White Sea Bird Ringing Station. Collection

White Sea

My place, my home. Collection of works dedicated to bird ringing station on White Sea.

I have never felt so connected to a place. I come back here every summer and every day in my mind. This is an ode to White Sea Bird Ringing Station based in Kandalaksha Nature Reserve. I have all the rights to call this place my home. The place that gives me power and strength. The people that teach me everything with their surrounding presence. I take all the lessons from this place; it challenges me. I want to give something now. I want to remember this place. I want you to know about this, its natural landscape and the birds around.

Meadow Pipit
Anthus pratensis
Луговой конек

Once you have learnt a bird call, it is easy to find the bird wherever you go. If your eyes are busy with admiring the landscape, the call will let you know where the bird has landed or where it is headed. It works wonderfully with the meadow pipit. When I observe the most prominent rocks in mountains, it is almost always perched on one of them.

7.5 x 13 cm
Graphite pencil, Fabriano paper
2020

Climb up the mountain where there is a breath-taking view of the White Sea and tundra lakes. Sometimes, all you can see is fog, which collects on your clothes wet like the morning dew on leaves.

At the top of the mountain, you can see Willow Ptarmigans, with their stark white wings, gliding through the air, or a pair of meadow pipits on most large stones. You might encounter a group of ravens that are watchful over their territory. You may hear a call of the Rough-legged Buzzard in the sky. And you are sinking in blueberries again.

10 x 15 cm
Graphite pencil, Fabriano paper
2020

I check the mist nets. Finding noting, I settle upon a rock beside the White Sea. An eagle visits me from time to time. It doesn't chase after ducks; it just flies, relaxed, and roosts on a similar rock. Just like mine.

The clouds move in to blanket the mountains. They disappear. I feel the rays of the sun on my face. The tide moves out, calling the birds.

I am interrupted while drawing this piece by a common ringed plover, who stopped by next to me. I watch it for an entire five minutes. It abruptly flies away, leaving me with its bright fly call. It is time to check the bird nets.

22 x 16 cm
Graphite pencil, paper
2019

The landscape is changing every day, almost beyond recognition. Birds are migrating to the south, leaving the seashore where I stand. Every day is a little quitter than yesterday, except for the gull's calls on the littoral zone.

You can find a herring gull and a common gull near the shore, plenty of oystercatchers, too. There are also some eiders with baby birds, mergansers. But my favorite bird is another. And I saw it, too.

I started this drawing near the wooden house by the seashore, where I lived when visiting. Later, I finished it in my hometown.

22 x 13 cm
Graphite pencil, paper
2019

The view through my binoculars. There are boat sheds around the ringing station. Sometimes tiny fishermen walk around them, pushing their boats out to the sea. Sometimes it is an empty shore, with aerial fishermen like seagulls on the lookout for fish.42 x 29 cm
Graphite pencil, paper
2020

Two sisters who grew up together by the sea. Every time I walk by, they wave to me with warm greetings.

7.5 x 13 cm
Graphite pencil, Fabriano paper
2020

Oystercatcher
Haematopus longirostris
Кулик-сорока

This is definitely one of the most prominent birds on the shore. One of the loudest as well, but at least they don’t wake you up because you got out of bed even earlier. By the end of summer, there are fewer Oystercatcher calls every day. The seashore becomes silent and still when they move on for the year.

19 x 19 cm
Graphite pencil, paper
2019

Willow Ptarmigan
Lagopus lagopus
Белая куропатка

It's always a pleasure to see these snow patches taking off from under your feet. They are a good complement to the landscape of speckled carpet painted with lichens.

28 x 21 cm
Graphite pencil, Fabriano paper
2021

Willow Ptarmigan
Lagopus lagopus
Белая куропатка

Admiration for a little bird in majesty of her surroundings.

10 x 15 cm
Graphite pencil, Fabriano paper
2021

Snow Bunting
Plectrophenax nivalis
Пуночка

First snow lays down on the seashore. This is a sign for snow buntings to dance like snowflakes in the air. Their voices are sharp like ice. Where you find a single one, there will be a flock. They cover boulders in flocks. It's their snow white and black plumage with warm blushed cheeks that helps them blend among snow patches on rocks. Winter wanderers at their best.

10 x 15 cm
Graphite pencil, Fabriano paper
2020