Mark the Birdman

More and yet more about birds!
A couple of months ago, Audrey Niffenegger's new dark fairytale was transformed into a ballet by Wayne Macgregor and the Royal Ballet Company,  the book came out, then etchings of the illustrations have been  shown at the Printworks Gallery since June. http://www.roh.org.uk/productions/raven-girl-by-wayne-mcgregor

Bjork and David Attenborough recently joined forces  on Channel 4 to explore the links between nature and music, with Bjork sporting a safari suit and a feathery fascinator. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVAMsJufguk

 Last November I blogged about Mark Cocker's, new book, which he had mentioned in a talk at the Halesworth Cut, well, it seems the book has finally flown onto our bookshelves, 'Birds and People', £40 from Jonathan Cape, not cheap so hopefully lots of libraries will get it! Not that it's not worth the price, being full of stunning photos and the result of ten years work, of collecting stories about the significance of birds around the globe, anecdotes from 650 people in 81 countries. As he stated in his talk, on a worldwide scale chickens provide us with more protein than cattle, sheep, pigs or goats;  plus birds in general give us a whole host of other physical and spiritual things.
He points out that in some ways birds remind us of ourselves: they stand on two legs; have plumages like costumes; they vocalise  and sing to each other. 'Then birds do something people never have and never shall. They fly off.'
In the Peruvian Andes, the Hummingbird has become a symbol of rebirth because in sleep it enters a deep hibernation-like state, so little breath it appears to be dead. All around the world, birds are a symbol of love, of spring, of homecoming. 'In southeast Asia cranes carry the souls of the dead to Heaven.'

Mark Cocker is not sentimental and doesn't overlook the many cruelties towards birds and the dangers they are in.  The RSPB is one of the biggest lobbies in the UK; Mark Cocker is a founder member of New Networks for Nature, which forges links between the art world, scientists and naturalists.The urgent message is that culture and nature are interdependent. Mark and the book's photographer, David Tipling, will be at the Edinburgh International  Book Festival on 20th August