Thursday 16 November 2023

"Like a Woodpecker with no Trees"


Great Spotted Woodpecker
unusual sight on the Twitching Tree

 I know providing tree sculptures for birds is an important habitat and safety and hunting structure for migrant birds. The Great Spotted Woodpecker is an odd and uncommon sight on treeless Fair Isle. The lost bird seemed very happy to find some driftwood wired together in tree form. Perched in the tree the large Woodpecker oversaw and dominated the comings and goings of the resident Starlings & House Sparrows at the nearby peanut feeders. it was fun to watch the woodpecker try to scare & stop the resident birds from both feeders when it really could only control one at a time.


Hiding on the backside while I was trying to get a photo.
Starling above,


Sunday 22 October 2023

Fair Isle's Twitching Tree - Birds and Branches

Twite



Birds & Sightings


The Twitching Tree




Starlings



The Moon


Starlings & House Sparrows



Twite


4 Twite



Can you find the Warbler?


Wet Waxwing


 

Sunday 15 March 2015

Fair Isle Driftwood Stick in Germany - with Klaus & Gabby

Gabby, Tommy, Klaus & the Stick.
In late September 2014 Gabby and Klaus Drissner were my guests for 4 days. They became enthusiastic about my "Stick & Twitching Trees arts projects. Klaus being a well respected birdwatch in Germany and an awesome photographer of birds he is more than happy to be a international collaborator with my project. For more information on the project read my Artist Statement.

Driftwood stick found on the beach of treeless Fair Isle.
Taken back to Germany by Klaus & Gabby.

A new development in my Environmental Arts 

All photographs below are by Klaus Drissner - Birds on a found on Fair Isle Driftwood Stick.

Marsh Tit - Poecile palustris - Sumpfmeise

Great Spotted Woodpecker - Dendrocopos major - Buntspecht

Blue Tit - Cyanistes caeruleus - Blaumeise


Robin - Erthacus rubecula - Rothehlchen

Bullfinch - Pyrrhula pyrrhula - Gimpel

Coal Tit - Periparus ater - Tannenmiese 

Coal Tit Periparus ater - Tannenmiese 

Blackbird - Turdus merula - Amsel

Tree Sparrow - Passer montanus - Feldspering

Wow! What great photographs!
Already such a good documentation of species.
I've been very excited by this collaboration and this is just the beginning.
More photos to come!
 Birds on a Stick

The "Stick" is a found object that facilitates my interaction with nature & wildlife. It's up close and personal, placed just outside the window of my home. The place where the viewer and wildlife interact becoming a common reference point unifying and a constant through out the work. The Birds photographed range from common residences to scarce or rare migrant species. As any sculptor will take a raw material and transcend it into a object of beauty, power and worth, I now value the "Stick" much more than many paintings I have made, as it is now invested with experiences and documentation while also serving a function. The once insignificant piece of driftwood I now look upon as a icon of surprising possibilities with wildlife. It is the same for my original Twitching Trees, artistically the interaction between nature, the sculpture and the viewer is conceptually so strong with these works. Even though the humble stick is in every photo, it is the wildlife that star in this work. It is natural for an artist interests such as Birds & Wildlife to become a theme with in the framework of ones art, and this is true of much of my more traditional art forms paintings & sculpture that often have images of birds. It is no different for these interests to feature in a more conceptual work of art. One can disregard one photo of a bird or the stick alone as art, it's collectively the framework of the Stick, the documentation in photographs & my intimate experiences with birds & nature that make for a detailed account of "Birds on the Stick" a work of art.


T. H. Hyndman


From my garden to yours... Cheers!

Monday 29 December 2014

November 2014

A Starling on a Twitching Tree.


Redwing




October Highlights 2014


Blackcaps - Male & Female
Oct. 10th

House Sparrows - Oct 1st


Sleeping Juvenile Rose-Coloured Starling. Oct 3rd

 I first saw it sitting on the stick... by the time I got my camera it found shelter in my window box and started to take a nap. Sadly, I never did get a photo of it on the stick. So it's not a full record.


Blackcap - male







Starling & Female Blackcap









September Highlights 2014

Willow Warbler & Twite sharing a Stick by the pond.
 Sept. 19th
   

Pied Flycatcher on Twitching Tree. Sept. 3rd

House Sparrows. Sept. 5th



House Sparrows. Sept. 10th

Meadow Pipit on a fallen Twitching Tree. Sept. 19th


Twite on Twitching Tree. Sept. 22nd

A new  "Stick" found on the South Harbour beach - Fair Isle.

The New Stick was given to Klaus & Gaby to take back to their home in Germany. Sept. 30th.
Once there they will collaborate with my Twitching Trees environmental arts project.
They should start sending photos of bird upon it soon.

Update for June, July & August 2014

Not much of note over the Summer months...


White Wagtail & Meadow Pipit on a Twitching Tree.
August 7th