May 2007

This image is from a postcard (possibly from the 70’s or 80’s) and must be one of the dullest postcards of Rivington ever!

When I paint it’s important to me to be able to distill into the painting some of the most essential elements of the original. So when I painted this Blackpool sunset, I wanted to infuse the painting not just with the colours, hues and tones of the original but also to include the cry of the gulls, the sound of the waves, the music of the distant fairground and the smell of fish and chips.

Midday is the worst time for an artist. In the morning and afternoon/evening the light is much more interesting. I think it must be the way the light comes through the atmosphere, picking up a warm rich colour.

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Just a few birds singing, midges fly about, the sun sets magnificently…

May 17th 2007, late evening.

It had to happen: a sunny, dry April has given way to a wet May. So time spent in the countyside is at a premium. One consolation is that the evenings at this time of year are long and light till past 9.00pm, allowing walkers like me the chance to get out late.

There are very few people out after 8.00pm - just me, a jogger and a couple of dog walkers - which gives the place an air of exclusivity.

Little pockets of mist had started to form in the dips in the ground, even before the sun had set. The last, almost horizontal, rays of sun were still illuminating Rivington Pike while the mist formed around the hollows beneath the trees - forming a contrast with the blue, hazy drifts of late bluebells, still in their prime.

On the way home, a brown owl swooped silently through impossibly small gaps in the trees, angling and turning its wings to navigate through the maze of branches.

Big drifts of bluebells mingle with drifts of stichwort in this photo taken today, 13th May 2007

(photo by Donald Townsend - my photo didn’t come out!)

I’ve heard many times that deer can be seen in the Rivington area but I’ve never seen them - until today. On our way back from a Sunday morning walk I turned round and watched a Roe deer calmly cross the path behind me, pause once to look at us, then walk calmly into the woods on the other side of the path, disappearing before I had chance to get my camera ready.

At first I thought it was a large greyhound, but then I realised it was much too big for a greyhound, then I noticed its graceful poise, red-brown fur and finally saw a flash of white at its rump. The whole episode was over in flash, certainly before I’d had chance to load my camera.

And all this on a Sunday morning, probably the busiest day of the week in Rivington, with all the paths crowded with Sunday joggers, dog walkers and bike riders.

(Photo courtesy of Richard Carter)

Finally, the swifts have returned to Rivington. Usually they’re here at the very start of May, but for some reason I only spotted the first today. As harbingers of summer they are a welcome sight, and their life story is an incredible tale of endurance.

1. Swifts can eat as many as 20,000 insects per day.
2. Swifts are relatively long-lived: often reaching 9 years of age and sometimes reaching the age of 20 years.
3. Swifts are related to hummingbirds
4. They land only to hatch and feed their young.
5. They sleep on the wing, ascending to heights of over one mile.
6. Swifts mate in flight.
7. Their mastery of flight is acheived by swifts’ ability to change the shape of their wings in flight to make the most of the tiniest changes in wind speeds and direction.
8. They spend most of their lives in Africa, migrating to the UK only to mate and then rear their young.