#99Birds

#99BirdsTweet Tweet. Online Birders, Celebrities & Artists Join Forces To Save British Wildlife.

• Auction of 99 original artworks, professionally bound into a unique hardback book to raise money for UK conservation charities

• Art donated by TV celebrities, professional artists, illustrators, authors, musicians, graffiti artists, award winning photographers and more

•  “It’s a thing of enormous beauty. Get ready to bid" - Chris Packham.

It started with a single tweet: an idea to address the alarming decline in the UK’s bird population. The result is #99Birds; a single unique hardbacked collection of 99 artworks from a diverse collective of the nation’s most high profile bird enthusiasts to raise money for conservation charities. In this post-Brexit climate UK conservation is truly at a crisis point. Without the protection of several current EU legislations our wildlife, and its habitats, are under severe threat. It was against this backdrop that @YOLOBirder, an infamous Twitter conservationist (who has already raised thousands of pounds for UK wildlife projects), suggested to his thousands of followers an idea to raise funds for bird conservation. He would collate the first 99 pieces of bird art to arrive through his door into a one-off book for auction.The response to his single tweet was remarkable and once a few well-known bird enthusiasts and artists agreed to take part the project was officially launched.

The resultant #99Birds is truly a one-of-a-kind collection: 99 original, signed artworks in a single post-bound book. The cover is hand-tooled in gold over a navy blue ‘buckram’ library book cloth. A luxurious hardback album. Included in the final book are commercial bird artists, illustrators, published writers, children’s book authors, celebrities, musicians, award-winning photographers, paper engineers - from TV presenter Chris Packham to Fyfe Dangerfield from indie band Guillemots - and many more. This gives the book a very broad range of styles from traditional to comic art covering a variety of media types including collage, paint, pen and ink, pencil and the occasional hand lino print. The auction will be supported by a huge online campaign to raise further money leading up to the book auction in May, timed to coincide with the airing of the BBC Springwatch series.

YOLOBirder states “Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom admits that once Article 50 is triggered only two thirds of current EU environmental directives will remain, while the Government continues to remove backing for green energy projects. So, it really is up to us to come together to protect our wildlife or this book may become a record of the British wildlife we lost for future generations."

Monies raised will be split between the British Trust For Ornithology and the UK Little Owl Project.

“It looks amazing! Very best of luck”- BBC’s Steve Backshall on #99Birds

CONTRIBUTORS INCLUDE

Chris Packham - Naturalist, broadcaster, photographer and author.

Melissa Harrison - Author, critic, nature column writer for the Sunday Times and series editor of four anthologies of writing about the seasons published in 2016.

Matt Sewell - Author of ‘Our Garden Birds’, ‘Our Songbirds’, ‘Our Woodland Birds’, ‘Owls’ and ‘Penguins’ for Ebury Books.

Paul Thomas - Former political cartoonist for Daily Express (17 years), The Times, Punch, The Spectator, Private Eye etc. Cartoonist of the Year 2005. Published ‘An Unreliable History of Tattoos’ in 2016

Fyfe Dangerfield - Musician and singwriter. Founding member of the band Guillemots.

Rob Cowen - Award winning journalist and author.

Luke Massey - Young Environmental Photographer of the Year 2016, Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2016 (Urban Wildlife category), Travel Photographer of the Year 2016 (wildlife category).

Will Rose - Animator, illustrator and wildlife fan based in London. He has worked as an animator on ‘Peppa Pig’, ‘Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom’ and ‘Hey Duggee’ for CBeebies. Illustrator for new Cbeebies David Attenborough app.

ATM Street Art - Graffiti artist specialising in conservation and art in urban spaces.

Ray Scally - Illustrator with work published across a wide variety of magazines and books, most recently collaborating with Martin Garner on the Birding Frontiers Challenge series.

Andrew Mackay - Artist and illustrator of many books including the Birds of the Western Palearctic (Concise Edition), RSPB Birds of Britain & Europe and the Dorling Kindersley ‘Pocket Nature’ series.

Jo Brown - South Devon based freelance illustrator. Working primarily in pen and ink, her work is heavily influenced by the natural world.