Emma
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emmasartworks.bsky.social
Emma
@emmasartworks.bsky.social
4.3K followers 1.2K following 1.5K posts
Artist and nature lover - celebrating the wildlife and wild landscapes of northern England. Also keen on rocks and fossils. Art and photos are my own unless stated otherwise. Occasionally I write poetry - apologies in advance.
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emmasartworks.bsky.social
Last week on the North York Moors (Northeast England) - before the weather turned! The freezing cold will probably finish off most of the fungi; hopefully the birds will move out of the worst of it🤞
🪶🐡
#art #nature
Sketchbook page of birds, fungi and other wildlife from a walk along Sutton Bank, North Yorkshire, UK
November 20, 2025 at 7:38 AM
emmasartworks.bsky.social
Ahead of the snow
The geese flew, high-pitched, urgent,
Crying the winter.

#haiku
🪶
A flock of pink-footed geese flying in a loose m-shape against a grey sky - Hartlepool, NE England.
November 19, 2025 at 10:24 AM
emmasartworks.bsky.social
Very weathery out there today.

(Seaton Carew beach, Northeast England)
Photo of a dark sea under dark clouds with golden sunlight coming from the top right
November 17, 2025 at 10:44 AM
emmasartworks.bsky.social
This is a really terrible photo and I am not expecting anyone to ID it, I am just curious about what types of small moths would be about on the edge of the North York Moors in (admittedly, a mild) November?
#invertebrates #moths #lepidoptera
Photo of a small, pale grey moth on a grass stem - North Yorkshire, UK Photo of a small, pale grey moth on a grass stem - North Yorkshire, UK
November 16, 2025 at 3:40 PM
emmasartworks.bsky.social
Unexpected garden visitor - a Ring-necked Parakeet! There’s a feral population in a nearby park, but this is only the second one in the garden. Very fluffy tummy.
🪶
@teesbirds.bsky.social
Photo of a ring-necked parakeet hanging upside down from a garden bird feeder.
November 13, 2025 at 7:18 PM
emmasartworks.bsky.social
They were giving away unused pumpkins at the library last weekend; this one was too far gone for eating so I painted it instead.
🐡 #watercolour #botanicalArt
Watercolour painting of a pumpkin patterned with orange, yellow and green.
November 10, 2025 at 11:30 AM
emmasartworks.bsky.social
They’re observant, birds,
Perpetually watching;
Never miss a trick.

#haikuSaturday
Photo of a jackdaw, jauntily posing on a roof edge, with a background of autumnal trees
November 8, 2025 at 1:01 PM
emmasartworks.bsky.social
Welcome to November!
A photo of a ruined building against a dark grey sky; a background of bare, black trees and foreground of faded grass stalks. There is an unnaturally bright green path leading out of the scene to the right, past broken remains of stone walls
November 4, 2025 at 3:42 PM
emmasartworks.bsky.social
Swan poem:
#poetry
#natureWriting
Offshore by the outfall pipe Where a dead gull hangs, tangled in fishing line Swims a white swan. Yellow wedge bill pointing south, Straight swan neck - a Whooper, silent, Migrant from the North, Adrift from her people - left behind or gone ahead. A glance of sun on the water; She holds the blue white Arctic light Still in furled wings.
November 3, 2025 at 6:42 AM
emmasartworks.bsky.social
A solitary whooper swan near Newburn Bridge, Hartlepool today. Unusual to see one by itself, hope it’s ok.
@teesbirds.bsky.social
#BirdingNortheast
Photo of a solitary Whooper Swan at sea.
November 2, 2025 at 9:53 AM
emmasartworks.bsky.social
The wind blows the crows,
Tumbling with the falling leaves
As the seasons shift.

#haikuSaturday
Photo of a silhouetted jackdaw flying down from an autumnal sycamore, its branches half bare, against a pale blue sky
November 1, 2025 at 2:28 PM
emmasartworks.bsky.social
Downfall - mixed media painting of a broken oak in Wharfedale, North Yorkshire. Possibly lightning struck; the tangle of limbs is already being colonised by fungi.
🐡
#art
#nature
Mixed media painting of a broken oak tree - the split stump is upside down with the branches at the bottom, covered in moss, fungi and lichen, with blue sky behind.
October 27, 2025 at 9:41 AM
emmasartworks.bsky.social
Nice array of small ferns on a north-facing wall by the (currently closed) Transporter Bridge, Middlesbrough. Asplenium spp - maidenhair spleenwort, hartstongue, wall rue and (?) black spleenwort.
🐡
#wildflowerHour
Pen and watercolour sketches of small wall ferns (Asplenium spp) - maidenhair spllenwort, hartstongue, wall rue and (?) black spleenwort.
October 26, 2025 at 8:10 PM
emmasartworks.bsky.social
The leaves’ rich brocade
Conceals our careless litter -
Dull streets, all dolled up.

#haikuSaturday
Photo of a richly coloured array of autumn leaves covering a pavement
October 25, 2025 at 2:13 PM
emmasartworks.bsky.social
What I saw in the sand dunes last week (mysteriously large amounts of intact but empty snail shells, of several different species). Interesting to find some specialist sand-dune fungi too. North Gare, Teesside, NE England; pen and watercolour sketches.
🐡🍄
#nature
Ink and watercolour sketches of plants, fungi, birds and snails found in sand dunes in northeast England
October 22, 2025 at 7:54 AM
emmasartworks.bsky.social
A misty morning last week on Sutton Bank, the western edge of the North York Moors - the view across Garbutt Wood to the limestone cliffs where the jackdaws live with Lake Gormire (Yorkshire’s smallest lake) on the right and the faintest glimpse of Hood Hill in the background. Watercolour.
#art 🪶
A very misty morning last week on Sutton Bank, the western edge of the North York Moors - this was the view across Garbutt Wood to the limestone cliffs where the jackdaws live with Lake Gormire (Yorkshire’s smallest lake) on the right and the faintest glimpse of Hood Hill in the background. This area was the site of the Battle of Byland just over 700 years ago, and is rich in myths and legends. The track which is now the Cleveland Way is an ancient drove road, and there are burial mounds and hill forts - now just bumps in the ground - along the way. The walk from the National Park Centre is very atmospheric whatever the weather, and great for wildlife and fungi spotting. Watercolour painting. (If you know the spot, you’ll see I’ve used some artistic licence to move the lake closer to the cliffs 😊)
October 20, 2025 at 10:42 AM
emmasartworks.bsky.social
Mist droplets betray
Silken death-traps. Spiders sulk,
Wait out the weather.

#haikuSaturday
Photo of heathland on a misty morning. The mist has condensed on hundreds of small webs, making them clearly visible. Sutton Bank, North Yorkshire, UK
October 18, 2025 at 12:27 PM
emmasartworks.bsky.social
More mushrooms from a recent walk at Sutton Bank, the western edge of the North York Moors (UK) - some beautiful colours! Seems to be a good year for fungi. Pen and watercolour. Identities are best guesses for most.
🐡
#fungi
#fungiFriends
Pen and watercolour sketches of fungi and lichen in North Yorkshire, UK.
October 17, 2025 at 6:28 AM
emmasartworks.bsky.social
Redwing at Seaton Carew today.
@teesbirds.bsky.social
Phone photo of a Redwing thrush on short grass
October 14, 2025 at 11:42 AM
emmasartworks.bsky.social
Fungi and other finds from a visit to the Great Wood near Keswick in the English Lake District last week - particularly exciting to find Hen-of-the-woods (Maitake) which I’ve never found before, it’s not common in the UK. Pen and watercolour sketches.
🐡
#fungi #lichen #plants
#fungiFriends #art
Ink and watercolour sketches of finds from Derwentwater, UK - lichen, acorns, horse chestnut case, honey fungi, grey knight fungi, amethyst deceiver fungi, hen of the woods (maitake) fungi and bonnet fungi.
October 14, 2025 at 7:43 AM
emmasartworks.bsky.social
Shells - ancient and modern - from the beach at Redcar. The modern oyster was considerably more battered than the 200 million year old ones. Watercolour painting.
#fossils #shells #art #nature
🐡
Watercolour painting of shells found on the beach at Redcar, northeast England; there is a modern oyster shell on the left, showing outside and inside, though it is very sea-worn. The remainder are fossils from the lower Jurassic period (c200mya) - Cardinia bivalves, a fragment of Ammonite and Gryphaea oysters.
October 12, 2025 at 2:55 PM
emmasartworks.bsky.social
Bright honey fungi
Conceal bitter truth beneath -
death in black laces.

#haikuSaturday
#fungi
Photo of a clump of honey fungus (Armillaria sp.) growing among grass on a forest floor. The fungus spreads through black bootlace-like structures underground which infect tree roots, causing them to rot, and eventually can kill even the largest forest trees.
October 11, 2025 at 12:07 PM
emmasartworks.bsky.social
The Strid Wood in Wharfedale, North Yorkshire, last week, had a superabundance of shrooms - most of them I can’t ID to species (they require breaking bits off, or sniffing) so am sticking with genus for most. Ink and watercolour drawings in my sketchbook.
🐡
#fungi
#fungiFriends
A selection of fungi seen on a walk in Strid Wood, Yorkshire (UK) - porcelain fungus, oyster longs, bonnets, boletes, funnels, stump puffballs, rosy bonnet, common puffball, Amanita. The site is an SSSI for its fabulous range of woodland fungi, moss and lichen
October 6, 2025 at 2:03 PM
emmasartworks.bsky.social
The beautiful light
That comes with this time of year -
How the shadows fall.

#haikuSaturday
Photograph of the River Wharfe in North Yorkshire, looking downstream on an autumn day. The light is coming from the top right, casting shadows across the bottom right of the photo. There is a background of trees and pale clear sky.
October 4, 2025 at 1:45 PM
emmasartworks.bsky.social
Ink and watercolour drawings of various invertebrates that I’ve seen in the garden during September. Definitely getting the autumn feeling.
🐡
#invertebrates
Ink and watercolour drawings of various invertebrates that I’ve seen in the garden during September - woodlice, shieldbugs, moths, a red admiral butterfly, common wasp, earwig and garden spider
October 2, 2025 at 6:01 PM