Carl church Bird taxidermy seminar review

An excelent Seminar was hosted by Carl church over the weekend of 8th & 9th October 2011.

Around 60 people including,full and part time taxidermists, collectors and artists watched one of the Uk's top bird taxidermists prepare a common Buzzard from start to finish.

During the first day of the seminar Carl guided us through the process of measuring ,skinning and washing the bird while taking questions from the audience. He then proceeded to carve an accurate manakin again explaining his method in clear detail .

Kim McDonald from Taxidermy law gave a very interesting talk on the legal requirements for anyone wishing to have a go at taxidermy and explained how to log a specimen and the importance of keeping accurate records.

With many of the people attending staying in the village saturday night was a good social event and people were eager to talk about the days events over a beer ( or 2 )

Sunday commenced with Carl mounting a carrion crow and allowing the audience to handle it to see how it was put together, before he continued with the common buzzard.

A model of the buzzard minus its feathers was cleverly put together alongside the origional one so people could see what was going on inside the skin.

The final section of the seminar was devoted to composition of the finished piece and an explanation of the arranging of the feathers ( feathering )

Full review in the next journal.