As a child I once read an Enid Blyton book which included puffins. I've no idea which book- I devoured them all, despite the disproval of my teacher.... or possibly because it- but perhaps it was "Island of Adventure". No matter. I was hooked- not on "lashings of ginger beer", but on windswept coasts, dotted with sea pinks and coloufully exotic puffins. The irony is that living in County Durham I was situated between Northumberland's Farne Islands and Yorkshire's Flamborough Head, both world famous for their puffin populations- and therefore well placed to visit either. But I kept my wish quietly to myself. So it was only a couple of years ago when I made my first boat trip out to The Farnes during the puffins' nesting period. It was like walking through the wardrobe into my own private Narnia. Birds nesting so close to the pathways that one could have touched them. Arctic tern eggs laid right on the path, with only yellow tape to protect them from the feet of passing strangers. Eider ducks, with jewel eyes and silken plumage nestling in the grass. And the puffin burrows... manned by these comical, endearing birds like so many tiny, smartly dressed Victorian office clerks, who have been over promoted- so they know that they need to look busy, but aren’t quite sure what they ought to be doing. It was pure, unadulterated magic.
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| A selection of puffins- with a variety of ribbons |
This then was the inspiration for my new range of ceramic puffins, which I'm calling “Perky
Puffins”- though traditional Northumbrian fishermen call the bird a
“Tommy Noddy”.
They are available here at Crown Studio Gallery for £10 each and also on my Etsy shop at the same price, but with an additional £2.70 for P&P http://www.etsy.com/shop/lyndataylor3
As a child I once read an Enid Blyton book which included puffins. I've no idea which book- I devoured them all, despite the disproval of my teacher.... or possibly because it- but perhaps it was "Island of Adventure". No matter. I was hooked- not on "lashings of ginger beer", but on windswept coasts, dotted with sea pinks and coloufully exotic puffins. The irony is that living in County Durham I was situated between Northumberland's Farne Islands and Yorkshire's Flamborough Head, both world famous for their puffin populations- and therefore well placed to visit either. But I kept my wish quietly to myself. So it was only a couple of years ago when I made my first boat trip out to The Farnes during the puffins' nesting period. It was like walking through the wardrobe into my own private Narnia. Birds nesting so close to the pathways that one could have touched them. Arctic tern eggs laid right on the path, with only yellow tape to protect them from the feet of passing strangers. Eider ducks, with jewel eyes and silken plumage nestling in the grass. And the puffin burrows... manned by these comical, endearing birds like so many tiny, smartly dressed Vict
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