This video clip was taken along side one of my photographic projects it includes Goldfinches feeding from thistles, all clips were taken from my car window with a Canon 7D DSLR and a Canon 500mm Lens.
For a high res image go to: www.wildaboutimages.co.uk

© Paul Bunyard

Keeping your children entertained during the summer holidays no longer need be a problem, because every day until Tuesday 6th September, Pensthorpe Nature Reserve will be calling all ‘Summer Nature Explorers’ to join in with hands-on activities in their brand new fun Activity Tent.

Included in the entry price, a range of educational activities have been created to encourage children to ‘Get Closer to Nature’ in a fun and exciting way! Activities include Magnetic Fishing, Den Building and a Giant Colouring Wall, where literally everyone is invited to create a wildlife masterpiece! Our energetic Nature Explorers can twist their way through the Nature Maze, be brave and dip their hands into the Feely Fun Boxes or weave in and out of straw bales on the Mini Farmers Tractor Track? They can even give the Pensthorpe Wardens a good grilling too!

Explorers with an eye for nature can experience a bit of wildlife spotting for themselves too at the Meadow Binocular Station, identifying all sorts of fluttery, buzzy creatures such as dragonflies, butterflies and birds! Or, if they’ve had a busy day exploring the Reserve, they can simply chill out at Book Worm Corner!

Kirsty Willingham comments: “We are passionate about introducing children to nature at a young age so we’ve launched our new Summer Nature Explorer activities to give children something educational and fun to try in the school holidays. Every day there will be something fun to do plus each activity will highlight ways to spot, protect and provide habitats for a variety of amazing wildlife – an important part of the Pensthorpe’s philosophy!”

Summer Nature Explorers will run daily from 10am – 4pm and is free of charge to full paying visitors to the Reserve.

In addition to Summer Nature Explorer’s, visitors to Pensthorpe can also pick up a WOW Booklet packed with activities and suggesting things to see and do including pond dipping, the Stamper Trail and the Bug Walk. Plus, there’s the Wensum Discovery Tour*, the 4pm Bird Feed out on the Reserve and the 12pm Warden Walk Talk.

Entry to Pensthorpe is £9.50 for adults and £6.00 for children (4-16yrs).

* The Wensum Discovery Tour costs £5.75 for adults and £4.75 for children

Pensthorpe Nature Reserve is on the A1067, one mile from Fakenham. Open all year, April to December 10am to 5pm and January to March 10am to 4pm. Courtyard Café serving home-cooked food; Gift Shop with a large range of stylish and unusual items; free parking. Tel 01328 851465, www.pensthorpe.com.

This video clip was taken along side one of my photographic projects, all clips were taken with a Canon 7D DSLR and a Canon 500mm Lens

For a high res image go to: www.wildaboutimages.co.uk
© Paul Bunyard

Respected railway artist Wrenford Thatcher will be throwing open the doors to his Sheringham studio over the August bank holiday weekend, giving visitors a chance to see paintings whose subjects range from steam engines at Cromer Station in the 1940s and a snow-covered Kings Lynn Station in 1958, to the mountains of Loch Quoich, in the Scottish Highlands.

Wrenford, who won his first painting competition at the age of four, developed a passion for steam trains while growing up at Cromer.

"Both my grandfathers were engine drivers and, as a child in the 1950s, I would walk through to the station from my home in Central Road, where my step-grandfather, Jimmy Denness, would let me ride on the footplate," he remembers.

Going against the advice of his high school art teacher, who urged him to apply for a place at art school, Wrenford studied maths and physics at university. He later gained a PHD and chartered physicist status, and carved a career as an inventor in the electronics industry.

He then worked as a university lecturer and, after a spell teaching at an independent school at Swaffham, gave up full-time work to concentrate on painting.

"Although I do still do consultancy work, having more time has allowed me to turn what has been a lifelong hobby into something much more," he said.

Wrenford, who also produces atmospheric landscapes painted on location in Scotland, has gone on to gain a reputation as one of the area's top railway artists, attracting commissions from UK and American clients.
His pictures, which are meticulously researched and can take months to complete, have been exhibited at galleries in Norfolk, Hertfordshire, Leicestershire, Somerset and Scotland, with Wrenford also publishing a book entitled Lines into London - which charts the history of London railways in the post-war years - and recently inventing a new type of wind turbine.

He decided to host an open studio exhibition at his Sheringham home after enjoying a successful show at Picturecraft Gallery, Holt.

"I felt it would be nice for local people and visitors to wander in and look at my work in an informal setting," he said. "It will also give me a chance to chat about the paintings and their subjects."

Paintings by Wrenford Thatcher will be on show at 25 Churchill Crescent, Sheringham NR26 8NQ from August 26-30.

Opening times are 10am - 4pm.

Viewing can also be arranged by appointment. For more information, phone 01263 823862.

Iron Age road link to Iceni tribe
By Louise Ord - Assistant producer, Digging for Britain

Courtesy: www.bbc.co.uk

A suspected Iron Age road, made of timber and preserved in peat for 2,000 years, has been uncovered by archaeologists in East Anglia.

The site, excavated in June, may have been part of a route across the River Waveney and surrounding wetland at Geldeston in Norfolk, say experts.

Causeways were first found in the area in 2006, during flood defence work at the nearby Suffolk town of Beccles.

It is thought the road is pre-Roman, built by the local Iceni tribe.

Exact dating has yet to be carried out but tree-ring evidence suggests a date of 75BC.

That dates the timber road to more than 100 years before the Roman invasion, which saw the Iceni and their leader Boudicca lead a revolt which threatened to end Roman rule.

In AD60, the Iceni ambushed one Roman legion and sacked Roman settlements at London and Colchester before being defeated.


'Remarkable' detail
The timber structures, usually lost on archaeological sites, are marked out by the posts which have been preserved in remarkable detail. As they are dug up, they look almost modern, and it is still possible to clearly see tool marks in the timbers.

University of Birmingham archaeological researcher Kristina Krawiec, from the dig team, said: "Instead of getting post holes, we're getting the posts that would have gone in them. We're understanding more about the technology and skills that went into these sort of things."

John Davies, chief curator at Norwich Castle Museum, added: "This particular track way is very interesting to us because we have tools... which may actually tie in with some of the tool marks and methods of construction we are turning up in the excavation."

Discovered in June last year, the recently excavated timbers form a 4m-wide (13ft) route, running for 500m across wetland right up to the river. There have been two previous linked finds nearby including one on the other side of the river and another running alongside it.

"We perhaps have evidence that these alignments were designed to indicate a crossing or access route to the River Waveney," said University of Birmingham archaeologist Ben Gearey.

As well as providing practical ways of getting across the wet flood plain, the archaeologists believe the roads may have been a way of marking territory to traders and travellers from afar, and spiritual gathering places where the tribe that built them could go to the river to make offerings.

Items such as swords, shields and spearheads are often found in rivers - probably gifts to the gods or to long-dead ancestors.

In a world without roads, rivers were the motorways of the time and it is thought the Waveney formed part of a major metal trading route from Europe.

The timber structures would probably have been an impressive sight to any passing travellers.

Find out more on the new series of BBC Two's Digging For Britain, to be aired in September 2011.

Work by some of the UK's leading textile artists will be on show at the Belfry Arts Centre, Overstrand, this month, as part of a celebration challenging the idea of knitting as a traditional domestic craft.

Curated by Belfry artistic director Nora Gaston and her daughter-in-law and fellow artist Elizabeth, Purls by the Sea, which is funded by the Arts Council, Norfolk County Council and North Norfolk District Council, kicks off on Saturday (August 13) with the opening of a month-long exhibition featuring knitted textiles created by artists from all over the country.

Exhibitors will include Dr Annie Shaw, whose miniature fishermen's ganseys have been displayed at the Scottish Fisheries Museum and Scarborough Art Gallery, Joanna Jack, whose sea life-inspired, knit-based illuminated installations are inspired by her home in the Shetland islands and by a childhood fascination with science laboratories, and Anita Bruce, who takes her inspiration from her earlier career as a zoologist.

Also on show will be a light projection installation created by artists' collective Mirrie Dancers, work by award-winning knitwear designer Samantha Brooke, who is currently working for top fashion designer Alberta Ferretti, and pieces by Norfolk-based textile artists including Stephanie Potts, whose knitted vessels will be displayed with delicate knitted jewellery by Kate Holdsworth.

To coincide with the exhibition, the Belfry will be hosting a series of workshops run by artist Biddy Rychnovsky, with those taking part using unusual materials, including broomsticks, to create a knitted wall hanging of the coastline, which will go on permanent display at the centre.

Elizabeth, who is a senior teaching fellow at Leeds University's school of design, has exhibited her own knitted artwork at UK venues including the Wellcome Gallery at the Science Museum, London. She has given lectures on knitting all over the country, as well as in Italy, South Africa and South Korea.

"We are very excited about the exhibition," she said. "And we would like to see lots of knitting groups and individuals getting involved in the workshops and being part of an exciting project to create a fantastic artwork made by the community, for the community."


Purls by the Sea runs daily from 11am-4pm at the Belfry Arts Centre, Cromer Road, Overstrand, NR27 0NT, until August 30 2011.

images attached: some of the exhibits featured in Purls by the Sea at The Belfry Arts Centre, Overstrand.

Annie Shaw will be giving a talk on her work at 4.30 on August 13th and Elizabeth Gaston will giving a talk on the value of knitting at 3pm on August 27th. Knitting workshops on August 13 are fully booked, but places are still available on two workshops on August 20. For more information, or to book a place, phone 01263 576437 or email: nora.gaston@zen.co.uk