Its ten months since I last posted on this blog and such a lot has happened at Potteric Carr Yorkshire Wildlife Trust nature reserve since then.
A new visitor centre was planned to be constructed by the entrance to the reserve in the summer of 2016, a 'state of the art green' building with meeting room, office for the staff, cafe and shop.
The preparation of the site included the removal of a large number of Great Crested Newts which are a European protected species, this started in May, took eight weeks and was done under licence. The newts were transferred safely to another part of Potteric Carr SSSI nature reserve and building construction started in mid July.
Yorkshire Wildlife Trust's 70th birthday celebrations with David Attenborough took place at York University on June 17th. Sir David's talk was memorable, without notes, completely spontaneous. It was a fascinating and very entertaining evening which I was very proud to have been part of.
My painting 'Hawthorn Field Spring" was one of the prizes in the draw .
On 8th July a Glossy Ibis" was seen on Loversall Carr. I managed to get a few photographs of this quite rare bird and have included it in my painting "Wildlife in the Morning Sunrise at Potteric Carr" (presently on my display in the new Visitor Centre )
On Friday 25th November Rosie Winterton MP joined Chief Executive of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, Rob Stoneman, along with funders, staff and volunteers to open the new visitor centre. Mrs Winterton said "Potteric Carr is a fantastic asset for Doncaster and the whole of Yorkshire"
A Christmas Carol Singalong at the Albert Hall on 17th December was wonderful, the atmosphere amazing, we had gone by coach with a group of friends and it was an occasion to be remembered with great pleasure, however, returning home the next day someone behind us on the coach had a very heavy cold, and 'kindly' passed it around, so, for the next few weeks we suffered and missed Christmas altogether.
Well thats just about 'up to date' My paintings are on display in the Visitor Centre at Potteric until the end of February when a new hanging system will be installed. There are lots of interesting events planned on the reserve, here is a link...... http://www.ywt.org.uk/whats-on
Sheila M Bury,Volunteer Artist in Residence and Fundraiser, Potteric Carr YWT Nature Reserve Doncaster, South Yorkshire.
