In an event held at St James Cavalier this morning, BirdLife Malta today launched ‘There and Back?’ a wildlife art book covering bird migration with a special focus on Malta, published by Langford Press, the wildlife art publisher.

The book features sketches, drawings, and watercolours by internationally renowned wildlife artists as well as essays and articles written by authorities in their areas.

A large part of the book is dedicated to Malta, with several drawings of birds typical for Malta, such as Honey-buzzards and Malta’s national bird, the Blue Rock Thrush. There are also paintings and photographs of birds in Malta’s landscapes, produced by Brian and Gavin Arneill, a father son team of artists who, having attended BirdLife Malta’s Spring Watch conservation camps, are familiar with Malta.

‘There and Back?’ also features, essays and articles revealing authors personal experiences relating to migration. Amongst these are three articles by BirdLife Malta Spring Watch participants, who write about seeing hunting at night for birds of prey, poachers maintaining a radio network with lookouts warning of BirdLife Malta and police teams carrying out surveillance, and storks killed in flight.

The idea behind ‘There and Back?’ came from Ian Langford, the publisher’s, first visit to Malta in 2008 as part of BirdLife Malta’s Spring Watch conservation camp, following which he decided to raise awareness about the widespread persecution of protected birds. Since that first camp Mr Langford has attended all other BirdLife Malta conservation camps.

During the launch BirdLife Malta announced the start of Spring Watch 2011, which will this year run between the 10th and 24th April. 34 volunteers from seven countries will be attending, including Ian Langford, Brian and Gavin Arneill.

Birdlife said that the camp forms an integral part of BirdLife Malta’s campaign against illegal hunting and trapping, and aims to record bird migration while also serving as a deterrent to illegalities. “Where illegalities are committed, video and photographic evidence will be collected and passed onto police to aid with investigations and legal prosecutions.”

Scientific ringing studies on bird migration link Malta to a known 36 European and 12 African countries. For this reason local conservation issues, such as illegal hunting, have an international impact. Just last autumn a Common Kestrel ringed in Finland, and an Osprey ringed in Germany as part of a large conservation project were shot in Malta. Birdlife said.

Commenting on the need for efforts against the illegalities to increase and the situation to be improved, Ian Langford stated that “We intend to publish a revised version of the book in five years time – in this version the situation regarding Malta will be updated. This will allow readers to see the range of approaches that have been taken, and how successful they have been in significantly reducing the killing of protected European birds.”

Langford Press is kindly donating proceedings from the sale of ‘There and Back?’ to BirdLife Malta.

Photo – Brian Arneill’s painting of the Blue Rock Thrush for ‘There and Back?’ The Blue Rock Thrush is Malta’s national bird and is rarely sighted in the UK.

Permalink: Spring Watch inspired wildlife art book launched today