What a lovely thing to do to plan to record a year in the life of this precious space. My husband tried to take photographs of a nearby tree over the course of the year but couldn't quite keep up!
My special space is virtually on the doorstep - ten minutes of walking either up or down the road bring me to the edge of woodland, such a blessing. Uncertainly hangs over it in the future with the possibility of a large development right on the edge which would bring such destruction of the peace and quiet - we hope it will never happen, but 'progress' marches over the green land.
I am now going to search for the violets in the garden and look at them as not just ordinary little flowers! What a lovely poem.
Such places are very precious and sadly so vulnerable. I do hope it is doesn't come to pass.
I suspect it will take more than a year to complete - one year to get a sense of it,then another to realise how I should do it! But it will be an adventure and the perfect way to appreciate the subtle daily changes.
I love that you are going to visually record the same place over time. It will be beautiful and interesting to show how it changes. There must be so much of our landscape that has been changed and lost without anyone recording it. I think doing so in your local area is a quiet act of defiance and I am here for that!
Is it Hockney that returns again and again to his local woods?
Though I’m in London I have Hampstead Heath as the place where I watch the seasons turn. I’m there every week, and I watch how the year in nature unfolds.
I think Hockney returns to the Yorkshire Wolds - his sketchbooks are so beautiful. I love his watercolours and drawings most of all.
I used to live in Highgate, many years ago, and loved Hampstead Heath and envy you having that on your doorstep! I used to study in Keats House and it was heaven.
Some things change so slowly, and imperceptibly, and I will try to capture some of that, but it might take a while to work out quite how to approach it!
Glorious. "The yaffle of a green woodpecker" ... lovely. We saw two this morning as we cycled into our hameau (hamlet) but I've never heard that fabulous word.
Beautiful writing and observation ... love your mission!
Delighted to find you on here Deborah - I always enjoy your posts on Instagram, but there's more space (physically and mentally!) on here! I'm not really familiar with your part of the world so it's interesting to read about, and see through your eyes, what seems like quite different terrain to my North Somerset landscape. It's good to hear about your plan to record its progress through a year too. I did the same thing here a long time ago (1999-2001), my subject was a nearby wood I already knew well, and I too researched its history.
The process of focused observation, learning about its past uses, keeping a journal, and photographing this tiny forest over the year itself was fascinating and rewarding, but I was able to turn it into an exhibition in 2001 and that became a significant milestone in my life, leading on to all sorts of other things. Here's a link to the introductory post about it on my blog, and at the bottom of that there are links to subsequent aspects of the project, including the sad story of the felling of a favourite tree. If you get a chance to look at it I do hope you enjoy it, it might even provide some insights to help you with your own project! https://lizmilner.blog/2001/11/08/the-woods-a-year-and-a-day/
On the 20th anniversary of the exhibition in 2021, as a Covid lockdown distraction, I also made a set of books about the entire project, so I have rather a lot of material about his beloved place that I've now been visiting for 37 years, most recently last Sunday!
Best wishes with your year on the Ling, I'm sure it will bring you pleasure and I look forward to following it on here!
Dear Liz, Thank you very much for your message, which was so helpful, and it was lovely to hear from you here!
I am very interested to learn about your project and the ramifications and outcomes of it. I shall look forward to looking carefully through your blog to learn more.
I confess I felt a little nervous about announcing my project here, but knew that I needed to write about it to ensure that it would happen. I don't know what the result will be, but a book or exhibition would be wonderful. At the moment I am just trying to enjoy researching it, and the process of recording and drawing, so as to not put too much pressure on myself.
I suspect it might take more than a year, but I don't think that matters too much!
Thank you very much! Let me know what you think about the programmes (there are also two on trees that I didn't mention. ) Oh, to go on a walk in his company!
Another beautiful post, you bring that place alive in such a vivid way. It sounds like a fascinating landscape, & as you say, it's social history is as interesting as it's natural history. It's a shame it seems to be so neglected. Your stunning drawings bring it to life too.
To quote the Local Distinctiveness Project from Common Ground “Often it is the commonplace things, the locally abundant, the places and the wildlife on our very doorstep that we take for granted, that slip through our fingers.” So pleased to be able to follow you as you capture your local distinctiveness. I am trying to do something in a one mile radius of my home but so far that has only meant lots of walking and thinking about what I might do (big plans in my head). I still haven’t managed to take out a sketchbook but today I leant against a tree trunk and just looked and listened for a few minutes. So much to notice!
Standing and leaning against a tree is as good as anything! It has taken months for my plan to take root, though now hatched it seems such an obvious decision. It is the commonplace that is so easily lost and for so long I used to going driving around trying to find a spot suitable to draw, when really what was on my doorstep was the most interesting! Roger Deakin, who I think was a co-founder of Common Ground, lived just a couple of miles away and his diaries are full of "local distinctiveness" and he used to rage against the careless treatment of his local patch. I look forward to hearing of your plan when it is ready!
I love this report, the history, the artwork, the flowers, the bees, all of it Thank you so much for sharing it While it has been warm at times this winter in Toronto, Canada, it has also been terribly grey with leaden skies and rain, damp weather. It is grey at present. But there are always the birds and the squirrels to make it better.
Thank you very much! It has certainly been an extraordinarily wet Spring here and I confess to have had enough of damp and gret skies. SSSI means Site of Special Scientific Interest and in the case of Wortham Ling, it is the combination of chalk grassland and acid soil which provide perfect conditions for some very rare plants, many of which are very tiny and so are easily missed or flattened. But, in spite of the weather, sitting and walking outdorrs, whether drawing or not, always makes everything feel better!
Thank you for sharing this beautiful piece and your stunning art. I live up in East Yorkshire, beyond the great Vale of York once home to a glacial lake. Now everything is sodden once again, from the carrs and lowlands of Holderness to the soft hill bottoms of my beloved Wolds. We have been walking the majestic coastline, up near the bird colonies of Bempton and Flamborough, as most of the land is too sodden and too fragile to walk on, apart from this boundary edge buffeted and dried by the North winds. It breaks my heart. Many say 'but oh, you live on a floodplain, what do you expect?' To which I reply, not concrete or housing by the mile, not rerouted waterways and broken river courses, not destroyed ancient reed beds and marginalised saltmarsh. Give them back I bellow, and then the flood will find its way.
I couldn't agree more. I know that many of the flooding issues, especially above Hebden Bridge, are as a consequences of burning and stripped vegetation and yet so little seems to be done. I know the area you describe well and am horrified to hear about the extent of the flooding. We are meant to be the driest county, yet much of my garden has been under water since November, and it is heartbreaking.
Thank you so much for reading my piece, and for your lovely comment, I am so pleased you enjoyed it.
I really enjoyed reading this Deborah as I obviously know the ling but didn't know anything about its history. I shall take more notice next time I pass by and might even stop for a walk. Nice to find you on here!
I have been a few times but stopped walking my dog there as I was scared he would run across a road after a rabbit. I remember seeing a lot of black rabbits there once, I don't know if they are still there.
The black rabbits are still there, but the rabbits are far fewer than they were a few years ago. But I have often heard frantic owners shouting their wayward dogs near the roads, so you are wise to be cautious!
What a lovely thing to do to plan to record a year in the life of this precious space. My husband tried to take photographs of a nearby tree over the course of the year but couldn't quite keep up!
My special space is virtually on the doorstep - ten minutes of walking either up or down the road bring me to the edge of woodland, such a blessing. Uncertainly hangs over it in the future with the possibility of a large development right on the edge which would bring such destruction of the peace and quiet - we hope it will never happen, but 'progress' marches over the green land.
I am now going to search for the violets in the garden and look at them as not just ordinary little flowers! What a lovely poem.
Such places are very precious and sadly so vulnerable. I do hope it is doesn't come to pass.
I suspect it will take more than a year to complete - one year to get a sense of it,then another to realise how I should do it! But it will be an adventure and the perfect way to appreciate the subtle daily changes.
I hope you enjoyed the violets.
A lovely post, Deborah - your words and drawings really capture the experience. Love the John Clare poem too. Look forward to more in this series.
Thank you very much, Ann. I love the think of Clare tenderly revealing the violet flowers.
I love that you are going to visually record the same place over time. It will be beautiful and interesting to show how it changes. There must be so much of our landscape that has been changed and lost without anyone recording it. I think doing so in your local area is a quiet act of defiance and I am here for that!
Is it Hockney that returns again and again to his local woods?
Though I’m in London I have Hampstead Heath as the place where I watch the seasons turn. I’m there every week, and I watch how the year in nature unfolds.
I think Hockney returns to the Yorkshire Wolds - his sketchbooks are so beautiful. I love his watercolours and drawings most of all.
I used to live in Highgate, many years ago, and loved Hampstead Heath and envy you having that on your doorstep! I used to study in Keats House and it was heaven.
Some things change so slowly, and imperceptibly, and I will try to capture some of that, but it might take a while to work out quite how to approach it!
Glorious. "The yaffle of a green woodpecker" ... lovely. We saw two this morning as we cycled into our hameau (hamlet) but I've never heard that fabulous word.
Beautiful writing and observation ... love your mission!
Thank you very much! It is the perfect word to describe their call, isn't it? 😀
Totally
Delighted to find you on here Deborah - I always enjoy your posts on Instagram, but there's more space (physically and mentally!) on here! I'm not really familiar with your part of the world so it's interesting to read about, and see through your eyes, what seems like quite different terrain to my North Somerset landscape. It's good to hear about your plan to record its progress through a year too. I did the same thing here a long time ago (1999-2001), my subject was a nearby wood I already knew well, and I too researched its history.
The process of focused observation, learning about its past uses, keeping a journal, and photographing this tiny forest over the year itself was fascinating and rewarding, but I was able to turn it into an exhibition in 2001 and that became a significant milestone in my life, leading on to all sorts of other things. Here's a link to the introductory post about it on my blog, and at the bottom of that there are links to subsequent aspects of the project, including the sad story of the felling of a favourite tree. If you get a chance to look at it I do hope you enjoy it, it might even provide some insights to help you with your own project! https://lizmilner.blog/2001/11/08/the-woods-a-year-and-a-day/
On the 20th anniversary of the exhibition in 2021, as a Covid lockdown distraction, I also made a set of books about the entire project, so I have rather a lot of material about his beloved place that I've now been visiting for 37 years, most recently last Sunday!
Best wishes with your year on the Ling, I'm sure it will bring you pleasure and I look forward to following it on here!
Dear Liz, Thank you very much for your message, which was so helpful, and it was lovely to hear from you here!
I am very interested to learn about your project and the ramifications and outcomes of it. I shall look forward to looking carefully through your blog to learn more.
I confess I felt a little nervous about announcing my project here, but knew that I needed to write about it to ensure that it would happen. I don't know what the result will be, but a book or exhibition would be wonderful. At the moment I am just trying to enjoy researching it, and the process of recording and drawing, so as to not put too much pressure on myself.
I suspect it might take more than a year, but I don't think that matters too much!
Listening to Mabey. Your posts are compelling!
Thank you very much! Let me know what you think about the programmes (there are also two on trees that I didn't mention. ) Oh, to go on a walk in his company!
Another beautiful post, you bring that place alive in such a vivid way. It sounds like a fascinating landscape, & as you say, it's social history is as interesting as it's natural history. It's a shame it seems to be so neglected. Your stunning drawings bring it to life too.
Thank you very much. It is a very special place that I feel certain will yield some interesting history once I have done a bit of digging!
To quote the Local Distinctiveness Project from Common Ground “Often it is the commonplace things, the locally abundant, the places and the wildlife on our very doorstep that we take for granted, that slip through our fingers.” So pleased to be able to follow you as you capture your local distinctiveness. I am trying to do something in a one mile radius of my home but so far that has only meant lots of walking and thinking about what I might do (big plans in my head). I still haven’t managed to take out a sketchbook but today I leant against a tree trunk and just looked and listened for a few minutes. So much to notice!
Standing and leaning against a tree is as good as anything! It has taken months for my plan to take root, though now hatched it seems such an obvious decision. It is the commonplace that is so easily lost and for so long I used to going driving around trying to find a spot suitable to draw, when really what was on my doorstep was the most interesting! Roger Deakin, who I think was a co-founder of Common Ground, lived just a couple of miles away and his diaries are full of "local distinctiveness" and he used to rage against the careless treatment of his local patch. I look forward to hearing of your plan when it is ready!
I love this report, the history, the artwork, the flowers, the bees, all of it Thank you so much for sharing it While it has been warm at times this winter in Toronto, Canada, it has also been terribly grey with leaden skies and rain, damp weather. It is grey at present. But there are always the birds and the squirrels to make it better.
I have a question. What is a SSSI site?
Thank you very much! It has certainly been an extraordinarily wet Spring here and I confess to have had enough of damp and gret skies. SSSI means Site of Special Scientific Interest and in the case of Wortham Ling, it is the combination of chalk grassland and acid soil which provide perfect conditions for some very rare plants, many of which are very tiny and so are easily missed or flattened. But, in spite of the weather, sitting and walking outdorrs, whether drawing or not, always makes everything feel better!
Thank you.
Thank you for sharing this beautiful piece and your stunning art. I live up in East Yorkshire, beyond the great Vale of York once home to a glacial lake. Now everything is sodden once again, from the carrs and lowlands of Holderness to the soft hill bottoms of my beloved Wolds. We have been walking the majestic coastline, up near the bird colonies of Bempton and Flamborough, as most of the land is too sodden and too fragile to walk on, apart from this boundary edge buffeted and dried by the North winds. It breaks my heart. Many say 'but oh, you live on a floodplain, what do you expect?' To which I reply, not concrete or housing by the mile, not rerouted waterways and broken river courses, not destroyed ancient reed beds and marginalised saltmarsh. Give them back I bellow, and then the flood will find its way.
I couldn't agree more. I know that many of the flooding issues, especially above Hebden Bridge, are as a consequences of burning and stripped vegetation and yet so little seems to be done. I know the area you describe well and am horrified to hear about the extent of the flooding. We are meant to be the driest county, yet much of my garden has been under water since November, and it is heartbreaking.
Thank you so much for reading my piece, and for your lovely comment, I am so pleased you enjoyed it.
I really enjoyed reading this Deborah as I obviously know the ling but didn't know anything about its history. I shall take more notice next time I pass by and might even stop for a walk. Nice to find you on here!
Thank you, Lindsey! Do stop for a walk, it is very worth investigating, particularly with Spring on the horizon. Lovely to find you here too!
I have been a few times but stopped walking my dog there as I was scared he would run across a road after a rabbit. I remember seeing a lot of black rabbits there once, I don't know if they are still there.
The black rabbits are still there, but the rabbits are far fewer than they were a few years ago. But I have often heard frantic owners shouting their wayward dogs near the roads, so you are wise to be cautious!