Berries & Birds

The wonderful thing about going for weekly walks in the same environment is that I get to see the subtle changes that occur over time. Organised walks are great, but they do not allow for time to stop & sketch and document those scenes in a way sketching only can. A dear friend of mine has been photographing the same viewpoint each week for the past few months. It’s wonderful to see the weeks flit by from last September until now.

The autumn & winter months were filled with a rich bounty of sloes and haws, which have been duly stripped by the hungry hoards. It’s so strange how homesick for Kent those plump sloes made me feel. I reminisce as I walk of friends gathering those beauties to make sloe gin to sip by log fires during the long winter months.

Just now, when most of the other hedgerow delights have vanished, the Crabapple comes into its own. Earlier, when the fruit is ripe and juicy the blackbirds & woodpigeons feast. Now, however, the apples are dark & shrivelled; so now the goldfinches arrive to sit & gorge. It’s not the fruit they favour, but the seeds within. They sit there for an age as they break through the skin and sift through the pulpy interior to their prize within. So perfect for me to sit & sketch them! I have a great tree top view from my window & can happily watch them as they work their way around the tree’s bare branching crown, where only lichen & the odd leaf remain.