岩礁の道

After walking the coast path in Hachinohe, Aomori, I thought I should try the one close to home.  There is a rocky path from Oura bathing beach to Miyagawa bay in Miura, Kanagawa.  It's one of the seventeen nature walks you can do in Kanagawa and one of the hundred and sixty in Kanto plain.    



ときおり見かける「関東ふれあいの道」って何だろうと思っていた。調べてみると神奈川県内は三浦半島から湘南、丹沢を抜け、東京都の高尾から奥多摩へ、埼玉県は秩父を北上し、群馬県は榛名湖を通り、栃木を横断して、茨城の筑波山、霞ヶ浦を通り、千葉県の九十九里、房総と、関東をぐるりと一周できるように作られている自然歩道だった。




江奈湾にキアシシギ。



このドラマチックな景観は、深海で白っぽいシルトと黒っぽいスコリア質の砂礫が交互に堆積したものが、フィリピン海プレートが大陸プレートの下に潜り込んだ際に、斜めになって陸に付加されたことで出来ているようだ。



This stunning scenery was made by the upheaval of the layer deposited under the sea.  

いきもののにぎわいのある森

久しぶりに横浜自然観察の森の鳥のくらし発見隊に参加した。ホトトギスやオオルリ、センダイムシクイなど声はすれど姿は見えず。夏鳥がちゃんと来ていることが分かり、いるなら良かった、とわたしは思ってしまうけれど、探鳥会としてはたいへん。つい虫のくらしや、キノコのくらしに目がいってしまう。そんな木々が茂った森のイメージしかないが、自然観察の森ができて今年で30年。センターの企画展示で森の昔と今の写真を比べると、開園間もないころは、どこもここも空き地だったことが分かる。30年でどこだか分からなくなるほどしっかりした森ができてしまうんだ！



Yokohama Nature Sanctuary, where I leaned to watch birds, celebrates its 30th anniversary this year.  And I had the honour to create the sanctuary's logo!  
30周年の記念に森のロゴを作成するというお仕事をやらせていただいた。



ロゴはスタンプにもなったので、観察の森を訪れた記念に押すことができます！
今年は30周年記念で様々なイベントも行われていますので、ぜひ遊びに行ってみてください。

みちのく潮風トレイル

On the last day in Aomori, we walked along the coast path.  The starting point was Kabushima, the island of gulls.  We only walked a few kilometres since I stopped everywhere and the time was limited.  But we enjoyed good scenery and lots of coastal flowers.  



昨年、ノーサンバーランドのコーストパスを歩いて以来、海岸沿いのロングトレイルに興味を持っている。イギリスでは、海沿いや川沿いをひたすらぽくぽく歩くいて、疲れたらちょっとどこかでお茶をする、というのが家族、カップル、友人同士のごく当たり前の休暇の過ごし方。家畜を含めた生き物を見るほかは、特別なアトラクションもなければ、お土産屋などもないのに、みんな楽しんでいる。こういう遊びができる人が増えないと、自然の良さって評価してもらえないのかなと感じたのだ。

日本にも素敵な登山道はたくさんあるけれど、山であるだけに、普通の人がふらりと出かけるにはちょっとハードルが高い。食糧はすべて持っていかなくてはならないし、途中でやめてタクシーを呼ぶなどもできない。そして何より急な登りと下り。
海沿いの道は、気軽に自然を親しむきっかけとなるには、良いのかもしれない。
だから「みちのく潮風トレイル」の存在を知ったとき、ぜひ歩いてみたいと思った。



We stopped every few metres since I wanted to draw everything.  



ニッコウキスゲの向こうに海景を見る。



大須賀海岸
ちゃんと丸いハスノハナカシパンの殻を見つけてとてもうれしかった。
There were divers at sea, too!  I thought they were young Pacific Divers but I was not sure.



The black-tailed gulls were bathing in a stream.  I wanted to go into the sea, too if I were wearing sandals and if I wasn't going back by shinkansen train soon after.



７００キロも続くみちのく潮風トレイル。その一部でもと鮫駅から種差海岸まで歩こうと計画したのに、わたしがあちこちでスケッチしてしまったせいで、陸奥白浜駅で時間切れ。いつかこの先も訪れたい。

Birds, more birds!

Birding in Aomori was amazing. With the help of good weather, we enjoyed every single hour of every single day.

　

夏羽のきれいなカンムリカイツブリ。後ろから冠を見ると、小さい子のちょんちょりんみたい。



Wonderful birds, fabulous sceneries and quite often we had them to ourselves.  There was no one to disturb the bird so I could spend long time sketching until the bird itself decided to move on. 



One local birder told us an ironical story.  He said that he once heard a group of birders from Tokyo complaining that there was no birder in the area so they couldn't find birds!  
Some of the Tokyo birders can really be as bad as that.  There are so many people in a few nature reserves in the metropolitan area that they don't have to look for birds but just find people to tell them where and what to see.    
It is very sad.  Because I believe half of the joy of watching birds comes from finding them by yourself from seemingly an empty scenery.  




How we came to find this sleeping nightjar was a good story.
We were walking in a wood where one of us described as not-really-for-a-nightjar environment.
But a nightjar called once.  And three of us heard it.  None of us thought we could see it... it sounded like coming from beyond the trees.
Then one, who didn't hear the call said "You should be able to see the bird if you heard it."
Thinking that's not possible, three of us picked our bins since the way he said it was so confident and we thought we ought at least to pretend trying.

Soon after, one expert birder mumbled, "Can it be it or just a leaf?"
No one else could figure out what he was looking at but when he set a scope on it, it was clearly a nightjar indeed!
I even struggled to find it with my bins after seeing through the scope.  It was so far and so hidden by leaves and branches in front of it!  
I leaned that you always have to look for birds to see one.  




カイツブリ夫婦はどうもここがお気に入りのようで、遠くからそっと観察した数分の間にも、草を持って来たり、座ったりしていた。きっとここに巣を作るのだろう。




Driving up to Shimokita peninsula reminded me of Scotland because there were horses grazing, cattle grids,  a nice light house, sea stacks and natural lawn to be lying down.  There is something about these remote, cliff edge scenery that I really love so I was delighted to find such place in this country, too!

尻屋崎はイギリスを懐かしく思い出させるような風景が広がっていた。でも日本だなと思ったのは、岬への立入りが冬をのぞく季節の昼間に限られていたこと。何か事件が起きたら大変だから、なのだろうか。何か起きたときに、管理者の責任にする人がいるから、なのだろうか。ここから朝日が眺められたら最高なのに！




この日は眩しいばかりの晴天だった。



Sketching this sea stack, my mind was at St. Abbs head looking down the Cleaver Rock.

10th Anniversary!

Today is the 10th anniversary of this blog! 
 I don't quite believe it. I feel very old now!

I am so grateful to everyone who encouraged me to keep going, especially to my mother who let me spend so much time drawing and writing, being like Frederick, the mouse, by Leo Lionni.    




今日は『クイナ通り』の10周年記念日。
はじめたときは、10年も続けるなんて、思わなかった。
これだけたくさんのお金にならない絵を描き続けられたことに感謝。

いつも見に来てくださりありがとうございます。

Hotokenuma Ramsar Site

One very early morning or rather it should still be called a night, we drove to Hotokenuma.  As the dawn broke, the marsh was filled with bird calls.  There, you can not listen to a single bird but the entire chorus.  It was so beautiful.  



Hotokenuma is a wetland in Misawa, Aomori, selected as a Ramsar Site in 2005.   It is also chosen as one of the hundred best soundscapes of Japan by the Ministry of Environment along with the calls of the gulls at Kabushima.  



The area used to be a lagoon and it was drained in 1960s to make paddy fields.  Soon after though, the government started the rice-reduction program.  But the farmers kept draining the area hoping to restart farming someday.  As a result of that, the habitat was managed in a way suitable for the Japanese Marsh Warblers and Japanese Reed Bunting, which love the grassland with middle hight reeds.



One of the best singers at the marsh was the Black-browed Reed Warbler.  It seemed that they could not resist but climbing up the reed and singing.



一番よく見たのはコヨシキリだろうか。お気に入りの葦で、横向き、前向き、後ろ向きになってさえずる姿が望遠鏡でじっくり観察できた。



The view of the Hakkoda mountain was splendid, too.  
空にはアマツバメ、そしてショウドウツバメ。ショウドウツバメはこれから北海道へと渡って行く、と地元の方が教えてくれた。



コジュリンの口の中ってピンク色なんだ！



It was rather far away but I was happy to see the Latham's snipe and its display flight since it was my lifer!   



Trying to capture the display flight of the Japanese Swamp Warbler!  
This red listed warbler is only seen in far east.  It seems to be doing very well in Hotokenuma but it is said that nearly half of its population in Japan lives here, which is quite a scary thought.  

ウミネコの島

It's one of my dreams to make some opportunities like the Seabird Drawing Course in Japan. Looking for the possible places to draw and paint birds, Godo-san, my illustrator friend and I visited Kabushima and other places in Aomori.



野外で鳥を描く練習をするにはどこがよいだろう。イギリスの海鳥のコロニーのようなところはないだろうか、ということで八戸の蕪島を訪れた。



Kabushima is a tied island in Hachinohe, just 15 minutes walk from the nearest train station, Same.  It has a shinto shrine and thousands of nesting Black-tailed Gulls.  Unfortunately, the main shrine building was burned down in an accident last November and it seems to take some more years to rebuilt it.  But the gates and stone statures remained and gulls are thriving.  



As I climbed the steps, I was surrounded by the noise and the smells of the seabird colony, which excite me so much.  Who cares about bird droppings?  




お賽銭箱の前にも、横にも、ウミネコが巣を構えている。昨年、全焼してしまった本殿跡にもたくさんの巣が。ウミネコは宅地が増えて喜んでいるのかもしれない。
でも本殿内には、八戸出身の画家、久保田政子氏の襖絵や、その方の指導の下、鮫小学校の当時6年生たちが指を使って描いた56枚のウミネコの天井絵が飾られていたという。どんなだったのだろうと検索してみたら、子どもたちの勢いあるウミネコの絵がいくつか出てきた。これは見てみたかった！



I heard that the first chick was born in mid May this year. Some still had pink egg tooth and some already whole black bill.  



あまりに寒かったので、観光協会の休憩所内で孵化しなかった卵と孵化後の殻を描かせてもらった。卵によって色が微妙に違う。



蕪島の名の由来は、蕪の花が咲くためという説もある。ちょっと時期は遅かったけれど、まだ菜の花があちこちで咲いていた。



I could not finish this on the spot but I wanted to make a painting to show that it's a shrine.  



玉座？！



View from the inside of the visitor centre.
家に帰って絵の具を取り出したら、まだウミネコの匂いがした。