A walk up Moel Famau and Moel Dywyll

The best thing about today was getting out for a good walk with Holly.  My daughters were out and about, two of them spending their Christmas money in the sales and the other watching Star Wars.  I had planned on going to Kinmel Bay on the North Wales coast as there have been sightings of Snow buntings there but on realising I'd forgotten to put the memory card in the camera I diverted to Moel Famau on the Clwydian range for a walk there instead.  I thought I'd be able to take a few snaps on my phone but it decided to die on me so there are no photos from today's walk.  However as I've walked this area many times before here are a few from previous walks down the ridge to give you an idea of the scenery (photos taken by Gary)

Moel Dywyll is the twin topped peak in the distance (Moel Famau is off the picture to the right)

Looking back towards Moel Famau from just beneath the summit of Moel Dywyll

On the way down from Moel Famau 

It's incredibly mild for this time of year and I put too many layers on as usual and was soon peeling my coat, hat and gloves off - I needed the coat later on though as it rained as I was walking back to the car.  This walk took about 2 hours, then it was back home to make tea!

A wet walk and more painting

Another wet day today and we went for a walk in our local woodland which has the River Alyn running through.  My black labrador Holly loves it here and always has to have a swim.  She finds a stick (the biggest she can find) and then runs around us waiting for us to throw it into the river so she can dive in fetch it - she would do this all day and is a typical water loving lab.  After all the heavy rain there was a lot of water gushing down the river as you can see in the photograph below.  During the summer months the water usually disappears down swallow holes and the river bed is dry along this section.

After our walk we stopped at Caffi Florence for an early yummy lunch (ham and sweet potato soup for me and a sausage sandwich for Gary) then back home as I had family visiting. When they left it was back out again for a run as I'm trying to get fit for a challenge I've signed up to later this year (I've got a long way to go yet before I'm anywhere near fit enough though!). This evening I spent some time finishing off the painting I was working on yesterday for the wildlife journal, adding a grey seal we saw in Angel Bay on the Little Orme and a fulmar as we saw many of these lovely birds flying around and perched on the cliff edges.  At first glance they appear gull like but are actually related to albatrosses and can be distinguished from gulls by their stiff wing flight and tubed noses. The photograph below was taken by Gary Jones in the lower quarry at the Little Orme

 and here is a blurred photo of the journal page taken on my phone ....

Tomorrow is my last day off before returning to work after the Christmas break - it's forecast rain again but I'll be out and about at some point - you have to when you've got a labrador!

Highlights of the day today - having a lovely walk this morning - seeing my gorgeous niece and nephew this afternoon - going on a run and feeling really good afterwards that I'd been on a run!

The sun shines even when it rains

It's been another rainy day here in Wales and I've not been out and about today but have spent the day doing a bit of tidying up after Christmas, making a yummy chilli for tea and also took the opportunity to do some painting for the wildlife journal I've been putting together.  Readers of previous posts will know I paint studies of the wildlife that I see on my travels - here is a link to a youtube video of some of the studies I did during last year which I keep in a display book

 Wildlife Journal

and here is a stonechat I painted today as part of a new page in the journal - it is one of the stonechats we saw yesterday on the Little Orme

Rain doesn't need to stop us going out and we've been out for walks in all weathers but we can also take advantage of these days to just relax at home and paint, read a good book or magazine, watch a good film or bake a cake or whatever it is that makes you happy. How do you like to spend your rainy days?

Starting a year of gratitude

It's a new year and a new start for my blog which has been severely neglected for many months.  I've decided to start blogging again and as well as sharing photographs from walks and paintings that I've done as I always have,  I'm planning on also using this blog as a daily gratitude journal - we tend to take for granted the good things in our lives and it can be all too easy to get bogged down with negative thoughts whether it be work, the weather, the media, family disputes,  financial difficulties etc etc. so every evening I'm planning on writing a short blog highlighting something that has happened that I'm grateful for and to notice and appreciate each day's gifts.  I'm doing this for my own reasons and am more likely to keep it up if I do it in the form of a blog.  Please feel free to join me and share your own daily highlights in the comments below or write your own list just for you! Then look back at the year and see how blessed it was, focussing on all the positives rather than any unpleasant stuff!

So here goes for the first day of the year!....

I tend to go for a walk on New Years Day and today was no exception - I had plans to visit my mum in hospital in the afternoon so we didn't have all day free.  We drove up to the Little Orme on the North Wales coast which is about 40 minutes away from where I live and walked up to the summit.  It was cloudy but dry and the views were superb.  

This is the view over Llandudno Bay and the Great Orme

Holly enjoying the views from the summit trig point

This is the view on the way up looking over Penrhyn Bay, Rhos on Sea and Colwyn Bay

There was also plenty of wildlife about including grey seals in a small cove which has the lovely name of Angel Bay, fulmars and choughs flying around, a few stonechats and a peregrine  -  here are a couple of photos taken by Gary Jones Wildlife Photography

I'd also like to share a special photo from New Year's Eve - we were hoping to catch the final sunset of the year from Llanddwyn Island on the coast of Anglesey - things were not looking great weather wise and it rained heavily most of the day - then magically the clouds lifted to the west and we rushed over to the island as the tide was going out and sat watching the sun set on 2015 - the perfect way to end the year. This place has a magical feel to it and is one of the most beautiful places I've visited. 

photo taken by Gary Jones Wildlife Photography

Today I go to sleep feeling grateful that I am able to experience these places that many people only get to see in photographs  -  also this afternoon my mum came home from hospital and is feeling much better which is wonderful news. 

A happy new year to you all

Paintings and panoramas

A lone puffin we saw at Bempton Cliffs at the end of March - in a variety of poses!

We finally found a place fairly local to us where we have been guaranteed good sightings of a number of brown hares and have revisited this place a few times now.  It takes patience sitting under a hedge in the corner of a large field very still so you don't disturb them and usually for at least an hour before a hare will come close enough to observe properly but well worth it!

Still finding it hard to find time to blog but determined to keep it going if only intermittently as my own little diary of what I do for me to look back on.  The wildlife journalling is still ongoing although it's slowed down a lot - not that I'm not getting out and about in the countryside with the camera - I've been doing lots of that and enjoying every minute of it - but having time to paint what I've seen has been another matter! Any painting time I've had has been taken up with commissions as I've had a run of them lately but I've also been busy enjoying the lighter Spring evenings taking Holly out for longer walks - feel so sorry for her being cooped up in the house while I'm at work! My daughters are in and out of the house during the day in between university and college lessons so she does get some company but they're hopeless at taking her for walks and leave that up to mum - not that I mind though - after a day's work and making dinner, there is nothing better than going out for a wander down the local river or up one of the local hills, taking in the scenery and wildlife - I love this time of year after what seems such a long winter full of short days, when you get home from work and it's dark - I think lots of people can relate to feeling a bit down over the winter months for the very reason that many people (depending on the job they do) don't really see much daylight. I'm lucky that my work does get me out and about during the working day and I'm also very lucky that I have my painting that keeps me occupied on those long winter nights - when I paint I am transported back to the time I was inspired to paint the subject in front of me - I can almost feel the breeze, smell the air and hear the sounds -  which is why I tend to get more painting done in the winter!  I do have a day off during the week which coincides with Gary's day off so we will either have what we call a 'photography day' or a 'walking day'  - I love both but a day out walking in the mountains just about wins for me I think and I hope I'll still have the health and fitness to do it into my golden years!  The photograph below is Holly and me on High Hartsop Dodd in the Lake District yesterday, a beautiful area and the one after that is taken on Sergeants Crag a couple of weeks earlier.   Anyone who has heard of the Wainwright's will know what I mean when I say yesterday was my 204th Wainwright - only 10 more to go before I complete them all - and I'm loving every minute of it!

I first started walking just over 6 years ago so pretty late in life and I really haven't looked back - it has opened my eyes to a whole new world that I hadn't even realised existed, it brought me closer to wildlife and inspired me to start drawing and painting again, something I hadn't done since my late teens.  I love art but if I were asked what is more important to me at this time I would say it is the experience for me which has become more so  - I know this isn't the same for all artists who will say the love of art comes first.  Art for me has become a way of celebrating those experiences in a painting or journal page which will provide a lasting memory of a special moment - and that's exactly what I'm concentrating on this year with the wildlife journals.  When my legs won't take me to these wonderful places anymore I'll hopefully still be able to paint them when I'm old and grey!  

That's not to say I won't occasionally paint something from someone else's photo which inspires me and I'm happy to take on commissions from time to time - memorialising someone else's experience - it's an honour to be asked.   I recently painted this butterfly on a thistle from a photo by Dave Smith from Paint My Photo - and there are a few more photos from PMP I'll probably have a go at at some point - just for fun - and why not!!

Thank you to anyone who pops in and reads my waffle - it's a bit of a mixed bag on this post but my life is a bit of a mixed bag too - all good though!

Wheatears and Stonechats

Studies of two of my favourite birds which we've recently had good sightings of.  Firstly it is always a thrill to see the first wheatears of the year arriving here from their wintering grounds.  Amazing little birds to fly the thousands of miles it does every year.  I'm looking forward to seeing plenty of them throughout the summer months keeping us company on our walks in the hills.

And secondly, probably high on most birdwatchers list of favourite birds, the stonechat - a bird that toughs it out here in the UK over the winter, which makes them even more endearing.  Gary and I saw them in good numbers near Conwy mountain last week which is wonderful to see.

Latest encounters in watercolour

I am still enjoying doing these wildlife studies and am starting to put together quite a collection.  Gary bought me a wonderful display book to put them in but I think I'll soon be needing another as it's almost half full. Here are the latest studies - hope you like them

Kinmel Bay - I went for a walk along the beach at Kinmel Bay with Holly who I keep under control in these places, making sure she doesn't stress out the birds.  It annoys me to see the way some irresponsible dog owners allow their dogs to go charging through huge flocks of birds, sending them all in the air in distress - no need for it.  There were lots of gulls on the beach and one of my all time favourite little waders, sanderlings who are so comical to watch like little clockwork toys scurrying along the tideline.  There were starfish on the menu with a great black back and juvenile gull both finding a tasty starfish for lunch.  It was a really cold day made colder by the fact that it poured down with rain, but the rain did make the colours of the pebbles shine which was lovely!

Avocets are one of my favourite birds to paint - such elegant waders with their upturned beaks, beautiful black markings with a touch of dark brown when you look carefully and those long blue legs - like works of art in themselves!  I counted 17 of them at Burton Mere while I was there.

Also at RSPB Burton Mere there have been good sightings of this long eared owl although  I've only seen it twice out of the 4 times I have been since it has been seen  and both times quite well hidden (the sketch on the right has been done from a previous photo that Gary took of a long eared owl.)  Wonderful to see this beautiful bird and my first sighting of one in the wild.

This next set of studies was inspired by a trip to Formby National Trust reserve where we saw a good number of red squirrels - I was surprised how varied their colours were with a few of them looking more of a dark grey than red and one was almost black.  They are obviously used to lots of people around as they came up very near to us - it was fascinating to watch them feeding and caching their food, scurrying up and down the trees and chasing each other around - they never stopped!

The latest studies I've done is of some red billed choughs which were seen at South Stack last Friday - one of the males there has started feeding from the sunflower hearts outside the cafe - apparently learned behaviour from the jackdaws.  The day after we were there we heard that guillemots and razorbills had arrived in large numbers - we were a day too early to see this spectacle so must go back soon!