Halloween Pumpkins

I'm not keen on eating pumpkins but don't they look great - great colour, great shape. I'm always glad to see them in the shops.

And underneath, one of my little pumpkins, Mia, having a nap!

Dragon Slayer

Dracaena
Originally uploaded by wherethewolvesare

Dragon slayer? Me? Well, not really, although god knows I've tried, inadvertantly!! My dragon tree or Dracaena lives on, seeming to thrive on neglect. Forget cockroaches, it's Dracaena that will be the only survivors of the next big rock to hit our rock.

Close encounters

swooping magpie
Originally uploaded by wherethewolvesare

Went fishing last week, I do occasionally and apologies to any antis. Didn't catch much, but for the second time this summer, a bird landed on my rod, took a look at me at the end of the rod, thought that there might be better perches than this and flew off. First time it was a robin but this time it was a young grey wagtail. Shows how well I do 'still'.

As for magpies, I just like 'em, and I find that the black and white stays in my mind's eye, long enough to get down on paper, better than most other sights.

The Rumbling Kern

rumbling kern
Originally uploaded by wherethewolvesare

Sorry for my absence, but unlike the summer, at least I did return.

Just got back from our holiday, in Northumberland. We had a farm cottage just yards from the sea, near Howick and by a 'feature' most wonderfully called, on the OS maps, 'The Rumbling Kern'. I've no idea what a kern is, presumably it's a rocky cove, but each night we fell asleep to the rumble of the waves hitting the rocks.

Most surprising, with the way that this 'summer' has been, was the fact that we didn't get a single spot of rain all week. I'd like to say that all the rain we have had this year was good for the garden, but in all honesty, I've seen less wild and garden flowers this year than I can ever remember. I read in the papers that conkers were being reported in July and this pretty much backs up my observations that autumn started at the end of May!! If anyone's in any doubt, they should feel the chill north wind that's been blowing through here for the last couple of days.

The wildlife highlight of the hol was when we visited my mum, who lives near Hadrian's Wall, for a couple of days on the way home. Driving to Alston, to take the kids for a ride on the steam trains, an osprey flew alongside us for a good minute or so. Looking like a large ragged-winged gull, maybe it was on it's way to nearby(ish) Kielder Water, maybe Africa, with this crazy summer, who knows?

A House in the Country

1country house
Originally uploaded by wherethewolvesare.

I took the little ones to the park by the river in Wetherby, early on Sunday morning. This is one of the houses in nearby Linton, a little way upstream. Very relaxing to immerse oneself in sketching some of its finer details.

A grand canyon

selby bypass
Originally uploaded by wherethewolvesare.

Forget the very ropey sketching, just look at that terracotta colour. Wow!!

The sketch is honestly only barely average but I absolutely nailed the colour of the cut rock sides of the Selby bypass. The sun was bright and made the sandstone cutting glow - it took the edge off of the cold wind, from within.

Geologically, it signifies something to do with deserts and/or iron compounds, I think. I'm a keen but very limited geologist so your homework is to find out if there's any truth in that statement. Then again, who cares? Just look at that colour...

Big skies and wide empty beaches

Do you ever wonder how birds (and many others) make long migrations, based on instinct alone? How they know where to go is a question I can't even begin to answer but how they know when they've got there - I sort of think I know how they feel, maybe. I'll explain - my dad is from Norfolk, but I was born in Bedford and never lived in Norfolk. However, in the last 10 years, I've often holidayed in Norfolk and I can't put my finger on it but it always feels like home, perhaps it's genetic, perhaps the 'Norf-folk' are just good at making you feel at home, perhaps I'm just a wishful townie. If nothing else, I reckon I understand the chiffchaffs that turn up in the poplars at the back of the house, each April, just that little bit better.

Anyway, we spent last week in Wells-next-the-sea. What a lovely week, we got soaked in a boat out to see the seals and all got nasty coughs and colds but big skies and wide empty beaches were just so good for the soul that the mental repair was worth it at almost any price. Daily crab-lining and long afternoon naps helped too.

The top sketch is of the channel that runs from the quay, out to Wells Bar, and the black dot near the shore is a common seal's head. The bottom sketch is the birds we saw on our trip to Blakeney Point and, as it turned out, were our almost constant companions wherever we were all week.

Twitching

pacific diver
Originally uploaded by wherethewolvesare.

Since the first of my kids were born in 2003, I really haven't done much twitching (chasing after rare birds). Even before that, unless you find the rare bird yourself, I didn't really consider twitching to be 'real' birdwatching, it's like comparing test cricket and one-day cricket. However, just like in that comparison, the inferior form is still great fun and very exciting.

So Friday found me watching the pacific diver that was found on Farnham Gravel Pits, not too far from Harrogate. This very bird adds a new species to the list of birds to be found in the UK and the Western Palearctic but this very bird is probably not going to be the first pacific diver found in the UK or Western Palearctic. A riddle? No, because a pacific diver was thought to have been seen off of one of the Hebrides some months ago, presumed wrongly identified as it was so unlikely that one could end up so very far from home. The Farnham bird (and another found in Pembrokeshire at the weekend) show that the Hebrides bird really could have been a pacific diver, so it, not the Farnham bird, becomes the first for the UK and the Western Palearctic (committee decisions pending). There, simple eh?

By the way, the dark chinstrap is the key to identification, apparently, and the sunny weather was lovely.

Wagpies

After days of storms and wind, it's nice to have some clear and fresh days. The wind agitates me and it seems to send the kids at school mad too, what we teachers call (somewhat unimaginatively) 'windy day syndrome'.

The advantage of working at a school on top of a hill is that you get a view, and as views go, ours ain't bad. This biro landscape is the view looking west-ish, towards Pudsey, of the bear fame. I'm not religious, sorry, but the church on the horizon is a frequent comfort.

There's the odd addition now and then but magpies, pied wagtails, crows and black-headed gulls make up my usual bird list from my window at work. Nathan (at 3 y.o.) can already identify these at home, however, he does struggle a bit with magpies and pied wagtails. He gets round this by calling them 'wagpies', which I like far better than the other confusion species terms I've heard, such as shagorant, willowchiff and commic tern.

Variegation

holly leaf
Originally uploaded by wherethewolvesare.

I trust everyone had a happy christmas and I hope everyone has a peaceful new year.

We took the decorations down yesterday, this variegated holly leaf is from the wreath we had on the door. I particularly liked the burnt umber tips to each spike.

Variegation in plants is an interesting thing. Usually, it's not that a mutant seedling arises with variegated leaves but that a single branch, on an otherwise normal plant, grows with variegated leaves. If this branch is spotted by a sharp-eyed observer, a cutting can be taken and grown into an entirely variegated plant, and ad infinitum until everyone has one in their garden! The gardener has to be equally observant, as normal branches can appear on the variegated plant and cause the whole plant to revert to normality (however unimpressive that might be) unless they are swiftly cut out.

In terms of natural selection, a variegated plant is less 'fit' as it has less chlorophyll in it's leaves and, hence, less ability to make food (by photosynthesis) than a normal plant. Science lesson over.

Now what I'd really like is a normal, un-variegated spider plant, if such a thing exists.

Ducks in biro

mallards
Originally uploaded by wherethewolvesare.

At the end of our road there are open fields, and when we get a wet spell, like this last week, they can get pretty boggy with some patches of standing water. I like this because it's the nearest I'm going to get to waterside living for the forseeable future and it always attracts some mallards within a couple of days. Winter ducks on the doorstep - my idea of heaven (I'm easily pleased!). The previous best is four but this weeks' two were just fine.

A technical note - this line and wash sketch was drawn with noneother than a 20p black Bic biro. It gives a nice even line and it would appear to be water resistant too. Expect to see more like it.

Before the storms

drain near tadcaster
Originally uploaded by wherethewolvesare.

Although it seems a long time ago, what with all the stormy weather since, Saturday was a lovely winters' day. A cold, clear day and a watery light you only seem to get in winter. Out in the fields near Tadcaster, this little coot was minding its' own business in a drain.

Sshhh!

gulls at parlington
Originally uploaded by wherethewolvesare.

A quiet scene from a quiet week. The distant calls of black-headed and common gulls were the only sounds. Their numbers are building steadily in the roadside fields each day. The seasons move on a pace!

Kite flying

Red kites - they're ace! A six foot span of auburn majesty, tail twisting and flicking as if to show that an apparently effortless flight really does need a bit of skill and precision.

This kite lifted my spirits on the way to work. Cheers, I needed that.

The first frost

thorpe arch
Originally uploaded by wherethewolvesare.

We've had the first taste of winter this week, just a small one but definitely there, with the first frost of the year closely followed by a second a couple of days later.
We were out at Thorpe Arch at the weekend. A slightly odd place, a small village but with a trading estate (we were looking for a bed for Nathan), a prison, a large British Library building and the Leeds United training ground! Best bit though is the fields surrounding all this. We saw a very nice wintry mixed flock of starlings, lapwings and golden plovers (another first of the season for me). The goldies' bellies flashed bright white as the flock went up, spooked by a kestrel or probably less.

The wanderer returns

I will do my honest best to blog more regularly, I promise. But fear not, dear heart, I have not been idle. Just preferring to sketch than sit at a computer, I've been enjoying the simple pleasure of drawing what is around me. None of the scenes sketched are more than a mile and a half from home. Quietly watching the seasons change, from late summer to this wonderfully mild autumn. I implore you to do the same

An Indian Summer?

boston spa
Originally uploaded by wherethewolvesare.

Is it too early to be an indian summer? Does October have to be warm as well? Well, by UK standards this has been a very warm September, normally we'd have the winter coats out by now. Thoughts of global warming aside, it's been lovely. In the garden, the californian poppies are still flowering and the choisya and the bachelor's buttons are flowering for a second time. The solanum and the fuschsia are still impressively in flower too, but they'd flower till November in Alaska I'd suspect.

For all that, there are still signs of the coming autumn. The mists every morning this week evoke the season and the increasing number of gulls collecting on various patches of grass and ploughed earth are backing it up. Also, I haven't seen a swallow or a housemartin in over a week.

Yesterday, we went to the park in Boston Spa and this sketch (in Derwent drawing pencils) is the view into the distance between the trees. The rolling farmland to the north east of Leeds has a very English feel about it and is certainly looking it's best at this time of year.

The day before yesterday

filey brigg
Originally uploaded by wherethewolvesare.

Back again, but this time my absence has been due to being a busy dad, rather than a poor driver or a bad patient – see 8th August’s post.

Anyway, after saying it seemed like a long summer in 15th July's post, it's turned into a proper British summer. The warm weather broke just a fortnight later and we've had grey skies and regular rain ever since. We went to Filey on the east coast on Tuesday and the forecast was for scattered showers. Boy, was that forecast spot on. On the journey there and back, and all day as well, we could see grey blurry columns in the distance between low cloud and the land, where showers were breaking out. At one point, we counted five seperate showers going on around us, it reminded me of the scene in the film 'The Day After Tomorrow' when the tornadoes were breaking out all over Los Angeles (but obviously not as scary – my thoughts are with you if you’re anywhere near Ernesto or one of his friends). I once stood in torrential rain for 6 hours, next to a Northumbrian reservoir, hoping to see a spotted sandpiper (I blanked) so I can do wet but I’m not really very keen on being out in the rain. Today’s show made the rain interesting at least.

The sketch is of Filey Brigg (a spit of rock jutting out into the north sea) during a brighter spell. The Brigg is a fascinating place, good for fossils, you could easily fill a wheelbarrow with fossilised corals and just up the coast is the world’s longest stretch of dinosaur footprints. Good for birds as well, a few years back I badly wanted to see a live storm petrel so I stayed up all night and climbed down the Brigg in the dark to take part in a storm petrel ringing session in order to see one. About a month later, I was on holiday on Mull, minding my own business down by the water’s edge at a far more godly hour when a storm petrel fluttered by. I guess that’s the nature of the beast – birdwatching and storm petrels.

Not so close encounters

For the last two Fridays, Deb has been to a scrapbooking class in Harrogate. Both days, Nathan's been at nursery and I've looked after Mia after dropping Deb off. We've had lots of errands to do, so no time to really get back to nature but don't you think it's the glimpses of the natural world that you see as you go about our unnatural world that make your day and keep you going? Well, my encounters yesterday did for me.

Unusually, last week I drove through Wharfdale five times in one day without seeing a red kite - unusual considering that this is a site where they have reintroduced. Normal service was resumed yesterday, with a handful seen at various times, lazily wheeling over the stunning Wharfedale countryside (top sketch). There were a couple of skeins of geese flying down the valley, probably Canada or greylag geese but too distant too be sure. Thinking about geese, in the evening I sketched a goose, in sanguine pencil, from a photo on a magazine cover (bottom sketch - no, really).

Corvids and rosebay willowherb were the other things to catch the eye, together at that. A golden yellow field of corn or wheat stubble was being picked over by somewhere near four to five hundred inky black rooks and crows, pecking, squabbling, some riding the wind over the field. I'm convinced that corvids just like to play in the wind, having watched them swoop and tumble for no apparent reason, every time a wind gets up. Anyway, I digress - the field was edged with a cerise bank of fireweed, a name that conveys so much more than 'rosebay willowherb'. It was just a shame I didn't have the time to stop long enough to make a sketch.

Holiday Stories

I'm back!

What an eventful couple of weeks I've had. We went on holiday to Anglesey again, staying close to the home of Charles Tunnicliffe (who illustrated the book, Tarka the Otter, and much, much more). I wrote off the car in a crash on the first day, but we all got out without a scratch, Deb's horoscope said it would be the luckiest week of her life - and then some! Despite this we spent an idyllic week on the beach. I even swam in the sea one still morning, not a common occurence for me in the UK. Perfect setting, perfect natural history, perfect weather, perfect company, we were very sad to come home.

I spent most of the first week back in A&E (Emergency room - US), Doctors' surgeries and various other hospital departments, due to excruciating stomach pains. It was a bit of gastritis, hopefully sorted now.

These events make you think about what's important and put everything else in perspective. Could have been worse, my mum came back from a holiday in Canada (somewhere between Calgary and Vancouver) having nearly been eaten by a bear when she got out of the car to look at some pretty red wild flowers, now that would have made a holiday story worth telling.

By the way, the sketches are of the view to Rhoscolyn (top) and to Rhosneigr (bottom), both from Porth Nobla where we stayed.