ecology Archives - Lizzie Harper

Bitter vetch original watercolour illustration for sale

Wildflower families: Fabaceae, the Pea family

Posted on 12th April 2025 in Wildflower families

Wildflower families: Fabaceae, the Pea family is my latest blog in this series on common flower families. I was inspired to blog about common families of UK wildflowers by my online Field Studies Council course. I spend a lot of time looking at and drawing wildflowers, so it’s a treat to learn more about family […] Read more

Rosaceae Fruit

Posted on 7th February 20257th February 2025 in botanical terms

Rosaceae Fruit Whilst recently researching the wildflower families, I fell down a fruit-shaped rabbit hole. And it is because of the amount of variety shown in the fruit of the Rosaceae, or rose family. Japanese rose Rosa rugosa For more on what makes a plant a member of the Rosaceae, check out my recent blog […] Read more

Wildflower families: Rosaceae, the Rose family

Posted on 10th January 2025 in Wildflower families

Wildflower families: Rosaceae, the Rose family is the latest blog in a series on common wildflower families, thanks to my online Field Studies Council course. Learning about the botany of a plant and its family, and similarities within a family, is very useful when it comes to being a botanical illustrator. This series talks about […] Read more

Wildflower families: Brassicaceae, the Cabbage family

Posted on 20th December 202420th December 2024 in Wildflower families

Wildflower families: Brassicaceae, the Cabbage family is another blog I’m writing in a series on wildflower families, inspired by my online Field Studies Council course. Adding botanical knowledge of flower families to my observations of plants helps to increase the accuracy of my illustration work. White mustard Sinapis alba These blogs discuss some common wildflower […] Read more

Red campion Silene dioica natural history illustration by Lizzie Harper

Wildflower families: Caryophyllaceae, the Campion family

Posted on 8th November 2024 in Wildflower families

Wildflower families: Caryophyllaceae, the Campion family is another of the blogs I’m writing on wildflower families, inspired by my online Field Studies Council course. Learning the similarities between members of the same plant family is really useful for my illustration work. These blogs cover some of the commoner wildflower families. It might help to look […] Read more

Wildflower families: Ranunculaceae, the Buttercups

Posted on 20th September 2024 in Wildflower families

Wildflower families: Ranunculaceae, the Buttercups is the first of a series of blogs I’m doing based on the online course offered by Field Studies Council. Although I’ve picked up a fair bit of botany over the years, I’m interested in building on my observations, and learning to look for similarities between plants who are in […] Read more

British Thrush Species

Posted on 24th May 2024 in Showcase of themed natural history illustrations

There are six species of thrush regularly seen in Britain. Some are year round residents while others overwinter here, often in large flocks. All are members of the Turdidae family of birds. Turdidae have over 60 species living on every continent on the globe except for Antarctica and Australasia. All our thrushes are a similar […] Read more

Spotted fish

Posted on 15th March 2024 in Patterns in nature

Spotted fish is another of my blogs on patterns in nature. You can find them all here or click for an overview of pattern in nature, more on stripes, leaf variegation, spots on plants and fugus, and a step by step of a variegated geranium leaf. How spots are formed According to Study.coms post on […] Read more

Spotted Plants and Fungi

Posted on 20th November 202323rd August 2024 in Patterns in nature

Spotted plants and fungi is one of a series of blogs on patterns, follow the links for an overview of pattern, more on stripes, leaf variegation, and a step by step of a variegated geranium leaf. How are spots formed? Spots in plants are caused by areas of darker pigmentation, usually red anthocyanins. Plants sometimes […] Read more

Carbon Cycle: A Complicated Illustration

Posted on 14th February 20239th March 2023 in Biological terminology: Definitions, Current projects and news

When I was asked to “illustrate the Carbon cycle” for a brochure on gardening and carbon use, by Riksforbundet Svensk Tradgard I wasn’t too perturbed. Easy enough. Four little words. How wrong I was! Overview of the Carbon Cycle Reduced to its simplest form, the Carbon cycle describes the flow of Carbon, and the gas […] Read more

Rocky shore ecosystem illustration

Posted on 31st July 20222nd August 2022 in Current projects and news

Rocky shore ecosystem: a lucky break I recently illustrated The Hidden Universe by Alexandre Antonelli. This image of the zonation of a rocky shore ecosystem was one of the illustrations. The timing of this illustration was an extraordinary stroke of luck. Alex wanted a drawing that shows the different animals and seaweeds on rocky […] Read more

Illustrating a Coastal Hay Meadow Landscape

Posted on 27th September 201914th October 2019 in Current projects and news

Illustrating a Hay Meadow: The Commission A recent commission to illustrate a hay meadow landscape down on the coast of Devon was a wonderful job. The client is North Devon Area of Natural Beauty (NDAONB) and the illustration will be used on an interpretation board on site. Currently, the area is scrub land; it’s over-grazed […] Read more