Persist

18 x 24 cm ✦ Gouache and water colour on paper

Probably some of the cutest of all the little birds: the crested tit and the willow tit. I remember them being a common sight at the bird feeder at home when I was a child. Since then their numbers have been steadily decreasing, most likely due to loss of biodiversity in our forests. There is so much less natural old forest near my childhood home these days, and I feel like there is less bird song as well.

This spring when I saw a crested tit and heard it sing, it gave me a weird sense of relief. Maybe it was building a nest, getting ready to resist the odds and persist another year. And it will, as long as we let it.