RAR

 Thursday November 24

For many reasons, mainly health related, I haven't produced a Blog post for some time. This morning, a scheduled and much anticipated trip to Cley to meet up with birding and moth-ing friends, had to be aborted when water came through the living room ceiling at 10.30 last night. An electrician had been here all day fitting a new shower, he left us with a leak which we didn't know about until the ceiling started dripping late last night.Good old Steve came round and stopped the water leak. Since then we have been without water and heating.Either Steve or Clive were due here ten minutes ago. We now have a blotchy brown ceiling under the bathroom.

Inspired by David B's wonderful find of an RAR (Richard always signed his paintings thus) painting in a market, I looked more closely at my small original of a Peregrine. Richard Richardson was a self taught bird artist and birder who spent his latter years at Cley. I first met him one Sunday, sitting on the East Bank overlooking Arnold's marsh. I was relatively new to birding and Norfolk, especially coastal birds, coming from landlocked Hertfordshire. Cassiobury Park did not have much in common with coastal Norfolk. 

Sunday was our regular birding day. We didn't know any other birders so were not on the grapevine neither did we know about Nancy's Cafe as a birding hub. Richard always wore black leathers and a beret, a cigarette usually drooping from the corner of his mouth. My heart always lifted if he was sitting at Arnold's marsh, as he was a friendly fund of  information. It was from him that I first heard  ' if the birds suddenly take off, look for a raptor', and that not all Autumn robins were UK birds, that European ones had a brighter breast and were slightly bigger. Manna in those days.He had three Norfolk or Norwich Terriers, named Buzz, Bee and Gnat which used to climb on laps - dryer than the grass. As he drove a Norton motorbike, I've often wondered since how they travelled. He must have had a sidecar, although I don't remember one. The morning always ended with a glance at his watch and ' must go, the old girl will have my dinner on the table'. He had lodgings in Cley.

When he stopped being there, it took us a while to find that he was in Kelling hospital and he died shortly afterwards. Too many cigarettes.

Roy Robinson at Walsey Hills became our next weekly port of call to hear what was about. We became friends with both Roy and his wife. When he was short of cash, he offered to sell me an original RAR painting he had. It was on a scruffy piece of slightly buckled cardboard - Richard would use postcards, cigarette packets, anything to hand on which to draw. I had it better framed for the Cley Church exhibition of his work to launch the 'Guardian of the East Bank' biography written by Moss Taylor. 

 

I have since read that his Peregrine legs were always too thick. They look OK to me.

Richard helped set up Holme Bird Observatory with his friend Peter Clarke. Peter produced prints of some of his works to raise money for the observatory. I have three.

 

My favourite was a larger print of a Black-tailed Godwit, A bird Richard studied at Cley. Unfortunately, although not hung in direct light, it faded very badly and was disposed of.