Maria Gill leaves her mark

Maria Gill arrived at the beginning of May to work for two months as a Long Term Volunteer. We soon discovered she is a talented artist and that’s how it all began!

Having visited the two public bird hides on Skomer Maria suggested brightening them up with some very useful bird identification boards. We sorted her out with some paints and brushes and she found herself some suitable plywood boards to use. Some of our wonderful volunteers sanded them down and Maria got to work designing the boards. With the locations in mind, Maria carefully selected the species which frequently visited North Pond and Moorey Mere.

Work progressed quickly once the boards had the templates pencilled on them. It was great to pop into Marias kitchen and see the boards develop into beautiful scenes. The birds were painted with their identifying features on show and words accompany every bird highlighting these key features.

They have certainly brightened up the bird hides and I am sure they are used frequently by everyone who visits the islands hides. Having recently seen the feedback forms from our overnight guests I have discovered just how much identification boards were sought after in the bird hides! So it’s great to have them up on display now.

Thank you very much Maria! We love them.

If you would like to find out more about Marias work please visit http://megghyll.blogspot.com/ or follow this link; www.megghyll.co.uk

Sarah Harris