The Society of Wildlife Artists

As the SWLA Massingham Heath Project comes to the end of a fabulous year documenting the landscape and wildlife of this special farm in Norfolk, we were thrilled to welcome Martha Kearney to learn more about the project for her Open Country programme on BBC Radio 4. 

We were blessed with fantastic weather and Martha and producer and sound recordest Beth O’Dea were keen to explore the heath. Firstly Martha spoke to landowner Olly Birkbeck to learn about how he came to inherit the farm and why he chose to restore the remnant heath, allowing unproductive fields to return to meadows. Naturalist and author, Nick Acheson, briefed her on the returning species of plants and animals now found on the heath, along with the use of conservation grazers and careful seeding of locally sourced plant species.

Harriet Mead explained how the SWLA project arose and outlined the ambitious nature of the project, with over thirty artists visiting throughout the year and hundreds of artworks produced. The planned book will be a celebration of the art and will be published in late September, with the book launch at the SWLA annual exhibition The Natural Eye, Mall Galleries, London. It will feature text by Nick Acheson who has followed the heath and the artists through the year and managed to capture beautifully the story of the restored land, the sense of place and the creativity of the artists. 

Serenaded by skylarks, Darren Woodhead was busy observing and painting stonechats when Martha arrived to interview him, but he was ready to show her his paintings of a male ring ouzel that was feeding near gorse bushes along the slope of the meadow. Martha is a keen bird watcher and was thrilled to see the bird itself as well as the beautiful paintings from Darren’s morning.

Kim Atkinson is another very knowledgeable naturalist as well as an outstanding artist. Kim was at work along a fantastic wide hedge in the farmland when Martha spoke to her. Kim is an artist who takes inspiration from sound as well as observation.

'What looks at first sight an unremarkable hedgerow was noisy with lesser whitethroats, whitethroats, blackcaps, long tailed tits, robins and chiffchaff, with yellowhammer and yaffle along at the corner and skylarks overhead. One of the good reasons for painting something is that you are free to put in what you feel to be important and not only things you see. I began work at the top of a tall piece of paper with blue songs of skylark and pink arabesques of chaffinch and the rapid series of mmm are lesser whitethroat. Along the hedge bottom were cowslips and ground ivy with bee flies hovering and probing the flowers. The painting also has motifs showing the teacher-teacher calls of a great tit. Arriving at the bottom of the painting, among the plants along the tractor flattened turf and bare soil were mining bees and the nomad bees which parasitise them' Kim Atkinson

Martha’s genuine enthusiasm for the project and clear interest in the artwork was clear, and we are very grateful to Open Country and Martha for choosing to feature it. To listen to the Open Country episode go to BBC Sounds