If self-doubt creeps in, get out in nature
YOU know that feeling when all your worlds collide, and a little bit of self-doubt creeps in?
Well mine has just arrived with a bang.
It’s early, very early Saturday morning and I have two articles to write, seven gigs in the next nine days, including two in the Lakes and four in Oslo, a Rugby Club summer ball to put the finishing touches to, a pitch renovation to organise and an exhibition at the Gallery.
There’s only one thing for it: ignore it all and get out in the Valley, via Little Padfield to be precise - captured here ( by Roger Needham, one of the artists who exhibits at the Laughing Badger Gallery.
At the crack of dawn there was no one about as I made my way to the Longdendale Trail, just me and three badgers in the distance, and one disgruntled pheasant which shot off noisily into the fields, alerting the badgers as he went.
The trio stopped what they were doing, which looked like ‘playing’ to me, and raised their collective noses in my direction, sniffed the air for a while, and carried on regardless. I decided to play a game and creep up on them slowly, just to see how close I could get, and believe me, stealth is difficult when you’re 18 stone plus.
After cracking several sticks in the undergrowth, scratching my leg on the fence and generally blundering about like a, well, badger, I was within 30 feet.
Engrossed in their ‘fun’ the badgers in turn preened each other, chased each other, and then, in what can only be described as ‘mock fighting and biting’, began a series of ‘jousts’.
The noises accompanying these interactions ranged from pig-like grunts and squealing to chattering and chipmunk-like chittering.
The party was brought to a halt when a guy on a mountain bike sped past and the badgers vanished.
“Seen anything Woody?” he asked.
He was gone before I could answer, but soon after the morning’s tally included - in no particular order - redstart, green woodpecker, raven, blue, great and long-tailed tit, cormorant and oystercatcher.
The valley is always full of promise and when I look at this painting (above), I could identify hundreds of sites where I have seen much of the UK’s wildlife.
Readers can do the same on Saturday, June 18, and Sunday, June 19, when between noon and 4pm I am holding an open weekend at the gallery.
New paintings by me, my daughter Niamh, Roger and Gordon Clegg will be on show.
For now, it’s breakfast and out on the road to sing for my supper.