Butterflies
and BuzzardsButterflies
and BuzzardsWild West Yorkshire, Thursday 7 October 2010
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AT
FIRST I
thought
it was a
heron flying
slowly over
roofs across
the road
as you often
see them
setting
off on their
rounds at
this time
of the morning,
but it was
brown; a
buzzard.
In silhouette
it doesn't
have the
tucked in
long neck
of the heron.
I hope they'll
become as
frequent
as herons
in the valley.
Seeing a
buzzard
against
a clear
blue sky
is a great
way to start
the day;
a reminder
that wild
landscapes
aren't so
far away.
Approached
from Wakefield,
our village
of Middlestown
seems tagged
on to a
sprawling
conurbation
but coming
down Hostingley
Lane from
Thornhill,
you realise
that isn't
really the
case; it's
set amongst
fields,
woods and
hedges at
the edge
of the Calder
Valley with
its river
and wetlands.
For birds
it links
in with
other, wilder
habitats.
On today's book run, we take a lunch break at a supermarket cafe where I draw this VW camper van. It's such a classic and for me it conjures up images of the freedom. In summer last year I was keen to buy one and set off on a drawing trip but we opted for a few stays in country cottages instead. This VW belongs to one of the staff at the supermarket.
'It's lovely in summer but it gets very cold if you're in one in winter!' we're warned but on a day like today, it still seems tempting..
This afternoon there are four different species of butterfly on the michaelmas daisies; several small tortoiseshells, two peacocks, a red admiral and a comma. This morning a speckled wood was feeding on the flowers.
Camper
Van BreadBy the time we get home after another mum's hospital appointment, I don't feel like starting work again and instead I get creative - and messy - in the kitchen. To go with the soup Barbara made this morning I make a Soda Bread Farl, which you bake in a frying pan,. I was inspired to try it by seeing Peter Sidwell make some in a VW camper van in the television series Lakes on a Plate.
Mine turned out doughy in the middle so I might try making it a bit thinner next time, but I'll keep experimenting. It's all very well being creative in the kitchen but I'm aware that I'm not making any progress with my own creative work on the book I'm writing.
Roald Dahl used to go down his garden and hide in his shed to write, he'd sit in an old chair, wrapped in a blanket if it was cold. Hmmm. No, there isn't room in our shed for me to do that.
But on a crisp, sunny autumn day like today, surrounded by butterflies and with the odd buzzard flying over, it would be the next best thing to setting off in a camper van on a book project.
Link: Peter Sidwell's soda bread farl. Hint; if yours turns out doughy in the middle like ours did, cut it in half and fry the innner surface. It was nice cu
Richard Bell, illustrator
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