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davidsmithartist.bsky.social
Visual artist with an interest in wildlife (especially solitary bees), ecology and growing food. Based in beautiful West Dorset, near the Jurassic Coast.
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Late afternoon Spring sunshine playing on adjacent objects that seem to love the sun and like being together: a little ammonite from a nearby beach on the #JurassicCoast and little bowl by # Björk Haraldsdottir #ceramics #art #beauty #simplicity

submitted 2 days ago • 0 comments

Everyone and anyone can have their say, so make sure the IWC gets the message!

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

Bad news from Bumblebee Conservation Trust:

submitted 3 days ago • 6 comments

I made the mistake of photographing a spider!! I promised not to get in to spiders this year, but there she was, brazenly sunning herself, how could I resist? I know nothing about spiders, but feel I ought to guess an ID. Can anyone help? My guess is Nuctenea umbratica, Walnut Orb-weaver Spider

submitted 3 days ago • 1 comment

It’s official. 2024 was the worst year for bumblebees since UK records began.Findings from the UK bumblebee monitoring scheme ‘Beewalk’ #bumblebees #biodiversity @bumblebeetrust.bsky.social

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

Sunshine in the garden this morning.

submitted 5 days ago • 0 comments

Great to see this queen Bombus terrestris, Buff-tailed Bumblebee, feeding on the snowdrops and crocuses in the garden today. If you look closely you can see she's carrying quite a few mites on her thorax. It's believed the mites are commensal, a kind symbiosis, and do little or no harm to the bees.

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

The sun and the Pulmonaria are out; it's the end of February, so time to look out for Hairy-footed Flower Bees. No luck so far, just this Honeybee. I also saw the first Brimstone Butterfly of the year. It seemed so big and bright. Very uplifting - but not able to photograph it. #Wildlife #Spring

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

Making sauerkraut on a sunny morning while listening to Charles Lloyd. I'm going to have a problem with this one as the jar's fill to the brim! It will be all over the place tomorrow! I usually make this one with cabbage, turmeric & yellow beetroot from the garden but we have run out, so red it is.

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

"Despite efforts to combat the climate crisis and wildlife loss, light pollution remains socially accepted. It is not just a nuisance for stargazers: it’s a disruptor of ecosystems, with profound consequences for wildlife, human health and energy consumption." www.theguardian.com/environment/...

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

"Although green space is important for the dispersal of species at larger landscape scales, small patches of wild, leftover vegetation and roadsides are equally important for bees."

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

"A Few Lines About Dora and Dale", ink on Saunders Waterford imperial-size paper. One of my favourites. Exhibited in the SSA Open at the RSA in Edinburgh, two shows in Bath, and a two-hander here in Dorset, and maybe a couple of other places! #AbstractArt #MinimalistArt #Drawing

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

Sitting indoors with a rotten cold (the first I've had since before COVID lockdowns), I'm thinking about Spring coming and seeing solitary bees again. This is a Broad-banded Nomad Bee, Nomada signata, I saw in the garden last April. It's a cleptoparasite of Andrena fulva #SolitaryBees

submitted 10 days ago • 0 comments

I sent a piece of my art of to a buyer, today. I ran out of brown paper, but found this end of a roll of lining paper that has aged quite interestingly! It could have been a piece of art I'd made. I wrote "Please do not bend" on it, which reminded me of the #Letter365 project I did.

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

It only takes a little bit of sunshine and warmth to get the pollinators moving. Hoverflies and meat flies are important pollinators, and play vital roles in our ecology. #TrueFlies #Hoverflies #Insects #Diptera #WildlifeFriendlyGarden #NoPesticides #NoChemicals

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

Sadly, if you follow me, you'll have to put up with pictures of bread from time to time. I'm not into the big holes and fancy patterns: for me it's all about taste and nutrition. Nearly all the bread I bake is 100% wholemeal, which is harder to match the social media stereotype.

submitted 13 days ago • 1 comment

I only live three miles from the sea, so I quite often post pictures at West Bay, on the wonderful #JurassicCoast of #WestDorset

submitted 13 days ago • 0 comments

@britishnatureguide.bsky.social responding to your bio, you seem to have forgotten spiders for a start! 😀

submitted 13 days ago • 0 comments

I'm probably going to post quite a lot about solitary bees, like this male Ivy Bee, Colletes hedera. I used to keep honeybees: I was a beekeeper for over 20 years. I've now moved away from the dark side and am learning about solitary bees instead.

submitted 14 days ago • 1 comment

Great to have more evidence for what should be obvious to us all

submitted 14 days ago • 0 comments

I'm afraid I also post about the food I grow, make and eat! Sorry. The last 6 years or so we have been inspired by @cdfarmguy.bsky.social to grow following his #NoDig principles: it's made a huge difference to the quality of our food and the quantity of our harvests. #HealthyFood #SoilFoodWeb

submitted 14 days ago • 0 comments

I post quite a lot about my local environment. I'm a #WaterGuardian with @dorsetwildlife.bsky.social , for whom I also monitor #Riverfly @riverflies.bsky.social . I also do CSI water sampling with Westcountry Rivers Trust. This is my local patch. #RiverWalk #CleanRivers

submitted 14 days ago • 0 comments

As an artist I have been posting things like this. I think this is "Fields of Oblivion 2". I think it's the one that was exhibited at the RWA open some years gone by. I like it and the other work in the series, but I didn't progress it further as someone else started doing similar work. Oh joy!

submitted 14 days ago • 0 comments

I'm no longer happy on those other social media platforms I used to love, so I thought I'd see what it is like over here for a bit.

submitted 14 days ago • 0 comments