Birds of Blackfriars - Michelle Lovric

I love birds and have lived within chirping distance of Blackfriars Bridge for two decades. Yet I only quite recently realized that it’s a twitcher’s paradise.

From the road, you’d never suspect it. You have to lean over the parapet to see the full, strange spectacle. Each column, east and west, is adorned with life-size sculptures of sea and river birds rendered in Portland Stone. Many beaks and wings are sadly eroded by the uncontrolled emissions of vessels on the Thames (a long and interesting story for another time). But some of the birds are still magnificent and even magnificently eccentric.

The bridge, the second on this site, was designed by Joseph Cubitt. (Cubitt also built the first Blackfriars Rail Bridge, now visible only in attractive iron columns poking out of the water.)

The sculptures are the work of John Birnie Philip (1824 – 1875). a London-born sculptor who worked extensively for the architect George Gilbert Scott. Philip’s daughter Beatrix married James McNeill Whistler in 1888.

The bridge was opened by Queen Victoria in November 1869, and it is said that members of the public booed her. This may have been because many homes were demolished to create the run-up to the bridge. Or it may have been the public expressing their anger at her disappearance from public view in the previous eight years, following the death of her husband Prince Albert.

The sculpted birds, at least, deserved a better reception. They are very hard to photograph, and I’m a poor photographer at the best of times, but a few images follow to give you an idea of their charms. Probably the best way to photograph them would be from the water below ... but the Thames, with its six metre tides, is not a place where that can safely be accomplished. Filming on the river is in any case controlled by the Port of London Authority ...

There birds on the west side are fresh-water creatures. Those on the east, facing towards the estuary, are sea-birds. One explanation for this choice is that Blackfriars was the place where the river turned from salt to sweet. However, technically that is a moveable feast depending on freshwater flows from the west and tides from the east.

Going south to north on the west side of the bridge, you’ll see herons, swans with waterlilies, crows.

And on east side, going north to south, there are black back gulls, or albatrosses, Canada and other kinds of geese.

And here are a few images. I urge you to lean carefully over the parapet next time you find yourself on the bridge. It really is a delightful sight.

This video gives a few more glimpses of the birds: Secrets of Blackfriars Bridge - YouTube

Michelle Lovric’s website is www.michellelovric.com