If I was feeling lucky with the Barn Owl recently, the attempt at a Bittern at Forest Farm has evened things out somewhat.
Category: Birds Eloquent Project
Birds Eloquent looks at the visual poetry of birds within the environment and the context within which they are found. It explores the relationship between place and species and also looks at how birds interact with each other within a fragile ecosystem.
The project simply grew from a love of being with birds all my life, watching and recording from an early age and accompanying my brothers on bird outings. All the work is carried out in the British Isles, a country offering so much diversity but under so much pressure.
Never chasing, never collecting species, never year lists or life lists, just a love of watching, anticipating and being in the company of birds. Photographically, I came late to birds, and would rather, at the end of a days shooting, have an eloquent image of a more common species than a record shot of a rarer one. My main focus is exploring how the medium can help convey a sense of place and the extraordinary habits of birds, giving a sense of my own experiences in the field.
As the work continues to develop I find myself pulling back from the bird and working more with how it is experienced in the field. Time waiting for the right moment is time not only invested in the image but in my well being and this aspect of slowing down is becoming central to the work.
I shall be showing a selection of work from this collection at the Found Gallery in Brecon in May 2023
Somerset Levels No.2
Filed under: Articles, Birds Eloquent ProjectTagged with: Abstract, Bird Behaviour, Species
Somerset Levels No. 1
Last weekend I took a trip to the ‘Levels’ to see the now very famous Starling roost.
Starling Roost at Ham Wall
A short video of the Starlings coming into roost at Ham Wall on the Somerset levels. Over the next few days I’ll post some of the still images from the two evenings I spent watching this extraordinary wildlife spectacular. It’s in Britain and ranks along side many of the worlds great natural phenomena.
Martin Mere
After the mosses we took a trip up to Martin Mere, the Wildfowl Trust’s reserve close to Southport.
Red Kites at Gigrin
Filed under: Articles, Birds Eloquent ProjectTagged with: Species
White (Leucistic) Kite at Gigrin Farm
The second set from the day at Gigrin, this time the ‘White’ Kite. It’s a fairly regular visitor to the feeding station at Gigrin and the correct term for these ‘whites is actually leucistic.
Black Kite at Gigrin Farm
The first of a short series from the Kites at Gigrin last week, beginning with the Black Kite.
Laggan
Laggan had broken his wing, possibly by flying into a telegraph wire, and is now being looked after at Wings Over Mull, a bird of prey conservation centre that we visit on the Orangepebble Photography tours. To get this close to such a magnificent bird is something unlikely to happen in the wild. These are birds of vast spaces, occupying the high mountains and crags of Scotland. We have seen them often in the wild, had wonderful encounters in Sutherland, Argyle and Mull and occasionally photographed them. The Golden Eagle remains, for me, the ultimate bird.