Contributors

We are most grateful to the artists and photographers who make their work available to us free of charge so that we can produce cards, etc. We'd like to introduce you to them!

Our Artists

Jessica 2

Jessica Holm

Jessica would best be described as a polymath. Having trained as a zoologist and begun a successful career in research (wildlife radio transmitters and red squirrels!), she started working at the BBC Natural History Unit in Bristol, where she presented radio and TV all over the world, and has presented Crufts Dog Show for over thirty years.

She has also drawn and painted throughout her life, whilst breeding dogs and raising her two daughters, Tierney and Karris. In 2014, Jessica was diagnosed with breast cancer, which metastasized extensively to her bones by 2018, leading doctors to give her three months to live.

Never giving up, Jessica was transferred to the ‘Marvellous Royal Marsden’ and embarked on a gruelling nine months of chemo which, alongside regular targeted immunotherapy and an unbreakable will to survive, has kept her cancer at bay.

No longer able to work at an easel or drawing board, she has taught herself digital illustration, recently working on books by Claire Balding and Mary Colwell. Jessica is a generous supporter of Curlew Action: extinction, either her own, or that of the beautiful curlew, is not something she will contemplate.

Mark Gibbs Postcards

Mark Gibbs

Mark is a painter and sculptor who has exhibited widely regionally, nationally and internationally, including exhibitions at the David Shepherd Wildlife Artist of the Year and ‘Curlew Lament’ at RSPB Geltsdale. His artwork explores the relationship between the natural world, environmentalism, and history. Based in Carlisle, close to the Pennines and Solway Estuary, he is well-placed to experience the Curlew at first hand.

He says:

“My work is influenced by an interest in ancient art, and ecology; it’s about the preciousness of life, and a meditation on its impermanence. I’ve become fascinated by the subtly camouflaged plumage and sinuous form of curlew, and I am making a series of paintings and sculptures celebrating this vanishing, iconic bird.”

You can see more at:

https://markgibbs.co.uk/birds/

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Our Photographers

Tom Streeter card

Tom Streeter

Tom is a farmer from West Essex who has been absorbed with wildlife, photography, and especially curlews (‘a curious and ideal subject for photography’) for most of his life. The curlew’s recent struggles have concentrated his mind, and he takes his stunning images of them in the hope that he can help raise awareness for the curlew’s plight, and therefore hopefully help reverse their decline. Tom has an Instagram page where he showcases some of his photography.

Nigel Voaden

Nigel Voaden

Nigel is a geologist by training, but is currently working as a bird surveyor in Scotland where he frequently records curlews. His passion is the natural world, especially that of birds and moths, and he spends as much time as he can in the field observing, recording and photographing as many species as he can.

Brightened curlew

Tim Melling

Tim has always lived near the moors. Curlews provided the soundscape for his childhood, and transport him straight back to those times whenever he hears their bubbling call. These early encounters with curlews set him on the path to over thirty years of work with the RSPB, and he still lives within a few miles of the Pennine Moors, where barely a day goes by when he isn’t out watching curlews during the summer.

Chick walking

Petteri Lehikoinen

Petteri is a Finnish ornithologist and conservation ecologist who has always been fascinated by waders – especially their long life-spans and incredible journeys. During these migrations, waders such as curlews are vulnerable to various threats, making them partly dependent on our conservation efforts, so Petteri generously supports the work of groups like Curlew Action which are striving to halt their decline across the globe.

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