Collected Moments of Survival

My apologies for the "grey" background - its actually white but computers often make decisions of their own. There has to be a story. If there isn’t then, to me, its just a mindless little sketch that anyone could come up with.   One of the exciting things about travel is that there is a story to tell and my travels have taken me far and wide around the continent of Africa. And it’s there that I get my stories. You may have heard along the grapevine that I have managed, somehow, to get one of my artworks into the finals of The David Shepherd Wildlife Artist of the Year 2024 #dsway. For those of you who haven’t heard of this event, it takes place every year and has been dubbed the Oscars of the Wildlife Art World! High praise indeed for an event that not only raises the game for artists but also puts Wildlife Conservation front and centre. The exhibition is at the prestigious Mall Galleries in London and this year, my artwork It’s Mine will hang on the walls. I thought, theref...

A Rüppels Griffon vulture coming in to land. A Lappet-Faced Vulture up close. Sometimes, one writes something and uses references from personal experience only to find out later that perhaps what you said isn’t quite accurate. And so it was pointed out to me that the information I had been given about Africa’s vultures was not quite correct.  This set me off on a research binge and then I discovered that the correction to my information was not quite correct either, or should I say, it could not be set in stone as the only behaviour of certain vultures. I will explain. The incorrect information I was given is that the Hooded Vulture is the vulture first on the scene at a kill/carcass and that they will open up the carcass if there is no predator already doing the job. The correction I was given is that it is the Lappet Faced Vulture, with its strong beak will be first on the scene and will open up the carcass. However, there is a danger in generalizations and of course, I think...