Fragile: Birds, Eggs and Habitats

The acclaimed Scottish photographer Colin Prior is more usually associated with stunningly evocative panoramic landscapes of his homeland and further afield, but for his latest project the artist has returned to one of his first loves, birds; a passion nurtured while growing up on the edge of a Glasgow suburb. Like many however, Colin is acutely aware of the staggering decline of many species and the loss of the habitats they depend upon. Fragile is both inspired by and acts as a metaphor highlighting such demise.

Fragile presents exquisite images of the eggs of a diverse range of bird species found throughout Scotland, paired with carefully chosen photographs of the landscapes in which they may be found. With incredibly detailed photographs of mostly a single egg for each species, prominently displayed on a white page uncluttered with extensive text, opposite the earthy hues of the Scottish landscape, the result really is eye-catching and quite unique.

As a work of art Fragile represents a meticulous labour of love, with Colin’s passion for the natural world clearly evidenced in the colours of the landscapes, captured at just the right time of year to perfectly complement the markings of the eggs themselves. The maroon speckling overlaying the pale blue of a Bullfinch egg for example, pleasingly matches the purple and silver hues of winter birch and ash trees on the hillside of Glen Shira, Inveraray. Amazingly, every egg photograph is a focus stack of between 40 and 80 individual shots, combined using specialist software to produce images that are breathtakingly sharp throughout. The diptychs of eggs and their landscapes are organised into chapters according to habitat, ranging from mountain to rocky coast.

For most, it is likely that Fragile would be considered a 'coffee table' book, making a worthy addition to any collection; yet this beautifully presented work is, in many ways, so much more than that. Instead, Fragile not only documents a remarkable project ten years in the making, but also that of the delicate connections between the implicitly fragile eggs featured therein, the vulnerability of so many of our bird populations, and the threatened habitats within which they are found.

These connections are ably examined in an introductory essay by Professor Des Thompson, principal advisor on Science and Biodiversity with NatureScot, in which he considers the fascinating form and vital function of birds’ eggs, the rapidly changing landscapes that our birds inhabit, and the damage that humanity has caused to those environments as evidenced through eggs themselves.

The eggs photographed for the book are sourced from the collection held by National Museums Scotland in Edinburgh and the scientific value of such collections is discussed by Bob McGowan, a Senior Curator in the Department of Natural Sciences. He sensitively reviews the history of egg collecting and the unquestionable ethics outlawing what was once a legitimate pursuit in the UK. This narrative is framed by the opportunity museum collections provide for conservation research, most notably that describing the precipitous decline of raptor populations resulting from widespread organochlorine pesticide use in agriculture during the previous century.

Fragile is first and foremost a book of photography, and devotees of Colin’s Scottish landscapes will not be disappointed. On the other hand, readers hoping to gain further insight into the nesting ecology of the included species will find themselves left wanting. The essays are insightful, and along with Colin’s account of his lifelong inspiration for the project and the creative process, add the necessary scientific context to the work.

Sadly, there are one or two issues with the book, not least of which is the thickness of the paper stock used throughout, the lack of any FSC certification, and the printing outsourced to China; this disappoints and grates slightly with the intended environmental message. Concerning the contents, it would perhaps have been useful to have included, for each egg, an indication of their life-size, perhaps by including a scale bar below the caption; and whilst the duplication of some species within the same habitat chapter may serve to highlight the bewildering variety of colouration and marking, this comes at the expense of excluding others.

Book reviewed by Justin Walker