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Mike's conservatory (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Woody
- Start date
Woody
Well-known member
Not a lot to report from a very warm weekend. My son was home from uni attending a job interview so my time was very limited as he needed ferrying to the national express stop to get him back in time for his final exams.
Yellow wags all over Elmley at the moment, a real summer joy. Last year a snipe pair nested in an area close to the road and it looks like we're in for a repeat performance this year. A pair of ringed plovers nested right on the road last year and once again it looks like the same thing will happen this year, there is already a little scrape they've prepared and I'm sure ther will be eggs in it by the end of the week. I hope the wardens put up the little protective ring of small rocks again to keep the cars from crushing the nest.
Only just had time to trot out to the first hide, more for the walk than anything. A lovely surprise was the water vole nibbling away beside one of the dykes. Ratty didn't seem worried by my presence at all really and they are such endearing little creatures to watch, like swimming guinea pigs according to my daughter. The scrapes are crowded with nesting avocets now but this week saw an influx of blackwits finding what space they could where the, always aggressive, avocets would let them feed or sleep. The hobbies have returned and this year I will get some hunting sketches done if it kills me, just watch this space...
Mike
Yellow wags all over Elmley at the moment, a real summer joy. Last year a snipe pair nested in an area close to the road and it looks like we're in for a repeat performance this year. A pair of ringed plovers nested right on the road last year and once again it looks like the same thing will happen this year, there is already a little scrape they've prepared and I'm sure ther will be eggs in it by the end of the week. I hope the wardens put up the little protective ring of small rocks again to keep the cars from crushing the nest.
Only just had time to trot out to the first hide, more for the walk than anything. A lovely surprise was the water vole nibbling away beside one of the dykes. Ratty didn't seem worried by my presence at all really and they are such endearing little creatures to watch, like swimming guinea pigs according to my daughter. The scrapes are crowded with nesting avocets now but this week saw an influx of blackwits finding what space they could where the, always aggressive, avocets would let them feed or sleep. The hobbies have returned and this year I will get some hunting sketches done if it kills me, just watch this space...
Mike
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ARTHUR BISHOP
Well-known member
agree with Nick, love the lighting.
nickderry
C'est pas ma faute, je suis anglais.
So that's what early mornings look like - I wouldn't know - my eyes are usually shut.
Woody
Well-known member
Not much sketching done this weekend but here's a couple.
On arrival at the turn off to the reserve there is an area with a fair sized pond and some grazing marsh which is always worth checking out, especially since the Pikeys have been moved on. In the past it's been a good place to see barn owls but I haven't seen any there so far this year. As compensation this week a female marsh harrier was hunting the reedbed at the edge of the pond. Usually the harriers at Elmley are too distant or the views too fleeting when they are in flight but she'd obviously found something interesting which gave me the chance to sketch her.
Lapwings are, as always, plentiful at Elmley. Some are sitting on eggs and the females are such pretty little things that I can't always resist yet another lapwing sketch!
A lot of the weekend was spent in the conservatory finishing off my pied waggy painting. It's been a quite absorbing project and I've found myself lost in detail, trying to get the textures to feel right. I thought the greenbottle would just add that extra bit of life to lift the detail a bit, I do tend to get a bit carried away sometimes!
Mike
On arrival at the turn off to the reserve there is an area with a fair sized pond and some grazing marsh which is always worth checking out, especially since the Pikeys have been moved on. In the past it's been a good place to see barn owls but I haven't seen any there so far this year. As compensation this week a female marsh harrier was hunting the reedbed at the edge of the pond. Usually the harriers at Elmley are too distant or the views too fleeting when they are in flight but she'd obviously found something interesting which gave me the chance to sketch her.
Lapwings are, as always, plentiful at Elmley. Some are sitting on eggs and the females are such pretty little things that I can't always resist yet another lapwing sketch!
A lot of the weekend was spent in the conservatory finishing off my pied waggy painting. It's been a quite absorbing project and I've found myself lost in detail, trying to get the textures to feel right. I thought the greenbottle would just add that extra bit of life to lift the detail a bit, I do tend to get a bit carried away sometimes!
Mike
Attachments
nickderry
C'est pas ma faute, je suis anglais.
First - that first harrier sketch is the holy grail of sketching - a whole living bird with seemingly one line, not one mark too many, excellent!
I love the waggy, all the hard work and wait has paid off, there is so much, first the bird that is alive and accurate and then those textures, the juxtaposition of old and new, it's a feast for the eyes with a common bird and a whole landscape behind a door! Wonderful stuff again!
I love the waggy, all the hard work and wait has paid off, there is so much, first the bird that is alive and accurate and then those textures, the juxtaposition of old and new, it's a feast for the eyes with a common bird and a whole landscape behind a door! Wonderful stuff again!
Woody
Well-known member
Thanks Nick. I will admit to being chuffed with the harrier sketches. I find with flight sketches that there's no time to do anything other than use as few marks as possible and mostly that leads to unruly scribbles that even I have difficulty recognising! It just seemed to work this time and I resisted the urge to fill in details that I didn't see. I'm a sucker for details (in sketches and studio stuff) and sometimes I end up stiffling the original vision or the main focus of a piece.
Mike
Mike
timwootton
Well-known member
Cracking accounts - I didn't quite have the time to comment on the Elmley trip at the end of April (otherwise engaged) but your writing, in company with your fieldwork, has started to take on a new vigour - throughly enlightening. You handle the prose so very well, surely some visual diary is in the offing? The accompanying drawings are, of course, superb. I'm in total accord with all that's been said about the avocet study - so much information contained here that a sculpture could be made from the sketch - brilliantly observed.
Colourwork on the Godwit shimmers with life and light, a beautifully seen image (regardless of tme of day
)
The harrier sketches are really true to life and are a fascinating contast to the controlled realism of the waggy painting, yet still quite assuredly from the same stable. Quality!
Colourwork on the Godwit shimmers with life and light, a beautifully seen image (regardless of tme of day
)The harrier sketches are really true to life and are a fascinating contast to the controlled realism of the waggy painting, yet still quite assuredly from the same stable. Quality!
ARTHUR BISHOP
Well-known member
Super sketches Mike.And behind the green door is a cracker. I like the add for which Uni. you went to.
birdpotter
Well-known member
Love the Harrier sketches. I love getting a bird down with just the minimum and you certainly did that with grace and expertise.
Hmmmm, Tim mentioned a sculpture made from the sketch of the avocet...? Now I am inspired to go back to the clay I've been dismissing lately.
Anyway, love the avocet study too. If I ever saw one, I think it would be one of my favorites to draw.
Best
Beth
Hmmmm, Tim mentioned a sculpture made from the sketch of the avocet...? Now I am inspired to go back to the clay I've been dismissing lately.
Anyway, love the avocet study too. If I ever saw one, I think it would be one of my favorites to draw.
Best
Beth
timwootton
Well-known member
Me too, Beth - me too!
birdpotter
Well-known member
Woody
Well-known member
The sun was shining on saturday morning and, having seen a forecast for sunday, I decided to make the run out to Elmley. A heron obviously decided that flying off was too much bother and he posed for a while keeping a wary eye on me. Eventually he was driven off by one of the local lapwings repeatedly diving at him and screaming his disapproval. I must have been early because it seemed even the birds hadn't fully woken up for the day, a yellow wag male watched me over his shoulder from his little tussock as he began to warm up for the day in the sunrise.
The welcome sounds of snipe were unmistakable and, despite sublime camouflage, they gave their positions away and stayed for sketches. It's great to have a site that's reliable for these secretive birds and they will always brighten a morning.
Although the swallows have returned to the toilet block this year it seems as though only one of the nests is occupied. Numbers are definately down and I hope that the last three days of solid, constant, heavy rain and strong winds haven't finished off any chances the small number of young have had. The sparrows seem not to have noticed though and their cheeky antics are wonderful to see around the car park. The walk out to the hide saw a flyover by a pair of hobbies and plenty of reed buntings and mipits moved among the reeds and along the track while the corn buntings jangled. Scrapes are still dominated by avocets and some of the eggs have metamorphosed into fluffy balls of chick that mum and dad watch over with admirable vigilance. I resisted yet more avocet sketching and caught a preening redshank and ringed plover instead. All in all a pretty good day, which was a good job really as sunday was a washout. The rain pelted down all night and the wind drove it hard. Ever the optimists, Andy and I drove out through the building flood telling each other that the rain would soon let up... Some chance. Birds were quite sensibly staying down and attempting to stay dry. The snipe put in an appearance and one or two lapwings rather crazily stood in the road with rain dripping from their downcast beaks. The scruffiest, wettest most miserable looking pheasant I think I've ever seen was the only other bird who showed and even ruffty- tuffty outdoors types like Andy and myself had to admit defeat and head for home. We did call in to riverside country park on the way back during a brief respite in the downpour and watched all the soggy, sorry looking small birds as they took advantage of the short let up to stock up on a few insects for the babies. A chaffinch did his best to sing up the sun but to no avail and, as the rain started in earnest again, we gave up and went home for hot coffee and a couple of comforting bourbon biscuits.
Mike
The welcome sounds of snipe were unmistakable and, despite sublime camouflage, they gave their positions away and stayed for sketches. It's great to have a site that's reliable for these secretive birds and they will always brighten a morning.
Although the swallows have returned to the toilet block this year it seems as though only one of the nests is occupied. Numbers are definately down and I hope that the last three days of solid, constant, heavy rain and strong winds haven't finished off any chances the small number of young have had. The sparrows seem not to have noticed though and their cheeky antics are wonderful to see around the car park. The walk out to the hide saw a flyover by a pair of hobbies and plenty of reed buntings and mipits moved among the reeds and along the track while the corn buntings jangled. Scrapes are still dominated by avocets and some of the eggs have metamorphosed into fluffy balls of chick that mum and dad watch over with admirable vigilance. I resisted yet more avocet sketching and caught a preening redshank and ringed plover instead. All in all a pretty good day, which was a good job really as sunday was a washout. The rain pelted down all night and the wind drove it hard. Ever the optimists, Andy and I drove out through the building flood telling each other that the rain would soon let up... Some chance. Birds were quite sensibly staying down and attempting to stay dry. The snipe put in an appearance and one or two lapwings rather crazily stood in the road with rain dripping from their downcast beaks. The scruffiest, wettest most miserable looking pheasant I think I've ever seen was the only other bird who showed and even ruffty- tuffty outdoors types like Andy and myself had to admit defeat and head for home. We did call in to riverside country park on the way back during a brief respite in the downpour and watched all the soggy, sorry looking small birds as they took advantage of the short let up to stock up on a few insects for the babies. A chaffinch did his best to sing up the sun but to no avail and, as the rain started in earnest again, we gave up and went home for hot coffee and a couple of comforting bourbon biscuits.
Mike
