Wildlife
Owl and Oak leaves
I’m drawing out a design for a stone roundel to be carved with a Barn Owl in flight, oak leaves and a vole scuttling away to safety. The sketches just make sure I’ve got all the details right before I begin carving. The pencil lines are fairly simple, and are as a guide. Sometimes […]
Working on Bird likenesses
Watching birds gives me such pleasure and getting to recognise their calls and markings is an ongoing joy, as is getting to know their nature, typical behaviour and characteristics after identifying them. When coming to work on a sculpture of a particular bird, knowing its nature and ‘spirit’ – or rather being able to […]
The Yews are filled with birds
I’ve just watched Goldcrest, but Blackbirds, Thrushes, Fieldfare and Greenfinches are turning up too. They’re stripping the Yew Tree of its fruits. Unlike many conifers, the common yew does not actually bear its seeds in a cone. Instead each seed is enclosed in a red, fleshy, berry-like structure known as an aril, which is […]
Heard but not seen … until now
Just the other day I saw a Grasshopper for the first time ever – I hear them a lot and follow the sound, which, when I get close, stops. It then starts up again nearby. I’ve stalked grasshoppers, lain in wait, scanned from a distance with binoculars but never before been lucky. If I’m […]
Stretching Rabbit Sculpture
After the meadow next to my workshop was cut, I watched rabbits enjoying the stubble and rows of hay. They collected mouthfulls of the drying grass, pawing and digging through it for particular strands to carry off. The geese hiss at them coming through the fence with their bounty – there’s stamping of hind […]
A slither of swallow
Well actually a slither of slate carved into a swallow – though this is the shape I see as they fly past my head and into the shed to their nest on the rafter. Yesterday I heard the faintest chirp, more like a wheeze, and eventually discovered the source. A tiny, wobbly, thin-necked, fresh-hatched […]
Harvestman Stone
Pulling a slab of stone away from this block revealed an army of Harvestmen. It doesn’t seem to be known why they congregate in such huge numbers – but there they were, tangling and falling over each other as they scurried out of my way. Though they look very much like spiders, having eight […]
Common Red and Golden Ringed
The summer heat over the weekend brought out a mass of insects at the workshop – my bramble full of butterflies and bees and the grass stems alive with flying and crawling things. A dragonfly bumped into me – I was startled as it hit me quite hard on the head, followed by […]
Wildlife Moments
Watching the busy birds and animals at my workshop and in the surrounding fields and countryside fills me with pleasure. Sometimes I’ve dedicated hours to it and seen nothing, and at other times everywhere I turn there’s spectacle and revelation. Those days of wildlife moments fill me to bursting with inspiration, with energy, to […]
Heads or Tails
In the workshop today I’m working both – putting detail into beak and bottom! I’m aiming to carve out the feather shapes in particular, a little on the wings, but especially on this bird’s rather elongated tail – the rump feathers are called rectrices. The primary role of these feathers is to assist with […]