched it for many moments, but it heard me and vanished down a hole in the bank. It moved surprisingly quickly. The little beck that runs down past my workshop has completely dried up. I’ve […]
In the Workshop today – damselfly
Work in progress on a Banded Demoiselle carving in sandstone. The sun shone into the workshop in slivers, landing on the stone, as if come to warm up my work. Damselflies love to bask in sunshine and can often be seen sunbathing in the early morning on a stalk, rock pile or bare […]
Tawny Owl Sculpture
The Tawny Owls here are noisy at the moment. Their calls are really quite musical, I’m hearing a number of different ‘hoots’, which is not surprising given it is their breeding season. The familiar hooting of the male has several functions – as a territorial call, a courtship call and also an announcing call […]
View with Stone
I sat on this stone – it was warm from the morning’s sun – and took in the view whilst eating lunch. An excursion to explore an old quarry site, now overgrown with saplings, bramble and wild flowers. I disturbed a deer, surprised a Tawny Owl, watched rabbits scamper and squirrels scurry. Butterflies basked […]
The Shape of the Dawn Chorus
Tomorrow I’m getting up early, really early. Before dawn in fact, as it is International Dawn Chorus Day – a worldwide celebration of nature’s early morning music. The dawn chorus occurs when songbirds sing at the start of a new day. It tends to be most noticeable in spring, when the birds […]
North Yorkshire Turtle Dove Project
The beautiful Turtle Dove is our smallest European dove. This tiny power house of a bird flies 7000 miles to reach North Yorkshire from Mali in Africa each spring. Unfortunately Turtle Doves are in big trouble; their population has declined in both the UK and Europe to such an extent there may now […]
Fog and Fox
Still blanketed in fog here, as earlier in the week – but today feels so different. I’ve shut out the damp, cloudy feeling and I’m getting close and personal with a fox. I’m thinking of Jim Crumley and his book Encounters in the Wild – Fox as he writes so exceptionally about meeting […]
In the Workshop today – a Stare of Owls
The collective name most often used for owls is a Parliament – but I discovered there are many others, less well known, like Stare, what about Hooting, or Looming. They seem to make more sense to me. A Stooping, or Diss are suitably descriptive as well, or there’s a Wisdom of Owls. Anyway I’m […]