David Ian "Dave" Nurney (born 28 May 1959 in
Edmonton, London
Edmonton is a town in north London, England within the London Borough of Enfield, a local government district of Greater London. The northern part of the town is known as Lower Edmonton or Edmonton Green, and the southern part as Upper Edmont ...
) is an English bird artist.
Career
Nurney illustrated birds from an early age. In 1981, he received his diploma in
communication design (graphics and illustration) at the
Epsom School of Art
Surrey Institute of Art & Design, University College (SIAD) was an Art school, art college in the United Kingdom from 1994 to 2005. It was formed from the merger of West Surrey College of Art and Design (1969–1995) and Epsom School of Art and D ...
. Besides his work as a
graphic designer, he produced identification articles and illustrations of birds which were published in ''Birdwatching'' magazine from 1990 to 2013. From 1992 to 1994, he provided the
line drawings
Line most often refers to:
* Line (geometry), object with zero thickness and curvature that stretches to infinity
* Telephone line, a single-user circuit on a telephone communication system
Line, lines, The Line, or LINE may also refer to:
Arts ...
to the volumes six to eight of the ''Handbook of the Birds of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa'' by
Stanley Cramp (1913-1987) and
Christopher M. Perrins, which were published in ''
The Birds of the Western Palearctic
''The Birds of the Western Palearctic'' (full title ''Handbook of the Birds of Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa: The Birds of the Western Palearctic''; often referred to by the initials ''BWP'') is a nine-volume ornithological handbook c ...
'' (BWP) series. In 1993 he illustrated Woodpeckers of the world by Winkler and Christie which was awarded the British Birds Magazine Best Bird book of the year; In 1998 this was followed by Nightjars of the world with Nigel Cleere and The pocket Guide to Birds of Britain and North West Europe with Chris Kightley and Steve Madge; He also contributed plates to the Birds of Armenia Project. In 1999, he illustrated a color plate with
nightjar
Nightjars are medium-sized nocturnal or crepuscular birds in the family Caprimulgidae and order Caprimulgiformes, characterised by long wings, short legs, and very short bills. They are sometimes called goatsuckers, due to the ancient folk tal ...
s in the fifth volume of the ''
Handbook of the Birds of the World''. The same year he began working on the Birds of the East Asia by Mark Brazil (2009). In 2000 he began a long collaboration with Les Beletsky on a series of Eco-travel Guides to Brazil, Thailand and others followed by a series of illustrated Bird song anthologies. In 2005 he provided line illustrations for Birds in England by Brown and Grice. Along with long time collaborator and field trip co-leader
Dominic Couzens he published a set of ten identification cards in postcard size titled ''ID Insights Pocket Cards: British Birds'', where 131 difficult to identify British bird species are depicted. This was based on articles from Birdwatching magazine which eventually became BIRDS-ID Insights a guide for birding beginners to difficult species- published 2013.
He is heavily involved with the N.O.A. bird observatory at Holme and acts as illustrator and Photographic Editor for the annual report. He still travels widely and has visited over 20 countries in search of birds. In addition, Nurney is a trustee of the King's Church in his hometown Wisbech in Cambridgeshire, where he occasionally organized birdwatching tours.
Works which were illustrated by Nurney (selection)
*Birds of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, Vol. 6: Warblers by Stanley Cramp and Christopher M. Perrins, 1992
*Birds of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, Vol. 7: Flycatchers to Shrikes by Stanley Cramp and Christopher M. Perrins, 1993
*Birds of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, Vol. 8: Crows to Finches by Stanley Cramp and Christopher M. Perrins, 1994
*Woodpeckers: A Guide to the Woodpeckers, piculets and wrynecks by the World by
Hans Winkler and
David A. Christie, 1995
*A Field Guide to Birds of Armenia by Martin S. Adamian and
Daniel Klem, Jr., 1997
*Nightjars: A guide to nightjars and related birds by
Nigel Cleere, 1998
*Pocket Guide to the Birds of Britain and north-west Europe by Chris Kightley and
Steve Madge, 1998
*Handbook of the Birds of the World, Vol. 5: Barn-Owls To Hummingbirds 1999
*Autumn bird migration at Beidaihe, China, 1986-1990 (Incorporating the report on China Crane Watch 1986) by Martin D. Williams, 2000
*Birds of Central Asia: Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Afghanistan by Raffael Aye and Manuel Schweizer, 2002
*Bird Songs: 250 North American birds in song by Les Beletsky, 2006
*Birds of the World by Les Beletsky, 2006
*RSPB Pocket Guide to British Birds by
Simon Harrap, 2007
*Birds of East Asia - China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, and Russia by
Mark Brazil
Dr Mark Andrew Brazil (born 8 June 1955) is a conservationist, author and journalist, particularly noted for his work on east Asian birds.
Brazil was born in Worcestershire, England, and studied at Keele University, Staffordshire where he gradu ...
, 2009
*Rare Birds Day by Day by
Steve Dudley, 2010
*A patch made in heaven: a year of birdwatching in one place by Dominic Couzens 2012
*Birds of the Indian Subcontinent - India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and the Maldives by Richard Grimmett, Carol Inskipp, and Tim Inskipp 2013
*Birds: ID Insights: Identifying the More Difficult Birds of Britain by Dominic Couzens, 2013
References
*John E. Pemberton: Who's Who in Ornithology, Buckingham Press, 1997. , p. 270
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nurney, David
1959 births
Living people
People from Wisbech
People from Edmonton, London
British bird artists