Morning! Hopefully all is well with you and that you survived the shock of the recent, much needed, rain!? There are 2 things for you this morning. Firstly, I want to tell you all about the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation’s Wildlife Ball and then I’ll share the first sketches of the main tiger piece that will […]
I really hope you’re managing to get out there and enjoy the cooler weather? I’m sticking to keeping it nice and short this week as there’s another video to share that is a bit longer than usual. It’s all about the first half of our trip to India. It is worth sticking to the end […]
The project, focusing on tiger conservation, which includes all aspects of the web of life that supports them, has actually been underway for a while (we went out to India in March) As a result, I have loads to share with you about the trip, artworks and everything else. To start that off, I am […]
The visit to Willow Tree Fen may turn out to be our final reserve visit, as part of this project anyway. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind, we will visit many, many more reserves in the coming months and years, but I need to focus on actually producing the artwork for this project […]
It was an absolute pleasure to meet Matthew Capper at Deeping Lakes. Out of all the fantastic Wildlife Trust staff and volunteers we’d met on our travels, Matthew was the most helpful, giving and knowledgeable. This was best illustrated by the fact he gave up his Sunday to show us around Deeping Lakes and Willow […]
Another reserve that is as fantastic as its name. Far Ings is an incredible place, made up of lakes, reed beds, meadow and scrubland. As a result of the fantastic management by Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust it’s been transformed from an industrial area (used for raw materials by the tile and cement industry) into an area […]
This reserve was all about the grey seals. They visit our coastline every November and December to have their pups and are an absolute joy to witness. Again we were struck by biting winds but they had no impact on the wonder and joy we were feeling while we were there. Although the dawn sun […]
One of my priorities for this project is to try and see as many of the huge variety of habitats our wonderful country has to offer as possible. That’s where Cresswell Foreshore comes in. It’s a reserve that covers an area of coastline between the dunes and the tidal boundary. When we arrived we had […]
Stubbornness. Sadly, this is a trait that I have been associated with quite a few times. Being generous, you could say that it’s helped me achieve the small amount I have in my life, but I’m sure there are many who would put it differently. However, stubbornness is the reason we visited Hoselaw Loch in […]
This was a bit of a last-minute addition to the project and is probably the newest reserve I’ll ever have the privilege to visit, given that it was only acquired by The Wildlife Trusts in October. It’s a huge reserve with an equally huge amount of potential to become the national flagship for nature recovery […]
It seems that the 20th of November was all about the landscape. We’d just come from having our minds blown by the beauty of Foulshaw Moss and had arrived at a totally different landscape that contrasted nicely with the flat open landscape we’d just left, by offering rolling hills, valleys and human made viaducts that […]
This is one of those times where I’m going to have to start with an apology, because my skill with words just isn’t enough to describe the beauty of this place. The fact that we arrived just as the sun was rising over the horizon, heralding the start of one of those beautifully clear, crisp […]
This really was the very definition of spontaneous. We were travelling up on the northern leg of our tour (planning to take in Cumbria, Northumberland and Lincolnshire, on the way back down) and were driving through pretty horrific conditions. It started off dark and pelting with rain, the day dawned and the rain turned to […]
There is going to be a very different vibe to this post as it’s as much about people as it is about what we saw at the reserve. Although, that was incredible, so more on that later. I owe a huge debt of thanks to many people here. Firstly, to Jess, Hayley and Chris, for […]
We had picked this reserve as the description had mentioned ancient Cornish hedgerows. These hedgerows are stone-faced banks that are filled with earth and have now become habitats in their own right. We wanted to see these things, they sounded fantastic! When we got to the reserve, we followed the trail that had been very […]
It’s funny how quickly certain reserves become synonymous with certain things in our minds. With Ventongimps Moor (what a fantastic name by the way!) we saw our first dragonfly within about 30 seconds of entering the reserve and we continued to see them for the entire time we spent there, scattering them as we walked. […]
The Southwest Coast Path is one of the best known national trails in the UK. It runs for 630 miles from Minehead to Poole Harbour, taking in some of the best coastlines our country has to offer. The path also happens to run straight through Kemyel Crease nature reserve. Which is a small patch of […]
If there was ever a reserve steeped in ancient history, this is it. It is essentially open moorland, that was covered in gorgeous flowering gorse and heather when we were there. However, the star of the show was Chun Quoit. Now, I need to make a confession here; I’d never heard the word Quoit and […]
Helman Tor is the second tor we’ve visited as part of this project (the first being Nipstone Rock in Shropshire) and I think they’re now one of my favourite geological features. They offer real drama. The large rock features are dramatic enough, but when you pair them with breath-taking views across the landscape, they really […]
Our first reserve in Cornwall and it felt a little like a trip down memory lane as I used to come to Cornwall on a pretty regular basis as a child. My Aunt and Uncle lived down here , so we would visit at least trice a year. We explored lots of the county, but […]
