The Natural Eye Exhibition

Spotted and Caught (Spotted Flycatcher with Small Tortoiseshell), Watercolour, 62 x 89cm

I will be exhibiting at the The Society of Wildlife Artists' 58th annual exhibition, The Natural Eye at Mall Galleries, London from 14th - 24th October. The exhibition can be viewed online and you will find my selection of work on page 13.

Spotted and Caught, features in the exhibition and is one of several watercolours and drawings I made watching a pair of spotted flycatcher courting and rearing their brood over summer. The mossy dead oak branch was a favourite perch to hunt from, giving me close views from a nearby building of them catching all kinds of prey items including hornets, moths and this small tortoiseshell butterfly.

I painted the scene from an upstairs window through binoculars and made drawings of the bird's fleeting poses so I could build up enough information to complete the painting. By strange coincidence I found a third adult flycatcher dead under the same oak tree, which I was able to make detailed plumage studies of to inform this piece.