British Wildlife Artist Writer Illustrator

Cinnabar Caterpillar. Nature is glorious in the sunny months of May, June and July - blooming and blossoming in the wildlife garden, large green spaces, parks and nature reserves. Cinnabar Caterpillar. Nature at High Elms Chalk Grasslands. Kent. It should not have been a surprise to see such a striking caterpillar at the High Elms Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), which is just along the road from the home of Charles Darwin and historically shares some its wildlife and botanical species with his own local meadows to make this a particularly beautiful an interesting corner of Kent - but it was! The caterpillar was instantly spotted at the top of these dazzling yellow buds of a ragwort that were growing along the side of a trodden path, not too far from a conservation wildflower meadow - 'Chalk Grasslands'. It would have come from a large batch of eggs, laid by a cinnabar moth, on the underside leaves at the base of the ragwort. As it matured, it would have...

British Countryside Animals : Fallow Deer This medium-sized deer is easily recognizable by its white spots; most deer grow out of their spots but the fallow deer keep theirs. This Fallow is a female deer, and one who looks like she might have a fawn over the next couple of weeks; being June, it is the normal time of year for such expectations. She grazed nearby for over an hour, occasionally looking up to check what I was up to, but I wasn't up to much - just watching her, in-between taking a view of the woodland spring flowers and grasses that were growing with such energy. A nearby fallen tree was surrounded by foxgloves that created a pretty background to this deer as she wandered about, pausing here and there to nibble on some apparently tasty tufts of grass. British Countryside Animals : Fallow Deer : Knole Park Kent This deer is one of a herd at Knole Deer Park in Sevenoaks, a Site of Special Scientific Interest owned by the National Trust and set within the Ken...

Wildlife Nature Blog : Dawn Chorus Just before sunrise, the birds in the garden and nearby ancient woods start singing. It is still dark but as the light slowly drifts across the calm morning sky, it becomes easier to identify the hazy silhouettes of birds moving overhead. One or two crows break the visual stillness, the ends of their wings clipping against each other, briefly, once or twice as they move from one place to another. Dawn Chorus : Garden Wildlife : Wildlife Some random notes, or croaks, a line of tune, a duet and before the full light has returned for the day, the morning ensemble has warmed its chords and is in full movement, on time as usual; the dawn chorus . One music – with deep and shrill sounds interplaying as if musicians competing with each other for their individual pieces. In the near distance, light is more slowly moving across the garden - a robin or blackbird retaining anonymity for a couple more minutes, in its lack of colour and distorted ...

The sounds of garden wildlife. Birds are often heard but sometimes rarely seen as they are usually fairly timid and often well-camouflaged. It was a treat to catch this glimpse of the woodpecker who is often in the garden. The Wildlife Trusts' Nature Challenge 2018 Random Acts of Wildness : Day 2 Nature Blog : The woodpecker uses its strong beak to drum a territorial sound against wood. Why listen to wild sounds? Nowadays, people can feel detached from local wildlife and birds by work and other commitments that can distance us from the natural world. Many people no longer recognise the birds they were once familiar with seeing in the garden, parks and school fields and some people never become familiar with their sounds enough to identify which bird it is that’s singing – if they hear it at all; wild sounds from the birds (and other garden wildlife) is often not heard, literally, as we tune out to the natural sounds around us. Engaging with nature and wildlife ...

  Wildlife Nature Blog  The Wildlife Trusts' Nature Challenge : #30dayswild 2016 This morning the birds started their birds' symphony before it was light - perhaps they are finely tuned to the subtly changing shades of light and knew that day was about to begin. Wildlife Trusts : 30 Days Wild : Day 7 - Wake up with the Birds. Apparently, April and May are their most vocal months.   They didn't all start singing at the same time, together. At first, there was only one, then two or three that made music. Within minutes, every single bird in the area must have joined in! Who was up first? Without recognising all the sounds it is difficult to know ... but it seems there is a general order in which birds wake up in the mornings, as follows: blackbird robin wood pigeon wre n chaffinch blackcap thrush greenfinch dunnock goldfinch  It would be worth identifying each of their sounds...