Photographic Exhibition of Project Flamingo
YOUNG AMATEUR photographer Niall Riddell of Glen Lyon has recently returned from an expedition to the Andes of South America where he was documenting photographically the three endangered flamingo species that inhabit the high altitude salt lakes of the region.
He is now exhibiting images at the Watermill gallery in Aberfeldy until 30 July. "I hope to stimulate people's interest in this region and in the beautiful birds that inhabit it," he told Comment.
There are only 33,000 Andean flamingos left in the wild and this beautiful pink bird is classified as Vulnerable by the IUCN but it is only one of the three endangered flamingo species living in South America. Together with the James flamingo and the Chilean flamingo these birds inhabit some of the most hostile lakes in the world. High in the Andes above 3500m these birds eek out a living on the microscopic algae and zooplankton that survive in the highly saline waters.
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Niall spent six weeks in search of flamingos visiting some cold and remote regions. Perhaps the most stunning of all of these was Laguna Colorada in south west Bolivia which is a Ramsar protected site in the National Reserve of Andean Fauna Eduardo Avaroa and one of the key breeding sites for James Flamingos. "I was greeted by a sea of roosting flamingos," Niall remarked, "thousands of pink birds, silently sleeping."
He witnessed and photographed some of the problems in the region associated with unregulated tourism. Unfortunately, some of these areas have become very popular and receive thousands of visitors a year which of course has an impact on the basic infrastructure in the region. Litter lies around lake edges and tire tracks from the 4x4's used to get around the region cover the desert landscape. It is also not unknown for inconsiderate tourists to disturb flamingos by trying to approach too close which can have disastrous impacts during the breeding season. Flamingos disturbed from nests often abandon them and don't return.
See also: www.projectflamingo.co.uk
The Watermill Gallery is open Monday to Saturday from 10am to 5.30pm and on Sundays from 12 noon to 5pm
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