Leica FOCUS ON WILDLIFE User Manual

Edition

02

Focus on

Wildlife

Marek Borkowski Andrea Corso Wolfgang Dreyer Dick Forsman Jean-Yves Frémont Ricard Gutiérrez Killian Mullarney Bill Oddie

Ian Sinclair Lars Svensson

Charlotte Uhlenbroek Arnoud van den Berg

POLAND ITALY GERMANY FINLAND FRANCE SPAIN IRELAND ENGLAND SOUTH AFRICA SWEDEN ENGLAND HOLLAND

Editorial

Well, here it is, the second issue of Focus on Wildlife, the magazine that brings you closer to some of the bestknown birdwatchers and wildlife experts from many different countries. These are people who dedicate a large part of their time in some way or other

to the benefit of wildlife around us, in the process helping us to learn how to appreciate the wonders of nature! Surely, our thanks must go to the likes of Bill Oddie, Lars Svensson, Wolfgang Dreyer and all the others represented in this issue (as well as those not yet included) for making us aware of the immense pleasures to be derived from observing wildlife.

In the first issue of Focus on Wildlife our aim was to introduce you to a team of international ‘Leica Leaders’, looking especially at their approach to wildlife observation, favourite birdwatching locations, etc. In this issue we want to give you an insight into some of the other activities they are involved with and how they have achieved results which have put them at the forefront of their chosen field.

Read how Dick Forsman of Finland has perfected his bird photography, how Sweden’s Lars Svensson studies Birds or how Killian Mullarney from Ireland approaches the sketching and painting of birds for books and magazines. How does the German Doctor Wolfgang Dreyer teach his students to memorise different bird species and why did Marek Borkowski, Poland, bring back Tarpan Horses to his Biebrza Marsh nature reserve? Hear the urgent message from Britain’s Charlotte Uhlenbroek about the plight of the Great Apes and find out what makes bird song so interesting to Arnoud van den Berg in Holland. Of particular interest are the comments made by Andrea Corso, Italy, and Jean-Yves Frémont of France about the growing popularity of birdwatching in their countries. We also introduce you to two new ‘Leica Leaders in the Field’, Ian Sinclair in South Africa and Ricard Gutiérrez in Spain. Finally, we examine Bill Oddie’s phenomenal success as the UK's favourite TV Wildlife Presenter.

We believe there is something of interest to everyone in this second issue of Focus on Wildlife and hope that the profiles of some of the best-known bird and wildlife experts will inspire you to get maximum enjoyment from the natural world around you!

Copies of the first issue of Focus on Wildlife are still available from the Leica agency in your country.

Uli Hintner, Leica Sport Optics

“It's really all down to training yourself to look,” said Killian Mullarney. Perched on a camp stool, he was deftly sketching the seabirds around North Bull Island, Dublin, pausing occasionally to check a detail through his LEICA APO-TELEVID 77 scope.

“Most people actually have the potential to draw quite well, even though they may not think so. The most important stage in producing a successful drawing is ‘the looking’. Of course, problems often arise in transferring what the eye registers into corresponding marks on paper,” he continued, “but if you learn to SEE what is actu-ally there – as opposed to what you ‘know’ should be there – successfully getting it down on paper is largely a matter of practice.”

Ian Sinclair SOUTH AFRICA

“World birder in retirement.”

Ian Sinclair calls himself a ‘world-birder in retirement’, which now allows him to be constantly on the move, visiting and re-visiting all major birdwatching hot-spots around the globe. He is a big man, born in Ireland and now settled in Cape Town, South Africa.

South Africa is well-known for its very successful conservation ethics, the country’s infrastructure being similar to Europe or North America where fauna and land is well safeguarded for future generations. With the aim of bringing an awareness of the country’s rich wildlife to as wide an audience as possible, the first field

Killian Mullarney IRELAND

“The most important stage in producing a successful drawing is ‘the looking’.”

Killian should know what he is talking about as he is one of today's best-known bird artists and co-author of the Collins Bird Guide, a field-guide that took 15 years to complete which has become the birdwatchers’ bible.

“I shared the task with Swedish artist Dan Zetterström and our aim was to illustrate as comprehensively as possible all the birds of the Western Palearctic (Europe, North Africa and the Middle East). It really was a labour of love, but also a great privilege to do. We are now working on an updated second edition, but thankfully it is not nearly as daunting a task as it was first time round!”

One immediately warms to this charming Irishman who considers field observation of the live bird to be

vitally important. “When sketching in the field I find the angled eyepiece of my ‘77’ scope is perfect. I try to make myself comfortable, so that I can look at the bird and go back to my drawing almost without having to move my head. The shorter the time-lapse between looking at the bird and looking at the page, the better the chance of recording observations correctly. With Leica's superb optics I can enjoy a really close view without disturbing the birds at all.”

Killian makes it look easy as he has been drawing birds since childhood, but what tips would he give to someone just starting sketching ? “It's a good idea to begin with co-operative subjects – for example resting gulls – and then perhaps with just drawing parts of the bird. It might be a detail of the head, the line of the flank where it meets the wing, or the position of the tail; concentrating on details, and sketching them correctly helps you gain an understanding of what you are seeing.

Another useful technique is to set the scope very slightly out of focus. This gives you a more impressionistic, almost abstract view which may be easier to sketch quickly, so you start-off with

a good ‘framework’.”

guide in an African language will be available later this year and it is to be distributed to all schools.

Ian has been a birdwatcher all his life – as a young boy in Ireland his egg-collecting developed into more intensive birding. He was given his first binoculars when he was eight years old – Kershaw 8 x 30s made for the British Navy. However, he bought his first pair of Leica Binoculars at the relatively young age of 19, 10 x 40s which he recalls cost £62, complete with leather case. Today he has an Ultravid 10 x 42 BR which he has used in all kinds of conditions throughout Africa and Asia. “Every time I look through them,” he says, “I am literally overawed with their performance.”

Ian has written more than 20 books on African Birds and several more titles are in preparation. His most recent shorebird lifer was an Asian Dowitcher, which normally migrates from North-Eastern Siberia to South-

East Asia – this was at the end of November 2004 in South Africa, and it was only there, Ian believes, because it got lost on the way!

Ian likes all sea birds, but the most interesting to him is the Wandering or Royal Albatross with it's 13ft wingspan

– it is believed they may well live to 100 years or more.

When it comes to choosing a spot for birdwatching, Ian’s favourite ‘local’ patch is the Mkuzi Game Reserve in Zululand (three hours north of Durban), which has an enormous diversity of habitat in a relatively small area, in his opinion the best in South Africa. On a world canvas he gets excited about the Congo Basin Rain Forest. Ian describes the Birdlife there as amazing.

Leica 42-series Ultravid binoculars

LEICA ULTRAVID 10 x 42 BR binoculars strike an outstanding balance between high magnification, brightness and physical size. They are comfortable to use and easy to hold steady for long distance observation, and like all full-size Ultravid models, feature a lightweight magnesium body with a titanium central shaft for strength.

For centuries the 250,000 acre Biebrza Marsh in North East Poland has provided one of the prime breeding grounds for the Aquatic Warbler, Great Snipe and Corncrake, three species which today are under threat of global extinction. This ideal habitat of open, tussocky, wet sedgefields had been created by traditional farming, hand scything and grazing, which prevented the encroachment of undergrowth without affecting the soil structure and water level, or disturbing birds in the breeding season. It was a form of natural wetland management on a vast scale.

However, massive social, political and economic changes in Poland following World War II almost eradicated the traditional way of life at Biebrza. The landscape

Marek Borkowski POLAND

“By using horses to manage the habitat for birds, the Tarpan Horse has been given a chance of survival.”

began to decay, threatening the breeding grounds. Enter Marek Borkowski. In the 1970s this naturalist

was motivated not only by the seemingly hopeless future for the Biebrza Marsh, but also by the plight of the Tarpan Horse. “Today’s Tarpan Horses are closely related to the original wild horses of Europe,” he explained. “They still roamed wild in parts of Poland as recently as 150 years ago when a few were caught by landowners and farmers and cross-bred with domestic horses that were genetically close to the Tarpan.

“It was back in the ‘70s that I had the idea of introducing Tarpan Horses to the Biebrza Marsh. Tarpans are heavy grazers as well as being hardy animals and it seemed to me that they could be used as a natural way of

controlling plant growth on the marsh, replacing farming. By using horses to manage the habitat for the birds, we would also be giving the breed a chance of survival.”

And so it has proved. The Tarpans have bred very successfully and as numbers have increased Marek has been able to reintroduce more than 20 horses to the wild

in parts of the Marsh that have now been designated a National Park.

Marek started his conservation work long before the Iron Curtain was lifted or the Biebrza National Park was created. Over the years he has been buying threatened stretches of the Marsh where he has created ‘Wildlife Poland’ offering wildlife-watching holidays on which visitors can expect to see around 170 bird species during a 10-day stay (check out www.wildlife.pl).

The best observation equipment is essential to Marek, for managing the Marsh, monitoring breeding programmes, and for helping visitors to see sights they will never forget : ”The brilliance and clarity of the LEICA ULTRAVID 8 x 42 BL is remarkable – my guests are usually astonished when they take a look through these binoculars. They have to be tough too as they take quite a few knocks when I’m out and about. But the real joy comes when you show someone a Great Snipe at dusk through the LEICA APO-TELEVID 77 scope – you can hear them gasp at the quality!“

Leica Ultravid BL binoculars

The black leather-covered LEICA ULTRAVID

8 x 42 BL used by Marek Borkowski combines the optical performance of the rubberarmoured Ultravid BR models with an elegant and compact appearance, incredible lightness (less than 700g or 25oz!) and toughness which guarantees longevity.