Francis Hickenbottom’s Nature Notes.
11th September 2011
Blackberries provide one of my favourite subjects for painting at this time of year and I spent a few relaxing hours producing some paintings of them in the Chilterns during the final week of my summer holiday, whilst also watching foraging red kites. One amusing sight was of a camper who had lost part of a baguette which she had been planning to have for lunch. A kite had dropped from the sky moments earlier and snatched the bread.
The images on this page show stages in the development of one of my pictures. They aren’t intended to show the correct way in which to complete a watercolour. I have presented them in this way because I never cease to be amazed by the way in which watercolour paint and a sheet of matt white paper can be used to create convincing images of something as glossy as a blackberry.
On my return to school, I took a walk on the cricket field and immediately noticed
some repeated, weak, almost whining, bird calls coming from a clump of trees at the
end of the cricket field. After watching for a while, I could see that there was
what seemed to be a family of sparrowhawks. Individual sparrowhawks kept flying out
of the trees briefly and re-
I don’t share in some people’s prejudice against sparrowhawks because I see them as a natural part of the ecosystem, so it was good to see them. On the cricket pitch, evidence of their feeding could be seen, in the form of patches of wood pigeon feathers. There were also the remains of a little owl: feathers and a few wing bones.
Inevitably, the little owl remains were on the bank on which an adult little owl and its two chicks could often be seen feeding on sunny days just a few weeks ago.
We started the year with two little owls in the grounds. Since then, two chicks were fledged and, to my knowledge, two have been little owls have been taken by sparrowhawks.
The killing of the little owls came to my attention this year because of the location of the remains but similar levels of predation must affect them in any normal year.