“Hedgerow”

My later childhood was spent in countryside like this. Despite what many people might think, it's filled with wildlife.

In this painting, there's a hawk, pigeons, crow, partridge, a group of Roe deer and a hare. It's perfectly possible for all of these to be present at any one time. I know this, because this is where I used to live.

I could have added owls, weasels, rabbits, pheasant, kestrels, buzzards, fieldfare, lapwings, hedgehogs, and of course, foxes – except that would have looked silly.

Those are the tings I have seen, so my list is not complete. I never saw a badger in this place for example, though there was big hole being dug once that if it was a rabbit, it was frighteningly big!

All of our wildlife is acutely aware of human presence most of the time, and they spirit away before you've any idea you've nearly trodden on them. The truth is that our arable places are filled with wildlife.

So many people have no idea they've just driven, or walked, past a herd of deer roaming free over fields from wood to wood for example. I can tell you of one road I drive regularly where it's unusual when the herd is not in the fields flanking it.

This is the thing about being an artist. You notice stuff. But also, because you dwell for a few hours while quietly making your art, creatures can either not realise you're there or they decide you're too quiet to be a problem – so you get to see them.

The number of times I've stopped drawing/painting suddenly, catching my breath, as something has walked, hopped, crawled, or flown into my picture.

And so here we are on a walk up a track, encountering a magnificent tree in a hedgerow – a natural home to creatures and insects itself – when we realise we're being watched. Don't move, or they'll go…