Bug Hunting in the Garden

Ladybirds, Bees, Moths, Butterflies, Dragonflies, Damselflies, Woodlice. These are fairly common insects - otherwise known as bugs or beetles - but what is it like to discover a totally new minibeast, for the first time... Look carefully in the grass and on the underside of leaves and a whole new world of discovery might on the doorstep! Insects make up a huge percentage of all species and can be classified and considered in many ways.

The Wildlife Trusts' nature challenge invites nature lovers to look more closely in the garden or local green space - they suggest to 'sweep like an entomologist' and have put together instructions to make your own.

It can be quite surprising to see the assortment of creatures, often with striking features and bright colours, that lurk beneath the long grasses of meadows and semi-wild nature gardens but that's only the start of this fascinating subject.

Finding just one mini-wildlife creature and researching it can be a project all by itself - discover its individual characteristics, its habitat, its risks to the environment or, even, its benefits to other species!

What is an entomologist
An entomologist studies insects! This link from The Royal Entomological Society explains it further in their fun short video!

Today's image was going to be about ladybirds!

A sycamore leaf was entirely covered with aphids on its underside. On another leaf there were more aphids and on another - a ladybird larva. It raced around the leaf, along its edges, up its stem and gobbled an aphid fit for a banquet!

Another ladybird was metamorphosing in its pupal stage...it is being observed hourly and will be identified as to the type of ladybird it is - if it doesn't fly away - more on that later...

wildlife in the garden nature blog spider sac

Wildlife Art and Nature Blog : a garden spider sac full of eggs!

There was something new to discover - a strange and tiny sac less than 2mm in diameter - almost impossible to photograph! This image does not show the crisp edges and points of this sac, which was beautifully sculpted like a miniature architectural piece of art. Inside will be hundreds of tiny spider eggs.

A little investigation led to... a spider sac of a paidiscura pallens; the sac is larger than the spider, so those baby spiders are going to be miniscule!

For the #30dayswild post in 2016, Nature Challenge : Creepy Crawly, click here.

British Wildlife Watercolours

British Wildlife Watercolours. British wildlife, birds and flowers are carefully painted using watercolours, based on the wildlife and botanical subjects from the garden and local woods. Wildlife such as small British woodland animals (badgers, foxes, squirrels, mice, bats, deer, otters, wild cats, stoats, weasels - even wild boar, pine martens, beavers and, one day, lynx may return to the wilds of Britain!) and UK garden birds, butterflies and bees, along with ladybirds and dragonflies, add to the joys to be found in the garden, or just beyond, all year round. Watercolours can be used to capture the beauty in the animal or plant subject using the fluidity of the paints. Everyone's favourite! A beautiful owl resting amongst the bluebells. British Wildlife Watercolours : Watercolour Owl and Bluebell British Wildlife Watercolours : Watercolour Bird Painting of a Sparrow and Worm Watercolours can be used in a variety of wildlife paintings for different effects bas

Drawing Hares

Drawing Wildlife. When asked to present a wildlife art demo in March, one animal sprang to mind! The month has been all about March hares! Here's a work in progress study of a hare using coloured pencils. Getting ready for an art session. As preparation is key for any art demo, several images of hares were selected to be used as reference material - and so the wildlife sketching and drawing was ready for working on the easel at home. Drawing Hares and other Wildlife. Planning time to a hare's hair's breadth! The aim of the art demo was to go through the stages of completing a pencil drawing of a hare using coloured pencils. The demo was scheduled for about 2 hours' drawing time... Detailed, realistic coloured pencil drawings can take a very long time to complete, even in the comfort of an artist's usual studio or dedicated art space. Natural nerves in drawing a hare, or any animal, in front of members of an art group (in this case, consisting of

Wildlife Drawing Classes

Wildlife Drawing Classes Wildlife art classes in drawing wildlife. There is more to be gained from drawing British wildlife than drawing and sketching alone – with wildlife art classes, there can be enjoyment in discovering about some of Britain’s favourite animals and birds in the company of other artists and nature enthusiasts, through drawing wildlife classes which bring together like-minded individuals in a pleasant setting. Drawing animals and birds from life is an excellent way to engage with the natural world around us. An understanding of wildlife anatomy, behaviour and environment, through observations and sketches, can help build the skills and knowledge necessary for more detailed graphite or coloured pencil drawings of British wildlife and birds. Drawing class subjects include the familiar favourites such as: foxes, squirrels, hedgehogs, mice, deer and birds, plus some of the more elusive characters from the British countryside – badgers, otters, wildcats, newts

Dinosaur Art Workshops

Dinosaur Art Workshops. Reflections on being asked to run some art workshops and my first reactions. Wildlife art can cover such a broad range of subjects in all mediums - birds, beasts, bugs and wildflowers...in pastels, coloured pencils, oil, acrylic, watercolour, even mixed media. So, when I was asked earlier in the year to run some children's art workshops for Berkeley Group at a school activity camp in the middle of the Weald of Kent countryside, Cranbrook, I didn't hesitate to jump at the chance - I'm happy to draw, paint and teach virtually any wildlife and nature subjects, in different mediums, and didn't expect any surprises... I wondered what wildlife they might want to draw or paint...a bird, hare or squirrel? Maybe smaller creatures, such as butterflies or bees, and how about wildflowers? Perhaps we would glimpse a fox whilst exploring the beautiful grounds of the school in search of inspiration...even a deer might be possible given the abundance of wildlife

British Wildlife Coloured Pencils

Drawing wildlife using coloured pencils Coloured pencil wildlife art paintings and drawings. Detailed wildlife and botanical drawings and paintings can be gained using coloured pencils which range from student grade to professional grade. The following animal pencil paintings were achieved using a mixture of coloured pencil brands but mainly Faber-Castell Polychromos and Caran D’ache Swisscolour. Detail is captured as realistically as possible whilst retaining the creative style. Realistic British wildlife art by wildlife and botanical coloured pencil artist. British Wildlife : Coloured Pencils : Mouse and Apple British Wildlife Art : Coloured Pencil Drawing of a Robin Snow Leopard : Coloured Pencils Coloured Pencil Drawing : British Bird : Owl Wood Avens : Coloured Pencils Coloured Pencils : Grape British Wildlife Art : Squirrel

British Wildlife Watercolours : Garden Birds

Bird Art : from the Garden There are a number of British birds that visit the garden daily for the abundance of naturally growing berries and seeds - and it's a good way to get ideas for later watercolours and drawings of birds. The traditional garden bird, the sparrow, seems to have been replaced by the more colourful birds such as bluetits, goldfinches, long-tailed tits and chaffinches – although a few sparrows do usually manage to make a daily appearance – especially around their favourite bird table where additional nuts, seeds and worms tempt even the most reluctant visitors. A favourite garden visitor is our British National Bird – the robin redbreast – or rather three of them! Plus all the wood pigeons and doves, crows, blackbirds, thrushes, woodpeckers – green and red - even fieldfares – it can get quite a busy! That is the best time to make sure a pencil and paper is nearby – for the birds are always entertaining to watch and sketch – it’s a most enjoyable way to

Bird Drawing Workshops

Bird drawing workshops can be a good source of information for anyone who loves birds and wants to draw them, especially beginner artists and improvers. Drawing Workshops. Wildlife Art. Kent. Surrey. Sussex. London. Drawing workshops and classes are a great place to pick up advice and resources that can be used to discover more about birds in the local area. Workshops can help introduce the beginner to outdoor bird sketching and keeping a bird diary or nature journal that can be used to identify birds and develop the drawings to produce more detailed, realistic bird paintings. Regular sketching can significantly improve bird drawings and paintings whilst developing knowledge of bird anatomy and habitats. There are many strange and wonderful aspects to a bird’s body (skeleton, muscles, feet, feathers and beaks) that serve a function and it is often through sketching and detailed drawing that these anatomical wonders are closely observed and begin to be understood.

British Wildlife Pastel Art

British Wildlife Art in Pastels. Fine art, traditional animal paintings and bird paintings in detail: local wildlife, animals and birds of the countryside - meadows, woods, riversides and gardens. Paintings and drawings undertaken using soft pastels, occasionally enhanced using pastel pencils. Wildlife pastel classes, workshops and demos available. British Wildlife Painting : Pastels British Wildlife Painting : Pastels Countryside Painting : Pheasant British Wildlife Art : Small Mammals

Traditional Bee Drawings

Honey Bee Illustration Traditional Bee Drawings at wildlife workshops. Enjoy a wildlife art workshop drawing bees! Beginner artists and nature enthusiasts can explore the world of bees and bee art through bee drawing workshops, alongside artists wishing to improve their art skills and discover more about the wildlife world of bees! This wildlife drawing of a honey bee was initially created as a quick sketch in preparation for a bee show. The original rough sketch had been done and, with a few colours applied to give an impression, it was left only partially coloured and a very rough version of what had been planned for a complete drawing of a bee. Before it was completed, however, several enquiries had been made, asking to purchase the rough bee drawing and, eventually, this bee was created but not before several hours of research into the anatomy of bees had been carried out! It was a good experience, though, because it provided the necessary information to get on and

Mixed Media Bee art Workshop at National Honey Show

National Honey Show - Mixed Media Art Workshop. Thanks to my mixed media workshop participants the other day at the National Honey Show – a lovely group who produced some fantastic pieces that were amongst the most imaginative that I’ve seen from a workshop that I’ve run. It can be tricky creating a masterpiece out of nothing but the imagination – I hope my resources and open techniques will give the attendees the knowledge and new skills they need to feel happy experimenting and to create their own wonderful mixture of mixed media bee art! Here's a piece I created a while ago. I was happy with the honey colours but wondered how it would look with another colour – I find mixed media art can be an ongoing process! I changed the background colour in patches and quite like the broken effect seen here - when I return to mixed media at some point I will know roughly what effect I will be after! Mixed media is great fun and a relaxing way to spend some art time – if only there ever was ‘

British Wildlife Artist Writer Illustrator

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