Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition at the
Natural History Museum Oxford (September 2014)
The description for this photo read as follows:
'Each winter, large numbers of whooper swans migrate to Lake Kussharo on Hokkaido, Japan's northern island. Hot springs create swirling mists on the snow-sprinkled ice, an ethereal view that just a had to be created in black and white.'
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| Swan Lake by Per-Gunnar Ostby (Norway) |
Swans at the marina, White Cross Bay, the Lake District.
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| September 2014 |
My little niece Chiara with a very tame swan.
Picture of me with the swan taken by Chiara.
My attempt at a bit of Swan wildlife photography (taken at White Cross Bay). I couldn't get the camera to pick up the detail of the feathers, possibly because the light was so bright, but plenty of clicking the 'enhance' option and photo editing has helped. Will have to practice to get better shots.
Same Mute swan in black and white.
Gold swan inn sign (British, 1700 - 1750) at Compton Verney
Some swan photos taken at Abbotsbury Swannery:
I visited Abbotsbury Swannery in Summer 2014 and collected some swan feathers.
The swannery is over 620 years old!
The swans at Abbotsbury are obviously more used to people and allowed me to get quite close.
The lagoon which provides a safe habitat for the swans at Abbotsbury.
I'd like to see a swan egg, they are huge!
The 1980 AA Readers Digest Book of British Birds tells me that
'the mute swan lays the largest egg among British birds'.
High risk swan families are moved to the rearing pens which is where we saw these cygnets.
These rearing pens protect them from perilous circumstances.
With so many swans in the Abbotsbury lagoon, cygnets are prone to getting lost.
From an early age, they find it difficult to imprint and recognise their parents, which means if they wander off they might get eaten by a fox or pestered by mink, crows, gulls and rats.
In the rearing pen they get 3 square meals of bottom weeds, water cress and wheat etc.
With 25,000 feathers on them at any one time, I guess its no wonder
they are floating about everywhere at the swannery. Feathers at Abbotsbury were collected in the moulting season and put to all sorts of uses. Scribes used the quills that had been hardened in hot sand for writing and flight feathers were used to brush bees from honey comb. Horologists use the feathers to clean the delicate inner workings of clocks and Lloyd's of London still uses primary feathers (supplied by Abbotsbury) to record shipping accidents in the 'Doom Book'. Other uses include using parts of the feather shaft to make artists paint brushes. The Plumery in London still uses the feathers for the headdresses of the Queen's Gentlemen at Arms.
The famous ballerina Anna Pavlova came to Abbotsbury with the corps de ballet in the 1920s to practice her performance of Swan Lake.
Sadly the swannery has really suffered with recent extreme weather conditions.
The swannery was destroyed on 23 November 1824 in a bad storm too. I hope the more recent bad weather isn't a taste of more to come.
Must be the official swan keeper's office.
This is a ceramic tile created by imprinting a feather into clay by Pamela Lawton. Kindly brought in for me by Gina. I like the watery look of the ink that has run into the delicate lines of the feather. It could be floating in water.
Some swan photos taken at Abbotsbury Swannery:
I visited Abbotsbury Swannery in Summer 2014 and collected some swan feathers.
The swannery is over 620 years old!
 |
| This swan sculpture by Paul Cooper (1996), Cotswold stone is outside the entrance to the swannery. |
The swans at Abbotsbury are obviously more used to people and allowed me to get quite close.
The lagoon which provides a safe habitat for the swans at Abbotsbury.
I'd like to see a swan egg, they are huge!
The 1980 AA Readers Digest Book of British Birds tells me that
'the mute swan lays the largest egg among British birds'.
High risk swan families are moved to the rearing pens which is where we saw these cygnets.
These rearing pens protect them from perilous circumstances.
With so many swans in the Abbotsbury lagoon, cygnets are prone to getting lost.
From an early age, they find it difficult to imprint and recognise their parents, which means if they wander off they might get eaten by a fox or pestered by mink, crows, gulls and rats.
In the rearing pen they get 3 square meals of bottom weeds, water cress and wheat etc.
With 25,000 feathers on them at any one time, I guess its no wonder
they are floating about everywhere at the swannery. Feathers at Abbotsbury were collected in the moulting season and put to all sorts of uses. Scribes used the quills that had been hardened in hot sand for writing and flight feathers were used to brush bees from honey comb. Horologists use the feathers to clean the delicate inner workings of clocks and Lloyd's of London still uses primary feathers (supplied by Abbotsbury) to record shipping accidents in the 'Doom Book'. Other uses include using parts of the feather shaft to make artists paint brushes. The Plumery in London still uses the feathers for the headdresses of the Queen's Gentlemen at Arms.
The famous ballerina Anna Pavlova came to Abbotsbury with the corps de ballet in the 1920s to practice her performance of Swan Lake.
Sadly the swannery has really suffered with recent extreme weather conditions.
The swannery was destroyed on 23 November 1824 in a bad storm too. I hope the more recent bad weather isn't a taste of more to come.
Must be the official swan keeper's office.
I tried to take a detailed photo of a downy swan feather against a felt background.
This is a ceramic tile created by imprinting a feather into clay by Pamela Lawton. Kindly brought in for me by Gina. I like the watery look of the ink that has run into the delicate lines of the feather. It could be floating in water.
I tried some experiments with resin and feathers.
Unfortunately it didn't set, but I took some photos before throwing it away.
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