My friend Conor Jameson, British naturalist, conservationist and writer, and author of Silent Spring Revisited (Bloomsbury, 2012), is just finishing writing what promises to be a fascinating book on the Goshawk. It is above all a personal view based on the author’s studies, experiences and observations of this wary, almost phantasmagorical forest raptor.

Since I found out that Conor was writing this book I have been sending him e-mails explaining my experiences with this species. Over the years I have accumulated a number of interesting observations, including an exceptional sighting from a hot-air balloon (the only time I’ve ever been up in a hot-air balloon)! We were flying at low altitude over a pine forest near Fornells de la Selva south of Girona when I was lucky enough to get a bird’s-eye view of a Goshawk pursuing a Green Woodpecker above the pines below the balloon! My other observations are somewhat more mundane, such as the time one took a chicken from our backyard, or surprising, as, for example, when I was able to film with a trail camera a Goshawk with a Kestrel in its talons on the bell-tower of our local church.

In the end, after numerous titillating e-mails to Conor with details of my experiences with the Goshawk, I now have the pleasure of making a small contribution to his book. His publisher’s, Bloomsbury, have asked me to provide the drawings for the chapter headings. What an honour!

The drawings are in pencil style, in black and white, and I have tried to make them as faithful as possible to the content of the chapter they represent and to the author’s needs. Aside from Goshawks and their habitats, I have also had to draw things that go beyond my normal subject matter such as a medal and a grave. But I’ve enjoyed the experience.

Get hold of the book if you can! Stay tuned to know the date of publication!

I’ve painted a fish! And you too can do it!

The campaign Paint a Fish, promoted by a number of European NGOs (New Economics Foundation, Greenpeace, WWF and OCEANA, amongst others), aims to call people’s attention to the need to change European fishery policies. It strikes me as a difficult challenge … but trying won’t do any harm!

The campaign coincides with the final negotiations for the Common Fisheries Policy, which take place every ten years, and is an excellent opportunity to make a decisive contribution to the promotion of sustainable fishery in Europe.

Paint a Fish is also an educational project that uses pedagogical material adapted to different age groups to help teachers and parents alike to tackle the subject of sustainable fisheries at school and at home.

I’ve drawn a tuna fish, as always faithful to (or trapped by?) my naturalistic style, using the tools available at www.paintafish.org. Here you have an example of the illustration process.

If you want to support and enlarge the call for a new, wiser way of managing our seas and fisheries, share the campaign and do Paint a Fish!

Si vols donar suport i fer més gran encara el clam per una nova manera de tractar el mar i els recursos pesquers, comparteix la campanya i pinta un peix!