Thursday 1 March 2012

Great Crested Grebe



This bird was almost extinct in the 19th century due to fashion. It was hunted for their feathers, known as `grebe-fur` which was used in the Victorian fashion industry and also, bizarre though it may seem, the whole bird was worn on the hats of the upper classes of society. It is thought that the numbers of this bird plummeted to less than 100 pairs, a mind-boggingly low number considering its fairly common status now. It was the conservation of this bird that started what we now call the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, or the RSPB for short. A few Victorian ladies were appalled at the senseless killing of these birds and so started the Society for the Protection of Birds and employed some rather ingenious ways of bringing the birds` plight to the fashion concious of the day. They would sit in church and note which lady wore these birds (and other breeds, Little Egrets were also popular) in the hats and then send them letters detailing the barbarous way these birds were butchered just to provide a `pretty` ornament of head gear. The letters hit their mark and thus started the recovery of these beautiful birds.

20 comments:

  1. The Great Crested Grebe is by far my favourite bird. I didn't know that it was women who started the RSPB, brave and good women.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Bob,
      They are beautiful birds. Yes, they campaigned for the protection of birds before women had the vote!
      J

      Delete
  2. Lovely to see John...I can't wait to see the young zebra stripes..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Andrew. I know, they always look so `cute` riding on the adults back!
      J

      Delete
  3. Nice one John. I've already witnessed 'bonding' behaviour during the past week or so.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Frank,
      Yes, I have seen that in a few places, but the grebe in the photo was all on his own.
      J

      Delete
  4. Thank you for sharing a glimpse into this beautiful birds past. Very interesting.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Wanda, you are more than welcome!
      J

      Delete
  5. Beautiful photographs, yet again. That Victorian fashion industry was so wrong-hatted! There is a similar story here with egrets. The Avery family in Louisiana (maker of Tabasco sauce, of all things), became very active in saving that bird from the hatters, and the Audubon Society was formed in pursuit of that cause. (I don't know if we were aware of one another back then, but I wrote about it here.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Susan,
      Thank you. I have heard of the Audubon Society and have just read your fascinating post. It must have been from those days before our acquaintance!
      J

      Delete
  6. We owe a lot to those women.
    Such beautiful birds.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Keith,
      We do indeed. It is amazing to think that we take this bird for granted now, but just over 100 years ago it was nearly extinct in Britain!
      J

      Delete
  7. Fantastic to see,and fantastic to capture great images like these.
    John.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks John, you really are too kind!
      J

      Delete
  8. Such elegant birds and so sad that their numbers declined so drastically due to human vanity. I researched them myself some time ago for one of my posts and was fascinated to learn of the connection with the RSPB. I didn't know though about the ladies sitting in church and noting the feather wearers, good for them!

    I missed commenting on your Corn Bunting post :-( I read it on the day you posted it but was in a rush and intended to come back. I don't think I have ever seen one, what a shame it is in such decline, man has so much to answer for...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Jan,
      Just two more examples of mans` continued destruction of this beautiful planet. We sort of learnt with the Great Crested Grebe, but with the Corn Bunting we continue to ruin any chance of a revival!
      J

      Delete
  9. Beautiful clear images John.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Beautiful bird and an interesting historical titbit as well!
    Click here for Bazza’s Blog ‘To Discover Ice’

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Bazza,
      There you go, a bit of useless information always goes down well! ;)
      J

      Delete

Thank you for taking the time to comment on my humble blog.