As we begin 2026 and are dealing with the fluctuating winter weather across the country, my thoughts are turning to the project that I will be working on well into 2027. Cherish is the title and it will culminate in a joint exhibition with Sally Zaranko at the Dales Countryside Museum (DCM) in the summer of 2027. Using our own experience of the landscape, archival material from the museum and the Nature Recovery Plan for the Yorkshire Dales National Park (YDNPA), the project will celebrate the priority bird species that exist across the YDNP thanks to its varied and distinctive landscape.

The idea has been in the back of my mind since working on the DCM’s Ink Inspiration project celebrating the life and work of Marie Hartley, their founder. During my research, I came across an entry in one of her diaries in the museum archives (see below). It was from 1947 and listed all the birds that she had seen in the Askrigg area. What particularly drew me to the list was the corncrake. These birds are now only very rarely seen whilst on passage through the dales due to changes in land-use & farming practises making it unfavourable for their successful breeding. In fact, many of the birds that Marie saw regularly are now red or amber listed species and I made a print called Marie’s List in response to that idea (read more about that HERE)

“The Nature Recovery Plan (NRP) for the Yorkshire Dales National Park sets out the Biodiversity Forum‘s aspirations for action between now and 2040, aiming to conserve and enhance the biodiversity within the National Park“

I have chosen a selection of birds from the Category A & B lists in the plan, birds that appear on Marie’s List and ones that I encounter myself within the Three Peaks Area of the Yorkshire Dales. I hope that through my research and subsequent print work, I will join Sally in celebrating the fact that the YDNP has significant populations of these species within the UK and to make links between the varied habitats that support them. Between us we will also be drawing on the personal experiences of birds by people living and working in the dales through the oral history project.

Following on from Charms and Murmurings, I will be exploring some of the cultural history of birds through folklore, place names, vernacular bird names and historical records. It is exciting to have this time to become fully immersed in a subject that I have had a lifelong interest in thanks to my parents particularly my mother who, following her degree and phd in zoology as a mature student, became an ecological consultant. It is so nice to be able to draw on her vast knowledge (and library!) and to have the kind of conversations that spark new ideas for prints.

Should anybody reading this blog have their own memories of birds in the Yorkshire Dales that they would like to share, please do feel free to comment below or send me a message through my website HERE. I’d love to hear them.