A passion thought lost.....

When I was about 8 I used to draw the birds in my garden and copy the drawing of animals from around the world from my wildlife books. Over the years my passion and love for drawing was lost as I took to using a camera and camcorder to capture my memory's and the beauty of nature. With the worsening wet weather of Winter approaching I decided to put on a film and pick one of my favorite photographs to draw. I decided to draw from a Mouse photograph I took a few years ago. The Mouse was in my garden and it kept coming out to get food then running off into Ivy to either eat the food or to store for Winter when food is lacking. I quite enjoyed my first go at drawing for the first time in 20 years. The shadings not totally to my liking and the drawings not my best work. Hopefully my skill will grow the more I draw and with that I think my passion for drawing and wildlife art will to.

My second drawing is of a Great crested grebe that I photographed nesting on a local lake. I wanted to try a different style in this drawing and I decided on a Quentin Blake style like the Roald Dahl illustrator.

My last drawing is of a Dragonfly that I drew from a photograph I took a few years ago when it landed on a fence down a country lane by a slow flowing river in the middle of the Summer.

Once I get some artist crayons I will try to add some color to my drawings and hopefully it will be this week. My next drawings will be of a Short Eared Owl, Badger and a Hedgehog as there currently my favorite birds and mammals.

Thanks for reading my blog
Stay wild, be happy and be safe

Mike

Dragonfly rescue and my first Redstart

While we were up Conwy mountain enjoying the lovely sunny Welsh weather I spotted quite alot of birds with great views in the Background. I spotted a bird that I had never seen before but I have been looking for in the area for a few years.
Here you can see Conwy Castle and Rspb Conwy

Below is a Stonechat I photographed with Conwy castle in the background

 I also got this shot abit closer to a Male Stonechat which I was quite pleased with due to how sharp the image was due to the position of the sun.

While enjoying a break half way up the mountain I noticed a Meadow Pipit with food in it's mouth so there must have been a nest close to where we were picnicking, we quickly moved away so the bird could feed its young.

 One bird I was quite pleased to see was a Redstart on a stone wall around a sheep field. It was quite flighty and as I have never spotted one before a record shot rather than a artistic photograph was better than nothing. Now I know there in this area I can keep going back to get a better photograph in the future.

 It flew into an area of Gorse in the middle of a field so I could not get any closer

One of the beautiful views from Conwy mountain

Up the top of the mountain close to Pensychant there are a few shallow pools. There was one larger shallow clear pool full of a tadpoles which was nice to cool down my feet in after walking so many miles along the coast and up the mountain. Just before a dog was about to jump in the pond I spotted a 4 spotted chaser struggling to get out of the water. Luckily I manged to grab the Dragonfly before the dog landed on it and for the next 30 mins the Dragonfly dried out on my hand while walking down the hill to a more secluded pool I then placed the Dragonfly on my brothers hand to get a photograph before it flew away and onto a reed on the pond.
Drying out on my hand taken on my Iphone

On my brothers finger before it was released

Thanks for reading my blog

Stay wild, be happy and be safe
 

Mike