Engraved on memories

ngela Harding’s bright and airy studio spans the bottom of her long, narrow garden. Picture windows give a panoramic view of the farmland beyond and the gentle rolling landscape of Rutland, Britain’s smallest county. From the decking outside, Angela watches and sketches fieldfares, redwings and hares, and in the distance by a ridge of trees she will sometimes spot a group of deer gathering at sunset or a fox skulking at dawn. Her favourite subjects, however, are birds. Not showy, exotic ones, but native and garden birds: the blackbirds nesting in the rose bush by the front door;