Kingfisher Fledglings

Another two special guests of Dave’s at present are two beautiful Kingfisher fledglings. Dave had been watching a pair on the river and witnessed a rival male move into the area kill the Father of the brood and then starts pulling the young one by one from the burrow in the bank. Soon the female had mated with the new male and begun nesting further down. Up until this point she had been feeding the remaining young but then stopped. Dave found two outside the hole in a weakened state and decided to intervene and try and rehabilitate them. They are now doing well after a touch and go start. And are now starting to make diving attacks at fish placed in a deep bowl on the floor of the seclusion aviary they have been placed in. Its easy to be Angry at the Intruding male in this instance but Nature has her own very strict set of rules and some never make it. Dave is very aware that the two Kingfishers only have a slim chance of survival but if only one of that brood were to make it that would be a success. Kingfishers were hit hard this winter with the prolonged periods of freezing temperatures and snow. This may have been a contributing factor towards the demise of the original male. It would be nice to think that if either of the Kingfishers go on to survive and breed that is in some way helping the comeback of the population nationally.

Hazel the Fallow deer. Hazel the Fallow deer.

Joe with Hazel when she was first brought in


To give my wife some much needed piece , I and the kids headed over to my mates on Sunday to see Hazel. Hazel is a special friend of my children they love to see her and run around with her. Hazel is a Fallow Deer which my friend and fellow Artist -Falconer Dave Scott hand reared when she was found wondering by a main road with injuries to her legs. Dave seemed to think she got stuck in a cattle grid then got separated from her mother as the herd moved on. She now lives with Dave in a nice paddock and loves the attention from visitor like us.

Below Maisie and Joe with Hazel two years on

15 Minute wonder

Well i thought I'd show you a little of what I've been up to on the Bird Forum . The forum is a great place for anyone nuts about birds as i am! and the wildlife art sub forum mentored by the illustrious Tim Wooton Its a place where like minded individuals post our artwork for comment and encouragement. the forum is also great for Artists as we generally lead a solitary working life. Anyway i digress! Colleen one of our group came up with a fantastic exercise to loosen the way we paint. It makes you become more instinctive about your brushwork., well that's what i found anyway! However i will let her explain so here it is the method we use, straight from Colleen.
It should be more than a sketch, because we all have our threads for sketches, notice it says Paintings in the title.....so that infers color or at least light and shade and mass, like charcoal.....

so I suggest it be all as direct as you can make it, no pre sketching for forms or outlines, except for the briefest marks for placement. The idea is to let your tool, be it brush, marker, or pastel, make the forms...... you are trying to get the essence of the thing without worrying over details. We all do this in our drawings, now take it to the next level in your favorite media. So you can see the brushstrokes and energy of the making....that is, in a way, the subject. The time pressure is the main force to drive you beyond being able to think it over, into the Yoda land of the Force, Don't think just Do.

well I had a go and found it very hard to stop at the fifteen minute mark but it was hugely freeing of over working areas. I am glad I work in acrylics as they dry very quick and this allowed a great deal of coverage and I wasn't unduly hampered by waiting for things to dry.Its been very rewarding. Because they are experimental and not finished pieces The pressure is really off other than the time constraint Its renewed my enthusiasm for field work again and is something that I will continue with.