Web of My Life

by Judith Thompson

Single feather

A wing

Insect sting

All manner of unusual things

Otter’s tail

Snails trail

Fox paw-print

Clue or hint

Water vole whisker

Buzzard beak

Barn owl eyes

Many a surprise

Kingfisher flash

Spiderlings dash

River and land

Like sea and sand

Shy Moorhen

Badgers’ den

Ant, grub, worm, beetle, fly

Live, then die

Rivers flow

Root, shoot, leaf, flower

Care, protect

Interconnect

Sunlight, rain

Seed and grain

Soil, plant

Emerge again

Planet earth

Stardust

Water, fire, air

Ether

Moon, sun

Milky Way

My web

My home

Inspiration: A professional artist was selected for a commission to create an outdoor sculpture on museum land adjacent and east of our land, with the same meandering river running through. I was invited to support the artist by providing landscape heritage and biodiversity information. At an early design stage, she was considering which natural elements to include, and it seemed such a huge task (I felt overwhelmed for her having to make choices knowing the vast range of interconnected species thriving in and along the river), I was inspired to distil my awe, wonder and experience of nature into Web of My Life, where I do feel ‘at home’.

Sculpture/artwork by Loïs Cordelia. Photograph by David Bulow-Osborne.

Throughout her professional life Judith has been involved in education in many different guises, with a love of supporting others – young and older, of all abilities – to believe in themselves and to discover their strengths and talents. For the last 26 years she has lived in a quiet nature place that is full of wonder. She is a creative campaigner, eco activist, project volunteer and – her favourite job of all – a land girl working alongside her husband to protect, preserve and enhance their tiny patch of land for the short time they act as guardians of it.