Gray rain clouds thickening towards 8:00. It’s very still; long moments go by without a single bird call. A beetle finds its way to the butterfly weed.
#MorningPorch #naturejournal

This weekend I'm leading four FREE nature journaling workshops at the lovely Brisbane Botanic Gardens at Mt Coot-tha.
Spring has come to Mt Coot-tha, so we'll be drawing and writing about flowers and pollinators.
Join me either for family sessions in the mornings (Ages 8 years and up) or adult sessions in the afternoons (Ages 16 years and up; interested kids 10 years and over are welcome if accompanied by an adult)
For more details and booking links, go to https://www.paperbarkwriter.com/events/
Beginners welcome, no drawing or writing experience necessary. Come along and have fun!
#naturejournaling #naturejournal #drawing #writing

Crystal-clear and still. At first light, the soft calls of wood thrushes, no doubt tired and hungry after their all-night flights. Pale crowds of snakeroot seem to glow.
#MorningPorch #naturejournal

A few minutes after six, a whippoorwill calls from just inside the woods. At the very same moment, the first mosquito of the day finds my ear.
#MorningPorch #naturejournal

After a soggy ​night, a few more raindrops and then some brightening. A vireo starts up. The lowest branch on the tulip tree has turned yellow.
#MorningPorch #naturejournal

Overcast and cool. A phoebe calls a few times from beyond the spring house and falls silent. As if in mockery, a pewee’s slower, more lilting response.
#MorningPorch #naturejournal

Cold at dawn, with the lightest of breezes bringing sounds from the east​—mostly the limestone quarry’s dull roar. A screech owl trills. The clouds go pink.
#MorningPorch #naturejournal

A gray squirrel with a nearly white tail scampering up the road draws my attention to the white snakeroot—banks of it just coming into bloom.​
#MorningPorch #naturejournal

Sun glimmering in a sky so light blue as to appear white. The Carolina wren’s motor sounds as if it’s running out of gas. Mosquitoes begin to circle.
#MorningPorch #naturejournal

Farmland biodiversity: doodlized!
🎨✍️🌸🦋🍃

Brilliant morning spent with Countryways Road Farm and Dadima' CIC, sharing our love of farmland biodiversity. We looked at the herbal leys and chalk meadow, explored woodland saw pits, marvelled at a huge diversity of flowers (inc a lovely violet helleborine!) and fungi...and enjoyed nibbling on some tasty fat blackberries! A really lovely way to spend a Sunday morning with friends 🙏

https://www.roadfarmcountryways.com/

#SketchNote #NatureJournal #farmbiodiversity

Another autumnal dawn. A screech owl trills from just inside the woods. Crows head past en route to an angry mob. The fluting of geese.
#MorningPorch #naturejournal

Just after 8:00, the sun breaks through the clouds and a breeze springs up. From the powerline, the hollow knocks of a pileated woodpecker breakfasting on ants.
#MorningPorch #naturejournal

Sunrise filling every cloud’s belly with pink as the Carolina wren​ trills over and over—once for each cloud, it seems.
#MorningPorch #naturejournal

A mosquito rests on the arm of my Adirondack chair, watching the sunrise. A hummingbird surprised by a sudden movement buzzes toward me rather than away.​
#MorningPorch #naturejournal

Leaves glistening with last night’s rain. A distant raven. The puttering of a hummingbird’s small motor. ​
#MorningPorch #naturejournal

At ten minutes till sunrise, the first hummingbird buzzes in to the orange touch-me-nots. A wood thrush calls from the woods’ edge, but doesn’t sing.​
#MorningPorch #naturejournal

Sun in the treetops. A Carolina wren keeps answering a flicker, as if trying to master its call. Tree crickets. A train horn.​
#MorningPorch #naturejournal

Before the first birds, a thin, gaping moon. A last katydid stopping mid-creak. The whine of tires on the highway over the ridge.
#MorningPorch #naturejournal

It’s raining and I’m mesmerized by the radar map, its blue and purple blobs. When the downpour begins to abate, the first thing I hear is the twittering of goldfinches.
#MorningPorch #naturejournal

Drizzle in the wind even as the sky brightens. Small patches of blue ​appear and disappear. A yellow leaf spirals down into the yard.
#MorningPorch #naturejournal