I have been busy building my MabelArt Teemill shop and started a blog! I have put my wildlife inspired paintings onto ethical and eco-friendly clothing. My aim is to celebrate our wonderful wildlife and raise awareness and raise money for wildlife protection, conservation and generally doing my small bit to help save the planet.
Last weekend I had the pleasure of visiting Bantham Beach for the first time at the weekend. It is gorgeous! It completely delivers as part of the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty . Obviously everyone else knew this already, and it was busy with holidaymakers, locals, grockles, families, cool young and old people, SUPs, canoeists, surfer dudes/dudettes and wannabees! I had to get on my knees to show the view without the crowds on the beach! I know the past two years have been tough with covid, but the prices for car parking and snacks were as eye-watering as the phenomenal views, so not surprisingly the car park was well represented by Chelsea tractors 😆!
There were some equally beautiful sand dune systems behind the busy beach and Avon Estuary. Lovely colourful wildlife information signs by illustrator Lizzie Harper. There is one sign with a small nod to adders as an element of the wildlife. I did also spot quite a lot of “Adder” signs dotted about the site in yellow with black text, which I did wonder about. I would point to ARC Trust on best practise for signage to inform the public on the presence of adders. I did feel that the humble adder was being a little unfairly singled out here – I assume to keep dogs and children safe. Most sensible adders would do their best to get away at the first sign of people or dogs approaching. I saw a lot of wasps buzzing annoyingly around us – I think they were more of a threat. Adder declines are so serious that there is a risk of them becoming extinct in Britain . Be nice to adders!
The only adder I saw at Bantham was on my t-shirt, cue gratuitous photos of my “a for adder” eco-friendly t-shirts! For each sale I will donate £1 to WWF-UK charity towards their wildlife conservation work and fight against climate change. My light blue t-shirt is organic recycled with lovely fine speckles and my little friend sports a kids mustard organic t-shirt . All our t-shirts are printed to order to reduce surplus waste. Teemill t-shirts can be sent back at the end of their lives to be recycled into new t-shirts and you get £5 off your next purchase! All delivered in plastic-free packaging. Wear our adder t-shirt to show your adder love! Feel good fashion!