Ideas

What I need with this project is structure. I need a focus point for which to aim for, to mould my photos around. I was thinking after tutorials of focusing on one bird, one with some interest, but this could go from either direction, a really common one or a reallyrare one. A really common one would be interesting because I could look at it from a conversationalists point of view, for example, looking at whether it is really as common as people assume, or maybe the areas where it is more common and comparing areas where it is. A good bird for this is the sparrow, because it's a relatively recognisable bird, and it has had a decline in recent years due to larger birds (pigeons/magpies/crows etc) growing in number. A different bird which would be good to look at would be maybe the Grey Heron, because despite it size and the fact that it's a pretty common all year British bird, you hardly see them.

A rare or less seen bird that could be interesting would perhaps be owls or other birds of prey as they're often very fascinating as predators and not often seen. Or maybe something like a kingfisher which, becasue of they're size just aren't seen very much.

There is always the complete opposite and looking at something like pigeons, which are obviously common but an interesting position to look at would be how wide spread they are and the reputation they have as birds (stupid and annoying pests) which could go into the pigeon fanciers side of things, maybe looking at how some people really value them as birds (similar to the Mueller work).

I also like the idea of looking at birds such as magpies or crows or ravens as they have a certain amount of superstition around them, which would then give the project a human stance, but I'm not sure I want to do that. I like the idea of magpies as they're just an interesting bird, in appearance and in reputation, such as the idea that they steal shiny things and the "one for sorrow, two for joy...." poem.

I still don't feel like I have much of an idea about what I want to do, the thing I'm most interested in doing at the moment is the sparrow thing, as this then has wider implications to habitat and conservation, which would give the project more depth, but I think I jut need to get more specialised advice, which would mean going and calling up bird clubs and finding out where the sparrows are and the current issues surrounding them.