Review: Tui, a nest in the bush by Meg Lipscombe

“Tui, a nest in the bush” is a beautiful book by the Rotorua based photographer Meg Lipscombe. It documents the first 37 days of two young Tuis lives. With a view directly into the top of a Tui nest beneath her balcony she captures the beautiful moments that lead up to the Tui’s fledging the nest.

I found this book in my local library whilst looking for inspiration and it immediately grabbed my attention as a unique snapshot into the world of birds. Although some may call it luck that a Tui nested directly below her balcony, Meg has beautifully captured every moment from the eggs being laid to the baby birds fledging the nest in such a way that you could only get from a skilled photographer. I’ve gone back to it multiple times over the last few weeks each time finding something new that intrigued me. Each day there is a new entry in the diary of the nest, allowing you to see the slow progression of the babies over the 37 days. Each photo is accompanied by a short description of the key events of the day really giving you a sense of what the birds were like, how they were acting. You almost feel like you could be there. You certainly feel Meg’s motherly worries for the chicks as they face the hardship of various weather conditions and the struggles of leaving the nest for the first time. Whether the Tui is your favourite bird or you’ve never seen some before, the day by day changes in the fledglings will spark your interest.

My favourite photo and caption is that of day 21 when the babies first start making a noise:

Meg Lipscombe is a Rotorua based photographer that lives near Lake Tarawera. Having walked the Tarawera trail along the lake a couple of months ago I can attest to its beauty and am very jealous. For the photos that are in the book Meg received a Fellowship from the Photographic Society of New Zealand. Check out her website for more of her work. You may have already come across this book as it was published a while back but if you haven’t, I encourage you to go and get a copy now. I love it!