ALMOST a century since they founded the Armitt, the nature-loving sisters Sophia and Mary Louisa Armitt would surely be heartened to see the Armitt's latest celebration of Cumbrian native wildlife by the artist Marianne Birkby, writes Jane Renouf.

Marianne's sharply observed watercolour pencil drawings trace the passage of Cumbrian wildlife from the high mountain tops out to the Irish sea. En route she encounters buzzards, a peregrine and high brown fritillary butterflies, otters and kingfishers. Pausing to observe the shadowy nocturnal lives of eels, chub, owls and stag beetles, stoat and water shrew, Marianne's artistic odyssey flows down to the Leven Estuary and out to Morecambe Bay, her journey's end.

This collection of 67 works was commissioned last April by the Aquarium of the Lakes for its new interpretive exhibition panels. The originals, on show at the Armitt Museum, are worked in Derwent watercolour pencils on Bockingford textured paper, which gives them a distinctly earthy' look.

Marianne's commitment to the natural world began as an adventurous four year old in the Rusland Valley, when she climbed a tree one day and tipped out a nest of baby wrens. Guilty - but fascinated - her fate was sealed, and her life as a painter and a radical wildlife campaigner satisfy the two things she is most passionate about art and nature.

A classical art training at Blackpool and Fylde in scientific and technical communications taught her the rudiments of anatomy, biology and botany but the inspiration to paint came from her tutor, the late Keith Wood, working chiefly in watercolour, oils and acrylics.

She and her husband Paul Bennett also run BB Design in Milnthorpe, creating graphics and interpretive material.

The exhibition was opened by Armitt chairman Peter Jackson and Valerie Wood of the Aquarium of the Lakes and runs daily until June. It is being held in association with the Aquarium and Cumbria Wildlife Trust.

For further details contact the Armitt on 015394-31212.