IS IT A JAY OR A HOOPOE? FIVE IMAGINARY BIRD PAINTINGS BY EDWARD LEAR TO BE SOLD AT AUCTION

                         

A bird - but not as we know it. One of the studies to be sold at auction

A SET of fve paintings of imaginary birds by artist and poet Edward Lear are set to go under the hammer tomorrow (March 1).

They are believed to date between 1827 and 1830.

The birds are based on species such as bullfinch, toucan, hoopoe, bee-eater and jay, but Lear has used his imagination to vary colours, feather patterns and habitats.

The paintings are lots 245-249 at the sale being held in Salisbury by auctioneers Woolley and Wallis.

They are expected to sell in the range £1,000 to £1,500.

More details at https://www.woolleyandwallis.co.uk

NEW CALL FOR CRACKDOWN ON CYPRUS BIRD POACHERS FOLLOWING CAR EXPLOSION DRAMA

                                                                                    

The damaged windscreen of the targeted car 

A PATROL car used by bird conservationists in Cyprus has been severely damaged.

The incident happened while the Toyota car - used by volunteers for the Committee Against Bird Slaughter - was parked in a residential area in Pyla in the Larnaca district of Cyprus.

It is thought the damage was caused by a large, illegal pyrotechnical device attached to the windscreen

Says CABS investigations officer Bostjan Debersek: "At around 5.45pm, we heard a loud bang and saw a lot of smoke.

"It was our car and parked close to our apartment. 

"Many people from the complex came to see what happened and a large crowd gathered."

Officers from the bomb squad and police investigators sealed off and swept the scene. 

The incident is the latest in a series of violent attacks and death-threats against conservationists who are working to combat illegal bird poaching in Cyprus by criminal gangs. 

On Christmas Eve an aggressive poacher known to the authorities threatened a police officer who accompanied CABS volunteers to an illegal trapping site in Zygi. 

The trapping site was equipped with six huge nets and a tape lure. 

Six song thrushes and a barn owl had been caught in the net, with 23 more birds dead in a bucket, freshly killed by the trapper. 

In November, three masked trappers jumped on a CABS member and beat him almost unconscious leaving him with blood pouring from his head. 

Two of the attackers were later arrested and are expected to face charges. 

Says CABS president Heinz Schwarze: "The illegal trade with poached songbirds is a “million Euro business” which is being protected by those who profit from it. 

"Last year alone, members of CABS documented and reported over 250 cases of illegal trapping and hunting to the Cypriot authorities. 

"It is wrong that those who are responsible for these eco-crimes can walk around with impunity, while conservation wardens and  CABS volunteers and  are continuously being targeted, their property being vandalised, plus death threats and abuse. 

"The Cyprus Government needs to invest resources in proper wildlife law enforcement rather than appeasing the poaching lobby. 

"It is time to stop sitting on the fence and take a clear stand against illegal bird poaching and protect activists who document and report environmental crimes. 

"It is clear that the police anti-poaching unit, which was dissolved in 2019, urgently needs to be reinstated in order to tackle the spiralling problem of illegal poaching of protected species." 

He continued: "The people involved in these crimes are hardened criminals - they need to be dealt with the full force of the law, not by the likes administrative officers and conservation wardens." 

BYGONE BIRDING: EXHAUSTED YOUNG PUFFIN COULD FLY NO FURTHER

From the Grantham Journal, August 8, 1958

An unusual visitor to Great Gonerbv last weekend proved to a young puffin which had evidently become so exhausted in its flight Irom the coast that it could get no further. 

It was found by a young villager, David Fox, who works at Grantham post office, his attention being attracted by the bird's unusual appearance as it lay in a field off Belton Lane.

Apart from rather striking colouring, puffins have exceptionally large beaks, though in the case of younger birds like this one the beaks are not fully developed. 

The puffin was unable to fly, so David had no difficulty in picking it up to examine it, and, realising it was an unusual bird, he took it along to Colin Pask, also of Great Gonerbv and a 15-year-old King's School boy who takes a great interest in bird life. 

He, too, was unable to recognise what type of bird it was, but, by enlisting the help of Mr. G. F. Johnson, principal of Grantham College of Further Education, the bird was identified as a young puffin. 

They were very surprised that it should have come so far inland as they haunt offshore waters and use the turfy slopes of cliffs for nesting. 

In view of the westerly winds of the weekend, it seems probable that the puffin had been driven inland by storms not from the East Coast but from the West. 

To confirm the identification, Mr. Johnson took the puffin to a naturalist friend at Sleaford who photographed the bird, still unable fly, standing on Mr. Johnson's hand. 

With none of the bird's usual type of food available, it was decided to take it to the coast, and it was put in the sea at the nature reserve at Gibraltar Point. 

For Colin Pask, the fact that it was a sea bird was of particular interest as he starts 16 days' holiday shortly at the bird observatory at Spum Point where also spent a holiday last year. 

ON THE SHARE PRICE PAGES - UNUSUAL PLACE TO FIND A MOST REMARKABLE YAFFLE

 

Avian screwdriver? Amusing or outrageous? Fund management company Guinness Global Investors has given this green woodpecker more than a bit of a tweak in its new advertising campaign. 

THE HEIGHT OF GOOD TASTE - BUT ARE THEY REAL BIRDS OR JUST MAKE-BELIEVE?

 

      
This super headscarf reflects Her Majesty's excellent fashion sense - but are these genuine birds? If so, can anyone identify the species?

BYGONE BIRDING: PLAGUE OF MOSQUITOES RUINED SIBERIA QUEST FOR DOTTEREL

                                                

Henry Seebohm (1832-95) - steel magnate, explorer and naturalist

Extract from Henry Seebohm's The Birds of Siberia to the Petchora Valley, first published in 1901.

A dotterel is very difficult to see through a mosquito-veil, and to lie down and become the nucleus of a vast nebula of mosquitoes is so tormenting to the nerves that we soon chose to adopt the consolatory conclusion that the grapes were sour and not worth the trouble of reaching after

Or, in plain words, that the birds had not begun to breed, and it was no use martyrising ourselves to seek their nests. 

The mosquitoes were simply a plague. 

Our hats were covered with them. They swarmed upon our veils. They lined with a fringe the branches of the dwarf birches and willows. They covered the tundra with a mist. 

I was fortunate in the arrangement of my veil, and, by dint of indiarubber boots and cavalry gauntlets, I escaped many wounds.

My companion was not so lucky. 

His net was perpetually transformed into a little mosquito-cage. His leggings and knickerbockers were by no means mosquito-proof. He had twisted a handkerchief round each hand, but this proved utterly insufficient.

Had it not grown cooler on the hills, as the sun got low, he would certainly have fallen into a regular mosquito fever. 

We were told that this pest of mosquitoes was nothing as yet to what it would become later. 

"Wait a while," said our Job's comforter, "and you will not be able to see each other at twenty paces distance - half a dozen regiments of mosquitoes will rise between you."