Richard Bell
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wildyorkshire.bsky.social
Richard Bell
@wildyorkshire.bsky.social
18 followers 1 following 76 posts
Illustrator based in West Yorkshire. I write a Wild Yorkshire nature diary for the Dalesman magazine.
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wildyorkshire.bsky.social
A wood pigeon poddles along, following a potential mate. She's not impressed.

#birdsketches #naturejournal #gardenbirds

wildyorkshire.blog/2026/02/laug...
February 2, 2026 at 10:19 PM
wildyorkshire.bsky.social
It’s time to get those boots muddy again. My regular ‘Wild Yorkshire’ nature diary in February’s ‘Dalesman’ on the alleged benefits of yomping through mud and splashing through puddles. No, honestly, you’ll enjoy it :-)

#dalesman #walking #muddywalks

wildyorkshire.blog/2026/01/clag...
January 31, 2026 at 4:50 PM
wildyorkshire.bsky.social
A heist, a tapestry and a flood. Councillor Oddie and novelist Stan Barstow feature in my article in February’s ‘Dalesman’ magazine, ‘Stones, Stitches and Stories’ celebrating 120 years of Horbury’s Carnegie Free Library.

#dalesman #horburylibrary #CarnegieFreeLibrary #mariecorelli #stanbarstow
January 31, 2026 at 4:19 PM
wildyorkshire.bsky.social
Staying with my penfriend, Philippe, Le Havre, Easter, 1968.

#lehavre #1968 #traveljournal

wildyorkshire.blog/2026/01/leav...
January 30, 2026 at 10:06 PM
wildyorkshire.bsky.social
Not the ideal reading for a 40-hour journey, April, 1968:

"I attempted to Read Origin of the Species but heard voices and saw faces in the corridor out of the corners of my eye and the spaces between the type on the page formed figures suggested by the narrative”

wildyorkshire.blog/2026/01/orig...
January 30, 2026 at 10:36 AM
wildyorkshire.bsky.social
As part of a revamp of our front garden, I’ve just replanted half a bucket of daffodils, which, as they were all tête-à-tête, amounted to several hundred. They should be in flower in a month or two.

#daffodils #procreatedrawing #ipadprocreate

wildyorkshire.blog/2026/01/daff...
January 24, 2026 at 5:13 PM
wildyorkshire.bsky.social
As usual, some of the star birds we’d hope for, such as the great-spotted woodpecker and the sparrowhawk, didn’t put in an appearance as we completed this year’s hour of observation for the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch.

#biggardenbirdwatch #gardenbirds

wildyorkshire.blog/2026/01/big-...
January 23, 2026 at 6:32 PM
wildyorkshire.bsky.social
RSPB St Aidan's this morning.

wildyorkshire.blog/2026/01/st-a...
January 16, 2026 at 10:20 PM
wildyorkshire.bsky.social
House spider and logs at Nostell.

#housespider #spidersketches

wildyorkshire.blog/2026/01/hous...
January 12, 2026 at 10:32 PM
wildyorkshire.bsky.social
Soot-blackened sheep on the Peak District moors, from an archive 'Look at Life' film, c.1960.

#sheep #hillsheep #peakdistrict

wildyorkshire.blog/2026/01/soot...
January 11, 2026 at 6:26 PM
wildyorkshire.bsky.social
The days are getting longer but by the time I get around to painting this in the late afternoon, getting on for half past four, the light is fading fast.

#watercolour #sketchbook #watercoloursketch

wildyorkshire.blog/2026/01/fadi...
January 10, 2026 at 4:55 PM
wildyorkshire.bsky.social
A flying visit from the sparrowhawk.

#wildlifesketchbook #gardenbirds #naturesketchbook

wildyorkshire.blog/2026/01/28670/
January 9, 2026 at 10:25 PM
wildyorkshire.bsky.social
Facing upstream, I get the impression that the Hepworth is gently moving, the feeling you get when you’re on a train in a station and the train on the adjacent line starts gradually edging away in the opposite direction.

#thehepworth #RiverCalder #sketchbook

wildyorkshire.blog/2026/01/the-...
January 8, 2026 at 5:02 PM
wildyorkshire.bsky.social
December garden sketches

#wildlifesketchbook #naturejournal #gardenbirds

wildyorkshire.blog/2026/01/dece...
January 7, 2026 at 10:27 PM
wildyorkshire.bsky.social
We hear a flock of grey geese – probably pink-footed – approaching. They’re flying low, heading slightly north of east, towards the Calder Valley. I guess there are about 200 in a couple of ragged ‘Vs’.

#wildlifesketchbook #naturejournal #wildgeese

wildyorkshire.blog/2026/01/grey...
January 6, 2026 at 4:01 PM
wildyorkshire.bsky.social
On our walk to Emroyd Common, along a footpath between fields we walk through a cloister-like tunnel of hollies.

#wildlifesketchbook #naturejournal #holly #footpath

wildyorkshire.blog/2026/01/holl...
January 5, 2026 at 6:27 PM
wildyorkshire.bsky.social
Roe deer and a buzzard impersonator of a frosty, crunchy-underfoot walk through Emroyd Common this morning.

#naturejournal #naturesketchbook #roedeer

wildyorkshire.blog/2026/01/roe-...
January 4, 2026 at 4:25 PM
wildyorkshire.bsky.social
Struggling to draw garden birds flitting around the feeders, I realise why I like to get out drawing ducks, geese and swans resting and preening at the water’s edge.

#drawingbirds #birdsketches #gardenbirds

wildyorkshire.blog/2026/01/bird...
January 2, 2026 at 6:51 PM
wildyorkshire.bsky.social
Please don't try this at home!

#rosemary #culpeper #culpepersherbal

wildyorkshire.blog/2026/01/culp...
January 2, 2026 at 4:59 PM
wildyorkshire.bsky.social
It must be decades since I last opened this old Quality Street tin, stowed away in the attic.
No box lid and I don’t remember the subject – a joust perhaps – so we’re going to have to reconstruct this piece by piece . . . starting with the edges.
December 17, 2025 at 4:14 PM
wildyorkshire.bsky.social
Writing Christmas cards is now often the only time of year when I settle into an extended session of writing with a fountain pen.

#handwriting #shakyhands

wildyorkshire.blog/2025/12/hand...
December 14, 2025 at 6:24 PM
wildyorkshire.bsky.social
Yorkshire colour swatches for a Dalesman article that I’m working on. Unfortunately it hasn’t been so colourful today.

#yorkshirecolour #naturalcolour #colourswatches

wildyorkshire.blog/2025/11/york...
November 29, 2025 at 5:27 PM
wildyorkshire.bsky.social
A bit of drama for a forthcoming 'Dalesman' article.

#dalesman #procreatedrawing

wildyorkshire.blog/2025/11/the-...
November 23, 2025 at 9:46 PM
wildyorkshire.bsky.social
Novelist Stan Barstow at Lumb Bank, leading an Arvon Foundation creative writing course, 1975. Drawn from a photograph, photographer not credited, in his 2001 autobiography, In My Own Good Time.

#stanbarstow #procreatedrawing #bellerivebrush
#bellerivepen

wildyorkshire.blog/2025/11/stan...
November 20, 2025 at 5:18 PM
wildyorkshire.bsky.social
My thanks to Deborah Lough Costumes for information on the lobster-red uniform that my ancestor Billy Swift wore at the Battle of Trafalgar: rose madder dyed cloth for privates, scarlet for officers.

#trafalgar #deborahloughcostumes #rosemadder

wildyorkshire.blog/2025/11/mari...
November 19, 2025 at 4:52 PM