Remembering Keith Shackleton - bird artist's fine work will catch the eye at forthcoming Salisbury auction

                                                        

EXPLORER and artist Keith Shackleton MBE (1923-2015) established a reputation for his superb studies of birdlife in Antarctica.

Prior to committing himself full-time to art, he spent five years in the RAF before joining the family aviation business as a salesman and pilot.

In childhood, Shackleton attended Oundle School - the same as Sir Peter Scott with whom he was to share travels and whom he helped set up the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust  of which he became vice-president.

Like Sir Peter, he also became a TV presenter, co-presenting Animal Magic with Johnny Morris in the 1960s before hosting his own series, Animals in Action, in the late 1970s.

On June 2, a copy of his book, Keith Shackleton - An Autobiography in Paintings is due to go under the hammer at an auction to be held by Woolley and Wallis at their saleroom in Salisbury, Wiltshire.

Included in the same Lot (and likely to be its  main attraction) is one of his non-polar works - his handsome oil on canvas board study, A Rural Landscape with Geese.

The pre-sale guide price for the Lot - the two items - is £400-£600. 

                                                            

Anyone care to identify the species of the geese?