An African bush adventure life in Botswana gave me a marvellous opportunity to get a hands on experience of wildlife rehabilitation. With young sons as intrigued helpers, and brilliant vets and others providing the essential backing for a learn-on-the-fly education, we played host for fifteen crazy, frantic, enchanting and heart-breaking years to a captivating variety of the furred, feathered, scaled and non-scaled that needed a temporary haven. Close encounters with claws, teeth, beaks and hooves left their mark – but it was the eyes that left the deepest impressions. So many moments transcend the need for common speech. Amongst the wildly varied collection of sketches here, will be tributes to some of those characters that briefly touched our lives.

Part of the collection is the result of my role of being a mother. I learned as I went and I’d like to think that my lads more or less survived the experience and had some fun! I had a wonderful mother and father and this is my turn to pass that care and protection forward. So: dragons and ducklings, elves and knights all have a place roaming these pages amongst the geckos and the elephants.