Natural Selection

Anyone who knows me will be aware that I am terrible at art. I do like bird art though, and I am fortunate enough to have been able to commission some over the years. At some point I might mention that in more detail in a blog post. I am also fortunate enough to live with Jane, who does have artistic flair.

These days several of her seaglass based creations adorn several rooms in the house. But we do have some of her old bird vignettes in the bathroom, as used in the Lancashire Breeding Bird Atlas.

Jane was also called on to do some pen and ink drawings for the Cumbrian Breeding Bird Atlas, and the Little Tern picture at the top is photographed from my copy of the book. Somewhere I also have bird reports she did drawings for, but I wouldn’t know where to start looking for this in my bird book hoard.

In this month’s Birdwatch magazine Julian Hough extols the virtues of drawing birds to understand their form and plumage and become a better birder. It’s a lovely idea, I wish I had the base talent for it to be meaningful advice. I’ll just have to rely on my camera.