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My Week in Birds - June 2026, week 2
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My Week in Birds ~ July week 1
Really there’s only one bird to talk about this week. A little bit of a highlight who surpasses everything else. ~ I went birding at the weekend with two friends who I hadn’t seen for a while, neither knew each other so it was nice to introduce them. The day started in mist. It was beautiful and mysterious but not the most ideal conditions for bird spotting! Knowing we had an impressive picnic to look forward to around midday (thank you Emma and Olivia, and apologies my contribution was lacking) we stuck it out and were rewarded greatly, not just by the edibles. For in the dense salt bushes, by the edge of the faint sun sparkled water, a sweet little face peeked out. It belonged to the extremely endangered orange-bellied parrot, or the OBP to birders. We even saw a flash of its fabulous, famous, flaming belly. I’ll be making a little “Trip To...” book about this outing over the next few weeks, probably bringing it out sometime in August or September along with another planned Trip To... book. Keep an eye out for them!
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My Week in Birds ~ June 2026 Week 4
The wood ducks have returned to my little town. They seem to hang out here in the winter months, at least I have images of them in my memory every year sitting in the branches of The Big Tree with the misty morning surrounding them, calling their comforting, but still slightly otherworldy wails. Did you know that my friend Sarah hand prints all of my wooden bird mobiles? I carve the lino plates and she prints them using a roller and a little printing press. Each colour a new layer. Initially I printed them myself but it took up all my time (and space) meaning I was able to do very littl else. Sarah has been printing for me for about 8 years now and she’s still not bored of it! She has just finished a batch of Welcome Swallows which haven’t been in stock for quite a while, so it’s good to see them back. I’ll let you into a little secret about this design. I accidentally made one of the wings ever so slightly smaller than the other. I was annoyed with myself initially but then I realised it meant the bird hangs at an angle which looks like it is swooping and soaring and playing in the air like real swallows do. A whole flock would look lovely all together! There are weird signs of spring everywhere yet it is only the start of winter. The jonquils have popped their yellow heads out already in my garden and the golden wattle is a month or so early round here. Musk lorikeets have arrived in flocks too, I don’t think I’ve seen them here at this time of year before. They are joining a host of bees in feeding on what appears to be the flowers of what I think are the tall ash trees lining our town’s oval (I really must get better at tree identification.) It has been a very mild start to winter in central Victoria, but it’s bringing the stubby little musk lorikeets so it’s not all doom and gloom! I found an old SD card for my camera the other day, popped it into my computer to see what was on it and Oh Joy! tonnes of phtoos I took about 5 years ago of yellow robins! So I’ve been drawing away with my oil pastels (my new favourite medium) and I also decided to make a drypoint etching of this glorious bird! So keep an eye out as I’ll soon be making the drawings and the etching available in the ol’ online shop. (I’ll probably announce it all next friday!)Happy Bird Noticing!
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My Week in Birds ~ June 2026 Week 3
It’s the week before the last week of school term 2, and yet I feel I’m only just settling into this year’s new routines. I’m trying to walk everyday with my reluctant little dog, Viktor, and my neighbour’s oversized old gentleman, Smooch, the Hungarian vizsla. I include him on our walks because he’s such a glorious orange colour and often goes very well with my outfits. My wardrobe is very Autumnal. I spotted a grey shrikethrush through my dirty studio window this week. I’ve been hearing them again lately. Their call is so evocative and pulls me back to somewhere that I haven’t quite figured out. It might be the memory of my two years in the bush, in a place called Basalt, outside of Daylesford, where my husband and I lived just after we got married. It was my first experience of being in the Australian bush and the noises and smells were so different to my experience of Australia (mostly just Melbourne) up to that point and a stark contrast to the two years spent back in Northern Ireland before our wedding. For me, the shrikethrush sings the song of adventure and new places. Perhaps they heralded me choosing a life in Australia. Maybe their song signalled the start of what my art practice has now become: my love of this area and how I’m always trying to recreate the sense of it in my work. I included the grey shrikethrush in my book The Bush Birds. The photo that inspired the illustration was of a visitor to our garden during the lockdowns of 2021, who nested under the eaves of our house, although I never quite figured out where! She was a very welcome lodger during those unusual times. A big thank you to everyone who replied to last week’s email telling me of some good double-barred finch hangouts. I now have an adventure planned with my friend Jane for September. However we’re claiming to be searching for DIAMOND FIRETAILS because we never find our target bird on our trips and I really want to see the double-barred delights!
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