Bird Photography Exhibition | Royal Albert Memorial Museum Exeter

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On The Wing

I am absolutely overjoyed to be exhibiting a selection of my bird photography. The exhibition is called ‘On The Wing.‘ It will be in the café area of the Royal Albert Memorial Museum Exeter from the 23rd July to the 20th October 2019

Birds and animals are my passion and this is a brilliant and timely opportunity to showcase my work. The Museum have the theme of Migration for 2019. There are a number of events at the Museum related to the migration theme amongst them is ‘Birds Without Borders.’

Migration

A migration is a seasonal movement of animals from one region to another. It is also a movement of people to a new area or country in order to find work or better living conditions. A movement from one part of something to another. I was intrigued by the implications of the word migration and its particular relevance to both man and bird. 

Migration in this photographic display is a movement informed by my own journey in search of beauty and the portrayal in art form of my love of birds. The images of birds in the exhibition follow a geographical direction starting at the northernmost point of the bird photographed. The starting point is Crediton and the first image, Chicken Flurry.  The chicken is the only bird in this collection that arrived in it’s geographical location having been placed there by man. The last image is Out My South Window – The Herring Gull Pair on the Lamp post. I have observed and photographed this particular pair of gulls for around 10 years.

The trajectory flows from North to South as the crow flies. This flight path passes by my North Window in the centre of Exeter and then flows Southward guided by the River Exe passing through Topsham by the estuary and arriving at Exmouth’s seashore. It then heads West to Teignmouth’s seaside pier. The path then returns northwards tracking back up to Exeter through my allotment and culminating in the South facing aspect of my apartment.

Herring Gull’s rural-to-urban migration

An extensive rural-to-urban migration of the Herring Gull (Larus Argentatus) has taken place since the 1970’s. This has been largely due to human activity and the plundering of the seas by commercial fishing practices. According to a Food and Agriculture Organization estimate, over 70% of the world’s fish species are either fully exploited or depleted. Herring Gull’s are opportunistic feeders and would traditionally forage around the seashore cleaning up the fish and shellfish debris. Urban Gull expert Peter Rock from Bristol has conducted the most extensive longterm studies of urban gulls. He says that there are virtually no traditional rural colonies of Herring Gull left. This bird is an endangered species, classified as Red under the Birds of Conservation Concern 4: the Red List for Birds (2015) 

My love of gulls and concern for their welfare prompted me to create the website: www.iloveseagulls.com  A loving space where positive and uplifting stories can be shared about gulls from around the world. These are beautiful, intelligent creatures that inspire me and many others.

Stephen Moss wrote perfectly about Gulls in the Guardian:

“So why do I love seagulls? Well, for me they are among the most fascinating birds on the planet. Don’t believe me? Well, here are some reasons to change your mind. First, beauty. The great evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould once wrote that a gull’s wing was about as near as nature ever gets to perfection – indeed, he argued against his better judgment that it was a fairly good argument for intelligent design, so well suited to its purpose did it appear. And while the aerodynamic form of a gull’s wing is of course a product of natural selection, it is indeed hard to imagine God creating anything much better. Just watch a gull soaring gracefully above the quayside and you’ll see what I mean.”

 

Cass the Gull flies to freedom

Documentary Gull, seagull, bird animal  photographer photojournalist, Devon, Dorset, Cornwall, Somerset, Exeter, UK, abroad
Documentary Gull, seagull, bird animal  photographer photojournalist, Devon, Dorset, Cornwall, Somerset, Exeter, UK, abroad
Documentary Gull, seagull, bird animal  photographer photojournalist, Devon, Dorset, Cornwall, Somerset, Exeter, UK, abroad
Documentary Gull, seagull, bird animal  photographer photojournalist, Devon, Dorset, Cornwall, Somerset, Exeter, UK, abroad
Documentary Gull, seagull, bird animal  photographer photojournalist, Devon, Dorset, Cornwall, Somerset, Exeter, UK, abroad
Documentary Gull, seagull, bird animal  photographer photojournalist, Devon, Dorset, Cornwall, Somerset, Exeter, UK, abroad
Documentary Gull, seagull, bird animal  photographer photojournalist, Devon, Dorset, Cornwall, Somerset, Exeter, UK, abroad
Documentary Gull, seagull, bird animal  photographer photojournalist, Devon, Dorset, Cornwall, Somerset, Exeter, UK, abroad
Documentary Gull, seagull, bird animal  photographer photojournalist, Devon, Dorset, Cornwall, Somerset, Exeter, UK, abroad
Documentary Gull, seagull, bird animal  photographer photojournalist, Devon, Dorset, Cornwall, Somerset, Exeter, UK, abroad
Documentary Gull, seagull, bird animal  photographer photojournalist, Devon, Dorset, Cornwall, Somerset, Exeter, UK, abroad

This day was one of the most joyful and absolutely right days of my life. It was today that I made the decision to release Cass the juvenile Herring Gull that I had been looking after for 54 days. I first met Cass after being alerted to him by a friend who saw him hopping in the bus station on one leg. I was advised by a rehabber to get him to a vet, so I went and fetched my trusty cat basket. He was given antibiotics and pain relief for an infected leg.

I then took him to an avian vet to get an xray which was kindly paid for by someone who loves and rescues gulls. He was diagnosed with osteomyelitis – a bone infection. He was put on to stronger antibiotics and pain relief. I was lucky to have the use of an aviary to put him in and a lovely lady who used to rescue birds but now was unable to due to health problems. She did give him his meds though. I came up every day to change the water containers and clean and scrub the aviary. We often worried that he wasn’t making too good a recovery, but his leg at times seemed better and he was able to put his foot down and bear weight on it.This wasn’t too often. I made many enquiries to research other ways of healing the bone and spoke to different vets. I even asked the Supervet practice, Noel Fitzpatrick but they weren’t able to help. During this time, the lady whose aviary I was using had to be rushed into hospital and is still there now and getting slowly better. So, I took over administering the meds and visited Cass 3 times a day.

However, I was getting more worried about his recovery and decided to ask a lovely lady who loves animals and is a homeopath. She came up with a double remedy that was taken over four days. He became agitated at times following the remedy – trying to fly up against the aviary mesh desperate to get out. He also lost his appetite and was hardly eating, only an apple that he liked to peck and a few grapes and cheese over the period of 5/6 days. He didnt touched his fish or dog food. Apparently, this was a good response to the remedy and showed it was working. I’d panicked though and made an appointment for the vet to xray him today to see what was going on. Then, after meditating and talking to the homeopath I decided to trust the process of the remedy and believe that all would be well and that he was healing at a deep level. I considered that even if all went wrong it wasn’t fair to keep him in captivity any longer and that he would be better to have his freedom in nature. So, as I left the aviary this morning after going to feed him I saw him standing by the aviary door. I knew that I would be coming back and collecting him to set him free. I phoned the vet and cancelled the appointment. I called a friend and we made our way down to the Topsham estuary and I opened the carrier and he walked on both feet on wet sand into the water to freedom. Shortly after he flew up or the first time and then circled around flying low to the water and landed on the still estuary water. There were no other herring gulls in sight. But, as if out of nowhere 3 other Herring gulls joined him! A juvenile, a young adult and a mature adult. It was the most beautiful and natural scene and I wept tears of joy. The best decision ever to release him here! Soon, he was joined by a handful of juveniles and they flew off towards Powderham. He had taken his rightful place at last as bird of the sea. Thank you to everyone who helped this beautiful creature who is home at last!

Secret World Wildlife Rescue

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Got a call this week from Secret World Wildlife Rescue to pick up a Carrion Crow from an Exeter vets. I am a volunteer response driver and it is such a great opportunity to help an injured animal by driving them to SWWR. As it is a bit of a drive I took the opportunity of going on the feeding round with some of the people that work there. Hope you enjoy the beautiful residents that were being fed that afternoon.

Exminster Marshes | dog walk

Animal, dog, bird, documentary photographs
Animal, dog, bird, documentary photographs
Animal, dog, bird, documentary photographs
Animal, dog, bird, documentary photographs
Animal, dog, bird, documentary photographs
Animal, dog, bird, documentary photographs
Animal, dog, bird, documentary photographs
Animal, dog, bird, documentary photographs
Animal, dog, bird, documentary photographs
Animal, dog, bird, documentary photographs
Animal, dog, bird, documentary photographs
Animal, dog, bird, documentary photographs
Animal, dog, bird, documentary photographs
Animal, dog, bird, documentary photographs
Animal, dog, bird, documentary photographs
Animal, dog, bird, documentary photographs
Animal, dog, bird, documentary photographs
Animal, dog, bird, documentary photographs
Animal, dog, bird, documentary photographs

Decided to photograph a dog walk at Exminster Marshes early this morning with a friend Jonathon and his Labradoodle dog called Laika. What a glorious day for a walk and also to do the thing I love – photography in the landscape. It was pretty cold and absolutely beautiful with a slight mist and winter crisp colours. A photographers dream. We went past the RSPB conservation areas and as a I am a real beginner with identifying birds it is always good to meet people on the walk who know their birds. Fabulous start to the day!