18th May - First Lindisfarne Sketch Book event a success

Despite an awful weather forecast, the event turned out to be a great morning. John Steele is a very talented artist who captures the wildlife of the Reserve beautifully. He uses sketching as a technique of studying nature in more detail and to record interesting animal and bird behaviour.

Although it was misty and grey, not great for studying the landscape, we found plenty of interesting objects and animals to look at. We started off by sketching two garden snails that we found right beside the car park, they seemed to be in courtship so this was a great chance to view some interesting behaviour while studying them in detail.

Garden snail sketches

In the dunes, we came across a garden tiger moth caterpillar that didn’t seem deterred in the slightest by the mist and rain. Its hairs were covered in raindrops, a beautiful subject to draw.

John thought the pirri-pirri bur would be interesting to look at more closely – an unusual choice, since this a non-native species and is less welcome here! – as the seeds have such a unique shape. Studying them with the help of a hand-lens, you can really see how they get lodged right into clothing and fur with their barbs. This makes it all the more important to check thoroughly that you or your dog are not carrying any before leaving the Reserve.

Pirri-pirri bur seeds

This morning taught us how to take a fresh approach to watching wildlife on the reserve. John will kindly be running this event again on Sunday 10^th August, another chance to take part in this fantastic event and learn much about improving your artistic skill, whilst learning about the wildlife here in a unique way. More information is on the Events page.