Redgrave and Lopham Fen through the seasons

In late April we visited Redgrave and Lopham Fen on the border of Suffolk and Norfolk, it was Spring – the leaves were fresh and bright green, the reeds beds were full of birds, bright flowers spangled the heath and marsh and we heard the calls of the cuckoo and bittern . . . it inspired this linocut.

Yesterday we returned, our intention was to have a long quiet walk – but when we arrived we found dozens of cars in an overflow carpark! Suffolk Wildlife Trust were hosting a Apple Day Fair, it looked like fun so we paid the entrance money and went in for a look around . . .

There were lots of apples!

and some cute hedgehogs!

I bought bargain plants and vintage garden tools

and then we went for our walk . . .

Redgrave and Lopham Fen is large enough to feel like a wilderness; the weather was perfect – warm and breezy – for a day striding out between the rustling reed beds.

I love the textures at Redgrave and Lopham Fen, especially the vertical patterns of the reeds broken up with areas of water that reflect the sky.

The swirling patterns of this willow's bark echoed the movement of the reeds and leaves in the wind.

Sunlight illuminated the vivid olive green lichen on the Elder bushes,

and the russets of the Teasel heads.

Along a green lane outside the reserve we came across the quintessential toadstool – the Fly Agaric. 

And back inside the nature reserve area we stumbled upon lots of Giant Puffballs  . . . and these really were giants! as you can see compared to our OS map . . .

. . . or to my toes!
The puffball on the left has been munched by something, the one on the right has matured and is puffing out spores.

However tempting the thought of bacon fried with slices of puffball for supper, we left them untouched.

As we made our way back across the fen we met the resident herd of Konik ponies, these were introduced in 1995 to graze the vegetation prevent scrub invading the precious heath and marshy grassland habitats. Native British ponies aren't suited to living in these tough, wet conditions but these Polish ponies thrive. Konik ponies have the characteristics of the now extinct Tarpan – an primitive type of horse that roamed the plains of Europe after the Ice Age. These beautiful stocky ponies look as if they've walked out of a neolithic cave painting! They were very placid and didn't mind a bit that I took loads of photos – I think they'll be appearing in a print inspired by Autumn at Redgrave and Lopham Fen.

I hope you had chance to enjoy the unexpected warm sunny weekend, before we batten down the hatches for the first of the Autumn gales.

Celia

xx

Winter Evening in Bull's Wood - linocut and cards

Last year's festive season was only just out of the way when I was contacted to talk Christmas Cards for 2014! It was a request from Suffolk Wildlife Trust for a donated image suitable for one of their cards.

I had a think . . . my prints suitable for Christmas cards were already being sold as my own card designs; in 2013 I'd produced some Christmas cards in the most economical way I could without compromising quality and I realised that customers either wanted much cheaper cards OR preferred to buy Charity Cards. So as Suffolk Wildlife Trust is one of my favourite charities, I decided to offer a brand new design and invited them choose a subject.

Suffolk Wildlife Trust suggested I illustrated a winter scene in one of their lesser known reserves – I selected one that was not too far from my studio . . .

Bull's Wood

It was a mild late January afternoon that I arrived at Bull's Wood . . . of rather, a farm yard where I could park 'tidily' before heading off down a track towards woodland a couple of fields away.

Stepping into Bull's Wood is like being transported back in time, it is a small remnant (about 30 acres) of 'the many woods of Cockfield' which where recorded in the Hundred Rolls in 1279, and those woods had probably existed for centuries before then and were in constant use by villagers who harvested poles and timber, grazed animals, foraged and hunted. The ecosystem of the woodland is entwined with lives of the people. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries the woodland was destroyed as fields were enclosed and ploughed up to plant crops. Somehow Bull's Wood survived and today it is managed by volunteers who coppice the Ash and Hazel just as it has been done for a millennium.

I walked around the wood getting to know its specialness. The strange shapes of the ancient Ash stumps, the textures of the branches and the scale of the tall Oaks. I took photographs for reference of particular details, but mainly I let a composition come together in my mind.

I wanted to depict Bull's Wood on a cold winter's evening, so would need to do some research and work from experience and imagination. At home I put down my ideas in my sketch book, including animals I knew would be in the wood on a December evening . . . a Tawny Owl roosting in an Ivy covered tree, a Roe Deer in a clearing near the pond and a flock of Redwings arriving from Scandinavia to feast on the berries.

It was Spring when I carved the detailed lino block and a wood block from which to print the red colour to make the trees glow in the setting sun.

I decided to wait until Autumn before selling the prints, to coincide with Suffolk Wildlife Trust publicising their new cards for Christmas 2014. These are two of the finished original prints ready for the Market Place Gallery in Olney and my exhibition at the Church Street Gallery in Saffron Walden this month.

And here's another I framed last night to replace one in my exhibition that has already sold.

Winter Evening in Bull's Wood

The cards are available from many shops around Suffolk and here on the Suffolk Wildlife Trust web site. They are blank inside, so if you'd prefer a seasonal message you could use a rubber stamp (either buy one or make one - I'll try to blog about how to do this when I'm making one for the cards I'll be sending).

I'm very happy that this year the proceeds from these 100% donated cards will help target conservation efforts to turn around the fortunes of Suffolk’s hedgehogs.

Celia

xx