A delicate still life painting of pale yellow primroses arranged in a green-patterned china jug and saucer, accompanied by a small glass of deep violet flowers. Soft, natural light and muted tones give the composition a gentle, springtime intimacy. The painting is by the Scottish artist Anne Cotterill (1933-2010).

The German name for the primrose, Schlüsselblume, means “key flower,” said to be inspired by a Flemish legend. According to the tale, these flowers were placed upon the earth to “unlock” spring, ushering in a vibrant procession of blossoms and bright sunshine. #folklore #nature

Looks like today's festive friend has some last minute Christmas errands to run...

Only two more sleeps to go! 🎄🎁😍

#RSPBAdvent25

A tiny bundle of winter cheer is bouncing through our snowy woodland today…

Shall we see who’s behind door 20? ❄️✨

#RSPBAdvent25

A very delicate, finely-detailed mixed-media illustration looking down through winter trees passed a herd of deer towards a wooded valley and golden winter sunrise

Ladybird Artists Advent Calendar
Window 20
‘Winter Sunrise’
Artist: SR Badmin

A familiar friend is hiding behind today’s door...can you guess who? ✨

#RSPBAdvent25

In a wooded lane filled with heavy snow, a group of sturdy ponies wait stoically by a gate. The snow-traced branches make an arch over their heads.

Ladybird Artists Advent Calendar, window 14
‘Ponies in the Snow’
Artist: CF Tunnicliffe

#GladdersAdventCalendar Day 10

One of the woodland's most colourful characters wants in on the festive fun...

Door 6 is calling! 🎄✨

#RSPBAdvent25

A view over a ploughed field towards an ancient barn topped with snow. There is a hard hoar frost tracing cobwebs and making the going hard for the corvids in the field

Ladybird Artists Advent Calendar
Window 7
‘Frost’
Artist: CF Tunnicliffe

A nine-panel collage of frosted leaves on the ground, featuring silver-rimmed bramble leaves and curled brown autumn leaves, each coated with a fine layer of white frost against grass and leaf litter.

A mosaic of fallen leaves; beauty in decay.

A bleak and chilly scene of a flat landscape under a hard frost as a pale sun behind thin cloud gives the sky a brown tinge

Ladybird Artists Advent Calendar, window 2

No one does bleak-but-beautiful-winter like
artist Rowland Hilder

Two festive friends are hiding behind today's door... Who could they be? ✨

#RSPBAdvent25

Our Christmas countdown for nature lovers is back! 😍🎄

A little bit of wildlife magic every morning...

Who's ready to open door 1 with us?

#RSPBAdvent

A village scene featuring lots of activity around a frozen pond with children skating, walking and playing

Ladybird Artists Advent Calendar, window 1
‘The village’
Artist: SR Badmin

The stone bridge with numerous bends is shown in a soft autumn light

Other work by the Ladybird artists
‘Stopham Bridge in Autumn’
Artist: SR Badmin

A scene full of intense autumnal colour, looking towards distant hills and crags with foreground of river and a farmstead

Other work by the Ladybird artists.
Monsal Dale in Autumn
Cover picture, Readers Digest, 1983
Artist: SR Badmin

Watercolour of two fly agaric toadstools in a leafy setting. The toadstools have their characteristic white stems, red caps and white spots.

Beatrix Potter painted stunning watercolours of fungi as well as animals and we needed you to know that.

A pair of squirrels pose with great drama high up on a branch of scots pine.

Other work by the Ladybird artists
Red Squirrel
Artist: CF Tunnicliffe

HARE WAITED AS QUIET FELL OVER THE EARTH. SHE FELT HERSELF CALM WITH THE FADING DAY. MOON CAME TO JOIN HER, AND TOGETHER THEY SAT AND LISTENED TO THE STILLNESS TOMORROW SHE'D BE WILD AGAIN, BUT TONIGHT SHE'D BE AS CALM AS THE WINTER AIR, AS SOFT AS THE SETTLING SNOW.

Hare is looking forward to the largest, brightest, full moon of the year (Nov 5th)
#FullMoon #BeaverMoon #SuperMoon #WhenBeastsSpoke #MoonGazingHare #Hare #WildlifeArt

Our #AutumnArrivalSpotlight is on the Whooper Swan.

These elegant swans fly in from Iceland, their trumpet-like calls echoing across UK wetlands as they gather for winter.

Print featuring an otter facing downwards while swimming and following fish in swirling turquoise water

'Fishing Otter' linocut and silkscreen print by Angela Harding, contemporary artist based in the UK #WomensArt

The illustration shows the groups of birds on a muddy bank on a damp October day

“By the lakeside”
Teal, Shoveller, Lapwing and heron
Artist: CF Tunnicliffe
(What to Look for in Autumn, 1960)

A weasel standby a small log, surrounded by horse chestnut leaves and conkers

"The prickly seed-shucks of the chestnut have fallen and burst open, some of them spilling the brown conkers out of the soft linings that have contained and nourished them“
Artist: CF Tunnicliffe
Writer: EL Grant Watson

A view from a vantage point looking through to the town as it climbs the crag, dotted with autumn trees, glowing in the early evening light

Other work by the Ladybird artists
‘Matlock Dale’, 1962
Artist: SR Badmin

Finally detailed mixed media illustration looking down into a mature glade of autumn trees. In the foreground the picture is framed by leaves and fruit of the same trees.

Other work of the Ladybird artists.
October (Shell Guide, 1957)
Artist: SR Badmin

Two harvest mice in a field of ripened wheat. One has climbed the stalk to the ear and has started to nibble. The other looks on. Colour is provided by splashes of red from poppies in the field.

Harvest Mouse (1949)
Artist: Septimus Scott

An rainbow arrangement of garden flowers placed on white fabric

Our brains love the colour gradation in rainbows, maybe due to our ancestors searching for sources of water. Looking at plants helps us recover from stress & looking at something we think is beautiful causes dopamine release.
I've posted this photo to alter your brain biochemistry for the better 🌿

This illustration, which formed the cover picture of the book, depicts swallows darting over a wall covered with flowering dog rose. In the field behind the wall, a tractor is mowing.

“The wild briar rose and elder are the flowers which most distinctly speak of June and midsummer”
(What to Look for in Summer, 1960)
Artist: CF Tunnicliffe writer: EL Grant Watson

Swallows and Hare - by painter and printmaker Carry Akroyd

Because Swallows and Hares make everything seem ok...

You can see more of Carry's stunning artwork, here: carryakroyd.co.uk

#art #landscapes #hares #swallows #printmaking

Springwatch 2025 Join us for the 20th anniversary year!

The #Springwatch live cams, have...gone live! www.bbc.co.uk/live/c39xzg1...

Don’t forget to tune in to BBC2 and iPlayer at 8pm tonight for #Springwatch20.