Mark Hearld Display - Work in Progress

I'm working on a display board inspired by the work of Mark Hearld for the education centre/cafe at Potteric Carr.

Extra points for anyone who can spot the bittern!

Softpots

I've had a few days off this week and so I went along to learn how to make a softpot - which is something I've wanted to do for a while. If you walk along Stonegate in York, you could easily miss the entrance to a small alley way, but if it does happen to catch your eye then you will surely not be able to stop yourself going to have a closer look. A sign above the doorway reads "the secret garden", and as you journey down the alley way there is a glittering dazzling feast for the eyes, as the walls a decorated with soft pots galore!

Source: softpots.com via Charlotte on Pinterest

Softpots are quite a simple design and concept. It's basically one of those "does what it says on the tin" jobs. The soft pots are made out of tights, the amazing part is the decoration which makes it into something really special.

Here are our pots midway through the decoration stage:

Festooned with layers of brightly coloured fibres, glitter, ribbons and sequins, once the top of the pot is folded over the glorious psychadelic softpot is complete!

Think I'll have a go at doing this with the after school club!

Have a Hoot!

Here's a video from the wonderful Gavin Repton, who came along to film at Have a Hoot! an owl event at Potteric Carr this February half term:


It was a glorious sunny day and over 60 people turned up on the day! I feel very lucky that this is what I do for a living!

Milk Bottle Planters project

I love making things out of rubbish! I got the idea of making recycled planters that could be hung around my community garden site, with herbs and other things growing in them.

I got lots of inspiration by looking at similar projects online. This one by artist Hayley Fern is particularly good!

Source: hayleyfernarts.blogspot.co.uk via Charlotte on Pinterest

I'd been asked to do a plant pot painting session so I thought I'd get crafty with some milk bottles. We painted a few but I'd like to quite a lot of planters like this to go at the Secret Garden and around the area.

Here are a couple that I've painted up to look like strawberries, which I hope will be fixed onto a wall to form part of a community mural.

Spring Things

Tomorrow morning I'll be rising early to lead an early spring walk at Potteric Carr (although I don't think the weather is going to be very spring-like...). I've been researching lots of spring facts and here are some of resources I've come across. The Woodland Trust loads of fantastic spotter sheets on their nature detectives website, and I found one on first signs of spring and on blossoms and catkins.

Looking into different trees, I was trying to remember the name of the French liqueur made with the early leaves from blackthorn - and I found this article on the Guardian on how to make epine. I'll drop in the fact about the cyanide in the leaves giving the drink it's almond flavour!

The BBC's nature webpages have some good information on hibernation. I've come across this website on British Butterflies before and I find the calendar to search which species can be seen each month. Here's what you might see in March. Bat Conservation Trust have a good article on a year in the life of a bat.