Westwood Marshes, Walberswick
This week I knew exactly knew where I was going to paint somewhere I have sketched many times before.
A walk down from Hoist Covert car park through the Sweet Chestnut woods and out onto the marsh and along the footpath to the old disused windpump on Westwood marshes. I believe that it was built in 1798 and contained a pair of stones for milling, it remained active until 1940 when the marshes were flooded because of the war.
A day with blue sky and clouds warm with a good breeze and perfect for sketching. Today was the first oil painting sketch of the year as I felt that my acrylics would dry too fast.
Such a great place to stand in one place for such a long time full of visual and auditory pleasure in the distance the booming of a Bittern in the reedbeds and a Great white egret flying on the horizon. Best of all were the numerous Bearded Reedlings pinging to and from reed to reed, numerous male Reed Buntings on perches marking out their territories, Sedge Warblers and Reed Warblers hiding in the reeds while Swallows captured in the painting were flying around the Mill. Lastly a pair of Pied wagtails that frequented the top of the tower.
