Cats, big and small

What are your favorite animals?

He looks small, but the floral print is really big.

Big cat

I love all cats, that includes Tigers and Lions, cheetahs, snow leopards, ocelots, domestic cats, or any other form of feline. I don’t think I’d like to meet a real big cat, I wish they could be left alone in the wild. I read somewhere that there are more big cats in captivity, or kept as pets, in America, than in the wild. Our obsession with them is causing massive decline in their populations. And yet domestic cats have become pests in some countries. They have decimated wildlife and are sometimes hunted to try and eradicate them. We live in such an upside down world. Too many people pursuing too few wild animals.

Foxy

Six years ago I was painting tiny little matchbox sized pictures. I don’t make much money off them, but I guess a few more people can have examples of my art. I love nature, so some of the subjects are foxes and owls, fish, and other animals. I must do some more. I have a couple of craft fairs/exhibitions this weekend, I need to get my act together and paint, but looking after my hubby is time consuming.

Dead frog?

Photo from the BCB

A giant lies upon it’s back

It’s hop has gone, it’s knocked flat!

A human male looks on

At where nature has gone?

Ceramic frogs don’t jump

They don’t have a heart to pump.

But life has a way of staying

If we from nature aren’t straying.

So give frogs a chance

Put in water plants

Dig a new pond

If of frogs you are fond?

Protect anphibians

Their survival’s in your hands!

Autumn leaves

Most leaves have changed colour

It’s November and they are hanging on

But a storm is coming..

Leaves will spin and twist…

Then fall like snowflakes to the ground.

To be blown along by the wind

Forming drifts

Where hedgehogs can hide,

Damp leaf mold will rot and spread

Nutrients back into the soil.

Leaves anew, next year, to feed..

So the cycle of life turns…

October poppy

We still have yellow Welsh poppies in the garden and it’s almost November!

I don’t think they are that hardy, but it’s a testimony to the exceptional warmth we have been experiencing recently.

It’s edges are darkening, its bright flower reaches up to be pollenated by a bee or hover fly. But they are not awake (or alive?), so perhaps it waits in vain? We need to see nature and our damage of it, look closely at the environment and try and turn back some of the destruction we have wrought. Let’s try and do some small thing to help mother nature.

90s drawing

90s drawing of a sequoia bald eagle. I think we were on holiday in the lake district and called in at a bird sanctuary. It’s in a sketchbook that I just found while trying to declutter. We used to take the train up to Manchester and then cycle to Rochdale, then catch a train up to the south Lake District and then tour and cycle camp or stay at Youth Hostels. I must have been fit!

Hedgehog 2 years ago

Two years ago we were having regular hedgehog visitors to our garden, but this year we haven’t seen any. We live next to a busy road and I worry about them. There was also an area of wasteland next to our garden that had brambles growing on it. That was cleared by a builder who removed all the vegetation from it, our garden is quite wild but there was old bits of wood to hide under. I think we will start leaving food out for them to forage again.

Heron on the bank

Blurry photo of a heron chilling out on the canal bank today. It leant forward a few times and looked into the murky brown water but then resumed it’s original position again. I guess it must have seen a fish.

We have previously seen people magnet fishing in the canal, they said they sometimes find things, but nothing valuable. Is a shopping trolley or bike frame worth it? I guess you can weigh things in for scrap. In the meantime I hope the heron got his dinner!