Month: January 2026

Roe Deer and Hoar Frost

pen and wash woodland sketch

No mud this morning, the ground is frozen solid and the leaf litter and debris on the paths crunch like gravel as we walk up through the woodland of Emroyd Common. Hoar frost crystals have formed in a few patches in sheltered spots alongside a hedgerow and there are ferny patterns on car windscreens.

roe deer and buzzard sketches

Two roe deer trot along at the edge of a pasture along the top edge of the wood.

For several days as we passed the houses at the top end of our lane, I’ve been scanning around to see if there was a buzzard or red kite circling. As we were beginning to suspect, it is actually a starling giving what to me seems like a passable impersonation of a buzzard mewing.

As we walk back through Emroyd we disturb a buzzard, which flies off down the slope through the oak woodland.

Bird Sketches

birds sketches

Struggling to draw garden birds flitting around the feeders, I realise why I like to get out drawing ducks, geese and swans resting and preening at the water’s edge.

bird sketches

As these smaller birds move so quickly, my aim is to just watch one of them until it flits away then attempt to draw the whole pose in one quick drawing.

A goldfinch at the feeder can be there for a minute but a blue tit can be in and out in less than a second. Sparrows usually settle for longer, which is helpful as each one has slightly different plumage, the males particularly: the face and ‘bib’ markings vary a lot.

Drawing whatever bird comes along for an hour or so is quite a session but if I could keep doing that I think it would improve my ability to observe.

Drawing from a photograph or a stuffed bird would be a good way to take in the smaller details but to get an impression of the life and individual character of a bird I need to stick with these flitting about garden birds.

Culpeper’s Rosemary

Rosemary

Rosemary officinalis

The Sun claims dominion over it . . .
the dried leaves shred small, and smoked as tobacco, helps those that have any cough* . . .”

Culpeper’s Herbal, Nicholas Culpeper, 1616 – 1654

*Please don’t try this at home!

This morning I bought an attractive 1983 Culpeper’s Colour Herbal from a charity bookstall but I’m sticking with my old version as it includes the full text, including the advice to smoke rosemary like tobacco if you have a cough!