Ink Bird Paintings

Final week of ink painting class, and we could do whatever we wanted. A bit scary, and I was tempted to go back to flowers or trees, but decided to be a bit brave and try to paint some garden birds. This was my second go at a blue tit, my first attempt looked like he was wearing sunglasses.

I was quite pleased with my watery robin.

Nuthatch is bit darker than I think he should be, but not to worry. 

This a a fledgling longtailed it. They really are like little pompoms.

 

Sudddenly it was nearly the end of the class, so I decided to try to use up some of the inks on my palette. Mr Pheasant is a little bit odd, I think perhaps because he looks a bit annoyed. But I enjoyed splashing on the bright colours. I wish now I had thought a bit more about backgrounds for the birds, but will definitely tray again at home.

Puffin Christmas Cards

Wishing You a Happy Christmas!

Every year I plan to do a bit more linoprinting, but some how I find a year has passed, and the last time I got out my kit was the Christmas before. 

This is the card I made this year, and although it is a bit early for resolutions, I am definitely going to try to do a bit more throughout the year. Perhaps I may need to get a new tube of printing ink.

Linoprinting Part Two

 

I wrote a few weeks ago about the linoprinting course that my son and and I were doing, but forgot to show you our final prints. I had decided to try to make Christmas cards, so sorry family, but hopefully by next year you may have forgotten. I was quite pleased with my single colour prints, but then the teacher showed me how to cut a piece out of the lino and use it as a stamp for the red breast.

My son was more ambitious and did his prints with two sheets of lino, and several layers of colour by masking out certain sections. His prints are of Hornet, who is a character from Hollow Knight.

On the last week I thought I would have a go at doing a two sheet print, which although I think the concept was not too bad, I was not careful enough linking up my two prints. As you can see below. But now the course is over I have ordered a roller and some paint, and am going to try again at home.

 

Birds in the Garden

We have a lot of birds visiting the garden, and I had decided to try to photograph them not on the feeders. But it is so difficult, as that is where they like to be. So I have not stuck to my new rule, and here are a few pictures (actually quite a lot of them) of birds I have seen in the back garden since the lockdown began.
 

The long-tailed tits are just adorable.

I am also very fond of the nuthatches, although in this pose he reminds me of an angrybird.

Blue tits and chaffinches are also frequent visitors, as well as the great spotted woodpecker.

I have also photographed some birds in the hedge next to the feeder.  I really think they have some sort of queueing system, waiting there until they can swoop in. What is difficult is focussing on the bird. If I leave my camera on auto-focus, I often get a really nice photo of a twig or leaf. But to manually focus you have to be really quick, or the bird is off.

I did not know what this bird was at first, but have found out it is a dunnock or hedge sparrow. We get quite a lot of them, and house sparrows. I am still trying to photograph a tree sparrow.

This is another bird where I had to get out my book. It is a female chaffinch.

In this photograph they are queueing and social distancing.

The goldfinches are some of the cheekiest birds in the garden.

Finally the rooks who don't often come down to garden, but have been very busy building nests a squawking in the large trees near the road. I feel a bit sorry that they don't get much admiration.

I am still on the look out for new arrivals - swifts, swallows and housemartins.  And also wonder that I have not seen a greenfinch. 

And as for the tawny owls in the barn, there was much more coming and going last night, so we think that they may have hatched and the parents are feeding.

Just a reminder that there is still plenty of time left to join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for April. 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.

Some New Birds on the Block

Down in Cornwall again, and spent much of the first day indoors, sheltering from Storm Dennis. And surprisingly there seemed a very different selection of birds to look at from my kitchen window. The normal groups of tits were all there (blue, great, coal and long-tailed), but there were a large number of finches. At one point I could see six gold finches, and they seemed like quite an argumentative bunch. But they also seemed to like sitting in the bushes and on the fence posts near my birdfeeders, which helped me in my aim to get a few more natural looking photos.

The River Tamar was very flooded yesterday, so perhaps these birds had had to leave their normal territories. Today the river is back within its banks, and I have not seen any sight of the finches. I slightly wish I had made a bit more of their appearance.

Apart from the goldfinches, there was also a few of this bird, which I think is a siskin, and chaffinches. I also saw a grey wagtail, and then a grey heron down on the pond. I didn't manage to photograph these, but it was nice to see the heron fishing in the pond.

 I wonder who will turn up next.

Just a reminder that there is still plenty of time left to join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for Feburary. 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.

Nuthatch and Woodpecker

Sometimes I think that the nuthatch is teasing me. "Yes ha ha, I'm here on the feeder, but I'm not going to sit on the side facing you." But eventually after watching for quite a while, he did come round to the other side and show himself, and I even think he might have been posing a bit for me.

I have the same problem with the woodpecker. He flies down to the feeders, and likes to sit on the palm tree, but frequently peeking at me from the other side. Sometimes even the minute I pick up my camera he is off. Back he goes to sit in the big oak tree. I can see him up there, but he is too far away. Again with a bit of patience I have managed to get some photos of him. He is so beautiful it is worth perservering.

Just a reminder that there is still plenty of time left to join in my Ginx Woolly Linx party for Feburary. 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.