Week 20

This weeks page turned out rather different from what I expected.   It started with the live beetle in the jam jar.  I watched it moving around and made the three sketches at the top of my page.   He has now  been safely returned onto the shore to roam as free as he likes.  I looked it up in an insect book to find it is a Cockchafer, which likes to live in oak trees and feed on oak leaves.  That does make sense as I found it on the large oak leaf in the tide line.  So I placed them together and was interested to realise the leaf was eaten, even had a serrated edge,  I think made by my friend.  Actually I was a little uncomfortable with it,  it was big and I kept it  tightly sealed in a container as I sketched it.  The flowers are Thrift,  growing on the shore and looked so bright in last weeks greyness.  I picked them during the week and decided to put them all in, buds and flowers.  I chose a pink coloured crab and some green seaweed and I just loved this twisted brown piece of seaweed so had to include it.  So that is Week 20 completed and all painted with my acrylic inks and a little sable brush.
It has been a cold wet and windy week.  As the tide comes into the estuary it gets stormy and we have had some really heavy rain.  I chose my window of opportunity and went for my walk and collecting yesterday after seeing the weather forecast.  And as I am writing this it is really windy, cold, with a stormy grey sky and it has poured with rain all afternoon,  so I am glad I did go yesterday.  
There were lots of feathers,  the striped ones which belong to the curlew.  Lots of black ones too which is no surprise as there are many Crows, Rooks  and Magpies on the shore. We were also followed by two Swallows which kept swooping right in front of us, we think to collect the insects which we disturb as we walk through the grass.  We were amazed at their speed and agility and enjoyed watching them.   I found a black mermaids purse and a ball of  whelks egg cases  which was washed up.   There were so many crabs which had been eaten,  their backs opened like a hinged lid and the contents removed.  We saw oyster catchers, gulls, a curlew and shelducks in the sand by the water,  the tide was just coming in and the water was quite rough with the strong  south westerly wind.  It felt really cold and we were well wrapped up.  The sky was getting darker and warned that the rain showers were heading our way.  So we made our way back and shortly after reaching  home we had a really heavy shower.   Of course I still  found plenty of objects to choose from  for next weeks page.
Thank you for all the lovely comments.  "Ibisbill"  the striped feathers are Curlew feathers.  I was pleased to read that a school art group is following my blog....Hope the children are being inspired and are doing some lovely drawings.   The three giveaways have been posted. See Carrie has posted on her blog, thank you Carrie.  Hope you all enjoy my page for week 20.
Millyx