Manx Shearwater

Shearwater and gulls in the moonlight

Shearwater, creeping into burrow, bottom

Tonight I took a torch out to see the Manx Shearwater that arrive under the safe cover of darkness on Skomer during the breeding season in their hundreds of thousands. As it fell completely pitch dark at around 11pm the Manxies began to arrive, a trickle at first like falling meteors rushing over my head then a storm of wings crashing out of the sky, and appearing instantly on the path in front of me. They are majestic in flight when I have seen them skimming the waves in Cardigan bay , but on land they flip and flop like fish out of water on account of their short legs, useless for walking. They creep into rabbit holes and the whole subterranean network soon echoes with the peculiar cackling, mewing sound of their birds safe below ground. Others unable to find a hole crouch motionless and silent amongst the bluebells, their inability to walk making them easy pickings for gulls as their numerous remains attest for. I shine my torch on the birds and draw them very quickly, imagining the long exhausting journey that has brought them here, the reluctance to be in this uncomfortable environment rife with horrible danger.    

Manx Shearwater amongst blue bells

Skomer Day 2: Bull Hole

Part of the flat section at Bull Hole, slow progress in graphite

Drawing at Bull Hole

At Bull Hole there is a small hide which I can shelter behind, offering enough protection from today's South Westerly for me to comfortably work on a large scroll drawing. That was the plan at least, however I soon encountered one problem I did not consider; the wet atmosphere of the island makes the paper very damp and heavy going to work on with graphite. By late afternoon I had made very slow progress and was coming to realise that attempting to complete the major drawings in the field was not going to be the best use of my time on the island. I needed a quicker way of drawing, even if it meant making rough records of what I'm observing which can be be reworked later on. I finish the day by planning a method using brush and ink which should be faster for blocking in the guillemot shapes and will also be unaffected by the quality of damp paper. I also try out different compositions using a vertical format, focusing on three downward cascading patterns within the loomery, shown below.

Colony Compositions at bull Hole in ink and the Amos in pencil

Skomer Day 1: Loomery Scrolls

First egg seen

I arrived on Skomer Island today to start work on a new drawing project called Loomery Scrolls which will be exhibited at the Festival Of The Mind 2014 from 18 - 28 September. This arts festival is organised by the University of Sheffield each year to showcase the work it carries out by supporting collaborative projects between artists and members of the Universtiy. I am on the Island to meet Professor Tim Birkhead, Professor of behavioural Ecology at the University and a leading figure in avian biology. Tim has studied Skomer's guillemots at their breeding colonies or loomeries every year since 1972 and today for the first time, he is going to show me the sites that have occupied this research.

A theme of festival of the mind this year is chaos, which could appropriately describe first impressions of the densely packed loomeries Tim studies; a single square metre of precipitous cliff ledge can be occupied by up to seventy nesting birds. However closer observation of individual behaviour reveals a strong social structure running throughout a loomery. Over the next five days and a subsequent week later in the season, it will be my job to make drawings that describe this order within the apparent chaos of the loomeries on Skomer. Thankfully Tim will be at hand to help me make sense of it all, along with his PHD student Elspeth Kenny and research assistant Julie Riordan who are also on the island. Happily for me; Elspeth is studying  the colonies from a detailed perspective, focusing on the allopreening behaviour that strengthens the bond between breeding pairs and their immediate neighbours, whilst Julie presents a wider picture of the colony by carrying out the work of monitoring populations and ringed birds that has continued uninterrupted on Skomer for forty years.     
 My approach will be to draw the loomeries bird by bird on long rolls of paper large enough to capture a sense of of the overall scene with enough detail to describe the posture and therefore behaviour of each individual guillemot within it (similar to work posted here on 26 May 2013). The overall aim being to exhibit drawing scrolls that capture the awe and wonder of Skomer's vast, seemingly chaotic loomeries whilst simultaneously describing the detailed and complex social order at the heart of their cohesion. 

The Amos

Tim meets me in the morning and introduces me to his two main study sites. First the Amos; a folding elbow of volcanic rock, curving out to sea and back on itself to cradle a steep sided basin around which the colony groups form on mainly deep flat ledges. The densest groups of guillemots here are all on one level, perfect for the kind of linear composition suited to the scroll format I am looking to make. This is Tim's main study site, where most of his colour ringed birds are; individually identifiable with a numbered ring that correlates to a database giving the life history of birds in some cases over more than twenty years. I hope these stories will play a part in my work, which I hope to engage viewers in through a strong sense of narrative. To continue the population monitoring this year, Tim's field assistant Julie watches the colony throughout daylight hours from a small wooden hide using a telescope. She plots positions and codes I am yet to fully understand, on a large photograph of the site pinned to the hide wall. Next door Elspeth, has a yet smaller hide from where she collects her data on allopreening behaviour in the common guillemot. I fold myself into the hide and try it out for size, It would be cramped to draw in but could well be essential given the unsettling forecast for this week.

The Amos is on the Western side of the Island facing South, exposed to the prevailing wind, which is strong today. Tim takes me to a more sheltered study site, the largest colony on the island, Bull Hole. When Tim first started studying this site for his PHD, there were approximately 500 birds in three groups he labelled a,b and c, shown on the drawing below. That was in the 70's, in 1966 there were around 5000 birds and the colony today is again close to that number. Skomer is one of the few seabird stations where guillemot populations have increased, making the research carried out here all the more important for tackling the declining population trend elsewhere, particularly the North Sea. Tim explains that since he started studying the Bull Hole site, guano and the treading action of the guillemots has broken down the grass and soil to once more reveal the bare rock ledges they need. Remarkably, this has occurred in such a way that the present day loomery is the same pattern and shape as that shown in photos from 1966. 

I have am interested in the way the pattern of a loomery is defined by the geology of the rock it is on; two forces of nature on different time scales causing an affect. At Bull Hole, I am finding two things visually striking, which makes the loomery unique to anything I have seen before. Firstly the ledges are very steep which means the loomery looks like it has formed in cascades flowing down the cliff face, narrow and dense in gullies, broadening out over spreading heaps of scree. The second difference is that I am seeing a loomery before egg laying has occurred for the first time. This means the birds, rather than incubating, seated and more stationary are standing upright with large groups facing the same directions determined by the angle of the ledge they are on, creating an overall monochrome patterned effect across the dark cliff face.

Over the rest of the day I get to understand the structure of cliff and colony at Bull Hole, shown in the drawings below. I focus on the nearest third and also densest area of the colony, drawing patterns, postures, formations of both groups and rock and finally compositions for the next days' drawing.  
  

Bull Hole, landscape, guillemot groups and patterns. 

Bull Hole, composition studies, rock formation and guillemot postures

New Exhibition

Latest exhibition of prints, paintings and some of the original Ceredigion bird report illustrations. At Ynys-hir until June 8 (2014).  

Ynys-Hir, Mist and Egret

 

A thick mist clogs the estuary all day, a little egret shines brightly in sunken creeks. 

Foel Goch and Ynys-hir

Early Spring, Foel Goch the red hill and wooded Ynys Hir in the foreground. Day dispersed with sound of lapwing in bouts of display, settling into new territory.   

Winter Rush

Winter thrush began to arrive at the beginning of the week, with around 1000 fieldfare at Clywedog on Sunday evening. By Wednesday a massive wave of 2000-3000+ were moving down the Gilfach valley stripping the mountain rowans at an incredible rate. Feeding frenzies could be spotted far off because the trees seemed to vibrate and splinter as the birds scrambled around the branches filling their crops. Flocks the length of the valley moved in paddling flight over the hill tops, then swooping low over my head, around and again like a conveyor of birds stretching for miles. Flocks would break off, switch direction, scout and foray before the current of movement would break and birds fall out of the sky, descending on one of the red berry laden beacons lighting up the hill side. The harsh clacking calls of the fieldfare became ambient sound throughout the valley, whilst silence became disruptive as it usually precluded an eruption of alarmed birds disturbed from feeding by ominous shapes in the sky. With the sheer number of birds in the air I found it impossible to spot the threatening silhouette of a raptor at such times although plenty were about, buzzards and kites seemed to congregate and of course peregrine and sparrow hawk, lurked in the wings.

It took me most of theses first few encounters to learn how to approach these birds and in terms of drawing to ‘get my eye in’. Getting your eye in, is about becoming familiar with a subject so as to draw it intuitively. For me a lot of this is to do with understanding what is achievable, for example, here the birds were constantly moving especially while feeding, but I learnt that they rested at certain times in clusters at tops of trees allowing there forms to be studied in drawings I aimed to complete in about 30 seconds. I could build up the groups and begin to form compositions of natural posture. Crayon or pen was best for this rapid movement as marks had to be definite deliberate, as such drawings rely on split second decisions.

Numbers at Gilfach peaked on Thursday as the birds funnelled through the bottom of the narrow valley and gradually dispersed along the wide track of the Wye and beyond perhaps into the Elan valley. On Friday a hillside near Tylwch, laden with red Rowan trees became the focus, I had the best success here because the steep slopes accessed by a sheep track afforded great views from the cover of trees still in leaf ( cover from above seems most important as the birds scan from the air to ensure it is safe to descend). By the end of Friday the original number of 1000+ fieldfare and redwing with five times more starling began to dwindle as a pair or more sparrow hawk striked the flocks. By Saturday it was not worth waiting as the birds could no longer feed, since a raptor would be waiting for the opportunity, plunging into a tangle of wings and branches every time a group dared alight. Also of note a group of 22 raven playing on the ridge, possible goshawk and first brambling of winter.

Many drawings were scrapped to begin with but as the days progress I developed a kind of short hand for theses birds, so I can now at least visualise drawing more challenging numbers, movement and behaviours such as the incredible acrobatics performed when feeding that lasts only a few seconds. Two ideas emerged this week, firstly the drawings which I have discussed above which, as I originally planned, can be worked into monoprints (when I get back). Also I have enough material to paint the flocks in the stunning Gilfach landscapes. Several compositions in mind especially this mountain side which I sketched yesterday evening as the rain began to pour, sometimes this helps explore colour and definition since the work is constantly being washed away and applied over and over in a kind of evolution. End result not much but a useful exercise to loosen up my landscape. (um, ru, az, cy, bs) This mast year, means lots of rowan still left on the hillsides, so with luck and another easterly to bring a new wave through there will be more opportunity to draw these birds and the exciting occasion of their arrival.