A bit of a summer catchup...

So I got a shock yesterday when I realised a whole two months have passed since I last blogged, shocking behaviour! But then to tell the truth, it really has not felt in the least like two months have passed, the Summer Solstice has been and gone and the newt survey season was over in the blink of an eye . . . However, the time has not been wasted, plenty of sunshine and a few frolics in the sea, spot of camping, a botany course, bird ringing, a wedding (huge congrats to Mr & Mrs Curran!), dog walks, snippets of photography here and there and a even a couple of commissions thrown in the mix. I suppose that might explain where the time went!

Now where to begin. Well being an ecologist has many many pros at this time of year, generally surveying in good weather and stumbling across unexpected wildlife shenanigans, travelling a bit and getting lots of quality time spent in the car racking up those miles - good old Stella! Makes you think, this time last year I was still racking up the miles but all on two wheels with multiple outfit changes a day (think the most was 8 in one day) whilst bringing home far too much of the wrong sort of nature when the weather was good . . .

Many ex-bugs . . . :/

I still have my beloved Thump, she is just about to get re-insured for another year and I have every intention of making the most of her! An inspirational photo to get me back into the saddle asap . . .

My Suzuki SV650 at Bealach na Ba last year

Reptile surveys, breeding bird surveys, newt and bat surveys (bats and reptiles still ongoing), it's been a great couple of months. A couple of lizards kindly hung about long enough for me to get the camera out and ready, look at these beauties, common, or viviparous, lizards.

We also found a whole hoard of tiny toads, never tire of these critters!

And a frog!

Up bright an early for a breeding bird survey last month, I and a colleague came across a pair of young fox cubs playing with a bit of old meat. We saw them from a fair distance and as we were downwind tried to keep out of sight, while recording birds, until we could get closer. Bold as brass they were until a sudden movement sent them scampering into the hedgerow. Such a memorable moment! On that same survey I almost trod on a very large adult grass snake basking in a field margin, it took a few seconds to fully slither off it was so long, and my first proper sighting of a fully grown snake in the UK. Stunning! Obviously I didn't have my camera on me for either of these spots but then I think there's always the danger that you can spend too long taking the time to get the right shot and not drinking in the moment of the subject in question, so I didn't mind on this occasion!

And while we're on the subject of birds, my ringing sessions are not as frequent as to be expected with the workload at this time of year but getting in the odd bit of bling here and there . . .

A juvenile Rook, rugby tackled . . .albeit very gently . . .

A female Goosander found in a barn owl box

And this beautiful lady Tawny owl, my first :)

Whilst walking the dog last week I came across what I thought at first was an orchid, on closer inspection I realised it wasn't an orchid but I still hadn't a clue what it actually was. Turns out, after asking more knowledgeable folk, it was Thistle Broomrape, a parasitic plant on creeping thistles which doesn't photosynthesise and appears to be almost entirely endemic to Yorkshire. These particular specimens were on a reserve designated purely for it's flora, pretty lucky really. And actually rather rare, a nice find indeed.

 In other news, I can show you my latest commission now it has been received by its new owner. A pair of gorgeous dogs, a Border and a Bearded Collie. Owen the Border unfortunately passed over Rainbow Bridge while I was on with this drawing which is so sad but I hope this piece of work is a special momento and brings a few happy memories every time it's looked at. It's not the first time the subject of a portrait has met his/her time whilst I was in the middle of the drawing process and it can be quite upsetting but having them captured in pencil can hopefully give a lot of pleasure and help fill that void every four-legged companion leaves in our hearts. Rest well Owen pup. 

Owen and Ellie

And then there is of course Toby, our lovable liondog. He's had his first full dunk in a river, his first day at the seaside and a night in a tent whilst camping in the gorgeous Yorkshire Dales. All of these experiences are linked with water . . .something Toby enjoys immensely, despite his not knowing how to swim! You, along with many others, may be surprised to hear that but swimming doesn't come naturally to some dogs. Labradors and other retrieving breeds are like fish in the wet stuff but our Toby, with his masses of fluffiness gets a tad bogged down when he's fully wet..much to our amusement when he got his first dunking, after we realised he could get out of the water and we weren't going to have to rescue him! This pic was taken after his first couple of shakes out the water...a shadow of his former self . . .!

Bedraggled

He clearly wasn't put off by his shrinkage as he proceeded to bounce around in a mad 15 minutes fetching sticks and careering about like a lunatic, didn't much help our helpless giggling :D

A couple more pics . . .

First taste of salt-water . . .YICK

Black Beauty theme toon anyone?

Sandy grins

 And when he's not getting clean in the water . . .he's just as happy as a pig in . . .

. . .black peaty puddles!

Much laughs with good friends, four legged or otherwise, happy days :)

Until next time, 
Ciao!

M x

A new dog, a ringing tick and the last of the puffins!

We've had an exciting few days recently, welcoming a new addition to the family...Meet Toby-Wan Kenobi, well just Toby really - he's a white "champagne"  German Shepherd.

We've rehomed him and he seems to have settled in very well much to our relief! He's very, VERY furry. This was after 40 minutes work on him...

...and we appear to have a spare dog! This is mostly his undercoat, amazingly soft, the birds will make good use of it for nesting material come spring :)

Having had a German Shepherd before and knowing what fantastically intelligent and loyal companions they are, we had to have another. Toby certainly doesn't disappoint. Here he is on a walk today.

In other news, I've got my first ringing tick of the year, a mighty fine male Coot. Such strong birds with amazing legs and feet! He naturally left me a nice rich and green present on my leg as a thankyou for the silver bling ;)

And finally I'm able to show you the last updates on the progress of my Atlantic Puffin portrait as it is now...drum roll please....FINISHED! I only started it a year ago... Plenty of hours have gone into this piece of work I can tell you, worth it in the end I hope you agree. It's been a lot of fun bringing these quirky little sea parrots to life!

Seeing puffins in my sleep...

And here's the finished artwork, all framed up!

And for something a bit different, here's a short video of me in action, working on the puffin colony...

That's me for now, catch up again soon!

Meg x

What a weekend!

A bit of an overdue blog post after what's been a very busy week but better late than never! I'm about to fill you in on what was the best moment of my art career to date, I hope you're sitting comfortably, here goes!

So after getting in from a transect bat survey at half 12 in the morning (and some hair-raising green laning on the motorbike in the dark) I collapsed into bed hoping to squeeze in as much sleep as possible for a 6am start and some frantic packing. Breakfast was wolfed down, bags thrown in the car and my Gorillas carefully packed up and seatbelted in and at 8.30am we set off on the long road trip down to Kent. I say we, I don't drive yet so my lovely other half was responsible for the safe transit of Primaternal Love and I down to that London and he fulfilled his role as chauffeur superbly well. I had until 4pm to deliver my portrait to the Mall Galleries and we were aiming to be in London for around 2pm...obviously nothing ever goes to plan!

Last pic of the gorillas in my home!

Ticket packed!

It was a seemingly uneventful journey most of the way and our opinions of a congested south were fading...until we hit the M11 and realised the possessed sat nav was trying to take us close to London with all the congestion zone road signs popping up, aaargh! Turned out it was set to avoid the toll roads, typical!....so after resorting to a good old-fashioned map we turned around and went for the Dartford crossing...hitting it at early afternoon on a Friday - NIGHTMARE! An hour's very slow crawling in traffic and we were across, throwing the toll of £2 at the barrier willingly just to get going again. We eventually got to our friend's place for 2.30pm, only an hour and a half to get to the centre of London, eek!

We parked up and promptly hot-footed it to Sevenoaks train station where we managed to hop on a train straight away (always remember London having very efficient transport systems!) and after 40 minutes we were at Charing Cross, thankfully a very convenient 5 minute walk away from the Mall Galleries. By this time is was 3.30pm so a speedy game of human dodgems was on the cards, past the great lions of Trafalgar Square, through the Admiralty Arch and then we'd arrived. A weight was lifted now the drawing was safely delivered, with 20 minutes to spare too, phew, talk about cutting it fine!!!

The Admiralty Arch

We didn't hang about in the city centre long then with us both being tired from the journey and rush hour fast approaching. We were planning on spending the day there on Monday before the Preview night at the Galleries so we headed back to Kent for an evening of sunshine and good company, in fact a whole weekend of it but more about that at a later date.

Now to fill you in on the main event on Monday 2nd, the Private Preview night! After a visit to the British Museum and St. James' Park and a quick freshen up, we headed back to the Mall Galleries for the start of the Exhibition itself. After all the build up to this prestigious event, it was actually happening and I couldn't quite believe I was actually there, just a few moment's walk from Buckingham Palace with one of my drawings up in a top gallery, just wonderful. Tonight the Exhibition was opening up to all the artists who's work had been short-listed for the event, plus guests and celebrity artists.

After having my name ticked off and collecting a name badge we were greeted by an amazing display of truly stunning artwork, canvases and framed works of all sizes, meticulously arranged on the walls whilst the sculpted pieces were spread about the centre of the room. Straight away cameras were flashing left right and centre as artists were posing with their work and we had to try and find my work among the 150+ works in this huge space that was quickly filling with people, no mean feat! It took a few minutes but then we saw them and, wow, WHAT a feeling! I almost wished I'd adorned neon legwarmers and done some crazy leap across the room towards them but thankfully I hadn't and didn't, thus preserving all sense of dignity and professionalism.

Anyway, some pictures!

Busy!

Much time was spent perusing the hugely varied and, quite frankly, breathtaking standard of work, and here is a selection of my favourites!

Smew with miniature by Philip Nelson

The Indochine Tiger by Trung Nghia Nguyen

Lemur Lunchtime by John Elliff

Feathered Friend by Mandi Baykaa Murray

Shirokuma by Liara Crane
(winner of the Young & Wild Category)

Indian Summer by David Shepherd (Limited Edition print)

Water Vole by David Shepherd

Sunrise on the King by Stefano Zagaglia

Clear a Path by Nick Oneill

Noca - Brazilian Jaguar by Neil Allen

Raven by Jane Ackroyd (eyeing up my other half!)

Sword of the Desert by Stefano Zagaglia
(Winner of the Wild Life category)

And the artist himself, who also painted the exquisite
"Sunrise on the King" shown above

If the Bee Disappears... by Calla Beddow

Time Out by Nick Mackman

Amazingly whilst at the other side of the gallery we had noticed little red dots appearing next to artworks and assuming they meant pieces had been sold we meandered our way back to the corner where my Gorillas were up...and I couldn't believe it, I HAD A DOT! ALREADY! Another fantastic feeling (I was a bit stunned to be honest) so we then had to ask a volunteer and they confirmed those red dots really did mean what we thought they did, blimey.

I was also asked to have a photo taken by one of the DSWF photographers so I'm in the official magazine for the event, such a privilege! You can read the mag here (I'm on page 20 ;)) The photographer congratulated me when she saw the dot after I'd taken her to my drawing for the pic, which quite took me by surprise so thankyou, a lovely boost :D

http://issuu.com/dswf/docs/event_magazine2014/12?e=5340120/8115065 

Before we knew it, the moment for the prizegiving had come. "The Boss" David Shepherd, head judge Mark Carwardine and Pam St Clements took centre stage and gave inspiring and heartfelt speeches about the amazing work the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation carry out.

David Shepherd himself

Mark Carwardine, wildlife film-maker and photographer

And then it was all over! Well, we wandered a bit and then, knowing we still had to make the long journey back home that same night, we went on our merry way. A couple more photos and back on the train to Kent :D

The exhibition finished at 4pm today, do let me know if you managed to have a look! If you've missed it you can access the whole catalogue of works online and buy here http://shop.davidshepherd.org/event/8/

Read the BBC article on the event:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-27664083

The overall winning piece was "Transparence Elephant" by French sculptor Pascal Chesneau so a massive congratulations to him, it's a gorgeous work of art and very worthy of the title!

It was an absolutely superb experience, one I still can't quite believe I've been a part of and definitely the biggest thing to happen in my art career so far. I'll leave you with a few momentous screenshots, enjoy the rest of your weekend...

Eek!

...onwards and upwards!

Meg x