Some New Materials
Hi,
I picked up some new materials yesterday. One was a starling skin to replace my old one that was stolen about 2 years ago. For something that would be easy enough to replentish if I lived in the countryside, when you're in the city it's another story. I've tied up some spiders and I must say, I really like having starling for soft hackles again. What a great feather!
Anyway, the other new material I picked up is an English Magpie skin. This is a great bird for wings! Overall the bird looks black, like a crow, with some white flashes - the quills have black and white patches so they should make interesting wings. However, what caught my eye was that there are feathers with all sorts of subtle sheen to them. The tail has some great green tinge to it, and parts of the wings have a nice blue and purples. The blue feathers could be used for wings on Butchers, and I've tied up something similar using the green tinged feathers. Unfortunately, the colour just doesn't show up in these photos. It's similar to how starling feathers have that shine to them as well.
Anyway, here's one fly I put together using the green tail feathers. I call it a "Green Maggie May". Tail is mallard dyed woodduck, body primrose with flat silver rib, throat is red golden pheasant fibres, and the wing is from the magpie tail:
This was my variation on the Bloody Butcher, just used orange instead of red for the tail and throat, and used the green magpie tail instead of blue:
While at the shop, Peter (one of the owners) showed me a magazine (forget which title) which had a article on "classic wet flies". I liked the look of the "Dr. Burke", so tied a couple up when I got home. And, of course, found it listed here in the Just Old Flies section too!
Anyway, just wanted to share the find! We have magpie's here in New Zealand, but I'm not sure if they have the same coloured feathers on them?
- Jeff
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