by Katie Fuller

Linocut prints, digital art and greeting cards inspired by nature

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Holme Fen, Cambridgeshire

The previous time we visited, the flat fenland landscape had been concealed behind an opaque veil of freezing fog. Beyond the frost-encrusted vegetation in the dykes, and the white-crystalled, crispy grass, there was nothing to see. This time, all was revealed.

Scanning the flatness, we watched and waited. Panning left to right, then right to left, past Peterborough Cathedral, the East Coast main line, St Peter’s church at Yaxley, the towering chimneys of the King’s Dyke brickworks, and the peaty soil of what was the long-forgotten Whittlesey Mere.

A short-eared owl floated overhead, stiff-winged, gliding and somehow butterfly-like. Corn buntings perched on the telegraph wires above the dyke and sheep grazed the rough pasture.

We were looking for a ‘hovering’ bird. As as kestrel flew into the wind, its wings were a blur of activity and its head completely stationary – eyes fixed on prey hidden in the long grass below. Impressive, but not what we’d come to see.

Suddenly, it came into view. A much bigger bird, gliding in the distance, with long, broad wings which ended in splayed ‘fingertips’. It was a rough-legged buzzard, patrolling its winter hunting ground at the Great Fen. 

The roughleg ‘hovered’ too – though only hummingbirds can truly hover. It beat its broad wings with its head bowed towards the ground, watching and listening for signs of voles, mice or rats beneath it. Only a few weeks earlier it could have been hunting lemmings on its breeding grounds.

High above the ground, we wondered how it would come down quickly enough if it found a target. The answer: it descended steadily and gracefully in stages, like a child’s balloon pulled gently from below, dropping vertically towards the ground.

The species gets its name from its feathered legs, suited to the climate of northern Europe and Russia. The scientific name Buteo lagopus (‘hare-footed buzzard’) further describes this feature. 

It was a good winter to see one of these Arctic wanderers in the UK; a few rough-legged buzzards make their way to our shores every winter, but sometimes larger numbers arrive, depending on food supplies in northern Europe.

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Oak Beauty moth linocut prints - available!

Grab your limited edition, handmade print from my Etsy shop

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Oystercatchers at the coast

These oystercatchers are spoken for, but I’m working on some more prints at the moment.

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Oak Beauty moth - work in progress

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Daffs are here!

Grab your daffodil print from my Etsy shop

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Tiny Peregrine cards

I ordered some blank “postcards”. It turns out they are business card-sized... so I made a tiny peregrine block to print on them. Think I’ll just about have enough room to scrawl “Thank you!” on the back and pop them in with orders...

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Song Thrush linocut prints

Wow! I wasn’t expecting that sort of reception for my song thrush prints. I think that has to be my most popular post so far... Anyway, here’s the end result: one-off print onto a square of Ordnance Survey map, and a limited edition of prints on “normal” paper. Hope you like them!

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Handprinted Elephant Hawkmoth cards

I made some Elephant Hawkmoth linocut prints. It went a bit wrong and I couldn’t finish them. But I like them! Here they are, turned into greeting cards. 

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Nightingale linocut prints

Nightingale linocut prints in my Etsy shop

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A little Little Owl

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Hawfinch linocut prints

Hawfinch linocut prints – limited edition – available from Etsy

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Two snails

Get your romantic snail print from my Etsy shop

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Black and white prints

Black and white prints

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Hand-printed cards

Get your handprinted cards from my Etsy shop

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Snails in progress

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Linocuts from The Lodge

A present for my lovely boss who’s going on maternity leave.

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Snails: sketched out