April's Antics

What a beautiful April it's been! We've been very lucky with the weather so far this month here in Yorkshire. So what have I been up to?

Art-wise, I'm plugging away at commissions in the background in and amongst wildlife surveying. Here's a taster of one I'm working on at the moment, I don't want to give too much away!

I also had the opportunity to attend another of Pollyanna Pickering's art talks. Pollyanna currently has a rather beautiful exhibition displayed at Haworth Art Gallery, Accrington and to launch the event she gave a very interesting presentation on her life's travels in search of special subjects for her work, a job many wildlife artists can only dream of! Such a privilege to be able to sketch animals in their natural environments and Pollyanna does a stirling job of capturing their characters in her famous paintings.

A couple of pics from the exhibition:

The warmer weather means only one thing in the world of ecology, survey-time! Great crested newts are well on the move now having stirred from hibernation before they head to their breeding ponds. It's always worth the late nights to see these fascinating little dinosaurs with their striking belly markings! I never tire of them. We also see other amphibians on our surveys including smooth and palmate newts, frogs and toads.

A handsome male with his crest along his back,
not quite so impressive out of the water!

Every newt has individual belly markings...

This handsome chap was in one of our bottle traps this week
his crest was particularly large, a fine specimen

You can just make out the iridescent flash on the males' tails,
a helpful giveaway when you're torching a pond at night!

Spot the Newt! Clue is in the last photo ;)

It's not all about newts though, we're also out for the first bat surveys of the year as well as surveys for water vole, badger, otter and other protected species. And plants too! Here are a few flower shots from this month...

Marsh-marigolds

Lungwort

Our native Bluebell

Lesser celandines

The arum, or lords and ladies, a favourite of mine!

I've also been trying to keep a hand in with my bird ringing training, hoping for lots more exciting sessions in store this year! A few birds from my trainer's garden. 21 birds, 8 species and 4 retraps, not a bad morning.

Started the morning off with this control female Blackcap

A noisy Song Thrush

And a female Bullfinch who was quite happy to stay a wee while :)

And then there is of course our loveable fluffball of a German Shepherd, a wonderful excuse for getting outside even more than usual! This hedge-surfing Yellowhammer was particularly welcome a couple of weeks back, so lovely to see them about once more.

Weee!

Toby having a game of ball. We've been working up to these heavier impact games on hard tarmac as his muscles have strengthened a bit. Having only been used to short walks his fitness levels were down but he's a much stronger lad now and loving his food!

 

A bit picture heavy this month, I really should post more often instead of cramming it all into a monthly post, no idea where the time goes!

Ta-ra for now folks, 

Meg x

Born Free Foundation - 30th Anniversary

I can't believe it's been a whole month since I last posted, where on earth did that go! I thought I was doing well for a while too. So much has happened, Tour de France, an actual French holiday, an Aradia arty wine-tasting and plenty more besides! At least this means I'll have plenty to talk about when the ecology survey season is over and the nights are closing in...NOT that we're even thinking about that yet, I'm sure you're all loving this lovely summer we've been having so far in Blighty.

Anyway, I thought I really had better post about the grand day out I and the other half had in Matlock yesterday. Matlock is a very pretty part of the world, set on the edge of the Peak District, a National Park famed for it's rolling hills and plenty of other things...but I digress. Why were we there? To attend an event that was being held at artist Pollyanna Pickering's home, a beautiful country house with gardens surrounded by tiny roads and lush green fields. As part of the Born Free Foundation's 30th Anniversary celebratory weekend, Pollyanna hosted an Open Day, a ticketed event whereby people could browse a huge collection of her artwork and explore her stunning gardens. Virginia McKenna was a special guest, the lead actress in the 1966 film Born Free, which of course is what inspired the Foundation's creation in the first place. The true story starring Elsa the Lioness pulls on all the heartstrings, especially teamed up with the moving music composed by John Barry, a masterpiece.

Virginia and Bill

Joy Adamson

Born Free has always been a film I have watched with great fondness having seen it multiple times from being a young 'un. I never tire of watching it and I still manage to cry at every tearjerking scene, terrible softie I am but I know I'm not the only one. It really was a wonderful experience to meet the lady who did such a fantastic job of portraying Joy Adamson all those years ago. If you haven't seen the film, do. It's quite easily one of the best wildlife films in history, a real classic and one for all the family. This one, along with Ring of Bright Water are amongst my top films of all time (also starring Virginia and her late husband, Bill Travers).

A link to a special message from Virginia McKenna
http://www.bornfree.org.uk/get-involved/our-30th-anniversary/reflection-from-virginia/

Anyway, some piccies from the day.

Pollyanna presenting a huge cheque to Virginia,
a fantastic result

Will Travers, the President of the Born Free Foundation

Gorillas, a special spot for me!

Gorgeous fountain

Painted by Pollyanna

And my favourite pic from the day, such an honour
to see two so very inspirational ladies
bringing art and conservation together

I've got lots of ecology-related photos I've been wanting to post up but sadly they will have to wait until I can snatch another bit of spare time.

Oh, go on then, seeing as you twisted my arm, just a couple!

Large Skipper butterflies (I think!)

A sleepy Tiggywinkle

A Great Diving Beetle, quite frequent visitors to
our bottle traps

Side profile, gorgeous :)

I think I remember why I don't get round to posting too much, takes up a lot of time this blogging malarky! Hopefully worth it though.

Enjoy the rest of your week, I'll leave you with this: my trusty steed in a Tour de France Teaser, doesn't she fit in well with the colour scheme!

Tata for now, 

Meg x