Wild things

My cottage garden in the city is a haven for wild creatures. I’ve spotted my first holly blue butterflies and damselfly of the season, yet to pause for long enough to be drawn. But meanwhile, a beautiful little day-flying moth has sat obligingly on the lemon balm in the early morning sunshine. Like a moth created by an embroiderer, it’s all stripes, applied colour and dainty edging.

There are wild plants too, amongst the cultivated plants and shrubs – weeds, really, but lovely so they stay. The muscular, flat-stemmed wild sweet peas romping across the shrubs will bring vivid pink flowers, smaller than my cultivated sweet peas and fading to blue as they mature. And pinging up everywhere on jointed red stems, with surprisingly neat, white-striped pink flowers, is what I’ve only recently found out is Herb-robert. It’s a member of the geranium family and famously-stinky when crushed.

It all fits in well with a generally-wild month. I’m doing the Wildlife Trusts’ 30 Days Wild challenge and I’ll be striding out soon with a sketchbook for 26Habitats, a project from 26, a not-for-profit organisation for writers and anyone who believes in the power of words. More about that on my studio blog.

Biro, watercolour, fineliner, on waste paper.