Local artist swaps the Oxo Tower for Rye Harbour

admin
, 26 March 2024
Local artist swaps the Oxo Tower for Rye Harbour
Rachel painting from a bird hide

By Rachel Spreckley

Local artist, exhibiting in the Discovery Centre

As a family we often visit Rye Harbour Nature Reserve, armed with our camera, binoculars and a paint brush! It’s a wonderfully inspirational place with its diverse birdlife and scenic landscape.

My Father is a ‘twitcher’.  He loves animals, just like me, but birds are his favourite. When I was young most holidays and weekend adventures involved birdwatching in some way or another. My eldest son has inherited his Grandfather’s passion for birds and as a family we love visiting local nature reserves and spotting local wildlife. When I started painting five years ago, I found myself drawn to painting animals, merging my love of wildlife and painting.

Little Egret
Little Egret © Rachel Spreckley

With a past career in fashion design and interiors, I now feel I have found my true calling by expressing the beauty and movement of nature through painting. I predominantly work with the medium of watercolour using a loose, expressive method. Splashes of paint create movement and energy or by incorporating other mediums such as graphite or charcoal, these add another exciting element to my work. In 2023 I was a Finalist in Sketch for Survival 2023. 

Snipe
Snipe © Rachel Spreckley

My painting of a Puffin seen on Skomer Island last Easter was exhibited in Edinburgh and the Oxo Tower, London and then auctioned off, contributing to vital funds raised for animal conservation.  

Puffin
Puffin © Rachel Spreckley

Rachel's artwork is available to buy from the Discovery Centre at Rye Harbour Nature Reserve or you can view more of her work here. 

Leave a comment
Time Δ Debug Message - Perch Runway 3.2
1787513173.9270 [907] SELECT p.pagePath, pr.routePattern, pr.routeRegExp, p.pageTemplate, pr.routeOrder, s.settingValue AS siteOffline FROM swt_pages_staging p LEFT JOIN swt_page_routes pr ON p.pageID=pr.pageID LEFT JOIN swt_settings s ON s.settingID='siteOffline' UNION SELECT NULL AS pagePath, pr2.routePattern, pr2.routeRegExp, pr2.templatePath AS pageTemplate, pr2.routeOrder, NULL AS siteOffline FROM swt_page_routes pr2 WHERE templateID!=0 ORDER BY routeOrder ASC, pagePath ASC
1787513173.96390.0369Matched route: news/[slug:s]
1787513173.96410.0002Server address: 216.73.217.165
1787513173.96410Using master page: /templates/pages/blog/post.php
1787513173.96410Page arguments: 
Array
(
    [0] => /news/local-artist-swaps-the-oxo-tower-for-rye-harbour
    [s] => local-artist-swaps-the-oxo-tower-for-rye-harbour
    [1] => local-artist-swaps-the-oxo-tower-for-rye-harbour
)
1787513173.96440.0002 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1787513173.96540.001 [86] SELECT DISTINCT settingID, settingValue FROM swt_settings WHERE userID=0
1787513173.96750.0021 [1] SELECT locationID FROM swt_shop_tax_locations WHERE locationIsHome=1 LIMIT 1
1787513173.96830.0008INSERT INTO swt_shop_cart(memberID,locationID,currencyID,cartPricing,cartProperties) VALUES(NULL,'1',47,'standard','[]')
1787513173.97260.0043 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_cart WHERE cartID=24414755
1787513173.97330.0006 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_cart WHERE cartID=24414755
1787513173.97380.0005 [nil] SELECT * FROM swt_shop_sales WHERE saleFrom<='2026-08-23 19:26:00' AND saleTo>'2026-08-23 19:26:00' AND saleActive=1 AND saleDeleted IS NULL ORDER BY saleOrder ASC
1787513173.9750.0012 [1] SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS DISTINCT tbl.* FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, main.*, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_blog_index idx JOIN swt_blog_posts main ON idx.itemID=main.postID AND idx.itemKey='postID' JOIN swt_blog_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey='postID' AND idx2.indexKey='_id' WHERE 1=1 AND ((idx.indexKey='postSlug' AND idx.indexValue='local-artist-swaps-the-oxo-tower-for-rye-harbour')) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey=idx2.itemKey GROUP BY idx.itemID, idx2.indexValue, postID ) as tbl WHERE (postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-08-23 19:26:00' ) GROUP BY itemID, sortval ORDER BY sortval ASC LIMIT 0, 10
1787513173.97860.0036 [1] SELECT FOUND_ROWS() AS `count`
1787513173.97930.0007 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_posts WHERE postID=3348 AND postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-08-23 19:26:00'
1787513173.98040.001 [13] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_sections ORDER BY sectionTitle ASC
1787513173.98120.0008 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blogs ORDER BY blogTitle ASC
1787513173.9820.0008 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_categories WHERE catID=73 LIMIT 1
1787513173.98270.0006 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_categories WHERE catID=70 LIMIT 1
1787513173.98330.0006Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1787513173.98350.0002 [162] SELECT catID, catPath FROM swt_categories
1787513173.98460.0012 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_posts WHERE postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-08-23 19:26:00' AND postSlug='local-artist-swaps-the-oxo-tower-for-rye-harbour'
1787513174.01560.0309Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1787513174.01610.0005 [250] SELECT country, countryID FROM swt_shop_countries WHERE countryActive=1 ORDER BY country ASC
1787513174.02420.0081Using template: /templates/pages/attributes/seo.html
1787513174.02440.0002 [1] SELECT regionID, regionTemplate, regionPage, regionRev AS rev FROM swt_content_regions WHERE regionKey='Banner image' AND (regionPage='/news/post' OR regionPage='*')
1787513174.02540.001 [nil] SELECT * FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, c.regionID, idx.pageID, c.itemJSON, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_content_index idx JOIN swt_content_items c ON idx.itemID=c.itemID AND idx.itemRev=c.itemRev AND idx.regionID=c.regionID JOIN swt_content_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemRev=idx2.itemRev AND idx2.indexKey='_order' WHERE ((idx.regionID=104 AND idx.itemRev=0)) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemRev=idx2.itemRev ) as tbl GROUP BY itemID, pageID, itemJSON, sortval, regionID ORDER BY sortval ASC
1787513174.02710.0017 [82] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageDepth >=0 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1787513174.03180.0047 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1787513174.03260.0007 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1787513174.04610.0135Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template.html
1787513174.04620.0001 [6] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1787513174.04710.001 [4] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1787513174.04760.0005 [29] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1787513174.05050.0029 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1787513174.05160.0011 [7] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1787513174.05230.0007 [9] Using template: /templates/navigation/ps_nav_template_children.html
1787513174.05530.0029 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' OR pageSortPath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1787513174.05680.0015 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageHidden=0 AND pageNew=0 AND pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition
1787513174.05990.0031 [1] Using template: /templates/navigation/breadcrumbs.html
1787513174.06030.0004Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1787513174.06050.0002 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_authors WHERE authorID='1' LIMIT 1
1787513174.06110.0007Using template: /templates/blog/author.html
1787513174.06150.0003 [1] SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS DISTINCT tbl.* FROM ( SELECT idx.itemID, main.*, idx2.indexValue as sortval FROM swt_blog_index idx JOIN swt_blog_posts main ON idx.itemID=main.postID AND idx.itemKey='postID' JOIN swt_blog_index idx2 ON idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey='postID' AND idx2.indexKey='_id' WHERE 1=1 AND ((idx.indexKey='postSlug' AND idx.indexValue='local-artist-swaps-the-oxo-tower-for-rye-harbour')) AND idx.itemID=idx2.itemID AND idx.itemKey=idx2.itemKey GROUP BY idx.itemID, idx2.indexValue, postID ) as tbl WHERE (postStatus='Published' AND postDateTime<='2026-08-23 19:26:00' ) GROUP BY itemID, sortval ORDER BY sortval ASC LIMIT 0, 1
1787513174.06440.0029 [1] SELECT FOUND_ROWS() AS `count`
1787513174.0650.0006 [1] Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1787513174.06770.0027Using template: /templates/blog/comment_form.html
1787513174.06860.0009 [nil] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_comments WHERE 1=1 AND postID=3348 AND commentStatus='LIVE' ORDER BY FIELD(webmentionType, 'like', 'repost', 'comment', NULL) ASC, commentDateTime ASC
1787513174.15310.0845 [0] Using template: /templates/blog/comment.html
1787513174.15330.0002Using template: /templates/blog/post.html
1787513174.15360.0003 [1] SELECT * FROM swt_blog_authors WHERE authorID='1' LIMIT 1
1787513174.15470.0011 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/what-we-do' OR pageSortPath='/what-we-do' LIMIT 1
1787513174.15550.0008 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-002' LIMIT 1
1787513174.15630.0008 [7] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-002%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1787513174.1610.0047 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1787513174.16170.0007 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1787513174.16460.0029 [6] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1787513174.16570.0011 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/make-a-difference' OR pageSortPath='/make-a-difference' LIMIT 1
1787513174.16670.0009 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-005' LIMIT 1
1787513174.16740.0008 [38] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-005%' ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1787513174.17220.0048 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1787513174.17290.0007 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1787513174.17760.0046 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1787513174.18110.0035 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/visit' OR pageSortPath='/visit' LIMIT 1
1787513174.18190.0009 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-004' LIMIT 1
1787513174.18250.0005 [30] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-004%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1787513174.18610.0037 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1787513174.1870.0008 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1787513174.18960.0026 [29] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1787513174.19250.0029 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/make-a-difference' OR pageSortPath='/make-a-difference' LIMIT 1
1787513174.19330.0009 [1] SELECT pageID, pageParentID, pageDepth, pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition='000-005' LIMIT 1
1787513174.19390.0006 [11] SELECT * FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageNew=0 AND pageHidden=0 AND pageTreePosition LIKE '000-005%' AND pageDepth >=1 AND pageDepth<=2 ORDER BY pageTreePosition ASC
1787513174.19720.0033 [1] SELECT pageTreePosition FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pagePath='/news/post' LIMIT 1
1787513174.20070.0035 [2] SELECT pageID FROM swt_pages_staging WHERE pageTreePosition IN ('000-006-001', '000-006', '000') ORDER BY pageTreePosition DESC
1787513174.20340.0027 [10] Using template: /templates/navigation/footer-nav.html
1787513174.20480.0014Request time: 0.2798
1787513174.20480Process time: 0.2797
1787513174.20480Memory: 1.6226