Birds of our Shoreline

​There's a fluttering above your head these days, if you go through the entrance to the courtyard outside the Tea Rooms and The Gallery Upstairs.
 
Management at Upton Country Park have long thought this was a dark and uninviting entrance, so members of Poole and East Dorset Art Society and the Gallery committee were asked for their help.  The resulting display is part of the Upton Country Park Discovery Project.

Back in the summer you may have noticed the appearance of a blue sky and fluffy white clouds, just waiting for some bird-life. With the help of staff from “Birds of Poole Harbour”, PEDAS artists identified some of the iconic birds of this area, and the project “Birds of our Shoreline” was under way.
 
The artists drew out scale drawings of birds in flight, cut out life-sized outlines on foam board which were then transposed by the group “Poole Men’s Sheds” onto MDF and carefully cut out.  The birds range in size from the tiny kingfisher to the magnificent black backed gull with its one and a half metre wingspan.
 
The “fun bit” for the artists was to add the lifelike colouring with acrylic paint. The “not so fun bit” was finding a way to attach them safely to the ceiling in line with Health and Safety guidelines concerning small fingers reaching into them and getting trapped.  Much thought was given to the arrangement of the “flypast” to show them to best advantage.
 
An identification board is being prepared to add to the display, and possibly a few more birds too. Meanwhile look up as you enter the courtyard and see if you can name them all.
 
Liz Magee
Wishing you all a very merry Christmas!
Photo credit John Biggs