Oystercatchers, oars and pheasants from afar.

I never realised till blogging these illustrated alphabet letters how many feathery friends appear, which seems ironic as here we are in lockdown , not flying anywhere, not even to Paris!

Here is letter P for pheasant who flew into Britain, courtesy of the Romans, in the 11th Century.. How on earth! My pheasant is fond of peas in their pods and is more colourful than any other animal in my alphabet.Truly beautiful, asiatic in origin, now a common character in the British countryside.

And nothing beats rowing on a Scottish Loch in May with the oystercatchers calling overhead or along the shore, being chased by that mad speedy spaniel who appears on my letter S. So O is illustrated with Oystercatchers and a pair of oars, somewhere very beautiful south of Oban.

Both pheasant and oystercatchers appear on placemats, coasters, greetings cards and initialled correspondence cards. And of course in name prints for Oliver or Olivia, which were voted Britain’s top names by Country Life in 2019.