PROFILE

Printmaker Angela Harding has been observing British nature since she was a teenager, but only now, in her sixties, has it given her international fame and fortue

by ANNA MOORE

Though you may not know Angela Harding's name, you'll almost certainly recognise her work. Her vibrant images of British countryside - sparrows in flight, terns at sea, leaping hares, a bounding fox - can be found on tea towels, jigsaw puzzles, notebooks and calendars. They adorn the covers of countless books, from illustrated RSPB guides to poetry by Ted Hughes, not to mention the award-winning memoir The Salt Path and the murder mysteries of PD James.

Only now, at 62, has Angela begun to produce books of her own. The first, A Year Unfolding, charts the seasons as seen from her garden studio in Rutland and from the small wooden boat she and her husband keep in Suffolk. Her second, Wild Light, charts the changing light over 24 hours in 70 evocative illustrations.

These are books to treasure, and Angela is now planning her third, at work in her studio, one eye on February outside her window. At this time of year, she loves to watch the gangs of fieldfares and redwings that fly in from Scandinavia to overwinter in Britain, landing in the fields beyond the studio - sometimes, when there's snow on the ground, they'll venture into Angela's garden to eat the apples from her trees. 'Snowdrops, crocuses, and my favourite flower, the hellebores, are making their appearance,' she says. 'Rooks and crows are gathering in the high treetops - there's a nice myth that Valentine's Day stems from the date that birds start to think about nesting.'