TWASI Visit to Ryton Woods & Pools – Saturday 12 th April
I’m new to TWASI, and this was my first group outing. We rendezvoused in the car park.
A small party – Chris & Barbara, Sarais, Sally, Lesley & Kev (and Finn the dog!) plus
Roland my husband, a keen birder and I.
It was a lovely warm spring day, & we saw orange-tip butterflies flying, and listened to
willow warblers, as we headed to the small pool. On our arrival there was some argy-bargy
from a swan, wings flapping and neck outstretched, which chased off a Canada Goose.
From the hide we watched “ducks-a-dabbling,up-tails-all”, as they inverted in search of
food, quite comical to watch. There were grebes, mallards and coots, plus several pairs of
Canadas, which looked to be sitting on eggs. On the other side of the small island we
spied a swan’s nest, no doubt the cause of the earlier commotion. I attempted a few quick
sketches, others got out their cameras, while some of us were content to simply soak in
the scene.
Next, we headed up into the woods. It was fun to walk and chat to fellow artists, to hear
their stories and get to know them a little. Ryton Woods boasts 100 acres of one of the
largest surviving ancient woodlands. It is famous for bluebells, sadly, we were a tad early
for them. However, the wood anemones were delightful, their pretty, white, star-like flowers
carpeting the woodland floor.
Over lunch back at the visitor centre, we shared images of our work and discussed who
was planning to enter the TWASI Annual Exhibition – only 4 weeks away! It will be my first
experience of this famous exhibition, and I’m looking forward to it, especially now that I’ve
met a few of the artists involved.
Shirley Cherry
TWASI Visit to Peak Wildlife Park, Staffordshire, March 2025
We had stayed in our caravan at Matlock overnight, and had a wonderful drive over
the hills to the Park.
It was a beautiful day but with a cold, strong North wind – being on top of the
Pennines there was very little shelter to stop it.
We wanted to see the Polar Bears in their excellent enclosure which gives them a
natural habitat, but it felt like the Arctic!
The bears were very sleepy in the morning but decided to wake up in the afternoon,
so I was able to get some good photos.
What I wasn’t expecting were the Arctic Foxes. I saw them burrowing down in the
earth mounds around their compound and I hope the fencing goes really deep or
they’ll be popping up somewhere unexpectedly.
Sarais wanted to see the Red Squirrels in their new enclosure where they will be
able to roam free. They are in there but have not been released yet from a holding
area. I hope Sarais got some good pictures as I got only one.
Later on we saw Red Pandas, Asian short-clawed otters and Sika deer. So now I
have plenty of material to produce my next pieces of work.
Rosemary Gowland
TWASI Get-Together at Slimbridge Wildfowl & Wetlands Reserve, January 2025
We had an enjoyable Get-Together to start off the year in January.
It was slightly foggy and rather chilly, but we were rewarded by an excellent show of birds
around the site, as well as spending plenty of time chatting and catching up.
Most of us managed to visit the tower hide overlooking the Severn Estuary, and the other
hides as well, watching birds including Common Crane, merlin, plover, lapwing, Canada,
Greylag and Barnacle Geese, four types of swans – Mute, Bewick, Whooper and even one
Black Swan, to Pintail and a multitude of other ducks.
The staff at Slimbridge are building several new areas of interest, using willow to build
structures around new viewing areas which will be complete later in the year.
Also on show was an excellent display in the Art Gallery, of the work of TWASI members
Valerie Briggs and John Horton, which is on until 12 th April – what an amazing body of
work they are both exhibiting.
Sarais Crawshaw
The Wildlife Art Society International 