Page 62 - David Burr Rooftops Magazine Winter 2017/2018

Top left ‘Small scabious’ Scabiosa columbaria painted by Hazel Rush. Top right, ‘Grape hyacinth’ Muscari neglectum painted by Jan Toomer. Bottom right, ‘Breckland thyme’ - Thymus serpyllum painted by Reinhild
Raistrick
A brush with the Brecks
Capturing rare heathland plants has tested botanical artists, but these images show it was worth it
Did you know Breckland’s dry heaths are important for their botanical diversity, and many of the plants are found nowhere
else in Britain. This is due to the unique soils and dry “continental” climate and are the nearest thing in Britain to continental heaths and steppes. Ancient
heathland once covered large areas of the Brecks, but farming and tree plantations have taken over large areas of the land.
Now a small team, The Iceni Botanical Artists, have produced portraits of many of the plants in this region. And it’s a unique venture as a collection of work of this nature has not been done before.
On these impoverished soils nothing
grows vigorously, but it does allow for a large variety of species to survive without competition from more demanding plants. The thin soils also mean that many plants are low growing and with minute flowers – creating challenges for the artist needing the use of magnification that microscopes provide. Many of the plants painted by
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