Friday 30 March 2012
Resourceful swans
But oh look what the pair of birds have made their nest of!
One lady suggested the Swans had been resourceful while another said it was indictment of our society!
Saturday 6 November 2010
In Search of Barnacle & Pink Footed Geese in Southern Scotland
Our First Encounter
The WWT have done much work at the centre to protect these birds. The birds migrate between Svalbard, which is closer to the North Pole than the Solway is to Brighton and the Solway each year. Due to unprotected shooting the birds numbers were down to 300 in 1948 but had have increased to 27000in 2006 due the ban on hunting and the Caerlaverlock centre established in 1973.
Barnacle Geese also migrate between the Isle of Islay and Greenland and Northern Holland and Siberia.
My chief desire was to see the Barnacle Geese on visiting the Caerlaverock WWT centre, but its setting the layout of the hides and the clear visibility made our afternoon quite action packed.
Here I will concentrate on bringing some sights of the Barnacles.
We were in time to see the afternoon feed at the Peter Scott hide and as this ended, the Barnacles took to the skies:
the Barnacles from the Peter Scott Hide
Striding down to the second hide to the east we were then able to get some great shots of the birds as they grazed and flew from pasture to pasture in small numbers.
We returned towards the entrance and a gentleman approached us and told us of a very small hidden hide where he informed us we would get very close up views of the geese (see above right). We also able to see the following sequence:
Suddenly all the birds were very alert all rigid and facing in open direction (towards Skidaw). Not sure if this was due to a predator being spotted or if this was signal that was initiated by the flock!
The flock take off on mass, with Skidaw and the Lake District forming the black drop.
Here is my impression of the Barnacle geese flying into join the flock at this site minutes earlier.
Coming up meet some of the other birds spotted during this visit to Dumfries and Galloway.
Life in Roath Park
This week has seen the first sightings of Pochard and tufted duck which winter on the lake
Sunday 31 October 2010
Photographic Competition Entries and my first Exhibits in public art Exhibition
Friday 15 October 2010
The Last days of Summer into Autumn
It is also lovely to see the return of the cormorant in larger numbers as they begin to return to their winter roost in the park. They seem such a clumsy bird when it comes to seeing them try to land in a tree and there is nothing more wonderful than watching them gracefully circling above the water as the sun begins to set. Look out for them fishing in the lake too!
This pastel painting was created as the sun was lowering I was particularly interested in observing the feuding between the two family groups of grebe that both roost within the confines of the fallen tree!
Here is one of my latest pieces of work which has been formed in felt to show the heron.
Saturday 25 September 2010
Made in ........... (Part I & II)
Steam Yachts and is the only remaining travelling in the world.
The European Crane was once a native species to be seen on our shores but has been extinct for 400 years due to our hunting of them and also the demise of their natural wetland habitat. Over the last three years their has been a joint project by the WWT Slimbridge, the RSPB and the Pentsthorpe Trust. For the last three years the WWT has had what they have billed as a "Crane School" at their Slimbridge centre where eggs have been hatched and then the Crane have been reared by staff dressed to resemble Crane and taught all the behaviours needed by a crane from fur aging for food to taking walks to give their limbs exercise!!
This year a number of eggs brought over from Germany have been reared in a similar manner in readiness for their release into the open on the Somerset Levels. This release which is going to be an onward project for the next three summers is being done in the hope of re-establishing the species in our countryside.
You can read more about the project and its progress at: http://www.wwt.org.uk/visit-us/slimbridge/crane-school-2010
European Crane captured at WWT Slimbridge on a recent visit.
II. ..... Made in Roath
Last year I very much enjoyed this new community event, based in Roath, the area of Cardiff where I reside. It was a very homely event with many people opening up their homes to allow local artists to display their work and a number of workshops including a Watercolour challenge on the sunday which I took part in.
This year Made in Roath is on the weekend of the 15-17th October and I hope to be more involved this year, including exhibiting some of my work on Wetland birds at Roath Park ... quite appropriate I think!! ... Come along to see which pieces I display!
http://madeinroath.com/And ..... Finally
I have recently enrolled to study AS level Art here in Cardiff and my theme can be seen quite clearly in this picture taken on the promenade at Weston Super Mare ... can you guess the Theme ... stay tuned in to hear more!
Sunday 12 September 2010
Help Choose a photograph entry for WWT Photo Competition
I am looking to make one entry for the Quirky section see http://photo.wwt.org.uk/
I am looking to enter a photo that I took in the third week of May when there was much activity down in Cardiff Bay with the birth of signets. Therefore most of my photos are of the signets and Penn, but I have included several others taken during the same period at other places round Cardiff.
Please can you vote for the one you think should be entered to the competition either by leaving a message on the blog or alternatively at my email artist27uk@gmail.com
You may give a different caption for photos too.
I will take votes up to a week after this post has been published.
picture 1 " This is how you preen kids" Picture 2 "Mothers delight over kids!"
Picture 3 "keeping the downy soft" Picture 4 " Night antics at the Tail end"
Picture 5 "Bedtime Kids!" Picture 6 "life Under the Wing"
Picture 8 "Great Crested Grebe copulation
at dusk at Atlantic Wharf"
picture 7 "laughing Cormorant Atlantic Wharf"