Curiosity
and romantic notions impelled
me to a weekend course of animal tracking. I became aware of a
whole new way of looking at things; investigating, shifting
perspective and thinking wide. A blade of grass blown by the wind
over time will leave an imprint, that we will speculate is lizard or
frog.
We
went to a very humanised place, a parking lot full of rubbish, take
away bags and cans strewn all over. A small body of water marks the
end of a natural corridor. But this particular place seems so touched
by and abused by humans that it is devoid of animal life. But not so,
as we look with more open eyes we see tracks of wild boar, genet,
fox, deer, badger, tortoise, rat, mongoose. I am amazed to have size
of a deer drawn in the mud from the tracks it has left.
In gratitude to Dr. Javier Vázquez Rodríguez for helping me see a different world.
House martins build nests of mud on the facade of buildings, under eaves, in window alcoves and under balconies. They are sociable birds living in colonies of extended families. They are migratory but will return to reuse the same nest sites year after year.
These house martins had been nesting above the blind in a window, when it was shut the nest fell. The house was neighbouring my studio and I was contacted to take care of the birds. Being insectivorous they eat only insects, anything else can be damaging to their development or even fatal.
I fed them wax worms and luckily they fed easily. Sometimes with older birds they refuse food, recognising that it is not coming from its parent and so they have to be force fed to begin with. They have to be fed at regular intervals and it can be quite demanding. Fortunately I fell in love right away and was more than happy to serve them. Their chirruping sounds make my heart skip and I wake up each morning excited that I will get to see them.
When I care for baby birds I sway between a swelling love and profound respect for the wild. I limit contact to the minimal. I know that this will serve them best when they are released.
The
Andarríos project was established by the
Junta de Andalucia to put rivers ecosystems in
value by encouraging participatory action;
local groups adopt a section of river and
monitor its environmental health. The
evolvement of local groups and associations promotes knowledge and
participatory action in favour of conservation.
The
project begins with the premise that: Our society owes a great debt
to its rivers. These authentic biological corridors have been
fundamental for human development, providing a source of resources
and energy, communication routes and
erosion control.
The
section of river we examine goes underneath a main road by the
industrial estate on the outskirts of town. I think about liminal
spaces, the places between. I think about humans and nature. Under
the ALDI billboard by the side of the road.
We
examine microscopic life. We see frogs, invasive flora and native
flora. Traces of an otter noted in the scat from is latrine. We test
the PH. It is noted that since last years evaluation the quality had
diminished.
I
am often find myself drawn to the little things oft overlooked; seed
pods, plant forms, the egg sack of a spider hanging from the
wheelbarrow. Here I see a place that is overlooked or unnoticed but
has great value. The life that sustains us is by the side of the road
under the ALDI billboard.
Artists in residence from the Beetime Artist residency came to visit my studio in Vejer. I showed them my process and talked about my projects with plants, cotton and data drawing. We shared knowledge and had an engaging discussion about art and ecology.
Late
August into
early September was a strange time. The
day we arrived
back to
Spain from
England my daughter suffered stomach cramps which turned out to be
appendicitis. A trip to the doctor rapidly
turned
into a hospital stay which we weren’t prepared for.
It was a whirl of a time, 24 hour hospital days,
sleeping in a chair and nursing
my not so little baby.
On the day we
were allowed home
I took delivery of two swifts from
my friend Nando.
He
had to return
to
work so
didn’t have the
time for
their demanding feeding. I went from caring motherly
mode for
my injured daughter to caring for two wild birds in
a blink.
Swifts
are very special birds and I would come to appreciate this more each
day as I cared for them. Swifts spend most of their lives in flight;
eating, sleeping and mating in the air only stopping to nest and
rear young. Agile fast fliers, they cover hundreds of kilometres a
day and are capable of eating almost their body weight in insects
each day. They have adapted to nest in urban areas, in cracks or
holes in buildings.
The
swifts that
came to me were
found grounded in Barbate. When
a swift is grounded they need collecting as
it means there is something wrong, they
are not like other fledglings that stay close to their nests as they
practice flying. If they have grounded they
have fallen from their nest or are dehydrated or injured.
I
was careful to leave them in peace, I felt so deeply respectful of
their presence. My fingers quickly learned to be adept at moving in
subtle ways to handle and feed them. In the beginning I was sensitive
to insect squashing, my stepson would help me crushing tens at a time
so that I could feed them. But I couldn’t always depend on others and
I soon became a lethal killer.
The
relationship I developed with these swifts was overwhelming. I would
wake excited in the morning excited to see them, and though I longed
to gaze them always I kept my contact to a minimal. I read and
learned about their biology, their behaviours, their migratory
journeys, their breeding habits. And more than anything I fell in
love.
One
day they both flew and were gone just like that.
I
felt it in their bodies in the morning. A sort of trembling
pulsating. A restless internal energy brewing. Then they were gone.
Before I could blink.
These
two swifts started me on a journey that I am still travelling. It led
to me develop a project to map swift colonies and I have since cared
for other grounded birds. I have travelled to see other swift species
and became engaged with them in a way that has motivated and inspired
me. My heart still skips whenever I see swifts in flight.
Open studio with Emily Kirby and Karmele in our shared studio space Altozano 7. I was sharing works in process from my Data Drawing series and the beginnings of my Nest Mapping Project -mapping the nests of swallows, house martins and swifts in Vejer.
Birds are ringed so that we can study them and their movements for conservation. This project rings white storks in the Province of Cadiz in Southern Andalucia, the information gathered is used to study the migration, reproduction and behaviour of the species.
A dizzy day of very long ladders. The chatter of storks beaks. Storks circling the skies. Jackdaws.
We found a young stork tied to its nest with plastic gardening twine that the adults have used when making their nests. This one was released and escaped the horrible torture of not being able to fly the nest and dying a slow death. It escaped with a slightly deformed foot, fortunately nothing that would impede its survival. But what a terribly sad reminder of the often not so healthy relationship weaving humans with other species.
I might be inclined to believe such an occurrence is an anomaly. But in the 2008 stork ringing campaign of the 229 young that were ringed 19 were found tied to their nests.
