Allonby at low tide - honeycomb reef

What a gorgeous morning - one of the year's lowest tides too!

Honeycomb reef - Sabellaria alveolata.

The oyster trestles - gorgeous textures that will hopefully, and rather ambitiously, lead to a textile piece. 

Mason worm; breadcrumb sponge; sponge- Haliclona oculata;
hermit crab; dahlia anemone  and edible crab.

Portnahaven, Islay

So sad to leave the beautiful light!

More on the Bridgend walk...

Lovely to see so many Chanterelles and Hedgehog fungi! ...and ended up at the Islay Community Garden - again - well worth a visit. Also popped into the Islay Quilters - a lovely friendly chat and nice to see their premises.

Bridgend - Loch Skerrols and along the river Sorn

An absolutely delightful walk. Stopped off at the Islay Woollen Mill on the way too - worth a visit. Interesting to see and hear that they produce the tweeds for major films such as Braveheart and the forthcoming BFG....not to mention Saville Row.

Loch Skerrols, nr Bridgend.

Machir Bay

...this afternoon's light was spectacular..

Dunlin in the waves.

Rocks at Saligo.

Saligo in the sun...with rusty fishing floats.

After a damp start the sun came out and that beautiful 'western' light.

Textures on the beach.

A good walk along the Big Strand.

Big Strand - Big Skies.

Decided, given the weather this morning, not to go to Colonsay...so Plan B ....the Big Strand.

Arnave Point ....with midges.

A lovely day - as soon as the breeze stopped the midges rose though - time to stick to the beach.

Jura - walk to the coral beach.

Another glorious day, turning left from the ferry. The beach had highland cattle on which proved interesting for the dog, but after several circuitous routes we managed to get back!

Curtailed by the Doodilmore.

Set off up past Killinallan to walk along the coast but thanks to the torrential downpour we had last night the path was rather boggy and the bridge over the Doodilmore submerged! So we were able to enjoy the fabulous walk back - sunshine and paintings.

The Doodilmore in full spate; the turquoise sea and white waves of the sea water
 and the brown sea and tinted waves of the fresh water ; crossing the 'stream' on the beach;
 the colour of the sea and more waves.

Coastal views and Sanderling. 

Portnahaven to Claddach.

Arrived to day so a walk from home out to Claddach - Portnahaven very sheltered; Claddach - nice waves.

Drumburgh moth trap

A successful evening trapping on Drumburgh NNR.

Scalloped Hooktip, Barred Chestnut, China mark, Ears, Sallows, Grass emerald, 
Haworth's minor, Bronze alder moth

Graptolite art!

So much to do ...and Tom got there first ! Love the graptolite work from Abereiddy Bay, Pembrokeshire.

Tom's sketch book entry - lino print...stencilled - card and scraperboard. 

..and then there was his interpretation of the rocks too....I need more hours in the day to keep up! 

Cumbrian bat species at Greenfoot

We've borrowed a bat detector as there are plenty of bats around at the moment - especially when we have the moth trap running. Here's some recordings from two different frequencies - 47 and 27kHz.
We are yet to identify the species yet but we think the higher of the two would be a pipistrelle....Sorry , but this doesn't seem to work on i pads.

Delayed summer moths

Although well into August, we're still getting mid-summer moths in the trap- however this includes having an extra 30 species compared to last year at the same time.

First column -Lesser yellow underwing; magpie moth; lesser yellow underwing, Second column- Drinker moth; clouded border; lempke's gold spot, Third column- Early thorn; a pair of scalloped oak; mother of pearl

Three new landscape cards...silk paintings

Carn Llidi from St David's headland, Pembrokeshire; 'The Opera House' Islay and Bassenthwaite from Binsey.

Discovery Award with BP Scouts - for Tom.

Good to have Tom back after successfully achieving his Discovery award in the Brecon Beacons - in mixed weather conditions! This should count as his Gold D of E expedition too - he just needs to write it up!

Hay Bluff summit; Sugar Loaf ; wild camping; harlequin ladybird; challenging navigation; old lady moth and sunny days! 

Solway silk painting cards

Today's cards - silk paintings of the Solway across to Criffel on a very, very sunny day!

Acrylic painting - Wooltack point and Skomer.

Trying out a bolder approach to my painting - still using only a pallette knife, but this time acrylics - I don't like the colours as much as oils but the drying time is infinitely preferable!

Textile cards

...a morning catching up...

Marloes Sands - three variations....

...the photo....the field sketch...the acrylic.

Binsey, looking over Bassenthwaite, North Cumbria

A glorious walk 15 minutes from the house - how lucky are we! 

Anchorage zoo - highlights of an internship ...so far!

Well Molly seems to be having a fabulous time away in Anchorage - working as a volunteer in Anchorage zoo. Here are some of my favourite photos that she has sent through so far!

Sketches of Pembrokeshire

...a selection of my sketches, all done on site - some in rather windy conditions!

Pembrokeshire Butterflies

What a fabulous week or so; the main memories - lots of flowers and many, many butterflies...and it was glorious weather!

In columns form left to right - Common blue; peacock; speckled wood; grayling; small copper;

 wall brown; comma; gatekeeper ; painted lady; red admiral; green-veined white and small skipper. 

Wildlife on Strumble Head

I don't expect there are many walks where you would get this combination! Adder; beautiful demoiselle; emperor moth caterpillar and grey seal.

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Strumble Head

A final walk - north from Strumble Head.

Lower Town, Fishguard and Dinas Head.

A rather damp and squally walk!

St David's cathedral, Pembrokeshire.

Always worth a visit....

Marloes Sands and round Wooltack point

A slight mizzle to start with that soon turned into a lovely sunny, but breezy, day.

The cliffs between Marloes Sands and then on around Wooltack point for good views of Skomer
 - a strong tidal rip - which was where the gannets and dolphins were feeding. 

Seal and pup; sulphur beetles, wall butterfly; marmalade hoverfly and centaury. 

Abercastle to Aber Mawr

A very scenic walk along the coast and then back across the headland through a series of old lanes. A stiff breeze so rather hard to photograph the large number of butterflies.

Large skipper; small copper; painted lady. 

Solva to Pwll March (Newgale)

A lovely walk along the coast and then back through the lanes. Lots to see and super patterned rocks on the beach.

Newgale; gatekeeper; speckled wood; lovely lichen  encrusted sign; ponies
and a by-the-wind sailor off the beach.