Moorlands Wildlife Trio

After the disappointment of the decaying beech tree at Moorlands (where the plan of carving several imps and elves had to be abandoned), a search for a suitable tree found a nice cherry stump adjacent to the footpath and in a pleasant spot near a pond.

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I’d been sent a list of species found at Moorlands by the volunteers, and after discussions a woodpecker seemed a popular choice. I knew that I wanted to surround the wildlife with leaves, but beyond that I thought that I would wait to see what was suggested design-wise by the contours of the stump.

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It’s quite a tall stump, and all of the work was to be around the top due to the chances of any lower carvings being blocked by plant growth ~ so it made sense not to get too bogged down with detail, as it wouldn’t be seen from ground level.

Once the woodpecker was set in satisfactorily, I had to decide overnight what would go to the right of it. I took a photo of the area to be carved and pondered later that evening.

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The way the trunk protruded vertically on the left and the large lump towards the top suggested something climbing up the tree, so the obvious answer was a squirrel. I decided to utilize the lump by making that the squirrel’s head, with his tail hanging down where the trunk bent forward even more.

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allen-stichler-woodcarving   A nice spot for lunch!

After the squirrel, the same question arose with the area around the other side; with quite a narrow vertical strip I considered some wild flowers from the species list, but I wondered about the longevity of thin, fragile carved stalks. It had me flummoxed for a while, but then seeking inspiration from the pond (which had kept me amused with the antics of a mother duck and ducklings and a moor-hen and her rapidly-diminishing number of chicks) I plumped for a common newt. This seemed to work well on a few levels as there was a nice balance between the three species, with air, land and water being represented.

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I’d ignored any scale issues, just trying to fill the available space the best way I could, but I felt I ought to separate the creatures somehow to make it clear that I do understand that a newt is not the same size as a squirrel. I did this simply by chipping in a recess behind the woodpecker and exaggerating the natural dip or crease to the right of the squirrel. These created a sort of frame effect, so that each element was contained in it’s own area.

Following on from the newt I got to work on the oak and ivy leaves; no real planning again here ~ just a case of looking at the trunk and making the most of any lumps and bumps, or filling any large spaces.

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Just as I was about to pack away, I thought it would be nice to have something that could be spotted by small children, and looked for a spot to hide an acorn.

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