Hello and welcome to the creative activities for ‘Flyways and Coastlines - Tiny birds, great journeys’.
An installation by Kate Stalker and Eleanor Chaney for the ‘Incredible Journeys’ exhibition at the Coro, Ulverston.
Paper Bird Sculptures
Cut out these bird templates and fold along the dotted lines. Decorate the pieces and glue the tail and and wings to the body to complete your bird!
Will you make the Arctic Tern which travels from the Arctic to the Antarctic each year, and stop on their long journey to feed in the shallow coastal waters of Morecambe Bay? Or a Swallow, who spend their winter in South Africa, travelling an impressive 6000 miles on their migration journey each year?
Did you know…
The Arctic Tern’s round trip migration is nearly 50,000 miles every year!
Beautiful Birds’ Eggs
Birds are amazing as their young develop inside eggs that are laid by a female. They are mostly laid in a nest of some form, and are then incubated - for many bird species this means they are kept warm by being sat on by the parents who have warm bodies, and so warm up the eggs. Only one chick is born from each egg, but some bird species will lay a lot of eggs - the Grey Partridge will often lay around 20 eggs at once! The largest birds eggs in the world are Ostrich eggs which are about 15cm long!
Below are some examples of the eggs of British birds.
Both the Arctic Tern and the Little Tern build their nests on the ground either near rocky areas, on sand or beachy grasses. Little Terns actually lay their eggs on the tideline, which can make them vulnerable to predators and high tides. But both species also use camouflage to help protect their nests, with their eggs looking just like beach pebbles!
You can the activity sheet below to design your own eggs. Will they have patterns or markings? What colours will you choose?
Looking at the examples above might also help to give you some ideas.
Birdsong Writing
What you think the birdsong you hear would look like if you tried to write to down? Using this sheet write down the sounds you hear this week and then put them together into a ‘Birdsong Song’.
For the exhibition we created a piece of sound art using recordings from the beach and poetry inspired by the migrating birds, imagining the world from their perspective. Can you imagine what life would be like if you were an Arctic Tern?
Fantastic Feathers
The feathers we find on the ground are clues to the birds that live around us! Use these pages of your Nature Journal to draw the feathers you find, and write down which species of bird you think they may have belonged to.
It is best not to handle feathers. You could draw them where they are or ask a grown up to help you collect them in a see through container.
We hope you really enjoy these activities and our exhibition inspires you!
Don’t forget to take a photo of anything you create and email it to us at librarian@thelibraryofnature.com.
Have fun and let’s all work together to protect the birds of Morecambe Bay!
Links to learn more and support bird conservation
The Little Tern Project - Working for the recovery of Little Terns in the UK.
Morecambe Bay Partnership - A charity working for People, Nature & Heritage in Morecambe Bay.
Cumbria Wildlife Trust - Cares for Foulney Island Nature Reserve where Arctic and Little Terns breed.
Learn more about the artists and their work
Kate Stalker
Kate Stalker is a local artist/designer and founded local knitwear company OUBAS, with the ethos of the company being to create locally made clothing using natural fibers, creating employment in the town - she is an advocate of a slower approach to fashion, and has lived for most of her life in Ulverston and around Morecambe Bay.
She uses textiles and natural threads to weave stories and illustrate meaning around sustainability and is passionate about reigniting the link between local agriculture and clothing.
Eleanor Chaney
Eleanor Chaney is an artist and educator who is endlessly curious about the natural world, and who creates artwork informed by natural history. Working in many mediums including recently illustration, paper art, film and model making projects.
Always keen to share her two passions of wildlife and creativity with people she has run creative arts workshops and classes since 2008. Last year she created The Library Of Nature - a virtual illustrated library of arts and craft activities inspired by nature for families and schools. She is currently working on an Arts Council England funded research project exploring how natural history collections and libraries can be reinterpreted to inspire empathy with the natural world.