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.”