Using illustrations by R.A.Richardson from a 1952 copy of The Pocket Guide to British Birds this collage represents the 67 species on the Birds of Conservation Concern (Bocc 4) Red List.

Displayed in a box akin to a museum drawer the collage reminds us how close we are to losing what we have. In the words of the poet John Clare ‘…I love to see the nightingale in its hazel retreat & the cuckoo hiding in its solitudes of oaken foliage & not to examine their carcasses in glass cases…’

Red List II and other works will be on display at Chichester Library (PO19 1QJ) 12th-17th February 2018.

…can only be maintained if we work together.

Hope

Deep within the core of hope is the belief that things can change. Seeing endangered green turtles in Hawaii motivated me to focus my art in sharing that message on behalf of nature by raising awareness of the individual’s impact on the environment.

Take a look at the link to the Wellcome Collection below and submit your own images and thoughts.

https://sharingnature.wellcomecollection.org

A new print emerges as the daylight increases but will we see the beloved turtle dove again in our land?

Turtle doves (Streptopelia turtur) have suffered a 91% UK population decline since 1995. As Europe’s only long distance migratory dove they are ecologically unique. After wintering on their non-breeding grounds in Sub-Saharan West Africa they spend just a third of the year on their breeding grounds in Europe.

http://www.operationturtledove.org

In the words of Emily Dickinson:

“Hope” is the thing with feathers \ That perches in the soul

A watchful silence envelopes me as I enter the ancient Yew forest, needles yield softening my tread. Tales of previous visitors reveal themselves…

Love tokens nestle in the crook of a bough taunting me. Will the spell be broken?

A New Age dream-catcher suspended from a branch, a sorter of good and evil or merely cultural misappropriation?

Just above the forest floor a single feather balances. Velvet down and flutings ensure prey is unaware as the Tawny Owl swoops without sound…

During the month of April as I worked on the Woodpecker wood engraving the drumming of the Great Spotted Woodpecker could be heard resounding through the estate close to where I live. As the bird rapidly beat the tip of its bill against the dead branch of the magnificent Oak it reminded me of my own excavations and the repetition of the printing process as I tested papers and ink. Rather than discard the developments and explorations I decided to reconfigure the heredity in the form of the parent that created the baby of my depiction. In the words of the poet Lucretius when talking about the elements; ‘Why not instead Consider things their elements, and turn it on its head? ‘

An image inspired by a tenacious nesting starling in the garden.  The precocious chattering and awkward stance belies the spectacular sight of an acrobatic murmuration at dusk or the vivid iridescence of plumage we normally associate with the species. The uncertainty of the intaglio process captures the vulnerability and disjointed pose of the individual whilst alluding to the precarious future for its kind.

The number of breeding starlings has declined by 81% since 1970 according to the state of the UK’s birds 2013 report.