I came across it at the Birdfair last weekend when I dropped by to have a word with Bruce Pearson who was the artist on board when I visited The Antarctic, The Faulklands and South Georgia almost two years ago ... it had been fascinating watching Bruce draw and paint, often in severe weather conditions with sea spray, rocking boats and wind to deal with ... to say nothing of the constantly low temperatures ...
The book describes Bruce's times spent on Bird Island back in the 1970s and subsequent visits to The Southern Ocean ... but the focus is on albatrosses and in particular their drastic reduction in numbers over the last few decades ... it deals with the excellent work of the Albatross Task Force in reducing the deaths of albatrosses from long-line fishing ...
... it is full of sketches of not only the albatrosses but the other seabirds of The Southern Ocean , along with the scribbled notes that accompany them ... and maps illustrate the juxtaposition of the locations he describes ...
... the seascapes are particularly evocative and will resonate with anyone who has visited wild coastlines in the northerly or southerly extremes of the planet ...
... there is some historical context relating to the voyages of Captain Cook ... and some literary references to The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Coleridge who interestingly would never have seen a live albatross as the furthest south he ever went was the Mediterranean ... but he did have personal reasons to be interested and inspired by The Southern Ocean ...
The book is beautifully produced by the Langford Press. It is beautifully written. And of course beautifully illustrated.
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