Christmas Day

A walk on the moors above Belstone, there were quite a few ponies out enjoying the sunshine.

This is one of my gallery windows just to wish you all a Very Happy Christmas xx

Chagford from Meldon Hill

My son Shane came out to Dartmoor this week and we walked from Chagford up to the top of Meldon Hill (he calls it a mountain!) There are wonderful views in all directions from the top, this is overlooking Chagford with Castle Drogo in the distance still covered to protect it and looking like a huge white box while the roof is replaced.

Old & New

The huge Walkie Talkie building towering over and completely dwarfing the old buildings below, here is another picture from our recent trip to London.

Anselm Kiefer Exhibition

We have just been to see the Anselm Kiefer Exhibition in the RA, it is truly amazing and well worth a visit.

Sunset at Constantine

We watched the sun setting over Constantine bay on Sunday, it was really beautiful. We saw several seals, some Porpoise, a Peregrine and loads of Oystercatchers. The Skylarks were singing away and there were several late Red Admiral butterflies still about.

Castle Drogo above the mists

I took this picture on my early morning walk, the huge white box is Castle Drogo under its wraps while they are repairing the roof. The mists looked so lovely in the Teign valley and completely covering Chagford where I was heading.

Wild Day on the Lizard

A view towards Lizard Point, the most southerly part of England. It was wild and very beautiful & the Ice cream is the best!

Fallow Deer Stag

We had a lovely walk around Powderham to Kenton and then had lunch in the farm shop at Powderham which is really good. There were loads of Fallow Deer in the park, some still rutting and some really friendly like this one which we fed with fallen leaves!

Autumn walk along the River Teign

I had a lovely walk along the River Teign from Chagford to Fingle Bridge yesterday. The autumn colours are just starting and the weather is still wonderfully warm.

Wild Seas in Cornwall

Yesterday we continued our walk along the rugged cliffs of North Cornwall near Porthcothen, the seas were really wild with huge waves going in all directions, even the seals looked as if they were finding it hard to swim. We saw the lifeboat and helicopter going across and discovered later about the tragic deaths of the three surfers.

Fingle Bridge

We had a long walk after work along the river Teign to see the Salmon lealping, there have been lots this year and it is such a thrill to watch them. The Fallow deer are rutting and the valley was echoing with their roaring calls, earlier on we had seen the white stag chasing three females around someones garden! We finished our walk at the Inn sitting outside beside the river overlooking this beautiful bridge.

Bedruthan Steps

We had a wonderful day on Sunday walking the cliffs from Bedruthan Steps (pictured above) round to Porthcothan. It was really warm but the wind was amazing and it was hard to stand in places and difficult to hold my camera still! The sea was really wild, brilliant to watch!

GRANITE SONG

It is lovely to see the beautiful sculpture Granite Song by Peter Randall-Page back on its island in the middle of the River Teign on the outskirts of Chagford. Last winter it got bowled over and covered in fallen branches that had been swept downstream in all the winter floods and I did miss seeing it there.

Pale Tussock Moth Caterpillar

I found this wonderful caterpillar on the road it had only just escaped the hedge trimmimg machine, so I put it in a safe place away from the road and took its picture. I knew it was a Pale Tussock Moth as way back in 1980 I had done a study of one I found then also in October but later on the 30th which seems quite late for a caterpillar to be about. They look a bit like tooth brushes including the spike for cleaning in between!

Small Copper Butterfly

It is lovely to see so many butterflies still around, this tiny Small Copper flew past me on my walk yesterday and at first I thought it was a windblown leaf until it landed!

Stone Row

This is one of the long Stone Rows on Chagford Common just below Kestor, the light on our evenening walk yesterday was really good casting long shadows.

Fernworthy Reservoir

Fernworthy Reservoir is getting very low and it is possible to walk right around it on the shaw at the moment. This area on my picture is usually all under the water and these ancient hut circles are completely covered!

Autumn Mists

We are having some beautiful misty mornings, this is a picture taken overlooking the Teign Valley where I often walk before going into the gallery.

HELPING RHINOS

This is an Oil Painting I have done of the amazing Rhino Thandi who has survived having her horn brutally removed by poachers and now after numerous operations and skin grafts is recovering and is even pregnant which is a wonderful ray of hope to this endangered species. Sadly unless we do something fast to prevent there will be no Rhinos left in the wild soon.
This painting and another print of mine are being auctioned for the charity www.helpingrhinos.org  There are some wonderful things to bid for so please have a look at
http://www.helpingrhinos.org/how-we-help/rhinoartuk/2014-auction-items/  Or if you live near Tetbury and can come along to Westonburt School this Sunday there is a Rhino Art Celebration day with lots going on including a live auction. This all takes place between 11am to 3pm. It would be great to see you there!

Health & Safety!

The large notice reads "BEWARE UNEVEN SURFACE" Yes, we call these steps! Health & Safety have gone mad these days & more & more of these stupid notices are ruining beautiful places, this is on one of the bridges over the Teign just on the edge of Chagford.

WARNING!

I came across this Bull on my walk home, he made a perfect picture with his head resting on the "WARNING Bull in Field" sign!

Dead Badger

I came across this poor dead Badger on my morning walk, obviously it had only just been killed. It is so sad to see so many killed on our roads & a lot of the time if people only drove with a little more care & forethought this could be avoided especially down our narrow Devon lanes where there are so few places for animals to escape to.

New Gallery Colour

Barry has nearly finished painting the gallery & I think it is looking quite smart. We had intended painting the shutters a Provenscal blue but the gray undercoat looked so nice we descided to paint them in this colour instead.

Elephant Hawk-moth

I think these are some of the most beautiful moths, this one is in our garden where each year I find lots of their large caterpillars enjoying the Rosebay Willowhebs.

SPEARED!

I came across this large Oak Eggar Moth completely impaled on the barbed wire, you can see the end of it sticking out at the end of its body. I wonder if it flew into it by mistake or if perhaps a Shrike has put it there. Has anyone seen anything like this before?

Elephant Hawk-moth

Just seen my first Elephant Hawk-moth of the year, one of the most beautiful moths I think. I usually see their strange looking caterpillars munching away on the Willowherb in my garden.

Fox

I spotted this Fox enjoying the sunshine as we drove home, it did not seem to mind having its photograph taken!

A Day in Cornwall

A recent photo taken on a walk from the Lizard to Cadgwith. The coastpath here is really lovely with so many wildflowers and insects and spectacular views. Even better was the swim at the end of the day, the water has really warmed up now!

Dartmoor Ponies

There are a lot of young foals on Dartmoor ar the moment, these two were really sweet playing together. I wish people would take more care as they drive across the moors as a lot drive far too fast and there are often horses and sheep on the roads and many are injured or killed which is such a pity.

Palmate Newt

I came across this little Newt in my veg patch, I think it is a young Palmate Newt which is an unusual one to find especially as we have no pond.

Nightingales

This years Springwatch has been better than ever from the beautiful Minsmere reserve in Suffolk. It was lovely to see and hear Nightingales again, I really do miss them as we heard so many when we lived in France. Here is a painting I did of one singing.

View from the Shard

I took this picture on our recent trip to London from the top of the Shard, the views from up there are amazing. This is looking down on the railway track with its tiny white trains, Tower Bridge is to the left.

Being Observerd! A visit to Slimbridge & a Young Greylag Goose looking in the bird hide!

Tewkesbury Abbey

We had a trip up to Gloucestershire yesterday to take some of my paintings to Wallsworth Hall, Twigworth, GL2 9PA for those of you with satnavs. If you are interested in Wildlife paintings you must go along to see the Wildlife Art Society International exhibition which is on from May 24th to the 1st of June. After dropping off my paintings we went on to visit Tewkesbury which is really beautiful with so many ancient timber framed buildings and lovely walks along the river Avon, above is a picture of the huge Abbey across the lovely wildflower meadows which were teaming with butterflies and damselflies.

Bluebell Time!

The Bluebells this year are amazing, I took this picture up the top of Whiddon Park overlooking Chagford, it is one of the best places to see a sea of Bluebells!

Nuthatch

The Nuthatches are back in their usual nesting hole in a tree beside the river Teign, they are really busy feeding young so it does not take long to wait before they are in and out again!

Brimstone Butterfly

A new Watercolour of a beautiful male Brimstone Butterfly. I have seen several recently so I felt inspired to paint one and have done it sitting on the unfurling leaves of the Hart's Tongue Fern which are looking just like this at present.

Branscombe

Another glorious day and a walk over the cliffs from Branscombe towards Beer, this view is looking back towards Sidmouth. I spotted a lovely large male Adder enjoying the sun on the cliff path, the first I have seen this year.

The Swallows are back!

Its great to see the first Swallows arrive, a little later than usual this year. The picture above is a watercolour of mine and tells a sad tale. A lady gave me two little dead Swallows, she had gone away on holiday closing her garage when she left and on her return found the two birds huddled together and dead on the garage floor, she had forgotten they had a nest in the garage and had shut them in by mistake. I wonder how often this happens. Please everyone leave a small space for the Swallows to get in and out.

A serenade for me!

I am still feeding the wild Robin who lives along the Hunters Path below Castle Drogo. He comes for his name "Bobby" and flies right up to me and will even land on my hand and take food! He prefers Digestive biscuite or fat pellets. Here he is singing to me after a feed!

Falmouth

A lovely day spent down in Cornwall on Sunday. We walked from there toMawnan Smith for a pub lunch and sat out enjoying the sunshine, the views along the coast path are spectacular. This is a picture of Gyllyngvase beach where there were a few people enjoying a swim with no wet suits!

Yellowhammer

There are quite a lot of Yellowhammers about this year and I see and hear them quite regularly along the Hunters Path below Castle Drogo, the males are such a bright yellow they really stand out, but you can't miss their song which sounds like "A little bit of bread and no cheeeeeese!" It is nice to see something that is doing well.

Daffodil Time!

The Daffoldils are at their best right now after this lovely spell of warm dry weather. I took this picture of the wild daffodils growing on the bank at the bottom of Mill Street here in Chagford.

Brimstone Butterfly

I spotted a Brimstone Butterfly passing through my garden yesterday, the first I have seen so far this year. I did not manage to get close enough to it to take a photo so here is a watercolour of one I did a while ago now.

More Raindrops!

Another picture of the trees above the River Teign sparkling with rain drops. Despite all the rain we have had it is not often you see them like this as the wind usually blows the droplets off and I was lucky to catch this wonderful sight as the early sunlight lit each drop!

RAINDROPS

It was wonderful on my early morning walk today as every twig sparkled with rain drops glittering in the sunshine!

Snowdrop Time

This year the Snowdrops have been amazing, all the Devon hedges are sparkled with them and this beautiful bank of them is in the lane just behind our house.

FOX

My latest black and white watercolour which took me some time to coplete with all the fine detail! The verse around the edge reads:  PURSUED AND PERSECUTED, YET ASLO LOVED AND ADMIRED, A BRUSH WITH NATURE, A WHITE TIPPED TROPHY, A CLEVER SURVIVIOR IN THIS CHANGING WORLD. The Brush refers to the name given to a Fox tail and the Trophy to the horrid practice that the English hunt used to have in cutting its tail off after it had been mauled to death.

A Summers Day !!

After all the wind and rain we have had for weeks Sunday was a glorious calm day and the sunshine was quite warm. It is amazing to think this is only the 15th of Febuary! This little guy obviously thought it was summer and didn't seem at all cold on this beach in Cornwall, I think I would have joined him if I had a wet suit.