This started life as a sketch of 'Jeff' the Jay, whom we're very lucky to have living in our garden. I decided to feature a couple of my 'green men' characters from my Green Man illustration, which gives this a bit of a 'Willow' vibe.

The Eurasian Jay (Garrulus glandarius) belongs to the Corvidae family of birds, which includes crows, ravens, rooks, magpies and jackdaws.

Like all corvids, jays are extremely smart, and considered to be amongst the most intelligent animals on Earth. They are experts at planning for their future needs and a single jay may cache 5,000 acorns, ready for use in sparser seasons.

To protect these essential caches, jays will pretend to drop items in a number of places, concealing the real location from potential thieves.