Friday 29 March 2013

roots

I had a happy drop-in to Rye Meads RSPB the other day.  Just happened to be rolling past with an hour to spare and no bins, so hired some very not-Swarovski optics for a princely £1.50 and lo- Kingfishers. Mostly they were doing the standard thing of sitting on posts, super-close and looking like a million photos we have all seen- nice but samey.  But upstream was a much more interesting
tangle of roots where a tree had been grubbed out and eventually after a lot of wishful thinking and thought transference, the bird got the message and whizzed upstream to just where I wanted it..
Kingfisher on roots, Rye Meads


Sunday 3 March 2013

a big yawn

This spring's resolve is to spend a bit less time hosing down canvasses gone wrong, a bit more time looking and drawing.

So here's a fluffed-up Ringed Plover on the roost that caught my eye with two beautifully curved toes to keep its balance and a big contented yawn.  Possibly I should have drawn the bill wider open to show that it was yawn and not a call, but that would be too close to cartooning.

Ringed Plover, Stour estuary