春の男鹿半島

男鹿半島には、この季節に見られそうな鳥が本当にすべて生息していた。3年ぶりに日本の夏鳥を一通り見られて、とてもうれしかった。

ホオアカ（Chestnut-eared Bunting）

カッコウ（Eurasian Cuckoo） 

まだキリの花が咲いていた。関東より季節は数週間遅い。




コムクドリ（Chestnut-cheeked Starling）



二ノ目潟を見下ろす。水とマグマが接触して起きるマグマ—水蒸気爆発によってできた円形の炸裂火口（マール地形）に水が溜まってできた湖らしい。 爆発が大きく、噴出物が広範囲に飛び散るために、火口は比較的なだらかな丘になるようだ。奥の戸賀湾も同じようなマールだったが、日本海と繋がって湾になったという。目の前をハチクマが横切ったのに感動した。



Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker
コゲラが巣穴を掘っていた。頭の毛並みが妙に悪い個体だったけれど、いっぱしの家持ちのオスだった。



キビタキ（Narcissus Flycatcher）
富士鷹なすびさんの言う「レモンを背負ったポーズ」もしていた。



ハマナス（Japanese Rose）
I was wondering if I could make Nyponsoppa, the delicious rosehip soup, if I come here in autumn! This one must produce the some kind of rosehip.



コヨシキリ（Black-browed Reed Warbler）
たくさんスケッチをする時間を許してくれたバードウォッチング仲間に大感謝。 今回の旅はバンガローを借りての自炊生活だったのだが、夜も食事やお弁当準備を適度にさぼりつつ、昼間に描いたスケッチに色つけさせてもらったので、こんなにたくさんブログにアップできるスケッチができてしまった！　ヒヨ吉さん、Nさん、Yさん、本当にありがとうございました。

Bird Migration

I went to Oga with my bird illustrator friend and his birdwatching friends. Oga is a peninsula in Akita which sticks out to the Sea of Japan.   Islands in the Sea of Japan, such as Hegurajima and Tobishima, are famous for spring bird migration and always crowded with bird watchers who want to see rare birds in spring.  But if birds are flying up north along the Japanese Sea side, some should stop over on the mainland, especially on those peninsulas sticking out.  So we went there hoping to see and feel the bird migration.



男鹿半島の突先にある入道崎。ヒヨドリやカケスの群れが海に向かって飛び立とうとしていた。ところがすぐ先の水島にハヤブサ夫婦が居座っていて、そんな渡り鳥を狙っている。群れは一斉に飛び立ってみては諦め、水島上空まで出ては戻り、と繰り返していて、結局、わたしたちが渡りの見送りをすることはできなかった。



キレンジャク
島での渡り観察で期待されるような、いわゆる珍鳥は出なかったけれど、南から北へと渡っている冬鳥、夏鳥を見ることができた。まだこんなところでふらふらしているツグミやマミチャジナイ、マヒワに、もう南からやってきて、もう少し北へと移動中のコサメビタキ、コシアカツバメ。
There was a tiny woodland at the very tip on the north-west end of the Oga peninsula, where we watched an amazing variety of birds hanging around, feeding on and waiting for the good time to move on with their journey. This solitary Bohemian Waxwing was one of them.



道路で息絶え絶えになっていたアオジのメス。何かにぶつかってしまったのか、左目が開けられないようだった。犬が吠えたりすると、びくりと飛び起きて逃げようとするけれど、しばらくするとまた疲れて倒れ込んでしまう。渡りの過酷さを目の辺りにした。ハクセキレイがこの座り込んでしまったアオジを気にして、のぞき込んでいたのが印象的だった。



The Nyudozaki point reminded me so much of Scotland. The cliff with grass field on top, the strong wind, some rocky islands off shore...and seabirds! To our surprise, there was a huge flock of Short-tailed, Sooty and Streaked Shearwaters, Rhinoceros Auklets and Black-throated and Pacific Divers! Although they were in telescope distance, we could even see that some divers were in their summer plumage with a grey head and white dots on its back. We watched the big flock every day as we visited the same point for the three days, when we were there. So yes, of course, every day was a diver day!

戸隠経由

鳥のイラストレーター仲間のヒヨ吉さんにお誘いいただき、男鹿半島に鳥を見に行ってきた。あまり鳥の情報がない男鹿での、渡り時期の鳥の様子を知りたいという純粋な興味からののんびり旅。久しぶりの遠出だった。 そして経由地の戸隠で、"ついで"に一時間ほど探鳥。なんという贅沢！



クロツグミ　Japanese Thrush
Most of our summer visitors had already arrived and the forest is alive with birds singing and making nests and bringing food for their nestlings.



ミソサザイ　Winter Wren
We have the same wren species as in Britain but somehow ours is not as common and can only be seen in the forest along streams. And I think Japanese one sings more beautifully with the help of echo in the narrow stream geography!
うしろの描きかけスケッチはノジコ



コサメビタキ　Asian Brown Flycatcher
I need to relearn the songs of Japanese summer visitors, which I have completely forgotten.

Little Tern Project

森ヶ崎水再生センターの施設屋上で営巣するコアジサシの保全のため、営巣地の整備や巣のモニタリングなどをしている、NPO法人リトルターン・プロジェクトの営巣調査に参加させていただいている。今年はすでに100羽を超えるコアジサシが来ているようで、昨日の調査では22巣が確認された。



調査のあと少し残ってスケッチをさせてもらった。そして気づけばリトルターン・プロジェクトのブログで紹介してくださっていた！



I started to participate in the researches for the Little Tern project.  Since we have less and less natural bare ground in Tokyo area for little terns to nest, they started nesting on the roof top of a sewerage facility building.   In 2001, one bird researcher happened to find it and started to protect them.   Now the project became big and people create good nesting ground for them, pulling out the weeds and spreading sea shells.



It seems that they love nesting on where white sea shells are to camouflage their eggs.



求愛給餌の様子が何度も見られた。巣で抱卵しているメス？にプレゼントしようとオス？が魚を持ってきたのに、メスは留守中で、オスは魚をくわえたまま抱卵開始。どうしよう、どうしよう、としばらく魚をもてあそんでいたけれど、結局、自分で食べてしまった。



The research we did was to walk on the nesting ground to find and check their nests and eggs. It was very very very scary to walk on the nesting site. Their nests quite often mean just eggs laid on the ground. And their three tones eggs are so camouflaged in the gravel and shells. The worst thing to do is to step on them. So we needed to be super careful. 

春の里山

谷戸風景を上手く絵にしたい、と思うけれど、どうも難しい。少し上空から見れば、谷戸の幅が山側に向かってだんだんと狭くなる地形が描けるのだけれど、あいにくそんな風に都合よく谷戸を見下ろせる場所はなかなか見つからない。



Satoyama is often used as a key word for nature conservation in Japan. It's an environment in between wild mountains and human settlements, where people used to go in daily life. So the Satoyama environment is created by human activities, such as cutting firewood, getting materials for thatched roof and growing mushrooms. And when we consider nature conservation and environmental education today, we tend to think back the connection we had with nature through the use of Satoyama.
So I am quite often asked to illustrate Satoyama environment.  And this spring, since this is my first spring in Japan for the last few years,  I was determined to sketch the scenery and wildlife there!  



キンラン。今年はあちこちで、たくさん咲いたらしい。



ホソオビヒゲナガ
写真を見ると、オスはどこかにひっかかりそうなほど「ヒゲナガ」のようだが、残念ながらわたしが見たのは、ヒゲの短いメスだった。メタリックな光沢がきれいだ。

Something Arrived Today!

Just now the postman handed me a cardboard envelope from Zurich. The inside was this year's autumn catalog of the Swiss publisher, Atlantis (Orell Füssli Verlag).
Do you know why they sent it to me?
Because it's got a page showing my very first picture book to be published in the end of September!



今年の9月末にスイスの出版社Atlantisから出る、わたしのはじめての絵本がカタログに載りました！

I still can not believe that this is really happening.  My book is in their beautiful catalog next to all those superb-looking books!   You can find its PDF version here.


I still remember my strange dream so vividly. I had it just after I graduated from the MA course, when I felt that I had a blank future plan.

In my dream, I was in my 40s and walking around the Bologna Children's Book Fair dragging my little green suitcase filled with my dummy books and a portfolio to show to publishers. I had been doing it for more than ten years and had no book deal so far.  But I went to the fair every year nonetheless because I was determined to get somewhere as a children's book illustrator and I loved seeing my classmates once a year and hearing their successful stories. But that moment in my dream, I bumped into many classmates, all became successful artists and suddenly, for the very first time, I realised that I had no talent in making picture books. And I wondered why I thought I could be an illustrator and what I was doing for the last ten years.  I should have given it up ages ago and done something completely different.
That dream was ever so realistic and it was such a scary thought.

So you imagine, how I felt when I heard from the lovely editor of the Atlantis that she wanted my book after the Bologna Book Fair last year!

It's been wonderful to be working on this project with the great editor, Seraina, and we are now finalising the book layout. I am very excited to see the book coming out!

「ひばりは どこに」

今日から愛鳥週間。
日本野鳥の会が愛鳥週間に合わせて出した小冊子「ひばりは どこに」の口絵3枚と中の絵を2枚、描かせていただいた。
野鳥の会が集めているバードメイト寄付は、一口寄付をするとその年に作られた鳥のピンバッチがもらえる。今年のバッチはヒバリなので、それに合わせてこの冊子が作られている。



I illustrated three frontispieces for this leaflet about skylark published by Wild Bird Society of Japan!
冊子はこちらのページからもらうことができる。



They asked me to draw a nostalgic barley field scenery in early Showa era (before and after WWⅡ). But it was difficult to imagine as I wasn't born yet to feel "nostalgic" about that time!



葛西臨海公園で2月に見たヒバリ。地面を静かにつついていると、これ、ヒバリだよね？とどうも自信がもてない。



Some scenery sketches near Narita in April, where I saw lots of skylarks singing in the air.

Happy Children's Day!

5th of May is the Children's Day in Japan and we put up Koinobori, the carp-shaped wind socks above the roof or across the river.  It was originally only for boys so normally only families with boys put up the decoration. But it's a national holiday and everyone gets the day off!





There is a chinese tale about the dragon gate, which is a rapid stream along the Yellow River. If a fish can climb up the stream and go through the gate, the fish will become a dragon. And of all the fishes tried, a carp made it.
So we fly the carps to wish that our children will become dragons.