Tucked into a converted barn in the village of Glandford, near Holt on the North Norfolk coast, BIRDscapes Gallery has become one of the country’s leading showcases for wildlife art — and one of its most consistent exhibitors is the painter Dafila Scott SWLA.

About the Artist

Dafila Scott is the daughter of the late Sir Peter Scott, founder of the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, and grew up steeped in a family tradition of naturalism and art. She trained originally as a zoologist, spending the early part of her career studying Bewick’s swans and other waterfowl, before turning full-time to drawing and painting. She studied under Robin Child at the Lydgate Art Research Centre and is a member of the Society of Wildlife Artists (SWLA), exhibiting regularly at its annual show at the Mall Galleries in London, where she won the RSPB Award in 2017.

Her practice spans both figurative wildlife painting and increasingly abstract or semi-abstract landscape work, usually beginning with a drawing made from life before being reworked from memory in the studio. Much of her subject matter comes from places she knows intimately — the fenland around her home, the hills of Wales, and the South African Kalahari — but she has also travelled further afield for inspiration. In February 2011 she spent a month as artist in residence aboard the Royal Navy’s ice patrol vessel HMS Scott in the Antarctic, sponsored by the Friends of the Scott Polar Research Institute, and she returned to the Southern Ocean on a Ross Sea voyage in February 2020. Those trips produced bodies of work built from field sketches and memory of the ice, light and wildlife of the far south, shown in exhibitions including Visions of the Great White South (Bonhams, London) and a dedicated spring exhibition of Antarctic and fenland work at Pinkfoot Gallery. She works mainly in pastel, acrylic, and mixed media and collage.

Dafila Scott’s Work at BIRDscapes

BIRDscapes Gallery holds a strong and ongoing collection of Dafila Scott’s paintings, and her pastels are a regular feature of the gallery’s exhibition programme, sitting alongside work by fellow SWLA members such as Nick Derry, Stephen Message, and Matt Underwood. Her pieces at the gallery range from intimate studies of birds and animals to the wider, atmospheric landscapes — including Kalahari scenes such as Hartebeest and Red Dune — for which she has become known. Prices for her framed pastels at the gallery have typically ranged from around £345 for smaller works up to £1,440 for larger pieces.

About BIRDscapes Gallery

BIRDscapes is an independent, family-run gallery based in the River Glaven valley at Glandford, within easy reach of the North Norfolk coast. It was founded by Liz and Steve Harris — both keen birdwatchers and conservationists — who opened the gallery in October 2005 after converting a former light-industrial workshop. The business, now also involving their son Peter and daughter Emma, is one of the largest wildlife art galleries in the region, with two main exhibition rooms: one devoted to original prints, the other to paintings, with sculpture displayed throughout.

The gallery represents more than 80 of the UK’s leading bird and nature artists, spanning styles from photo-realism to semi-abstraction, and hosts a changing calendar of exhibitions through the year — including its long-running Printmakers’ Wildlife Exhibition and seasonal shows such as Hints of Spring. BIRDscapes is also known for its conservation work, having raised funds for projects including wetland restoration in Iraq, the Spoon-billed Sandpiper Task Force, and Operation Turtle Dove, and it established the Conservation Through Art Award at the SWLA’s annual Mall Galleries exhibition.

Visiting

The exhibition opens on Saturday July 18th. All the works can be viewed at this link.

• Address: The BIRDscapes Gallery, The Barns, Manor Farm, Glandford, Holt, Norfolk, NR25 7JP
• Contact: 01263 741 742 · art@birdscapes.co.uk

The gallery sits beside the Glaven Bistro and close to the Bayfield Bird Walk, making it a natural stop for anyone exploring the North Norfolk coast. As exhibition line-ups and dates change through the year, it’s worth checking the gallery’s website or calling ahead to confirm what’s currently on show and whether new work by Dafila Scott is on the walls.

Note: exhibition schedules change frequently — contact the gallery directly for the most current details on opening times and which artists are currently featured.