Holidays are comin. Holidays are comin. And I cannot wait! The countdown to the Christmas shutdown has started!
But, before I get ahead of myself, let’s look at some highlights from Week 48 of my wild challenge! This week I:
☃️ Explored the garden after an impressive hail storm
🐣 Checked on the Rutland Ospreys and Leamington Peregrines
🍒 Looked back on some winter artwork
🦜 Enjoyed the wild sights and sounds of Oxford
Hope you enjoy – only 3 weeks left! 😱
Monday 6th December 2021
My partner and I nestled down this evening to watch a documentary called Wonders of the Celtic Deep. It’s a BBC1 doc that explores the wildlife of the Welsh coast. I’ve written a number of times about my adventures in and around Harlech on Wales’ west coast – it really is beautiful – so thought this could be interesting.
The highlight of this episode had to be the grey seals. Apparently they can sleep in the sea and one segment showed a seal dozing upright while the waves bobbed up and down. It was ridiculous! And I just can’t find a clip of it! But, if you end up watching the doc, it’s in the first 5 minutes of the first episode 😜
Tuesday 7th December 2021
I had a little forage around the garden this morning to see what it’s looking like now all the leaves from the cherry tree and wisteria are gone. The first thing I spotted (from the kitchen window) was the collared dove clinging to a branch, no doubt bracing itself for Storm Barra.
Further exploration revealed that our acer is just about clinging on (though its leaves are pretty much all over the garden too!) and the bright red berries of the scarlet firethorn are flourishing. The honeysuckle is also sprouting some gorgeous black berries. I don’t remember seeing these last year!
Oh, and the ice on the ground? Well, once the storm did arrive, it got extremely dark and then full-on hailed for about 20 minutes. There were piles of hailstones on the ground!
Wednesday 8th December 2021
I realised this week that the Twitter accounts of the birds I followed in Spring are very much still active and I haven’t checked on how they’re doing for months. So I headed first to the Leamington Peregrines. It looks like the peregrine couple are bonding nicely once again atop Leamington’s Town Hall – hopefully they’ll have another clutch next spring!
I then headed to the Rutland Ospreys. Ospreys migrated back to central Africa a few months ago now so their updates are all about the tracking data. Apparently one of the males (4K(13)) is in Guinea at the moment and it looks like he’s predominantly fishing near the Pongo River. Another male who fledged in 2013 (1K(13)) has also been spotted in Senegal.
Thursday 9th December 2021
Ok, I’m an absolute sucker when it comes to impulse buys. I should say that I did spend some time outdoors today at a woodland activity centre for a project I’ll be running with work. So that definitely counts as an ‘act of wildness’. But the wild encounter I’m actually going to note for the day is me handing over some cash for a ridiculously cute hedgehog Christmas jumper. The Wildlife Trusts’ really do know what they’re doing!
Friday 10th December 2021
The acer has lost even more leaves now (after only a few days) and, seeing them scattered all over the path, I thought back to my Autumn/Winter collection that I painted last year. I haven’t even looked at these over the past 12 months and yet I remember really enjoying mixing the colours in the pieces. The berries (probably rosehips), blackberries and acer leaves were the stars of the show. I’m itching to get my watercolours out again soon!
Saturday 11th December 2021
Today presented another opportunity for a cheeky night away in Oxford. The weather was pretty bleak and I think I may have destroyed my lovely – and expensive – black suede ‘power boots’ going around a muddy Christ Church meadow. It was worth it though. Buzzards and red kites burst out of the bare branches above while mallards, a random tufted duck and swans enjoyed the water. A green woodpecker also let out one of its cackling calls.
As I walked, it decided to make good on its threat and actually started raining. The long-tailed tits seemed to particularly enjoy my poor fate – they took it in turns to have a brief bath as the raindrops created little puddles on the bank.
Sunday 12th December 2021
University Parks was the walk of choice to end the week. My partner and I had stayed overnight in the north of the city (in a place called Summertown) and it’s a good couple of miles out from the centre. As we walked towards the hustle and bustle of Oxford’s Christmas market, we wound our way around the park.
Near the River Cherwell, we suddenly heard a noise and I was absolutely convinced it was a parakeet. I wrote about parakeets in Walsall a little while ago but I hadn’t ever seen one in Oxford. We stopped for a second and looked into the trees. The same noise echoed across the river and we spotted some nuthatches, long-tailed tits and great tits high up. We knew none of them were responsible for the calls.
We waited a little longer and then spotted a flash of bright green and the unmistakable tail feathers of a ring-necked parakeet. So Oxford has them too now!
And don’t forget…
I still have a few prints available. If you’re more organised than me (highly likely!), you’ll already have the Christmas presents sorted. But, you never know, you might still like them. Reckon I should maybe try a local craft fair next year 😊
Yorkshire Dales Lapwing (bottom right)
🐦 Number available: 4
📐 Size: 210x210mm (unmounted), 10″x10″ (mounted)
🖌 Materials: Perlino Cotton (part recycled) heavyweight paper
🎁 Price: £16 (unmounted), £18.50 (mounted)
Kennet & Avon Marsh Tit (top left)
🐤 Number of prints available: 2
📐 Size: 210x210mm (unmounted), 10″x10″ (mounted)
🖌 Materials: Perlino Cotton (part recycled) heavyweight paper
🎁 Price: £16 (unmounted), £18.50 (mounted)
Quirky Trees (bottom left)
🌳 Number of prints available: 9
📐 Size: A5 (unmounted), 10″x12″ (mounted with back board)
🖌 Materials: Chunky ‘Elephant Natural’ paper
🎁 Price: £12 (unmounted), £14.50 (mounted with back board)
Flower Meadow (top right)
🌸 Number of prints available: 8
📐 Size: A5 (unmounted), 10″x12″ (mounted with back board)
🖌 Materials: Chunky ‘Elephant Natural’ paper
🎁 Price: £12 (unmounted), £14.50 (mounted with back board)
The full story about each print is in this post – every piece has a story! Contact me at emilyramblings@gmail.com (or drop me a message on Instagram) for more info 😊
*For anyone new to my blog, let me explain a bit more about what these posts are about. Every week I share a summary of my daily ‘acts of wildness’. This wildlife challenge was inspired by ’30 Days Wild’ and ’12 Days Wild’ from The Wildlife Trusts. The ‘356’ isn’t a typo – typically, I only thought about doing this after 2021 had already started so I won’t be able to do a full year this time. Next year will be different though! Thank you and I hope you’ve enjoyed the post!
Ramblings of a (very!) amateur artist 