Preview – Apple Story
‘The Bird and The Apple’
Eating the fallen apples, birds spread apple pips across the northern hemisphere
‘The Bird and The Apple‘ features the relationship between birds and apples. It includes an extract from the book ‘Orchard: A Year in England’s Eden’ by Benedict Macdonald and Nicholas Gates.
This book was published in 2020 and describes the extraordinary range of animals and plants supported by an orchard in Herefordshire throughout the months of the year. Their January chapter, written by Nick, describes the arrival of flocks of fieldfares from Scandinavia.
As well as images of fieldfares and orchards, the story features an intriguing portrait of two young men – and an apple. Painted by the Flemish artist Crispin van den Broeck towards the end of the sixteenth century, the painting is in the collection of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge UK.
