Tuesday, November 29, 2005

A sky full of snow


gulls
Originally uploaded by wherethewolvesare.
I pass this field, near Barwick, every morning on my way to work. Every day I count the black-headed and common gulls in this field. Sometimes there's fifty, sometimes there's none. I keep a record in my nature journal, with the hope of eventually finding a pattern. Maybe it's seasonal, maybe it's to do with the weather. Anyway, yesterday there were four.

The sketch was done with watersoluble 8B pencil, and smudged with licked fingers (my son, Nathan, makes a similar looking mess on clean walls). It was good for a sky that looked full of snow. Confirmed when we had our first snow and sleet of the winter later in the day.

Monday, November 28, 2005

Ewe two


sheep 2
Originally uploaded by wherethewolvesare.
I last blogged a sheep sketch in September (Rosemary and lamb), which looked like a kangaroo. I was recently looking through 'Henry Moore's Sheep Sketchbook' from the art department at work, inspiring me to have another go at drawing them.

Well here's how I've progressed with sheep, this one has an air of wildebeest about the face. Nonetheless, wildebeest are closer to home than kangaroos, both geographically and genealogically.

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

The view from the cliff


the peaks
Originally uploaded by wherethewolvesare.
We've had such a fantastic week of clear, sunny, cold, crisp, still days, I could go on. The sort of days that make winter a pleasure, make you glad to be alive. So at the weekend, I went up Garforth Cliff (which is the rather impressive name for the hill at the end of our road) and sketched the view.

It was about an hour before sunset and the sky was just starting to go pink. The northern edge of the peak district was soft shades of grey and the foreground (Kippax village) was autumnal shades of brown and green. I feel very privileged to live so close to such a view. Breathtaking.

Saturday, November 19, 2005

Fungal foray


bracket fungus
Originally uploaded by wherethewolvesare.
Why did the mushroom get invited to all the parties?
Because he was a fungi (fun guy)!!

Sorry.

This bracket fungus looks like it might be on a stump in the middle of some ancient forest. In fact, it was on the edge of one of those raised beds, planted by the council, next to a row of shops. There's a chip shop and a hairdressers not 30 feet away. Proof that nature's right under our noses and it gets on and does its own thing despite us.

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Despite grey skies


ash trees
Originally uploaded by wherethewolvesare.
Here's more of the view from my window at work. The ash trees are still looking particularly green, regardless of the yellow and brown tinges. This is more evidence to show the protective value of the urban microclimate. These trees still have plenty of leaves, protected as they are by a slope and surrounding houses. Compare with the virtually leafless ash trees on the eastern edge of the Leeds conurbation.

This sketch cheers me up because, despite grey skies, some of the colours are almost spring-like, courtesy of school's nice, bright coloured pencils

Saturday, November 12, 2005

Flower Show


gazania
Originally uploaded by wherethewolvesare.
I saw just 3 minutes of 'Autumnwatch', the other day, this is the BBC's programme charting the progress of autumn. I would have watched the rest but a hungry child waits for no-man, certainly not Bill Oddie (the programme's presenter), so I went and made Nathan's tea instead. Nevertheless, I did hear Bill say that this autumn had come early and had been a long, mild one. This certainly matches with my observations. Back in an earlier post, I mentioned the early onset of the season. This week, the unusual length and mildness of this autumn really struck me. To be more precise 'flowers' struck me, or their presence did.

There isn't huge profusions of flowers, but they are there. I expect to see a few dahlias and the solanum always manages a good show well into November. What about gazania, delphinium, impatiens, red clover and gorse though? All still in flower as we near November's third week. I've never known a year like it. Is it global warming? Is it just a warm autumn, due to chance? Maybe it's down to the protection afforded by the microclimates of towns and villages hereabouts.

I hope it's just part of the wonderful seaonal variation that we get in Britain. The variation and lack of extremes that makes me so glad to live in this temperate little corner of the world. I'll stop there, before I start singing 'Jerusalem'.

Sunday, November 06, 2005

Counting kestrels


kestrel
Originally uploaded by wherethewolvesare.
Counting kestrels is one of my favourite in-car pastimes. Obviously you need to keep your eyes on the road but kestrels have the decency to hover over motorway verges and to sit on top of street lamps, making it a much safer hobby.

I once read a letter in a wildlife magazine from a bloke who claimed to have driven from Devon to Scotland and only saw one kestrel all journey. He cited this as evidence that kestrels were struggling. All birds need all the help and attention they can get but I think he was either a poor kestrel spotter or a very conscientious driver. My record count for a single journey is four, over the eleven miles to work. He should have driven through Leeds.

This is the female of the pair that holds territory at the end of the road, where the housing borders onto open fields. She was sat on the lamp-post this morning, presumably looking for a meal to scurry by.

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

The Lime Avenue


lime avenue
Originally uploaded by wherethewolvesare.
We went to Thorp Perrow Arboretum at the weekend. I can’t recommend a visit to an arboretum highly enough, especially at this time of year. I love the autumn colour as I’ve said before, and the lack of strong winds in these parts so far, has left the leaves to colour up nicely.

Richard Bell describes it brilliantly, and so much better than I ever could, “there's autumn colour around, especially in the ashes, rowans and horse chestnuts, which glow as if they'd been illuminated from within but there's also plenty of dull drab green - the colour of waxed jackets and hiking trousers.” (Click here to see the full entry with illustrations.)

You can add ‘lime trees’ to that quote. The sketch is my impression of the Lime Avenue, an impressive stand of mature lime trees, spectacular and stately in the watery sunshine of late October.