Art exhibition for South African flamingos

This is another lesser flamingo video.

From BirdLife:

Artist aims to raise a million Rand for Kamfers Dam flamingos

Tue, Mar 22, 2011

On Wednesday 23rd March 2011, an exhibition of new works by Jeremy Houghton, inspired by the Near Threatened Lesser Flamingo Phoeniconaias minor will open at the Saatchi Gallery, London.

The exhibition will be raising funds in support of the Kamfers Dam wetlands, a conservation project centred on the largest Lesser Flamingo breeding population in South Africa. These wetlands contain a unique man-made breeding island, designed and created by Mark Anderson, Chief Executive Officer of BirdLife South Africa.

At times, up to 60 000 individuals -more than 50% of the southern African population- are present at Kamfers Dam, and in 2007-8, the breeding colony produced an estimated 9,000 chicks.

But flooding and contamination by sewage now threaten the future of the flamingo colony. The breeding island is currently submerged, eggs and chicks have been lost, and many flamingos are reported to have departed for other wetlands.

Jeremy Houghton

Jeremy Houghton is one of the UK’s most exciting emerging artists. He has been selected as one of the British Telecom Olympic Artists for the London 2012 Olympics, and has worked as the official artist of London Fashion Week.

“I feel strangely indebted to the flamingo, which I first encountered at Kamfers Dam”, Jeremy Houghton explains. “These beautiful creatures have given me thousands of hours of inspiration in front of many a canvas. So when the opportunity arose to give something back to them, I jumped at it.”

He added: “Mark Anderson has not only been a great source of help and inspiration for my paintings, enabling me to get closer to these magnificent birds than ever before, but he also demonstrated how my art could potentially make a difference to their survival. The forthcoming exhibition of my flamingo paintings at the Saatchi gallery is intended to highlight the plight of the Lesser Flamingo, whilst also providing an opportunity to secure their survival. My aim is for the exhibition to raise one million rand for the Save The Flamingo charity, allowing life in and around the wetlands to thrive, rather than just attempt to survive.”

1 April 2011: A quarry in Scotland, which is owned by building materials company, CEMEX, has played host to two unusual visitors, when two birds thought to be Greater Flamingos were spotted wading in the restored loch in Cambusmore Quarry near Callander in Perthshire, Scotland. According to Europe’s largest wildlife conservation charity, RSPB, this could be the first time Greater Flamingos, which are better known for being resident to Africa but does visit parts of Europe including Spain, have ventured this far north: here.

A new publication finds a significant mismatch between the protected area network in Africa, and the key habitats occupied by the continent’s most threatened birds: here.

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