I recently read about an interesting link between Lapwings, a popular fenland bird, and Easter eggs.

The image of two fondling love birds on a Valentine’s card may be considered very cheesy by some. But there is a strong association between birds and Valentines day in folk traditions.

Mistletoe is a classic plant of Christmas decoration. It was considered rather magical because of the way it grows as if floating in trees. In reality mistletoe is hemiparasitic meaning it takes nutrients from trees in order to grow. The seeds are spread via birds who eat the berries and wipe the sticky seeds from their beaks onto the branches where they take root and grow. Mistle Thrushes get their name from the plant but Blackcaps are the most voracious consumers of mistletoe according to the British Trust for Ornithology.

A tale of incredible destiny that came about due to a woman’s faith in her own convictions.

Awaking in the early morning, King Cnut saw the eel catcher’s son bathing in the river but he wasn’t a son, Cnut realised, he was a daughter…

Underneath a modern housing estate in Ely lies an East Anglian “Princess”.

in 1959 contraversial figure T C Lethbridge began an investigation of the Gog Magog hills in Cambridgeshire.

On the 2nd of February 1799 Elizabeth Woodcock, a Cambridge woman, became buried in the snow in a field near the village of Impington in Cambridgeshire, UK.

The melody brought out a flowing movement in my brush strokes and the glass eels themselves were now moving purposefully across the page

Leave the last apple on the tree for the apple tree man.

This time I will be talking about my series of illustrations inspired by the European Eel. This part of my four part newsletter is about how inspiration can unexpectedly strike and how it can often be a drip feed rather than a flood. It is about following up on those little things that you find curious in life because you never know where a walk might take you.

Some of my illustrations start with a story, some start with a walk. Some start with both and some start with music.

“They sought her that night and they sought her next day,

And they sought her in vain while a week passed away.”

Our modern relationship with hedgerows is largely positive with the popularity of foraging growing as people strive to reconnect with nature and the past. However I was surprised to find that hedgerows were often feared in the past as they symbolised boundaries between the safe, ordered fields and the wild world beyond.

You knew he was near because you heard the sound of rushing water and the cry of the Lapwing.

“ I am a fenlander, a true fenlander. All true folk of this area carry this token and if in need are sworn to help, unto even their own death, another who carries a grey goosefeather.”

This illustration was first inspired by the true account of Elizabeth Woodcock, a Cambridgeshire Woman who, in 1799 got buried in the snow where she remained, alive, for 8 whole days before being rescued.

Have you ever noticed, in the early part of the year, how as the days begin to grow longer, the wind blows colder and harder?

“In the pond that lay by the Alder trees lived a long, strange creature, greenish brown in colour, with a sharp snout and large eyes. It was a big Eel, wise and much travelled”

Swans were forbidden. Nobody knew why. There were rumours of sinister ancient magic.