THIS PIECE HAS BEEN SOLD BUT SOME THING SIMILAR CAN BE COMMISSIONED

Extracts from To a Skylark by Percy Bysshe Shelley

The skylark must be one of the most loved and written about birds in the UK. Poets and writers such as Wordsworth, Shelley, Blake, Oscar Wilde, Christina Rossetti, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Milton and George Meredith have all written about the glorious song of this bird. And there is, of course, the beautiful and moving Vaughn Williams piece, “Lark Ascending.” These responses, in words and music, resonate with me, as the song of this bird evokes happy summer days walking in the Herefordshire countryside as a child.

I was therefore keen to use this exhibition to bring the plight of this bird to the public’s attention. I chose a selection of verses from Shelley’s poem for my text and created patterns to suggest a birds eye view of cultivated fields, which are integral to its lifecycle. The skylark is a ground nesting bird, which is why, with the changes in agricultural practice, they have become an endangered species. With autumn cereal planting commonplace now, rather than spring, the grasses are taller and denser so the birds have to nest at the edges of the crops. It makes the chicks more vulnerable to predators. The winter food supply is also scarce, in the absence of stubble. Insecticides and weedkillers are likely to have removed an important part of the food source too, so it is no surprise to learn that the skylark population halved in 1990’s when these changes in farming took place, and that the population is still declining in UK and Northern Europe. But on a positive note, the RSPB purchased Hope Farm in Cambridgeshire to trial cost effective food production methods while benefitting wildlife. Their results have helped advise farmers and the government, which will hopefully benefit the future of this special bird.

Material: hand etched brass and acrylic glazes | Size: frame 175 x 330 mm | Location: House