Since Flickr changed its format, it has become much less evident that nearly all of my paintings and photos are illustrations of my writings. Until such time as Flickr realises its mistake, this means that when you look at a picture, you will need scroll down to find the text it illustrates, or it will all only make partial sense.

My books of poetry, art and photography can be viewed here:

www.lulu.com/spotlight/gileswatson

I have also written a book on the folklore of natural history, which is available here:

troybooks.co.uk/a-witch's-natural-history.html

I teach English, Drama and Film Studies at Faringdon Community College, but I spend my spare time writing, painting, walking and taking photographs. I have co-directed my school's performances of the musicals 'Oliver!', 'Fiddler on the Roof' and 'Boogie Nights'.

I do a lot of wildlife photography, and I'm most interested in plants and invertebrates. My only camera is a Pentax Optio WG-1. I chose this because its close-up capabilities are quite spectacular for the price, and because I found it easy to use swiftly in situations where you only have a second or so to take a photograph (such as when trying to catch a butterfly that will fly away any moment). Some of my photos have been used to illustrate a scientific website, delta-intkey.com/ , and others have been used in publications by the Isles of Scilly Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, but apart from that, my photos are largely unpublished. If you want to use any of my photographs, or quote from my writings, you are welcome to do so. Just credit me as the author, and send me a note so I can keep a track of the ways in which my work is getting "out there".

In addition to the material available on my photostream, my natural history poetry can be found at:

delta-intkey.com/www/poems.htm

There are also some readings of my poems here:

www.youtube.com/my_videos?feature=mhee

There is a wonderfully flattering appreciation of my poetry at:

medlarcomfits.blogspot.com/2009/05/giles-watsons-poetry-l...

If you are coming to my photostream for the first time, you will find that I have put some of my own favourites (from a photographic perspective) into a set at the top right. This might be the best starting point if you are mainly interested in photography, and if you are still interested after looking at those, you might want to navigate around some of my other sets too. Some of these contain poetry and images; others contain more photographs; others contain paintings. I have also included a set which contains the whole of my book 'A Witch's Natural History', which was originally published as articles in 'The Cauldron', and which I have illustrated with my own rather naiive artwork! I am a particular fan of the fourteenth century Welsh poet Dafydd ap Gwilym, and you will find my paraphrases of his poetry in a set on my photostream. These are merely my own homages to the great bard, rather than attempts at literal translation - let alone attempts to do justice to his greatness! I am also beginning some explorations of troubador poetry, and other mediaeval lyrics.

I am a comparative novice as an artist. My primary school art teacher was so terrifying that she put me off art for around thirty years - or at least, she made me convinced that I couldn't create art by myself. Then one day, I needed illustrations for some of my poems, so I just started to paint. My paintings are still very naiive, but I'm working on improving...

Encouraging comments and constructive critique are always welcome, and if you write a comment on one of my pictures, I will always try to comment on one of yours...