Art award winner announced
This year’s Birdwatch and Swarovski Optik Artist of the Year Award has been revealed and you can see the winning artwork here, along with a selection of other notable pieces.
Find out the recipient of the Birdwatch and Swarovski Optik Artist of the Year Award.
Inevitably the Birdwatch and Swarovski Optik Artist of the Year Award 2020 was a very different affair from normal. Unlike previous years, there was no special ceremony opening this year’s Natural Eye, the annual exhibition of the Society of Wildlife Artists (SWLA) at which the award is presented. However, due to the hard work of the SWLA and the Mall Galleries, where the exhibition is held every year, both the event and the award went ahead despite the ongoing COVID-19 health crisis. Judging this year was an online affair. For the first time ever, all the artworks were available to view on the Mall Galleries’ website, allowing anyone unable to travel to the London-based venue the opportunity to see them. The gallery itself was open, with strict social-distancing measures in place to keep all visitors safe. The exhibition closed just before England’s second lockdown came into force.
As ever, the standard of entries was incredibly high. Much of the work was inspired by lockdown. Peregrine Falcon was a popular subject, perhaps because this once-threatened raptor is thriving in towns and cities. This species was also the subject of our winning artwork: Esther Tyson’s Peregrine and chick (almost ready to fledge!). The award is generously sponsored by Swarovski Optik and Esther wins a Swarovski ATS 80 HD spotting scope with 25-50x zoom eyepiece worth £2,430 and a three-year subscription to BirdGuides Bird News Ultimate.
Here we present the winning artwork along with a selection of notable pieces. More are in our digital edition. Enjoy! ■
All the judges were impressed by this entire body of work charting the progress of chicks at a Peregrine nest, but this final image really stood out.
Esther Tyson commented: “A big thank you to Birdwatch and Swarovski! It was a real surprise. I’ll be able to return my mate’s dad’s scope now I have my own. Amazing!”
She also shared her diary entry from 31 May 2019: “Falcon circles twice behind and above then lands on the first green bench. A familiar perch looking at all the poo. Screeching for 3 minutes then I thought I was going to lose her behind a bund, but she upturns and lands on a ledge joining her mate and what could be a chick! The same colour as the earth below. There is one obvious. Two! Another has lifted its head. Wow! They are so lumpy, clumpy and downy soft. Pale bills almost anaemic. Definitely two. Spellbinding. Been sat here an hour now … Male, a really low sweep of the rock face behind me! Nothing in his talons so hopefully trying to flush something and not me! Could feel his wing-beat. Both falcons aware of my presence and not worried which is good. Female off the nest while I wasn’t looking. Male has gone now. Ravens just been over, falcon pushing them on so they are keeping an eye out. Unsteady on feet. They have a stretch …”