Wildlife
Birds Carolling
December days are just flying, already it is the Carol Service here in Lastingham this Sunday, 18th – I rather enjoy singing along to carols, though I don’t know this one, or its tune. I was introduced to it by Rosemary Roberts, of The Celtic Cross Press who created a Christmas card with her […]
A gift for a garden and its birds
Earlier in the year I watched a robin visit my Birdbath here at the workshop – it perched on the edge, bobbing and flicking its wings. I thought at first it was in distress. Then it flew, without drinking or bathing. Moments later it returned with three other birds – all newly fledged robin […]
Badger Sculpture
This is a recent sculpture in Kilkenny Limestone – a Badger sitting and sniffing the air, or perhaps just taking in his surroundings. It took almost as long to polish as it did to carve. Kilkenny Limestone is a hard stone and very dense. From the quarry it is quite a light grey colour, […]
Lousy Watchman
This morning I found a beetle on my workbench, quite a big beetle, about an inch in length and very magnificent. It isn’t alive – I suppose must have been caught by a bird, who either dropped it or decided not to eat it – there are slight crush marks on its black shell, […]
Lapwing Sculpture
I didn’t expect that this piece of Cobalt stone would become a Lapwing – I thought the colouring and patterning might suit something more abstract. When thinking about sculpting a Lapwing I had imagined it in sandstone – then all of a sudden I saw this chunk of serpentine, not as a lump of […]
Lovely Ling
The heather on the North York Moors just now is breathtaking – I love the deep honey-sweet, woody smell. There are hints of peat too and occasionally the wind blows over the aromatic scent of Bog-myrtle. The senses are filled up, long stretching views of purple hue, a distinctive atmospheric light, […]
From the Rookery
This bird sculpture is carved in Springstone (a hard Serpentine stone mined in Northern Zimbabwe) and I’ve called it Fumblefot. The piece of stone is actually an off-cut from a sculpture I previously carved (Fugol), and in a similar way I’ve retained the golden colouring at the outer edge, inside the stone turns to […]
Face Feathers
The Barn Owl that visits my workshop sits on one of the beams, and seems to spend lots of time preening. In the morning I find the feathers on the workshop floor. Recently the feathers have been from the Barn Owl’s face – small, almost bristly feathers, stiff and strongly curved. Some have the […]
Irthlingborough Lakes and Meadows
About this time last year I was planning my week long trip to Irthlingborough Lakes and Meadows. Irthlingborough Lakes and Meadows lies at the heart of the Nene Valley, one of the most important wetlands in England and an internationally important stop-over for thousands of wildfowl and waders. Bordering the River Nene, the marsh […]
The Sun is High
Happy Summer Solstice There’s lots of talk about the Strawberry Moon this year on our longest day – but I’m happy with late evening sun and a Barn Owl flying overhead.