Engraved in my memory...

W&N watercolour on smooth cardboard

 On our previous property, also an 8.5ha smallholding in Tarlton (South Africa), we had a low rock wall surrounding the 1-acre garden, which gave us a measure of security but also allowed the flocks of guinea fowl roaming the area to visit for a snack. I used to put out seeds for them and would watch their antics and paint them whenever they came for a visit. They got quite used to me and didn't pay much attention because, after all, they had their sentinels posted on the wall, keeping an eye open for danger! 

That smallholding gave me such pleasure for the 27 years we lived there that each detail - trees, flowers, plants, birds - is still deeply engraved in my memory.... 

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Deep Summer

“Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability.”
- Sam Keen

W&N watercolour in Moleskine 200gsm watercolour sketch-book

Hot days, summer showers and cool breezes - what more could one ask for?

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You ARE free

“Come along then.” said Jonathan. “Climb with me away from the ground, and we’ll begin.”
“You don’t understand. My wing. I can’t move my wing.”
“Maynard Gull, you have the freedom to be yourself, your true self, here and now, and nothing can stand in your way. It is the Law of the Great Gull, the Law that Is.”
“Are you saying I can fly?”
“I say you are free.”
- From Jonathan Livingstone Seagull

W&N watercolour on X-pressit 300gsm

I've just read "Jonathan Livingstone Seagull" again for the third time, and every time I discover another lesson... It's such an amazing story, full of heartache, bravery, uncertainty, positivity, the empowerment of believing in yourself and, above all, the realisation that we are all truly free...

• You are free.
• You’re so free, you can choose bondage.
• You are so free, that no one can do anything to you.
• You are so free, that you are the only one who is causing anything to happen in your experience.

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Survival in the African Bush

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”
- Charles Darwin

New-born antelope calf hiding in the grass in the African Bushveld.

The antelope is one of the many medium-sized mammals holding the African food chain together. Unlike deer that renew their horns annually, the antelope has strong permanent horns, that antelope mainly use to defend their herd or to fight other antelopes.

After mating, female antelopes give birth to a single calf or, more rarely, twins, after a gestation period that can last up to eight months. A mother and her newborn calf are vulnerable to predators, and antelopes have had to evolve different strategies for surviving this period. For most antelope species, the female gives birth in dense cover and leaves the calf while she feeds. The calf comes to its mother when she calls it, and once fed, the calf will hide away again. Once in its hiding place, the calf remains completely still, blending into the surrounding landscape becoming almost invisible. It will run away only if it is on the verge of being discovered.

Did you know that small antelope, such as dik-diks, tend to be monogamous? They live in a forest environment with patchy resources, and a male is unable to monopolize more than one female due to this sparse distribution. Larger forest species often form very small herds of 2–4 females and 1 male.

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Rhino horn myth

Ink sketch and colour wash on Bockingford 300gsm

As part of continued efforts to set the record straight on rhino horn’s so-called curative properties, three scientific studies were re-introduced, confirming that rhino horn has no medicinal value. The studies were conducted by different teams of researchers at separate institutions. In each case, the results were conclusive: There is no scientific evidence to support claims of rhino horn’s usefulness as a medicine.

With today’s network of communication tools, such as social media, it is now possible for these findings to reach a global audience like never before – and we can move closer to busting these persistent myths about rhino horn, which are indeed the root of the rhino crisis. By raising public awareness and educating others about the truth behind rhino horn, we can make a difference.

The studies “found no evidence that rhino horn has any medicinal effect as an antipyretic and would be ineffective in reducing fever, a common usage in much of Asia.” Testing also confirmed that “rhino horn, like fingernails, is made of agglutinated hair” and “has no analgesic, anti-inflammatory, anti-spasmolytic nor diuretic properties” and “no bactericidal effect could be found against suppuration and intestinal bacteria”,. And medically, "it’s the same as if you were chewing your own nails”.

When there were still at least 15,000 Black Rhinos on the African continent, WWF and the IUCN commissioned a pharmacological study of rhino horn, hoping that science would trump cultural myths. Tragically, by 1993, ten years after the study was published, Africa’s black rhino population had plummeted to just 2,300.

Conducted by Hoffmann-LaRoche, the research was published in "The Environmentalist"
Info from "Rhino Conservation"

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