Not long back from Wallasea Island RSPB/SWLA project. Earth dug out from under London has been shipped to the Essex coast not far from Southend. It is being used to raise the level of the ‘island’ A huge area raised by between 3 and 5 metres. Sculpted to create lagoons, pans, ditches etc this should provide a home for lots of natural history as well as alleviating flood risk.
The major earth moving has already been done. It would have been interesting to watch the earth being taken off the barges via massive cranes and a sophisticated conveyer belt system but that stage was over.  We did watch massive earth moving vehicles roving around, mainly digging ditches where I watched and then taking that earth up to the raised area and levelled by bulldozers. Took quite a bit of time to get the head around the nature of the various machines and what their tasks were.

Plenty of natural history interest despite the noisy industrial processes… lots of singing corn & reed buntings.

Gulls milling around the machines, avocets occasionally going over already occupying existing scrapes. Yellow wagtails not long in. Down on the saltings alongside, the pew’ing of redshanks, migrant whimbrel 7 note call, a summer plumage bar-tailed godwit. Hen & Marsh harrier, a very distant rough legged buzzard hovering.

The real nature highlight though was a succession of great viewings of short-eared owls. At least 2 birds still around.  We also watched a very tawny barn owl one evening.

Artistically I knew I wanted to spend time trying to understand how to distill the machinery so that I might be able to draw it alongside the nature with some kind of fluency… that accounted for the first day (2 & 1/2 days was our allotted time).
Then deciding to try out a stencil and foam roller approach to making imagery… not easy with a brisk easterly snatching at the stencils…. not sure about the results but the process of cutting blocks outside was interesting and quickly broke up the picture space in ways I wouldn’t have achieved with regular painting.

I hung the mini exhibition at prema arts centre in Uley, Gloucestershire yesterday. Pretty much a revamp of the Slimbridge exhibition but I think they look much better in this space.  The exhibition doesn’t officially open until 3rd March and isn’t labelled as yet, but if you are in the area it is a good place to visit with tea room etc.
The frogs in the garden pond hit a maximum of 16 back at the weekend. Didn’t seem like the amount of spawn increased hugely.. all of it laid in the shallow end of the pond. Just ones and twos now.
The most unusual sighting of recent days was a peregrine sitting on the school at the back of our allotments. A great vantage point looking over most of Bristol, first time I’ve seen one perched from the house, even flying over I don’t see them that often.
Blackcap song a couple of days ago and blackbird starting to become the backdrop.
Huge leylandii at the base of the allotments, end of our neighbours garden being felled as I write so a lot more light for the allotment and more skyscape from the house.

Not wanting to deviate from focus on Senegal studio work but I do want to get better at posting nature notes… especially once my mini meadow gets going. First UK butterfly for me last w/e. A comma sunning at the end of the garden on Sunday.
Pipistrelle bats were out on tuesday evening… saw something flit by at last light that didn’t look like a bird and went out to check with bat detector…
Frogs started to appear in the pond at the w/e and were up to at least 10 yesterday. Today the first patches of spawn.
Lots of bird song at extremes of day, wren, song thrush (these usually disappear before doing any nesting) and slightly subdued blackbird. A male blackcap has been a regular at the bird table for a few weeks, haven’t noticed him singing yet. Last winter there was a brown headed bird around for months. They seem much more catholic in their tastes nowadays…taking chunks of bread off to a bush to chew on.
Turned colder again now but definitely feels springy.

To view all SENEGAL FIELDWORK consecutively please click on this link. I’ll start another ‘category’ for studio work… choose from ‘categories in sidebar.

afternoon here after morning by roadside with turtle doves …  warthogs up to their shoulders in water grazing on lotus. Night Herons hidden away in fringe of tararisks and acacias.Squaccos emerging. Purple heron, great white and little egret gathering around hog.
Black rail clambering over submerged roots. red legs , yellow bill. laat seen in South Africa under splattering hippo.

Little nature watching over the christmas/New year time… the redwings still around though. Wishing all visitors to this site all best for 2014.

Going back to the brushed line monoprint but keeping the underlying blocks simpler. Partly doing this to remind myself not to lose the brushing.