The photojournalist Don McCullin is better known for his work recording war and urban strife around the world, but his more recent work has concentrated more on black and white landscape photography, often taken during the winter in his adopted Somerset . I find them stark, bleak and beautiful.
Don McCullin notes on his love for winter: Read the rest of this entry
With an old black and white 35mm camera the photographer Giacomo Brunelli prowls the night in search of his subjects in backyards, small villages, fields, farms and near his home in London. Brunellihas developed a style which he calls “animal focused street photography”.”By pushing the boundaries of nature photography he creates eerie and unfamiliar images, which succeed in capturing the instinctive drama and wildness of his subjects” More here
I’ve recently rediscovered the wonderful wildlife and landscape paintings by Carry Akroyd. The above work is entitled Colonsay, Oronsay, Islay & Jura, though most of her work is centred on rural England. Lots more of her work here at her website.
The Lark Ascending by Vaughan Williams is one of my favourite pieces of classical music and I know of no other which conveys so well the beauty of the English countryside. Written in 1914, it was inspired by George Meredith’s 122-line poem of the same name about the skylark. Vaughan Williams actually wrote sketches for it whilst watching troop ships cross the English Channel at the outbreak of war. A small boy observed him making the sketches and, thinking he was jotting down a secret code, informed a police officer who subsequently arrested the composer! Thus, although the piece appears to be a pastoral idyll, at its heart it is a nostalgic work about England and the loss of innocence that the First World War brought.
The composition is intended to convey the lyrical and almost eternally English beauty of the scene in which a skylark rises into the heavens above some sunny down and attains such height that it becomes barely visible to those on the ground below. Text adapted from Wikipedia
. . . Constable paints nature at a point in history when its total destruction by the hand of man had not yet become conceivable. But only just . . . Wessel Krul in Green and pleasant land: English culture and the Romantic countryside
“Quintessentially English” is how Constable’s landscapes are frequently described. It’s a source of quiet satisfaction to the painter’s most nationalistic fan base that he was happy to live his life entirely in England, never crossing the Channel, even though his work was much more enthusiastically received by French critics.
Born in East Bergholt, Suffolk, Constable even found the dramatic landscapes of the Lake and Peak Districts too foreign. Rather than mountains, he was inspired by the vast skies of the East Anglian flatlands where he grew up.
Popular opinion was never bothered by intellectual sneering and by 1880 the countryside of The Hay Wain (finished in 1821) was already being promoted as “Constable Country”. Visitors ever since have been drawn to the banks of the River Stour, where Willy Lott’s cottage still stands (Grade 1 listed), so they can compare the view with the painting. It’s reassuringly similar, though the river runs deeper these days, as East Anglia sinks. Read the rest of this entry
The landscape painters of the 18th century were among the first promoters of nature tourism in Britain. Their work inspired people to go on tours of wild places and admire the grandeur of nature. One popular destination, much sketched, painted and written about, was the Falls of the Clyde in Scotland.
Jacob More’s work is a romanticised view of the highest and largest of the Falls, the Corra Linn. Viewers of the painting could identify with the group of tourists in the corner, awe-struck by this “rude slope of furious foam”, as 18th century travel writer Thomas Pennant described them. They might even be galvanized to do a trip to the wilds of Scotland themselves. Read the rest of this entry
Anyone who has enjoyed reading Roger Deakin’s books, especially Waterlog and Notes from Walnut Tree Farm, will love listening to these radio programmes that he recorded for the BBC. Produced by Sara Blunt, the 25 minute-long programmes capture Deakin’s unusual home and garden, and the man who lived there. The producer deliberately chose not to use an interviewer, instead allowing Deakin to draw you into his world with his own words. Read the rest of this entry
The remarkable BBC documentary Secrets of the Sett filmed badgers making their beds before venturing out for a night’s foraging. Indeed, one of the signs of an inhabited sett is old straw left at the entrance by house-proud badgers. Cornish wildlife artist Dick Twinney has captured this aspect of badger behaviour in an engaging painting, included in the 2100 calendar he’s put together. Take a look at his keenly observed and vividly textured images in the Living Countryside calendar available in a limited number of 500 signed editions.
I love these driftwood sculptures of life-size horses by Heather Jansch. They are built from driftwood collected on local beaches. They seem to capture the energy and movement of real horses. Image from here
A red deer stag stands with its powerful neck raised, antlers filling the sky. In the background mists swirl over the Scottish Highlands. The Monarch of the Glen was painted in 1851 by Sir Edwin Landseer, a star in his own time. Animals were his speciality, both in painting and sculpture - the lions at the base of Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar square are his. Emotive portraits of animals went down very well with the Victorian public, crossing the class divide. Queen Victoria had Landseer paint her pets, while the middle classes bought prints of his work to hang at home. Read the rest of this entry
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood scandalised the Victorians with their unconventional paintings. But Ophelia by John Everett Millais was loved even when first completed in 1852. It remains one of the most popular paintings in the Tate collection and the gallery’s best-selling postcard.
The Industrial Revolution was in full blast, bringing with it a new freedom of movement. Millais, one of the founders of the Brotherhood, would take the train out of London and paint nature as he saw it, not according to the fixed conventions taught at the Royal Academy. Read the rest of this entry
I love the unique and lulling cadences of the Shipping Forecast and this sonnet by Seamus Heaney captures its atmosphere perfectly. Read whole poem (BBC)
Dogger. Rockall. Malin, Irish Sea:
Green swift upsurges, North Atlantic flux
Conjured by that strong gale-warning voice.
Collapse into a sibilant penumbra.
The area we now call the Lakes was once much wilder. Read the rest of this entry
Another painting by Sidney Richard Percy (1821 - 1886). This one is entitled Grizedale, Westmorland. Read the rest of this entry
John Constable, Hampstead Heath, c.1820
The management of London’s biggest park (790 acres/ 320 hectares) involves balancing recreational activities with nature conservation. Stressed out city dwellers can relax in a rural landscape, composed of a rich variety of habitats, including meadows, where grass is allowed to grow long to favour butterflies, and woodlands, where all three of Britain’s woodpeckers nest. Outdoor swimming is a popular activity on the Heath, while by one of the 25 ponds a bank has been constructed to encourage kingfishers to breed. Up on Parliament Hill kite-fliers enjoy spectacular views of London and might also see Kestrels and Sparrowhawks hunting.
Encouraging respectful attitudes from the wide range of visitors is an important part of looking after the Heath. There is a particular problem with the amount of rubbish left behind by night-time pleasure-seekers in West Heath, for example, famed as a safe cruising zone. The “Heath & Hampstead Society” proposes the following:
“The Society is . . . working with the City to come up with new ways to manage the problem, for example, putting solar lamps in trees to power flashing beacons on litter bins during the night.”
Fictional countryside
March 17, 2010
Interesting article by Jonathan Meades in The Guardian.
No longer a place of work, the English countryside has been tidied up and made picturesque, based on a mythical rural idyll…Read
Reminds me of DH Auden comment in the 1940s on the Lake District.
“Am I to see in the Lake District, then….Another bourgeois invention like the piano?”
Swift survey
March 17, 2010
The RSPB is gathering extensive information about exactly where swifts are nesting in the UK. It is suspected that their rapid decline in recent years is linked with a drop in suitable nesting sites, as buildings are modernised.
The first year’s survey reveals that of the houses where swifts are nesting:
New Forest conservation
March 17, 2010
A new generation of commoners will receive financial support to ensure animals continue to graze in the New Forest and so conserve its rich biodiversity.
Commoning has shaped the New Forest over hundreds of years. It is because of it that we have this beautiful landscape, a mosaic of pasture, heath and lawn. And it needs to be encouraged - Lyndsey Stride, commoner.Guardian
Urban bee project
March 1, 2010
The Co-op is further expanding its Plan Bee campaign by providing aspiring urban bee-keepers with free training and equipment. Life in the city can be better for bees than in the countryside, points out Chris Shearlock, the Co-op’s Environment Manager:
They can find flowers in city parks and gardens, and they are away from some of the pesticides that are threatening them on farmland. It’s a misconception to think that they won’t thrive in cities and towns. I’ve heard of honey being sold from apiaries around King’s Cross station in London.In the end, what’s going to save the British honeybee, whose population has dropped sharply in the last 25 years, is its value to the economy: as fruit-tree pollinators and annual producers of 5,000 tonnes of honey, they’re worth 165m a year. Independent
Landscape blogs
February 24, 2010
There are now some excellent landscape blogs covering Britain. Here are a few:
British birds in the news in February
February 17, 2010
Here is a quick round-up of latest British bird news:
Archive of nature articles
February 11, 2010
We’ve put together this monthly archive of the articles on Britain nature.
Allotment fever
February 10, 2010
With more and more people wanting to grow their own fruit and vegetables, the National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners have over 100,000 people on their waiting lists. The National Trust have responded to this demand by allocating land for “super allotments” or community farms. In return for a monthly fee, members will decide what should be grown, and have the opportunity to work on the farms, receiving a share of the produce. Daily Telegraph
The 87 mile-long Ridgeway National Trail is remarkable in being the oldest road in Britain and because you can still walk it, following the same route used since prehistoric times by travellers and, herdsmen. The route connects the Dorset and Norfolk coasts, passing over rolling, open downland to the west of the River Thames, and through secluded valleys and woods in The Chilterns to the east. It is littered with historical sites dating back to the iron age. Lots of details from the National Trail website here.
A trip to a children's farm is a great idea in the lambing season. The Guardian has a list of recommended places in their half-term holiday special, including Cannon Hall Farm in Barnsley, where they are expecting no less than 300 lambs and 50 piglets to be born in February, with more expected for Easter. They have other attractions such a baby Alpaca called Snowy.
For the first time in many years, the freezing conditions have been perfect for ice skating, allowing the inhabitants of the Cambridgeshire Fens to revel in a centuries-old tradition. The Guardian
The Fens of East Anglia, with their meres and washes, networks of drainage ditches, slow-flowing rivers and easily flooded meadows, form an ideal skating terrain. Skates were introduced into Britain from Holland or France in the seventeenth century. It is not known when the first skating matches were held, but by the early nineteenth century they had become a feature of cold winters in the Fens. The golden age of fen skating was the second half of the nineteenth century, when thousands of people turned out to watch the top skaters. Wikipedia
David Munt from Potter’s Bar, Hertfordshire braved the Arctic weather and sub-zero temperatures to spend a night in an igloo in his garden. He decided to sleep in his creation after spending the previous day making the igloo from snow and ice, with help from the children on his street. More here
Yowie snowshoes were designed, fittingly, in Australia. They look like beach sandals attached to rubber flippers with a deep hexagonal tread and metal cleats. Extremely versatile and user-friendly, once you're strapped in, with body weight nicely spread out to avoid sinking, you can enjoy snow walks on the flat or more challenging treks up and down mountains. The material reportedly offers better insulation from the cold than more conventional heavy-duty snowshoes. They are also lighter, cheaper and easier to stow in your ruck sack.
Another idea is to use ice grips - unobtrusive devices you can attach to your usual footwear to radically increase traction on slippery surfaces.
Meirion Owen is an expert sheep dog handler, who’s been working with Border Collies since he was nine. He now travels around Britain, showing the skills of this intelligent breed at fairs, private parties and, increasingly, corporate days out. The other stars of the Quack Pack are a troop of Indian Runner ducks, who love to charge around at a fast pace in a tight group (with the occasional lone rebel). First of all, Owen gives a demonstration of how it’s done, instructing his dogs with only four commands to herd the ducks through an obstacle course. Then the spectators have a go.
"We never try to embarrass anyone," he says. "I'll always try to help. With duck herding, there is a sense of the unexpected and seeing a manager lose control of his ducks is great entertainment for the staff."
A recent tendency among lowland livestock farmers is to replace Border Collies with quads, and Owen would like to turn this around by promoting the many qualities of this breed. More information
The Woodcraft School runs various courses for acquiring skills that pre-historical man needed for survival. Bark, Bone and Antler is a particularly interesting 2-day course that explores the materials available to our primitive ancestors. Those attending will be taught about the sustainable harvest of bark, weaving crafts to make knife sheaths, folding crafts to make baskets and containers, and the preparation of bone and antler.
This particular course will be held in May 2010 in West Sussex, with groups limited to 12, but there are many others to choose from.
Paragliders will use birds of prey to guide them to the best thermals. They often report that the birds are not afraid of them and will even approach out of curiosity. Parahawking takes this one step further. You're taken on a tandem paraglider and specially trained birds of prey will accompany you on your flight, rewarded by offerings of food. This unforgettable experience is available in Wales, organised by the Axis paragliding school
With Pesky Husky Trekking you can become a musher for a day. Instead of a sledge, you stand on a specially designed non-motorised scooter. And instead of snow-covered arctic lands, the Siberian huskies whisk you through the Yorkshire countryside. The experience is only available between October and March, after which it becomes too warm for an energetic husky. You can start off on a practice lap or do a more advanced trek of up to two hours.
Latest news The Guardian Country Diary Wild WorldA few good wildlife apps for iphone / itouch are starting to trickle onto the market. The best is probably the Collins British Wildlife Photoguide, priced at £5.99 which is an app version of a large book. The Guardian notes "Arranged by taxonomy – mammals, invertebrates, butterflies and moths, birds and so on – it features photos and brief descriptions of over 1,500 species. The navigation is a bit fiddly and there's no identification feature, so you need to know what you're looking at or be willing to scroll through several pages to get a match."
In the same article they recommend a guide to 24 of Britain's trees and a guide to European bird songs - but this only features 80 species. When are they going to produce an app for the Collins bird guide?
For those who don’t succumb to the charms of grey squirrels, keeping them off the bird feeder is a challenge. There are plenty of ideas on the forums, such as placing a table on top of a greased pole, or capitulating by scattering food on the ground to distract the squirrels and give the birds a chance. If unwanted rodents are consuming kilos of bird food, it might be worth investing in a specially designed squirrel-proof bird feeder. Those sold by the RSPB include conventional seed and nut dispensers caged within bars too narrow for a squirrel to pass through. Then there’s the robust–looking Squirrel Buster, which automatically closes down when something heavier than a small bird tries to access the food. It’s the most expensive option, but comes with a life-time guarantee. Not bad considering the fearless acrobatics and determined wire-chewing tendencies of squirrels.
View at the RSPB
Cute they may be, but this article in The Guardian thinks that it is not a good idea to keep a fox as a pet. Others agree. the US foxes.org list these reasons
Useful list of the best or at least most unusual bird feeders on the market put together by The Guardian here. I liked particularly the above mobile bird feeder. Meanwhile the RSPB's national Feed the birds weekend starts tomorrow.
Shopping trolleys have lost their social stigma, partly because of pleasingly designed trolleys like these. Using one will help avoid unnecessary use of plastic bags and also contribute to saving turtles in Sri Lanka where the Turtle Trolley was created. Turtle bags online shop
RSPB