More examples of the best recent work by British bird-photographers Plates 33-40

This is the thirteenth annual selection of contemporary photography, keeping on permanent record some of the finest current work. More photographs were submitted than ever before and the 14 reproduced on plates 33-40 are selected from a total of 137. It is encouraging to know that there are still so many photographers who have not gone over entirely to colour, but we hope the day will come when we shall be able to illustrate this feature largely with colour plates. Unfor­tunately the present cost of reproduction makes this impossible, but with a sufficiently increased circulation there is no reason why it could not be achieved in the future.

It is gratifying that more photographers are sending their prints direct to us, but even so we are greatly indebted to the honorary secretaries of the Zoological Photographic Club, the Nature Photo­graphic Society and the Nature Photographers' Portfolio for their continued interest and advice. In this connection an interesting development in British photography in 1971 was the formation by these three societies of the Association of Natural History Photo­graphic Societies (see 'News and comment', April 1972). As in the past, the task of selection was far from easy, the standard being particularly high this year; inevitably a number of photographs we would have liked to reproduce have had to be omitted. But there are two which, to me, stand head and shoulders above all the rest: indeed, I would go so far as to say that they are the best pictures taken during the past decade. They show a Barn Owl Tyto alba with a young rat in its bill, flying to its nest in an old church tower (plate 36); and the same owl as it leaves the nest after feeding its young (plate 37). The lighting on both the bird and the tower is quite dramatic. These photographs are the joint work of Stephen Dalton and Andrew M, Anderson whom we should like to congratulate on their remarkable results.

We have included three more flight shots, all quite different yet all needing considerable skill. Katie Urry's photograph of a small flock of Pink-footed Geese Anser brachyrhynchus (plate 35 a) coming in to land at Loch Leven, Kinross, shows excellent detail in the feathering, not at all easy to obtain in flying birds. Donald Piatt (brother of Harold, whose work we have already featured) is new to this series; he has obtained a beautiful shot of an Arctic Skua Stercorarius parasiticus (plate 3 8a) flying over its nesting territory in Orkney, while by skilful superimposing Keith Atkin shows us a roding Woodcock Scolopax rusticola (plate 40a) over the Bardney Forest in Lincolnshire. (We have

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P L A T E 54. Above, female Whinchat Saxicola rubetra characteristically perched on upright twig, Breconshire, June 1971 {Arthur Butler). Below, female Rock Thrush Monticola saxatilis with food for young, Spain, June 1971 {Kevin J. V. Carlson)

P L A T E 35. Above, 14 Pink-footed Geese Anser brachyrhynchus flighting in, Kinross, October 1970 {Katie Urry). Below, White Pelicans Pelecanus onocrotalus and Lesser Flamingoes Phoenicopterus minor behind them, Kenya, February 1971 (M. D. England)

P L A T E 3 6 . Barn Owl Tyto alba with a young rat, Surrey, June 1971 {Stephen Dalton)

P L A T E 37. Same owl leaving church tower after feeding chicks (Andrew M. Anderson)

P L A T E 38. Above, Arctic Skua Stercorarius parasiticus gliding past, Orkney, June 1970 {Donald Platt). Below, male Hen Harrier Circus cyaneus, with young, staring at hide (note ring on leg and fly on tail), also Orkney, June 1970 (D. A. P. Cooke)

P L A T E 39. Above, Stock Dove Columba oenas by nest hole with chick visible inside, Lancashire, September 1971 (Dennis Green). Below, Guillemot Uria aalge threaten­ing another while a third faces away, Northumberland, July 1970 {Arthur Gilpin)

P L A T E 40. Above, roding Woodcock Scolopax rusticola(superimposed), Lincolnshire, April 1971 (Keith Atkin). Below, Tawny Owl Strix aluco calling on stump (taken by flash when too dark to see bird), Worcestershire, April 1971 (R. J. C. Blewitt)

Recent work by British bird-photographers 2 0 7

no objection to this form of double printing so long as it does not alter the bird and achieves something that would be almost impossible by straight photography.)

Only two of these photographs were taken abroad, one by Dr Kevin J. V. Carlson of a female Rock Thrush Monticola saxatilis (plate 34b) with a grub in her bill about to visit her nest in the Pyrenees, the other by M. D . England who visited Lake Nakuru, Kenya, in 1971 to obtain a fine study of White Pelicans Pelecanus onocrotalus against a background of Lesser Flamingoes Phoenicopterus minor (plate 3 5 b).

Brian and Sheila Bottomley continue to surprise us with the unusual and splendid quality they obtain in the photography of rare birds and migrants: plate 33b of three Great Northern Divers Gavia immer off Penzance harbour is very interesting because these appeared to be a family party (they were seen keeping close together for several days in February, occasionally calling to one another, and the nearest in the photo was noticeably the smallest). The rapid movements of Grey Wagtails Motacilla cinerea as they run to their nests with tails wagging furiously make them extremely difficult to photograph successfully, and we like very much Frank V. Blackburn's result (plate 33a) showing a bird in typical posture with its bill full of insects. Arthur Butler has obtained a lovely portrait of a Whinchat Saxicola rubetra (plate 34a) characteristically perched on a twig near its nest.

Since we began this series in 1960 we have included two photo­graphs of Hen Harriers Circus cyaneus, but we feel that Dr D. A. P. Cooke's (plate 38b) shows the male to perfection: visits by the male to the nest are usually very brief and the photographer has to be ever on the alert, but so fine is the detail in this picture that even a fly on the bird's tail is clearly revealed. Stock Doves Columba oenas are also notoriously difficult to photograph at the nest and Dennis Green (another newcomer to this series) has done well to show the adult just leaving and the young coming to the entrance of the nesting hole (plate 39a). There must be thousands of photographs of Guillemots Uria aalge in existence, but Arthur Gilpin has obtained an interesting picture of threat display very different from the usual portraits (plate 39b). Tawny Owls Strix aluco seem to be another favourite subject, but this is the first time we have shown one 'singing' (plate 40b); the photographer, R. J. C. Blewitt, says that it was too dark to see the owl but he knew it was perched on the tree-stump by hearing the call.

We again remind photographers that birds on Schedule 1 of the Protection of Birds Act 1967 (listed in Brit. Birds, 61 : 215; 64: 189) may not be disturbed at the nest unless approval is first obtained from the Nature Conservancy; applications should now be sent to them at 12 Hope Terrace, Edinburgh EH9 2AS, and not to their London office as previously. Black-and-white prints for next year's selection of recent work should reach us by 10th February 1973. E R I C H O S K I N G