My new dog wall mask and Oare marsh

Hello everyone. We had a hot afternoon here in Canterbury. Late afternoon, I popped into the studio to collect fired works.  I had two kilns on, and both went well. There were three glossy chameleons, three wall masks as well as other things. I have listed one of them this evening. It is a dog mask. You would imagine I made a whippet. Not so, this time.

My new dog wall mask

 
The brown glaze has delicious colour! It is my new glaze. I love him! I don't know exactly which breed he is, but I feel he has a bit of terrier. He is on my Etsy shop now.  

Side view

I have also listed two more works. If you haven't checked my shop recently, have a look at my new works!

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Mike, who is in the middle of 10-day-leave, went to Oare Marsh, near Faversham, this afternoon. It is one of our favourite places for bird-watching. I would have gone with him if I hadn't been this busy with my work.

As he got his new camera, he took lots of beautiful photos of Oare. Oare is the stopping place for migrating birds. Birds land here to feed after arriving from the Continent, and before heading to the Continent. So we can see lots of different birds.

Very shallow water between Oare and Isle of Sheppy. 

Always wind-swept. Little egret.

Mike was happy to see several Avocets. I like them. They are elegant slim birds with turned bills. I have seen their chicks in a wildlife park. When they are very young, they have straight bills.

Avocets

Lots of waders

Surrounding Oare is an agricultural area. They were making hay. I call them Baumkuchen. Do you know this delicious German cake? I used to have them when I was in Japan. There are definitely similarity between the cake and the hay!

A mast of a boat in Farversham creek is behind the field

I would go there to see migration in early autumn. It is a lovely view of swallows and swifts feeding over the water. But today, I have to satisfied with the beautiful photos Mike has taken.  

An Aftertnon Walk in the Blean Woods

Hi everyone. Today I am going to share the photos of the walk in the Blean woods we had in yesterday afternoon, with you.

'Lying between the cathedral city of Canterbury and the towns of Faversham, Whitstable and Herne Bay, The Blean is one of the largest areas of ancient woodland in England – over 11 square miles.' (Source: http://www.theblean.co.uk/)

I used to take Topaz twice a day to the woods some years ago. But when she started to enjoy herself too much, and forgot to follow me, I had to stop visiting this ancient woods. I saw crow chicks perching on a low brach so that I could touch them if I wanted to, foxes, wood peckers and all sorts of birds.   

Topaz in the Blean woods

We went into the privately owned part of the woods. In UK, there is a strange law; public can roam anywhere if there are footpaths. And believe me, there are loads of ancient footpaths in this country! So I was told to go anywhere I fancy. In Japan, this will be illegal and I would be accused as transgress.   

I love unpaved paths.

Topaz had enjoyed her a free run. She loves chasing squirrels, and quite often disappeared into the woods. But she always comes back.

We could tell how tired she is by the length of her tongue hanging!

We had walked about 30 minutes. Topaz was very tired by then. I felt so good to walk on the soil. We didn't meet anyone.

Mike spotted Nightingale 's song. Our first of the year. We will come back to hear them singing before too long. 

A fern

RSPB Blean wood page

The Blean

Our kiln and Blackbird chicks

Hello everyone. It has become quite chilly and stormy in Canterbury. Our kiln arrived yesterday. We are hoping to power it with solar energy. I told Perin, a ceramic friend in New Zealand about it. He and his fiancee like to know how we get on with this new adventure. Perin, watch this space!

Our new kiln

This kiln doesn't require 3 phases. So we could use it straightaway.The capacity is 40L. As you could imagine, we are excited and very keen to run a test once the sun appears again.

A little kiln-40L

Every year wild bird chicks appear in our garden. Sometimes we have to rescue them from our enclosed vegetable patch. Sometimes, I have to work downstairs to keep an eye on then in case cats or crows come to attack them. They often can't fly. A couple of days ago, we found two blackbird chicks are here.  They can't fly very well yet. Father and mother are very busy feeding them. We were worried if they were ok in the torrential rain. But they are so far fine. 

Blackbird chick in the garden

Once we had a tame blackbird who used to come into the dinning room. We also saved one injured blackbird who laid down in front of the garden door. I thought he was dead, but he had an injury on one leg, and couldn't feed himself. At that time, I was breeding mealworms for my breeding finches, so I gave them to him. After one week he had recovered. We have soft spots for blackbirds. We love wild birds anyway, but blackbirds tend to stay in the garden and sing proudly. It is difficult not to love them.