Penultimate challenge day fun!

A Pied Wagtail seen yesterday.

Then some fun with the illustration, scanned and printed on card.

Even more fun here with the wagtail almost wagging is tail! 

Who is pushing a squeaky wheelbarrow?

The #GreatTit! Seen yesterday and was oh so vocal!

They sound like...
- someone pushing a squeaky wheelbarrow
- someone pumping up a flat tyre
- they are saying 'teacher, teacher!'

Only 2 days left...

Canada Goose

A #CanadaGoose seen on a small pond last night. Drawn even later.

A last minute sighting

At the very end of my walk yesterday I heard a small commotion in the top of a lime tree... I was thrilled to see that it was some #LongTailedTits

They have a lovely shape, fluffy little ball with a long thin tail.

They are really interesting nest builders too- I couldn't cram enough on here so do look it up!

It's such a surprise to see what crosses my path each day, I'm wondering what I'll see for last 4 days of #AlicesAprilAviary

Also starting to ponder about a May challenge...

A Pigeon

#Pigeon seen yesterday, as I scampered into town after work... to pick up some stationery supplies 

A lot of people aren't fans of #Pigeons but I love looking at them- seemingly a dull grey but they often have shimmers  of green,  pink and purple, shades of which are just lovely.

The sketchbook in the background has 'pigeons on the platform' a drawing a day from December 2014 while waiting for a train.

Note : I'm much less keen on 'pesky pigeons' that disregard personal space, barging past each other to get under the bench you are on and when they flap right next to you... especially if I'm trying to draw them - I jump way too easily...and go very wrong!

A Marsh Tit... hopefully

A #MarshTit seen yesterday.  I really hope they were Marsh rather than Willow... (apparently they are super similar).

I'm a novice at bird identification which is a part of the reason for this project!

Also some facts about them (also hope they are true!), they also have a great memory and a wide repertoire of songs...

Nuthatch

#Nuthatch seen yesterday on these nuts. I think their dusky blue-grey outfit is the most lovely colour

A Wren

A #Wren - I think they are lovely looking little things. I've been really hoping the wren I've seen in my garden would make an appearance this month. I've not seen her for a while and have been worried a neighbourhood cat might have seen her... however I'm sure it was her flying from the garden yesterday morning,  and then I definitely saw another yesterday evening.

Also playing with labels/extra info idea...

A Buzzard wears a necklace...

A #Buzzard for yesterday's #alicesaprilaviary drawing.

I saw two buzzards close up, one on a fence post and the other in a larch. Then more later in flight.

As I've mentioned before I've enjoyed reading about each species as I go, Wikipedia described the Buzzard as having -a pale 'necklace' of feathers' which I'd not realised before. I've been tempted to write facts about them or label features as I go but decided against it in general. However I may play with some card or print designs that builds on this idea!

Never seen in the garden as photographed but I thought it went nicely with the spring blooms and brick.

Dunnock

A Dunnock and yesterday's amazingly blue sky.

There is a Dunnock that often perches in this hedge in the garden or balances on the top of the fence.

Confession: the stick perch is a real stick...

Collared Dove

A #CollaredDove seen yesterday, on a chimney keeping watch on the world.

Also... I have a new book! A giant book of birds, an eBay find that I'm enjoying greatly. I realised only after embarking on this challenge that I didn't actually have a bird book at home! 

It is not one for out and about but for a coffee table or lap and reading up on the species at home.

A couple of books on woodlands have helped me out as you may have seen (Green Woodpecker) and I've used other people's bird books when I've stayed with them (Swallow). Google has also helped but I really don't enjoy finding images that way.

Red Kite

A Red Kite from yesterday.

Drawn late and not my best but that's part of what drawing everyday is for me- there are guaranteed to be some drawings that are awful (or that I just don't like). 

However the liklihood of there also being ones I really like and am proud of also increases. Art & maths... or something!

#alicesaprilaviary and a hint of spring blooms in the background.

The winner is... the Coal Tit

There were lots of lovely little Coal Tits in the Rowan tree and on the bird feeder yesterday. There were lots of other birds too, but these fluffy little things won me over.

An unexpected treat

Two Grey Wagtails were enjoying this stream yesterday afternoon - perching and wagging on the beaches and then flying on and repeating... all the way upstream. 

First Swallow sighting of the year

I saw my first Swallow of the year yesterday!

Their shape is described in the book- they have distinctive 'long tail streamers' - which I think is a lovely phrase! I'll now think of them as flying streamers behind them as they dance in the sky.

The book on the top left is lovely, it has my Grannie's handwriting inside, labelling as my mum's book from when she was little.

Jackdaw

A Jackdaw for yesterday. I saw several at different times during the day and so they became the species of the day for my Alice's April Aviary challenge.

I used to watch 2 Jackdaws that used to sit on the chimney of a house opposite and frequently drew them. My sister named them Jack and Jackie Jackdaw- I used to imagine their conversations a they sat up there!

Robin

A little Robin hopped over to my bench when I was sketching outside yesterday.

I love their super skinny little legs!

No longer waiting in the wings!

When I started this challenge (at the start of the month) I hadn't decided to publish it here. A week later I thought it would be a good plan (and motivates me to keep it up!). So I have some catching up to do in terms of sharing the pictures of the first week.

The idea came to me when I was on holiday on the Isle of Mull. We saw some fab birds there - a couple of my long time favourites - the Oyster Catcher with his splendid orangey legs and bill, and the Grey Heron - I love how gangly they are and how they move - those long legs stalking through the water, or their huge wings when they fly - and awkward neck they have to fold in! We also saw eagles which were very exciting - I still need to do a bit of research on these to find out what type they were.

First up was the Oyster Catcher. This was a sketch done on the 31st March, which gave me the idea for the challenge. I drew him again as a card - you can see me drawing it in this video.

Next up is the Hooded Crow - there were lots of these on Mull too...

Next up is the Greylag Goose - there were lots and lots of these on Mull too

The Heron was the last bird drawn from our holiday on Mull... or Mulliday as I like to refer to it.

The woodpecker was spotted on my cousin's bird feeder - the other side of Scotland, near Stonehaven. We were looking in a lovely bird guide that my cousin has that used to belong to our Grandmother's best friend - she had made a note of when and where she had seen each species on the list at the front of the book. For that reason I'm making a note of where I've seen each of these too.

The Lapwing was seen in a field and flying up from it on our drive back from Scotland. 

The Magpie was from the car the next day...

Next up is a blue tit - seen in my garden, hopping about on top of the hedge.

Next up was the Sparrow that is already online!

This swan was seen at Attingham Park, on a walk on Saturday.

And that fills in the gaps so far!

Alice's April Aviary ... so far-

1. Oyster Catcher

2. Hooded Crow

3. Grey Heron

4. Great Spotted Woodpecker

5. Lapwing

6. Magpie

7. Sparrow

8. Blue Tit

9. Mute Swan

10. Mallard

11. Blackbird

12. Green Woodpecker

...right, I'd better get away from the computer and see what I can see today!

Yaffle

I had a lovely day in the woods in the sun yesterday and returned happy and smelling of woodsmoke.

I've hardly ever seen the Green Woodpecker... but he laughs and laughs whenever I'm there! Yesterday was no different.

I'm really enjoying learning a bit about each species- I've been looking them up in the evenings.

Also known as the Green 'Yaffle' - a name given to it as it sounds like someone laughing.

A blackbird saves the day!

There were very few birds about yesterday... and so much rain I was getting a bit worried about what I was going to draw for my #AlicesAprilAviary challenge.

Then a blackbird saved the day! He only perched on a post, then a chimney, then an aerial very briefly and then was gone! That was enough to make him the species of the day.

There is also a hilarious little video of the blackbird winking ;) over on Facebook... click here to have a look!

Mr Mallard

Yesterday's drawing for #AlicesAprilAviary is the mallard.

More precisely it is Mr Mallard who was on the River Dee in Chester yesterday, posing while I has a picnic lunch.

It would have been rude not to draw him.

Alice's April Aviary

I decided I needed another monthly challenge following last months March Meet The Maker... and so I've decided on #AlicesAprilAviary - a study of a different bird species each day this month. I'm hoping to draw a bird I've seen that day, ideally with a directly observed sketch to accompany the study, but so far is been studies only apart from this sparrow.

This was initially inspired by the birds seen on holiday last week on the Isle of Mull, Scotland.

I'll have to play catch up and share them here as there are already 10 waiting in the wings (...sorry I know that's dreadful!)

Customers

A day late due to lack of Internet but...

Day 31 | #MarchMeetTheMaker is #customers

I'm working on these spring studies at present, soon to turn them into products for customers to buy. 

It'll be a watch this space I'm afraid as quite what these will be is work in progress!

I've really enjoyed this challenge, thank you @joannehawker for devising it. Lovely to meet so many makers this way!