One I prepared earlier

We humans are not the only ones suffering the results of the current inclement weather. Hundreds of little auks Alle alle, a seabird the size of a starling, a relative of the guillemot, razorbill and puffin, have been cast up on the east coast of Scotland. Many are being cared for by the SSPCA but hundreds more have probably perished. In winter little auks visit the waters around the UK in small numbers each year. They breed in the Arctic and winter in the North Atlantic with some birds entering the North Sea. This little auk died in an earlier storm and I found him on Newburgh beach in 1965. At the time I was in my taxidermy phase and so I made him into a study skin.

#friday #afternoon #january