Solway curlew and oystercatchers

Despite the awful forecast, yesterday was superb - a bright light for photography and a high tide. A good walk from Mawbray to Allonby (chips at the Codfather) ....we had to take to the road for a while as the tide was high and  the waves large.

Mawbray .......

Across to Criffel..........

Oystercatchers.....

Curlew.

Curlew flight.....

Oystercatchers.....

...and a painted lady butterfly.

Caldbeck linocut

Well I finally got around to finishing the lino cut and printing - as I have already mentioned, it was quite detailed, but I think I managed to keep all of the hedges entact!

The view...

The lino plan ...

The print .....

Gelli printing onto fabric

In preparation for next weeks course - here are a few examples of printing onto fabric. I used an approximate mix of 1:1:1 mix of acrylic: water: textile medium mixed into a recycled mince pie tin. I then scooped out the amount I needed directly onto a gelli plate and rolled it out. This minimized wastage and washing up - by not using a tile to mix colours.  I did experiment using just acrylic, but the textile medium definitely helped the paint sink into the fabric and it was less stiff when dried and hence easier to stitch. The following workshop will cover stitching and enhancing the fabric prints.

Crymlyn Burrows SSSI

On a wet day in Cumbria it's nice to look back at Tom's photos from earlier in the week .

A trip from my house near Brangwyn Hall, across to the marina, and then to Swansea University Bay Campus leading to Crymlyn Burrows SSSI.

Moon jellyfish swarm in the marina.

 Crymlyn Burrows:

Rough grassland, reed beds, and sand dunes: a real variety of habitats.

Broomrapes and a century sp.

Painted lady on scabious

Small copper, common blue, digger wasp, speckled wood.

Comma

 I decided to go back home on the bus, and at the Bay campus bus stop there was a large defoliated decorative bush. Above the bush there were many small web like nests that were in fact vapourer moth cocoons.

Cocoons and food plant

Vapourer moth caterpillar, eggs and female 

Vapourer moth female

Drypoint etching course

A great morning teaching drypoint etching - and some good results. The two and a half hour session enabled everyone to produce a couple of pieces of work and print them off.

Rhossili Bay

After Worm's head, Tom walked down to the vast Rhossili Bay.

Towards Worm's Head.

Stranded by the tide.

Anemones and marine worms in mussels.

Grey seal and ex-grey seal.

Spirifer brachiopod fossils below the tide line.

Borrowdale round

Yesterday was an absolutely splendid day - 20 degrees plus and full sun ....and 50mph winds on the tops, so a breezy walk all the way! We parked up at Seathwaite and then walked up on the left hand side of Sour milk Gill and out into Gillercomb before ascending to the col and turning left for Base Brown. Sour milk Gill is always a nice ascent that gets you up quickly and the path through Gillercomb was nice and gentle - distinctly cooler though as in the shade and as was the rest of the walk - windy with strong gusts. From Base Bown it was a short step onto Green Gable which afforded fantastic views - especially down over Buttermere, Crummock Water and Ennerdale. Then down to Windy Gap which seriously lived up to its name before ascending on to Great Gable - that lovely little scramble before the walk to the summit where we struggled, at points, to stand. Good views over Wastwater. Photography wasn't easy in the gale and the light was incredibly bright.  Then down to Styhead for lunch at 12.30 where it was a completely different day - sunny and calm! We then went onto Seathwaite Fell from Sprinkling tarn - a new Wainwright for the dog. On the summit the rocks were superb - lovely layers of ash showing clearly in the volcanic rocks. Then on up to the path over Allen Crags and a deceptively long, rough and up and down, ridge walk to Glaramara. This time superb views over Langdale and across to the east. Coming off the end of Glaramara was a bit of a scramble and not very easy for the dog, but good fun! Then down over Thorneythwaite Fell which was a very gentle way of descending to the valley bottom at Seatoller for a pint of shandy sat in the sun outside the pub! A short walk back to the car completed out 17 mile walk with 4 new Wainwrights for Rocky bringing his total to 136. A cracking day out!

Sour milk Gill, Rocky on Base Brown and from Base Brown looking across to Green Gable and Great Gable .

Great Gable; Ennerdale; Buttermere and Crummock; Piers Gill.

Styhead and Sprinkling tarns; Wasdale; Rocky and Ennerdale; top of Piers Gill and Lingmell.

Seathwaite Fell; looking across to the Langdale Pikes; Gable and the summit of Glaramara. 

Worm's Head

Tom's had a great trip to Worm's Head in the sun. Some good birds, and some especially flighty butterflies (predominantly migrants like painted lady and clouded yellow), mixed in with some nice fossils and fantastic scenery.

Worm's Head.

Sparrowhawk on limestone cliffs.

Rock pipits, wheatear, chough and guillemots.

The landscape around Worm's Head.

Calcite geode inclusions, crinoids, bryozoa and horn corals.