Linoprinting

In the Spring my son and I did a linoprinting course, and was thinking at the time about printing Christmas cards. So over the last week or so I have had a go at this, using one of my old carvings and making a few new ones. I wasn't going to post about this, but if my friends and family do see this post they still don't know which card they will receive.

I had the idea of putting some cards in my Etsy shop, but think I need to work a bit more at my carving precision and printing, which as you can see is sometimes a bit smudgy. I printed straight onto the card, but see a lot of cards in the shops and fairs print onto cartridge paper and then mount this. Perhaps this would be better, as I have had to wash my hands between each print, and also then it would be easier to get the print nicely centred on the card.

I had a lot of fun doing this, and have some ideas for some more prints.

The robin's red breast was added with water colour

 

Rabbits

I have been trying to photograph rabbits.  There are plenty around here, but it has really not been as easy as I had imagined. It is hard to get close. Sometimes this is the best I have got. 

I really think it is not the fox that is cunning and wiley, but rabbits. I have tried various techniques - sitting in bushes, hiding in an old tent. One evening there really were no rabbits in sight, and eventually I noticed that there was a large buzzard sitting in the trees. The rabbits were well ahead of me.

But I found that there is a place up behind the house, where if I sit behind a tree for a while, the baby rabbits come out in the next field. Perhaps having a fence between us makes them more confident. They are really adorable, and perhaps a bit less wary that the older rabbits. I just wish they would come a bit closer to me.
 

This one reminds me of Little Grey Rabbit by Alison Uttley

And then one evening this older rabbit came out, much closer to the fence, and I managed to get a few shots before I think he heard my camera, and disappeared down his hole.

Perhaps photographing rabbits, not just involves getting close to the rabbits, but also getting the right light. On another evening the setting sun was lovely. But it would still be nice to get just a bit closer. I think if I just keep trying, they may get so used to the weird women behind the tree that they take no notice of me at all.
 

This last one I call the proud rabbit. He just sat still like this taking in the evening air for ages.

Just a reminder that there is still plenty of time left to join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for May. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.

Birds in the Garden ... and tales of other creatures

Nuthatch with a sunflower seed in his beak

There seem such a variety of birds here in Cornwall: and with the aid of my bird book I think I now can recognise quite a lot of them. But then every so often a new visitor arrives ...

I think of the blue tits as little masked heroes.

There is a woodpecker that I have not yet managed to photograph, and this morning I could see a pheasant in the far field. My husband spotted a roe deer last week. In the barn there are tawny owls and bats, which I have not even seen, but it is nice to hear the owls at night.  In the evening my husband feeds the owls with some chicks, which he has to defrost. The previous owners were very keen on the birds and left us a supply of food for them. My husband also bought some night vision glasses from Lidl (very reasonable price). I sat for a very long time the other night, waiting for the owls to swoop for their meal, but then left for a few minutes and missed them. 

Apart from the birds there are also, rabbits and badgers, and this morning a very cheeky rat was feasting under the bird feeders. So expect more nature photos as the year progresses. Last week my son saw from the kitchen window a stoat dragging a dead rabbit down the bank. Nature in the raw.

Coal tit

I am really looking forward to seeing what other birds arrive in the Spring. Water also flows down the hill to a pond, so there may be some life on or in the water. And there is lots of buddleia growning, so I am hoping for butterflies.

So I will finish off with my favourites, the long-tailed tits. They always seem to arrive together, and the most I have seen on the feeder at once is eight. I have been looking at some videos on how to take more natural looking photos, which involved hiding the bird food in carefully angled hollow branches. I may have a go at this, but for now I think you need to see at least some of the bird food we are getting through filling up the feeders.

Just a reminder that there is still a little bit of time left to join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for January. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.

The Deer in Richmond Park

 The Hunters Are Coming

I hear a gun shot, a celebratory cry.

As I look in the bushes, a gleaming blue eye.

The hunters are coming, as big and as bad,

They've seen me I know, and they're especially glad.

Up to my feet I get with a rush,

Quickly I charge to hide by a thrush.

"Deer! over there" the hunters they shout.

Will I survive? I'm, beginning to doubt!

I run for my life, over the hill.

Yes! I'll survive. I beating them till ...

I'm flung in the air to the highest tree tops,

I taste blood in my mouth as this little deer drops.

For a moment I lie there, I lie there quite still,

But the hunters are coming, ready to kill.

I try to run, as fast as I can,

But I turn around swiftly, and I'm facing a man!

I close my brown eyes and take a last breath, 

But I squiggle and squirm, not ready for death.

I hear a gun shot, a celebratory cry.

Why was it me who had to die?

As I walked in Richmond Park this week, there was a sign up saying the deer cull is on for the next six weeks. Not completely sure how I feel about this. I do know that the deer, which are in a confined space practically in London, have to have their numbers controlled, and that probably the cull is the least cruel way to do this. 

But then I got home, and saw the poem above, which has been posted on the side of my fridge for the last few years. It was written by my daughter when she was in primary school, and does tug at the heart strings.

Looking back through my photographs, I realize I do not take many of the deer. The one at the top was taken at this time of year, and I kept it mainly because I liked the framing by the trees. And the other one was in mid-summer, when I think I was trying to photograph rabbits, and came upon this deer a bit too close by surprise. I am not sure who was more shocked.

Not much to show on the knitting front. I am making socks, and they seem to taking a long time. On the second one though!

Just a reminder that there is still time join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for January. Click on the photo above or at the top of the page to find the party. I would love to see what you have been working on this month.

Exmoor

Beautiful beach at Woolacombe. As you can see we went to Exmoor.

View from near Dunkery Beacon towards Minehead

This year's holiday was a little different for us in several ways. Firstly we left our son at home - he is 18 now, and was very definite that he did not want to come. Despite my worries, he has not starved and the house is still standing. Secondly, we very sucessfully took my daughter's friend with us, and thirdly it was Rosie's first holiday. 

We had to be careful not to do too much walking, as Rosie is still a puppy. But she absolutely loved some of the country and beach walks we did, as well as having a larger, wilder garden to spend time in. The cottage was dog-friendly, and she did not seem to mind being crated at night, as we could not completely trust that she would not start chewing. Here are just a few photos that give a flavour of our break.
 

Rosie had a great time in the garden

We toasted marshmallows later ...

Walk from Malmsmead, setting of R. D. Blackmore's novel Lorna Doone ....

These are some of the alpaca from the farm where I bought my alpaca wool

View of Dunkery Beacon, and an Exmoor pony

Top of Dunkery Beacon - highest point on Exmoor

Somebody else had made this for Rosie to sit by

Walking down from Dunkery

A caterpillar of an Emperor moth

The cottage where we stayed for the week

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

I forgive you for munching your way through my strawberry plant, because you are so pretty.

After some internet research I think this is a caterpillar of a Knotgrass moth, Acronicta rumicis. (Please do let me know if I have got this wrong.) There are a baffling number of caterpillars. Click on the name Knotgrass moth, if you would like to see what he will become. Not as bright as I had expected, but still very beautiful. I was amazed when looking through the list of UK moths to see the enormous variety.  Did you know that there are 8 times as many moth species as there are butterflies? Perhaps they need a PR agent, moths just are not getting the publicity they deserve.

Focus

A rather drab day, and although I am a bit embarrassed at the quality of these photographs, of what I think are a sparrow and a blackbird. I just thought it was quite interesting to show what is almost the same shot, but with a different focus. Do you have a preference, and why? Slightly reminds me of Hitchcock's The Birds.

And while I am posting about the wildlife I can see from my bedroom window, I thought you might like to see this rather scrawny fox. I only just had time to grab my camera and get this picture, before Fantastic Mr Fox disappeared. I like the way he did seem to be looking right at me!

And then I could not believe my eyes when I looked
 in the other direction, I saw this other rather plumper fox.