The Christmas Fair at Waddesdon yesterday was manic. Away from the stalls selling things I didn’t want to buy, the Electric Menagerie by Lauren Booth floated through the gardens. ‘Booth has interpreted the Rothschild Mynah as four neon sculptures installed through the Woodland Playground. The birds are named after the famous natural historian, Walter, 2nd Lord Rothschild (1868-1937)…. who formed the largest collection of animal and bird specimens in private hands….Today the Aviary at Waddesdon houses a breeding pair of Rothschild’s Mynahs. It is a bird with a fluctuating wild population which fell to just six in 2001. In 2010, the Aviary bred four birds that were sent to their native Bali as part of a conservation project to increase the species’ genetic pool.’ (NT)
Photo: Rothschild Mynah, by Lauran Booth, Waddesdon Manor, November 2017