Society of Wildlife Artists and the Massingham Heath Project
By Johnnie Foker, SWLA Secretary and SWLA Newsletter Editor
When the seed of an idea is sown it can take a little while to germinate, but the saying ‘from tiny acorns mighty oaks grow’ seems very apt for the Massingham Heath Project.
The story begins in the summer of 2018 when Tim Baldwin, a resident of the Norfolk village of Great Massingham noticed a dramatic change in the local landscape. The open fields, covered in patches of gorse and bracken, had morphed from green to red! Poppies stretched as far as the eye could see. They had not been sown, as many thought, but were a natural occurrence from the seed bank when the land had been left fallow after its final cropping.
Tim, a dedicated and skilled naturalist, discovered that the poppies were all part of an ambitious rewilding scheme spread over 500 acres of the Little Massingham Estate. The land in question was of low arable quality but had been pressed into agricultural service with an aim to boost food production during World War 2. Now it was being allowed to return to its former grassy heath.
Tim soon got to meet the landowner of the estate, Olly Birkbeck, the man behind the plan. Olly generously allowed free access to the land and in return was pleased to receive Tim’s observations and feedback on the regeneration of the flora and fauna of the heathland with which he was becoming very familiar.
Another string to Tim’s bow is that he is Friends Co-ordinator for the Society of Wildlife Artists (SWLA) and through a conversation with SWLA artist Carry Akroyd at the Society’s annual exhibition later that year, the two of them discovered a mutual interest in Olly’s rewilding scheme. In the meantime, Harriet Mead, SWLA President, had also arranged to visit the heath. Interesting connections were being made and the possibility of an SWLA project began to emerge.
What would it be like to record this rapid change of habitat and chart new arrivals of plants, insects, birds and mammals through the eyes of 30 different artists through a calendar year? Could the SWLA work in partnership with the landowner and a team of local volunteers and contribute to Olly’s vision to create a ‘corridor of regeneration’?
Well, the answer would appear to be a resounding yes! After a great deal of planning, legwork and promotion, much of it done by Harriet and Tim, the Massingham Heath Project was finally launched in May 2025.
Seven years on from Tim’s ‘sea of poppies’ moment, the first of three SWLA artists group residencies took place on Olly Birkbeck’s west Norfolk farm and the surrounding heathland. In between the residencies, artists have visited individually or in small groups to record the changing seasons on the heath. A spring morning cascade of Skylarks, a fleeting encounter with a Small Copper Butterfly, sunset over the Mullein field, Nail fungus growing on Konik pony dung! It’s all there to be captured and interpreted.
In total, more than 30 SWLA artists have participated in the project in each of the past twelve months – sketching, painting, printing and sculpting the diverse flora and fauna across all areas of 500 acres of farm and heath. Some start and finish all of their work in the field. Others gather visual information through sketches and notes to work up into finished pieces back in the studio. The common denominator is that the work is made from direct experience with an emphasis on observational immersion! However, working in the field is not without its hazards. Brin Edwards had to beat a hasty retreat after a Tamworth pig took rather too close an interest in a tube of lime green acrylic paint!
As well as all the field work, artists have taken part in numerous public engagement events throughout the year. These have included art trails, workshops, talks, guided walks, moth traps, demonstrations in screenprinting and clay modelling techniques, as well as several exhibitions. The level of attendance and interest these activities have generated has been extremely encouraging. The project even gained the attention of BBC Look East who came to do a feature which was broadcast live from the Heath one very hot May evening!
One final group residency in April brought the project to a conclusion. All the work will be collected together to sort and select for the next phase.
Outcomes for the project will include exhibitions and the publication of a book which will be launched at this Year’s Annual SWLA Exhibition The Natural Eye, at the Mall Galleries. The SWLA commissioned naturalist, writer and Norfolk Wildlife Trust Ambassador Nick Acheson to provide a text to accompany selected artworks in the book. Nick has also been in regular attendance on the Heath throughout the year, offering support and sharing his skills whenever doubts arise in species’ identification. “That’s a Roesel’s Bush cricket. Dark BC appears much later in the year and doesn’t have a pale margin to the pronotum.”
This is the first SWLA project without major NGO sponsorship. Fundraising and promotion has been done voluntarily by members of the Society, primarily. All of the participating artists have given their time without remuneration although several have already sold artworks made from their visits to the Heath.
The artists have been met with huge levels of support and kindness. They have been fed, watered and housed by Olly and a fantastic team of Massingham Village volunteers. Donations, large and small, have been generously given to help fund the project and go towards the publication of the book (with special thanks to SWLA Friend James Holden).
Over the years, the Society has participated in numerous projects both home and abroad but never before have so many SWLA artists taken part in a single initiative. The richness and diversity of natural life on the Heath has been truly inspiring. Inevitably, in such circumstances artists will sometimes be drawn to the same subject but each artist brings a unique approach and will focus on a different aspect of behaviour or take a different viewpoint avoiding any sense of duplication.
One of the key takeaways from the whole experience is how quickly nature can return to the land if it is given a chance. In just four years former arable land has been transformed into flower-rich grassland with a great surge in biodiversity. Insects have followed the flowers, conservation grazing animals are doing their magic and the hedges are once again alive with birdsong.
Some neighbouring landowners in the area have adopted a similar approach to management of the land where it is of low arable yield. It is to be hoped that others may follow this model that may lead to the ‘corridor of regeneration.’
During the Exhibition in the Barn in May, I think one local resident summed it up best. “After the ploughing stopped it was as if the earth could breathe again.”
The Society of Wildlife Artists is a registered charity that seeks to generate an appreciation of and delight in the natural world through all forms of fine art based on or representing the world’s wildlife.
There are currently 65 full members and 5 associate members. The SWLA holds an annual exhibition The Natural Eye at the Prestigious Mall Galleries, London. Each year, the Galleries display approximately 400 comprising sculpture, drawings, paintings, prints and animations. It is an open exhibition (link to website) and provides a pathway for non-member artists to join the Society by a process of election.
More news on the Massingham Heath Project can be found here
Artwork submissions for the Annual SWLA Exhibition are open to non-members from Friday 1st May Noon until Friday 7th August Noon
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