Saturday, May 27, 2006

A harmless escapee


midland hawthorn
Originally uploaded by wherethewolvesare.
A hawthorn is a hawthorn, no? It is, unless it's a midland hawthorn. They aren't frequently seen but then midland hawthorns are most easily spotted when they are in flower. This is because the flowers have one very obvious difference from common hawthorns - they're often rosy red, rather than milky white. I think the red-flowered midland hawthorn is a garden escapee. The berries are still a useful food source, the thorny branches are good nesting sites and they don't pollute the gene pool of an endangered species. As escapees go, I reckon that makes them pretty harmless (Home Office take note).

There's a small stand of midland hawthorn near Scarthingwell, north-east of Garforth, a sight well worth seeing whilst still in flower.

Saturday, May 20, 2006

It's all go here


another woody
Originally uploaded by wherethewolvesare.
Well, it's not really. It's been raining all week so the flora has been shooting up and bursting out but it's been too wet to get out and enjoy it. And as for the fauna, it's just been keeping it's head down most of the time, trying to stay dry.

As I've said before, I like woodpigeons. Useless woodpigeon fact - they slough off the lining of their crop to form 'milk' that they feed to their young.

Sunday, May 14, 2006

Dinner with Mia


forest of arden
Originally uploaded by wherethewolvesare.
Deb won a Christmas layout competition in ‘Scrapbook Magazine’ and amongst the prizes was a ticket to a papercraft show in Birmingham. The show was yesterday, so I drove her down and whilst she was there Mia and I drove around the Forest of Arden area, east of Birmingham. This sketch is of somewhere near Fillongley, I think, and it’s where we stopped for dinner (cheese sandwich for me, broccoli & cheese baby food for Mia). Drawn in Derwent soft drawing pencils, they give any sketch a muted, soft focus sort of feel.

It’s hard to believe that just 20 minutes from the centre of Birmingham and Coventry, you can be surrounded by the most lush farmland and deciduous woodland imaginable. The air was filled with a sumptuous mix of birdsong, Mia cooing and the cup final radio commentary. Heaven.

Saturday, May 06, 2006

Whaling in Leeds


whale jaw bones
Originally uploaded by wherethewolvesare.
The other day, I drove through Rothwell (SE Leeds) a different way to my usual route, and this is what I saw. Less than a mile from the M1 motorway is a pair of whale's jaw bones (I felt that something so unusual couldn't be so close to something so usual as the M1). In fact, it's not just jaw bones but a bench to sit on between them as well - of course.

You can understand the whale jaws at Whitby, with a history of whaling from the port, but Rothwell? It's about 70 miles to the sea. The plaque just says they were renovated as part of the Millenium Project. I've searched on the internet for info with no luck so next week I'll go to the local library and see what I can find out.

It just goes to show that the out of the ordinary is just under your nose and if you try to do things differently you might be surprised at what you find.

Technical info - sketched in sepia ink with a £1.29 fountain pen from Staples.

Monday, May 01, 2006

Glory of the Snow


chionodoxa
Originally uploaded by wherethewolvesare.
We never got much snow but they were glorious. I only sketched these last week but the flowers are all gone now. I can't understand how a flower that lasts such a short time in the temperate UK can last for any time at all in their native alpine conditions. It must be the need for speed (of reproduction) that most alpine flowers seem to have.

Ah well, short and sweet, leave 'em wanting more, and all that.