Illustrating Birds on the River Wye
![Grey heron Ardea cinerea natural history illustration by Lizzie Harper](https://lizzieharper.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/grey-heron-in-landscape-385x525.jpg)
Bird illustrations
Over the years I’ve done bird paintings, natural history illustrations, ornithological illustrations, scientific illustrations; call them what you will, but I’ve painted loads of British bird species.
It’s always a joy to see the birds I’ve depicted in the flesh (in the feather), and this often happens by the river Wye.
I go for a swift jog every Wednesday morning, and my route takes me to a lovely stretch of open land called the warren, which abuts the shingled beach of the Wye. It’s common to see birds there.
Dipper
This week I saw a dipper balancing in the rapids, searching for tiny crustaceans among the pebbles
![Dipper natural history illustration by Lizzie Harper](https://lizzieharper.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/dipper-1024x814.jpg)
Buzzard
Overhead, the plaintive mew of the buzzard is a common sound, although I’ve never seen one perched near the river.
![Buzzard natural history illustration by Lizzie Harper](https://lizzieharper.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/buzzard-2-579x1024.jpg)
Wrens
I saw a pair of tiny wrens recently, flitting amongst the dead bracken. They’re so small that I was momentarily confused, and thought maybe they could have been some enormous insect; but when I paused to spy on them there was no mistaking the secretive little birds.
![Wren Troglodytes troglodytes natural history illustration by Lizzie Harper](https://lizzieharper.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/wren-and-nest-1024x791.jpg)
Ducks
The path winds up past some beech trees, and there’s an area of still muddy water; there are always mallards hanging about, and making a terrific fuss as I pass; squawking and flying off up river.
![Mallard duck Anas platyrhynchos natural history illustration by Lizzie Harper](https://lizzieharper.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/mallard-duck-pair.jpg)
Grey Wagtail
I’ve seen busy grey wagtails further upstream, where the water runs fast and shallow over wide flat rocks, but never down by the warren; I have no reason to think they don’t pop by to pick amongst the stones, their tails bobbing in that distinctive manner.
![Grey wagtail Motacilla cinerea natural history illustration by Lizzie Harper](https://lizzieharper.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/grey-wagtail-1024x594.jpg)
Heron
Grey heron are frequent visitors all along the Wye. In the summer, as I was swimming alone, one flew so close overhead that I could have reached up and touched it. These birds look almost robotic in flight, all heavy and angular. Further down the river, near the canoe landing stage, there’s often a heron either fishing in the shallows or, somehow incongruously perched in a tree.
![Grey heron Ardea cinerea natural history illustration by Lizzie Harper](https://lizzieharper.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/grey-heron-in-landscape-750x1024.jpg)
Rooks
Back in town, as I jog down the hill, I pass a rookery. Late spring and it’s overwhelmingly loud, squabbling birds flapping and shuffling about; but this late in the year it’s far more subdued. The shapes of the ragged nests are stark amongst the bare branches.
![Rooks Corvus frugilegus natural history illustration by Lizzie Harper](https://lizzieharper.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/rooks-in-rookery-877x1024.jpg)
There’s a much larger range of my bird illustrations available on my website; and a youtube video of some of my favourite pieces online.
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