Blog Posts

Early morning beauty (my first 1 minute movie)

5/12/2019

This week I am going to produce a movie called 'A Week in the Life of my Garden'. It will be my contribution to the BBC's annual Get Creative Festival which encourages people to do something they feel is creative and to share what they have done. I will be sharing my movie with the members of the Creative Academic and #creativeHE facebook group as part of our own Lets Get Creative Festival and hope that it encourages others to make their own garden movies. I will also share it in the Wildlife Gardening Facebook group

I didn't know how I was going to make the movie at the start or what I would make the movie about but I was confident that my garden would inspire me. On the first day of discussion in the #creativeHE someone talked about the 1" drawings they make everyday and this gave me the idea of a 1minute movie each day. So that solved theproblem of how I would make my movie and this is the first of my 1 minute movies.

I woke up this morning and the sun was streaming through the bedroom window. It propelled me out of bed and into the garden with my camera and I took these stunning early morning photos that I turned into a 1 minute movie using windows moviemaker. I knew that these were photos I could only take at this particular moment in this particular space. What a wonderful start to the day and to my 'Week in the Life of My Garden' movie.

I used one of the photos to create a dreamscope (digital) painting. I find it amazing that even a digitally composed painting can be aesthetically pleasing and transform a scene to bring out fresh interest and beauty that engages us emotionally.

Quiet reflections for a special day

5/5/2019

Today is a special day for me and my children. It’s the 20th anniversary of the day my first wife Jill died of breast cancer. I remember the day and particularly the early morning a few hours after she died quite vividly. It was about 6am when I arrived home from the hospital and feeling numb and disoriented I sat shivering by the canal at the bottom of our garden where we used to live gazing into the reflections in the water. It was a morning similar to this morning bright and beautiful and dazzling as the early morning sun bounced off the water. Jill loved sitting by the water and we all have fond memories of her sitting on the bench on the jetty drinking her morning coffee so I thought I would make my simple memorial through a movie that reflects the stillness and beauty in the water of our pond.

Every year at this time the foregetmenots bloom as if to remind us not to forget her. They poke up everywhere and you can't escape them. It's easy to see how we create meaning from such things. But she is never far from our thoughts and that will be until we cannot remember her any more.

New arrivals

4/30/2019

A few days ago we were greeted at breakfast by a small crowd of day old goslings being hearded across the lawn by their proud parents. This year there are six of them and we know they will spend the next 10 weeks with us and grow into beautiful Canada geese and then fly away to the larger flock.

The arborists

4/24/2019

This week there has been a major effort to tackle our trees.I employed two different teams of arborists to do the major cutting and bole grinding while I did the tidying up around the edges. It was great to watch these young but experienced men climb the trees and cut them down. They also chipped what they had cut so I was left with a big pile of chips that I used to cover the path in the woods - a yellow-chip road! So where there used to be half fallen trees there are now neat stacks of logs.

Advanced signs of spring & the curious and confident fox

4/20/2019

Spring is a process. The first signs begin way back in February, they gather pace in March and by mid April its in full swing. A few days of warm( 25C) sunny weather has encouraged the leaves to unfold on many trees, cheery and apple blossom is everywhere, as are foregetmenots and bluebells. The lilly's are beginning to emerge from the bottom of the pond and the fish are rising. I even saw the large carp at the surface today. The weeping willows are now full of leaf and the pussy willow is full of seeds. There is also much happening in the woods. There is a rich carpet of ground cover including wild garlic and bluebells and even the ash are beginning to take on a tinge of green. Here are just a few of the more advanced signs of spring.

I have now tided up the edge of the west side of the lake and I am pleased with the results. I have planted several clumps of 'copper grass' where there were barren areas in the grasses and sedges. I planted several ferns near the big old fern donated by my son by the weeping willow.

I decided I would cut the grass in the paddock. I half did it last year but the brambles have grown so much in the part that I didn't cut that they are in danger of taking over unless I do something fairly radical. So for about 5 or 6 hours under the hot sun I trundled backwards and forwards. Skirting round small bushes which I will take out later. I'm very conscious that I am destroying lots of habitats but in the long term it is better for the health of the field. As I was cutting a large fox came into the field and started perusing the stubble. He looked very healthy and he wasn't a bit bothered by me on the noisy tractor. He seemed curious, cautious and confident and he let me film him.

It's our garden anniversary

4/5/2019

14 years ago today we began to inhabit this land.. I remember when we first saw our garden and we could not believe that we could own such a space. We have pinched ourselves everyday as we look out of our kitchen window. I know I am a lucky man and I cannot think of a more beautiful place to live on this earth. Over the years I have covered almost every inch on foot or tractor and admired its beauty. I realised a long time ago that I am simply the temporary custodian and that this thing of beauty will be owned by someone else in the not too distant future. So I have toiled to keep this verdant place in check, not just for me and my family, but for the people who will also look after and enjoy this landscape in the future. But there is also a price to pay for the privilege of dwelling in this place and the garden has a wonderful ability to cause pain (back, knees, cuts and lacerations, stings, burns and more). But that it is a small price to pay for the feelings of wellbeing it provides, the moods and thoughts it inspires, and the endless opportunity to admire and celebrate its beauty in the artefacts I make. Sadly, I cannot find any photos from when we first moved in. Perhaps we were too busy to take them. So I will have to make do with two images I processed using 'dreamscope'.

So in honour of my garden I dedicate my attempt to capture it in a painting and two photographic images that I processed using 'dreamscope'. The first is in the style of Monet's water lilies the second in the style of a Hockney woodland painting. Seeing the garden through their eyes of these artists gives me a different perspective.

SIGNS OF SPRING: BREXIT DAY MARCH 29th

3/28/2019

Today is the day we were supposed to leave the EU but because of the inability of our Prime Minister to build a consensus that brings together the middle ground of political opinion we are going to grind on - although not this PM I suspect after today's vote.

But its a beautiful day and looking out of the window just fills me with joy. Spring has definitely arrived but spring is definitely a process and I have been very conscious this year of how slowly it emerges. The first signs are already around in early February but there isn't a week goes by without some new awakening in the landscape or soundscape. The bird sounds are just as important a sign of spring as the plants and trees. These are some of the signs I have recognised over the last 6 weeks.

Geese have arrived

3/1/2019

Its March 1st the first day of spring according to the meteorological calendar and a pair of Canada Geese have turned up presumably to raise their family again. I am not sure the ducks will be happy as they are very territorial. I am assuming that they are the same pair as last year but I will try to discover if they have any distinctive markings.

It's now 4 weeks after the geese arrived and one of the geese has disappeared. I think into the dogwood on the island to lay her eggs.

APRIL 24th THE GOSLINGS ARRIVED we woke up to find them under the kitchen window!

Sunrise

2/24/2019

Enjoying the power lines

2/24/2019

Transmission power lines are an intrusive and ugly sign in the landscape reminding us of how unnatural man made constructions can be. But today, in the warm afternoon sunshine, I spotted a row of 17 doves making good use of them.

Garden Notes
My garden keeps me busy and it gives me the exercise I need to keep fit. It also gives me a lot of pleasure and happiness. It enables me to express myself creatively and draws my attention to the beauty and ecology of life. In this blog I am telling the story of my garden and my involvement and experiences in it through photos, movies, paintings and other artefacts it inspires me to create.

Useful Links
Wildlife Garden Forum
Surrey Wildlife Trust
Habitat Network
Plant Identification UK

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