Venerable hawthorn tree in Burton Bushes wood, Beverley.

September 8th 2019
George needed a walk.
For a change I took him to his favourite wood, the ancient wood of Burton Bushes, Beverley. I took a large canvas and we walked deep into the wood, brushing past low growing holly with their sharp reminders, and fighting off, tripping brambles, until I saw this. I stopped and sketched the tree with its interesting sinuous, melding branches while George careered through the undergrowth having adventures. Later, at home, I worked up the drawing adding colour and trying to capture the essence of the tree and the occasional dancing wisps of dappled light on the leaf strewn floor. During the walk birds called and then I saw, an unusual sight,  a vole running along a large fallen tree trunk. In fact, as I walked through the wood I often saw small holes in the ground, which took me back to when I first came across field voles. As a youngster I discovered that voles excavated a small underground chamber and observed that the holes I was seeing were very much the same.
On another visit, a few days later, to make a short film, (can be seen here) of the wood, I met a Munsterlander...... a lovely dog, called Flora. George and Flora briefly socialised while I talked to her proud owner, J.
I had a canvas with me and was looking for a particular tree to sketch to use for an art group demonstration over at Hornsea. I found the tree a little later..