Castle Hill

Thursday, 23rd September 2004
Wild West Yorkshire nature diary

On this clear, sunny afternoon it's like being on a cliff; up here on the top deck of the multi-storey car park in Huddersfield. A tide of traffic sweeps along the ring road, pigeons fly about over town, along with the odd carrion crow.

The light picks out the details of Castle Hill, Almondbury, in relief so it's a perfect time to draw the small pastures, scrub and woodland that interlock like jigsaw pieces on its slopes. There are broad wings over the hill; not a buzzard circling but someone flying a kite.

The tower, built to celebrate Victoria's Daimond Jubilee in 1899, is an essential reference point in my drawing. The hill wouldn't be the same without it.

Richard Bell, richard@willowisland.co.uk