Albatross

Music written and performed by Dave Fuller especially for Albatross.  Produced by Duncan Fuller.

In 2007 I set about creating a piece inspired by the albatross,  a bird that has fascinated me since I was a child when I was, thanks to Mr Morgan my primary school teacher, introduced to Fleetwood Mac's 'Albatross'.

There are many inspired by this bird, not least HRH prince Charles who states in the foreword of the book 'Albatross, their world, their ways by Tui de Roy, Mark Jones and Julian Fitter, 'Albatrosses are iconic creatures, a flagship species for the conservation of the oceans, just as rhinos, pandas and tigers have become for the land.' The unfortunate fact is that some albatrosses are fast becoming critically endangered and threatened with extinction due to man's intervention. The Save the Albatross website has previously estimated that 100,000 albatrosses are killed every year on longline fishing hooks. That's about one every 5 minutes.

Fortunately thanks to exhaustive efforts by conservationists such as The Albatross Task Force some progress has been made recently. A pioneering scheme uniting conservationists, the fishing industry and the South African Government has resulted in a reduction of deaths by up to 85%. The AFT teams are also working in South America engaging its countries fisheries in a bid to reduce seabird mortalities.

The work was finally completed in 2009 as financial reasons required it to be shelved occasionally, in preference for other projects. The wall based sculpture spans 13ft, the largest wingspan of the wanderer albatross. The central head is a wanderer and surrounding him are black browed albatrosses. 

This is my bit for the albatross'

www.savethealbatross.net