Last weekend I visited Slimbridge Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust in Gloucestershire, with friends from The Wildlife Art Society.
We took the opportunity to visit most of the hides, and watched, sketched and photographed the birds.
At the moment, their numbers are swollen by winter migrants, which certainly made for some spectacular displays of flocks in the watery fields and on the Severn estuary.

The weather was pretty blustery, but we had plenty of sunshine between the showers.
I saw huge flocks of lapwing swirling around, and great numbers of other wildfowl - many, like the eider ducks, were starting to display mating behaviour.

My favourite were the wild Bewick swans, who flew in at the end of the day to feed.
I've painted a good deal of swan pictures lately, but I'm sure there are a few more coming.

Then this week I was very pleased to hear that Slimbridge have invited myself and two friends - Lesley Connolly and Chris Saunderson - to exhibit together in their Wildlife Art Gallery in 2015.
We exhibit together regularly as "The Wild Bunch" in Warwickshire, and are delighted to have this opportunity to exhibit in a new area for us.