A celebration of a great survivor takes flight

The Little Egret is a little white heron whose toes shimmer with that just-dipped-in- yellow-paint look, and is often found standing very still, huddled by the river bank. Thanks to a grant from the Destination Tweed project through funding provided by the National Lottery Heritage Fund local community music group Riddell Fiddles plans to honour this graceful bird in music and pictures with performances taking place this month and next, along with a showing in Edinburgh at the Scottish Storytelling Centre on Sunday 12 July. Performance venues in the Scottish Borders include Dryburgh Abbey’s 12th century chapterhouse, with the early medieval acoustics giving a completely new take on sound quality, as well as the chapel at Abbotsford House and the Tweedside Ednam House Hotel. The mere survival of the much persecuted Little Egret and its subsequent spread to the UK and to the River Tweed is a success story in itself. In the 40 minute showing the performance attempts to address some pretty herculean barriers to the bird’s existence. Issues mentioned include its near extinction in the late 19th century due to persecution for plumage, its survival - thanks to an ardent campaign by concerned women leading to the formation of the RSPB in 1889 and its recolonisation of the UK - how present day climate change has affected the Little Egret’s range. Up to the 1990s it tended to be a species of southern Europe but it has ventured northwards into rivers including the Tweed. With the involvement of a team of local musicians including the filming of a junior percussion band the appropriately titled Meteoric Rise of the Little Egret aims to present musical performances with new compositions in collaboration with photos and film at three venues along the River Tweed. Open art workshops and percussion workshops for young people, emulating the bird's stamping jerky rhythm when feeding, are ongoing with a Galashiels goes Little Egret artistic and musical workshop held last November at the Little Arts Hub with Lara Greene from Transform Arts CIC. Five pieces of new music have been composed and arranged for this special production. Two beautiful laments reflect on the plight of the Little Egret over the ages - a banquet in Northumberland in 1465 in honour of the Archbishop of York, included, amongst other delicacies,1,000 egret. (Hallof Einar2026). Another lament highlights the relentless trade in feathers for the millinery industry and the barbaric slaughter of the bird in such huge numbers. Photos and film of the Little Egrets on the Tweed and its tributaries have been provided by local photographers Alistair Cutter and Richard Jackson and these are shown along with a few images by David Hall of Hall of Einar. Band members include Sheila Sapkota, Louise Douglas, Karen Hendry Kim Hendry, Emily Jones, Andrea Pogson and Sandy Batchelor on the fiddle, Donald Knox on the guitar, David Scott on percussion and film production with composers Donald Knox, Louise Douglas and Emily Jones. Riddell Fiddles appreciates the advice and help given by the Borders branch of the Scottish Ornithologists Club (SOC).

Abbotsford Chapel, Friday 27th March, 2pm, free tickets from www.scotsabbotsford.com; Dryburgh Abbey, Sunday 29th March, 1pm, tickets free with general admission (charged); Ednam House Kelso, Sunday 5th April, 2pm, free, with Tweed Fiddles.

Book tickets for the additional showing at the Scottish Storytelling Centre, High Street, Edinburgh, here.