I’ve been spending some recent wet days working in the studio- I work to the sound of frogs croaking, a year to the day since they spawned in 2023. The chorus outside the studio grows daily, led by the throng of numerous chirping tree sparrows.
The dawn chorus is growing rapidly. This morning a robin started singing at 5.30am followed a couple of minutes later by a blackbird at 5.34am. Song thrush joined soon after at about 5.45am as tawny owls made their last hoots of the night. Wren next at 5.47am then dunnock at 5.54am. It was a joy to lie in bed and listen. Later in the day the great-spotted woodpeckers start drumming, nuthatches pipe loudly and greenfinches perform their song flights.
For me there now begins a couple of months of the most intensive sketching of the year. So much to see and record as migrants flood in and spring progresses. A month from now I’ll hopefully be watching the first swallows, pied flycatchers and redstarts and eagerly looking for the first house martin back at our colony.
Online Exhibition
The pictures shown below in this small exhibition were painted from sketches made on field sketching trips, some of them recently. They are fresh off the drawing board. Some observations happened so quickly that I drew quick sketches and backed up with some reference from my cheap bridge camera. I never like to work entirely from photos, even my own photos. For me making sketches is essential for all studio work.
The lapwing composition below is a good example. It captures a split second when a freshly alighted bird joined three others that were resting, all facing into the strong wind. The landing bird has approached into wind, unsettling the nearest resting bird. The disturbed water meant there was very little reflection. So with this picture I have tried to capture a moment in time. Shortly after all birds would have settled facing into wind again. I’ve deliberately painted this loosely to try and retain the sense of movement.
If you are interested in purchasing any of these pictures please follow the link to my Big Cartel shop here https://jonathanpomroy.bigcartel.com/
All images and text copyright Jonathan Pomroy 2024
All these pictures and more are for sale in my Big Cartel shop which you can view here https://jonathanpomroy.bigcartel.com/
Jonathan Pomroy 
Such beautiful images, really love them. Lovely to hear the dawn chorus growing in strength.