Studley Royal

I had a day out in Studley Royal Deer Park at Fountain's Abbey near Ripon on Sunday. I know it's not the Highlands of Scotland, but with a busy schedule getting ready for my exhibition next month it was the best I could do.
The deer rut is now on. The red deer start off the rut, followed by sika and fallow deer in November. I managed to get some good photographs, including one of this fine fallow buck (pictured above).
This sika buck.
And these two red hinds. They were boxing over some carrots that the keepers had left out for them.

Pick a fight with a penguin?

I'm delighted to hear that this photograph of mine is appearing in the Times, the Sun & the Daily Mail today.
It captures the moment when a giant elephant seal met its match in a comparatively tiny king penguin.
The penguin, which I photographed in South Georgia, found a giant elephant seal blocking his path to the water and gave it an almighty slap with its flipper.
But he quickly realised his error as the beast, which is 300 times heavier than he is, let out a huge roar and forced him to waddle backwards.
Luckily this was as vicious as it got and the penguin slunk off to go the long way round to sea.

Welsh Caps

The bespoke framing service is really kicking off. This week we had an international footballer in asking us to frame some of his Welsh caps! Graham Moore played for Wales during the early sixties and even scored against England in 1963. The former Chelsea player was clearly quite a hit because he was sold to Manchester United in 1963 for £35,000.

Heather Honey

I took my bee hive up to feed on the heather on the North Yorkshire Moors this autumn.

It makes a good setting for a family picnic when I need to go and check up on them, although this year the weather meant wet picnics.But despite the rain my bees managed to give me 30 jars! It's not to everyone's taste, but bees fed on heather blossom produce a rich, dark honey that I love.

To read more on the subject click here to link to my latest column in the Gazette & Herald.

Wren return

I have a new wren roosting in my back porch! The two that raised their brood last summer disappeared over the winter and I had missed them. It's nice to see the pouch I put up for them occupied again.

Peregrine Perfect

There's to be a focus on beautiful British game birds at my Christmas exhibition in November and although this peregrine falcon is by no means a game bird I've decided to include her all the same. I've just finished painting her and I'm pleased with how proud she looks.

Gearing up for Exhibition

I've been working on several paintings at once as I gear up for my Christmas exhibition. It runs from November 13th - 28th. Whilst that seems a long way off, it isn't really when you think how much there is to get ready.