An Artist on Migration

by Bruce Pearson (Illustrator), Bruce Pearson (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  1991

  $3.25

  In 1984 Bruce Pearson, famous for his paintings in the book A Countryside in Winter , came to Collins with an idea. He would pack his studio into his rucksack and follow the migrating birds of Europe from the high Arctic to tropical Africa. As a painter, writer and ornithologist he was the ideal person to carry out this idea. This book is the result of his journey. During his travels, Bruce Pearson has visited all the major areas used by the birds in summer and winter; the wastes of Greenland and its birds that must synchronize their breeding perfectly or risk the hazard of freezing in the early onset of winter; the Ouse Washes of England, home to winter visitors from the high Arctic; and the sub-Saharan landscape where many of Europe's birds spend the winter and have suffered from the drought currently threatening all wildlife in the area. He has also stopped off at some of the bird's staging posts; he sees the huge flocks of waders on the marshes of Britain and Europe as they stop to replenish supplies on their journey; the flocks of wheeling birds of prey over the Bosphorus, crossing from one continent to the other by the shortest possible route; and the sight of waves of tiny migrants heading out over the open Mediterranean or taking on the vast and inhospitable Sahara. And as he moves to and from through Europe and Africa, he constantly meets the same species; ospreys in Denmark, Spain and Africa; wheatears and yellow wagtails almost everywhere, dunlin in the Arctic and in Africa, all journeying through Europe in search of perpetual summer. Bruce Pearson has brought together images of the countries he visited - the book is illustrated with over 180 of his colour paintings - evoking in words the story behind the extraordinary annual journey made by the birds of Europe. This book has already been recognized by the RSPB, who will be featuring Bruce Pearson and his travels in a five page article in Birds magazine (circulated to all their 700,000 members). Bruce Pearson will also have a high profile in 1991, as he will be presenting a 6-part Channel 4 TV series in the spring.