I'm back from Another Place, the Antony Gormley installation on Crosby beach, Merseyside. There are 100 life-sized metal figures on the beach. When the tides are at their highest, they can all be submerged totally.
When we were there, the tide was on its way out. New sculptures appeared all the time, which was weird. It shows the power of nature, or that whoever put them in did a really good job in making sure they didn't get dragged out to sea. They're mounted on metre-long piles sunk into the beach.
I remember reading some conservationists' concerns that the sculptures might scare birds off, but we watched a flock of Sanderlings scurrying around right next to one. I guess the increased numbers of visitors might be more of an issue, but it was pretty empty while we were there, on a blowy Tuesday afternoon.
The Starlings were in the car park, close to the ice-cream van and mobile burger bar. They were mostly males, congregating next to people who were sitting in their cars. The birds sang while they waited.
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photos taken with Canon EOS 30D + EF 300mm f/4L IS USM or Canon Powershot A640
Someone could do a whole book on that angle Gormley and the nature surrounding his works, you can see Red Kites from the Angel.
ReplyDeleteApparently people have got stranded in the mud trying to get to those sculptures - makes you realise how many folk lack basic common sense!
ReplyDeleteThere was a sign saying 'don't go further than 50m from the promenade', but we didn't read it til afterwards. The sea does go out a long way there, but you'd have to try quite hard to get stuck in the mud, I reckon...
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