Memoirs of a Roadie

Fly By Night

Posted on 31st July 2017

In the summer of 2015, there was an art project in and around Birmingham called The Big Hoot. It consisted of 90 large owls (The Big Hoot) and 108 little owls (The Little Hoot), sponsored by various businesses, communities, schools and artists, in aid of the Birmingham Children's Hospital (and two other charities), and was run by Wild In Art. 

The owls were mostly in open areas, so could be seen 24/7. However, some, particularly the little owls, were indoors. It did mean you had to choose carefully when you went hunting for the owls, as not all the places were open at weekends, even Saturdays, which is when the majority of people had time to take their kids out and about. With so many owls to find, and spread over quite a wide area (including Rainforest at Twycross Zoo), it wasn't a hunt you would be able to do in one day, which meant you could plan trips to different areas of the West Midlands to "collect" a small parliment of owls at a time.

Ethne and I downloaded the app, planned out several weekends worth of bus, car and walking trips, and went hunting. Mostly we used the bus and walked, particularly around Brum city centre, but you really did need a car to reach those owls a bit further afield. It was great fun, and although we got to see all the big owls, sadly we missed out on the small owls in Sutton Coldfield, as they were taken away before the end of the event for the big owls, as we hadn't been aware of the different deadlines for the little and big owls. 

The app was a great help, as in some cases some of the owls weren't in obvious locations, and the location map helped to show where we were in relation to the owl we were looking for. The rewards were mostly discounts for things we weren't interested in, but some we did get to enjoy. In particular many thanks to Best Western Premier Moor Hall Hotel and Spa, who gave Ethne and I each an owl shaped shortbread biscuit for finding the Love Owl. Definitely our favourite reward. That was the end of one particularly long day and we took the time to have a lovely cup of tea (for me) and a hot chocolate (for Ethne) as well.

Each owl had a QR code on the base to use with the app to mark the owl you'd found, and potentially unlock an applicable reward. It was a handy way to quickly check off the owls as you found them, but did mean you need the app and a mobile device that could recognise QR codes. As such, we did see several people resorting to pen and the Trail Map to tick them off.

Ethne and I didn't have one particular favourite, as there were far too many great owls on display. However, if I could have afforded it, I would have loved to have bid on Ozzy's Owl or Dr Whoot. Either would have looked great in our garden :) In the end, the auction of the owls raised £508,035 for three charities, the bulk going to Birmingham Children's Hospital, with £15,000 going to Edward's Trust and £7,800 going to Birchfield Harriers.

Despite the disappointment of not getting to see all the little owls, it was a great opportunity to travel to parts of Birmingham, and further afield, that we might not otherwise have done. It also meant Ethne and I both got to travel the full route of the No. 11 bus round the Birmingham Outer Circle for the very first time.

Below are our collection of photos of the owls, selfies and some extra scenic photos we took along the way. 

• The Big Hoot - 01 Big Brown Inky Owl
• The Big Hoot - 02 Jewellery Owl
• The Big Hoot - 03 Bejewelled Owl
• The Big Hoot - 04 Nature's Growth
• The Big Hoot - 05 Priceless
• The Big Hoot - 06 One Giant Hoot For Owlkind
• The Big Hoot - 07 Wise Owl
• The Big Hoot - 08 Skyclad
• The Big Hoot - 09 Delivered By Owl
• The Big Hoot - 10 Owl By Night
• The Big Hoot - 11 Under The Glow Of Moonlight
• The Big Hoot - 12 Clash
• The Big Hoot - 13 Bluey
• The Big Hoot - 14 Dr Whoot
• The Big Hoot - 15 The Graduate
• The Big Hoot - 16 Tessellated Triangles
• The Big Hoot - 17 Leo
• The Big Hoot - 18 The Birmingham Children's Hospital Owl
• The Big Hoot - 19 Florence Nightin'owl
• The Big Hoot - 20 Dotty
• The Big Hoot - 21 Happy Birthday Feed
• The Big Hoot - 22 The Green Owl
• The Big Hoot - 23 The Big Hoot
• The Big Hoot - 24 Through New Eyes
• The Big Hoot - 25 Yellow
• The Big Hoot - 26 Beorma
• The Big Hoot - 27 Selfie
• The Big Hoot - 28 Skyline 2015
• The Big Hoot - 29 The Owl And The Pussycat
• The Big Hoot - 30 Free Radiowl
• The Big Hoot - 31 Re-tail
• The Big Hoot - 32 Starlight
• The Big Hoot - 33 I See A Darkness
• The Big Hoot - 34 Nightingale
• The Big Hoot - 35 Ozzy's Owl
• The Big Hoot - 36 Swirly Whirly Birmingham Owl Land
• The Big Hoot - 37 Owl Aboard
• The Big Hoot - 38 Stop Rewind And Come Again
• The Big Hoot - 39 Peacock
• The Big Hoot - 40 Mr Architect
• The Big Hoot - 41 Owl-livia
• The Big Hoot - 42 You Can Call Me Owl
• The Big Hoot - 43 The Oozells Owl
• The Big Hoot - 44 Midnight Moths
• The Big Hoot - 45 Percy Pertemps
• The Big Hoot - 46 Owlfred
• The Big Hoot - 47 Welcome To Birmingham
• The Big Hoot - 48 Owlbert
• The Big Hoot - 49 Wise Old Owl
• The Big Hoot - 50 Jack
• The Big Hoot - 51 Tropic'owl
• The Big Hoot - 52 The Ship
• The Big Hoot - 53 our Happy Hospit-owl
• The Big Hoot - 54 New Street Flyer
• The Big Hoot - 55 Tick Tock
• The Big Hoot - 56 Unity Within Diversity
• The Big Hoot - 57 Active Owl
• The Big Hoot - 58 Alf The Penguin Owl
• The Big Hoot - 59 Bob The Bat
• The Big Hoot - 60 Tea T'owl
• The Big Hoot - 61 The Sutton Coldfield Owl
• The Big Hoot - 62 Serenity
• The Big Hoot - 63 Spotting And Jotting In Birmingham
• The Big Hoot - 64 Ahoy Matey
• The Big Hoot - 65 A Word To The Wise
• The Big Hoot - 66 Hedwig Owl
• The Big Hoot - 67 The Love Owl
• The Big Hoot - 68 Rainforest
• The Big Hoot - 69 Perry Chocobow Swanet
• The Big Hoot - 70 Fleet And Free
• The Big Hoot - 71 Handsworth Park The Owl And The Pussycat
• The Big Hoot - 72 Octavia
• The Big Hoot - 73 The Birchfield Sable
• The Big Hoot - 74 Midnight Hoot
• The Big Hoot - 75 Night Owl
• The Big Hoot - 76 Oliver
• The Big Hoot - 77 Saltley Stories
• The Big Hoot - 78 Fitcap Wisey
• The Big Hoot - 79 Showldon
• The Big Hoot - 80 Papa Winson
• The Big Hoot - 81 Poddy
• The Big Hoot - 82 Blodeuwedd
• The Big Hoot - 83 Owl Of Athena
• The Big Hoot - 84 The Owl And The Pussycat Went To Sea
• The Big Hoot - 85 Buttons
• The Big Hoot - 86 Twit Choo Choo
• The Big Hoot - 87 The Bone Ranger
• The Big Hoot - 88 Hootankhamoon
• The Big Hoot - 89 - G'owl'd
• The Big Hoot - The Selfies
• The Big Hoot - The Extras
• The Big Hoot - The Little Hoot Owls

Run With The Wolf

Posted on 31st July 2017

Over the last 2 years since The Big Hoot, numerous art sculpture projects with animal statues placed in open spaces around cities have really taken off. This year, Ethne and I have hunted Hares, Bears and now Wolves. 

The Wolves In Wolves project has placed 30 wolves around Wolverhampton, one of which being a mobile wolf and moved to a different location each week. If we'd followed the routed detailed in the map, we would have walked roughly 4.5 miles. However, due to taking an outer then inner circle route, and a bit of back tracking too, we ended up walking 10 miles! It was a great day out, and we have to thank @wolvesinwolves and a couple of City Centre Ambassadors for pointing us in the directions for a couple of wolves. 

One disappointment was not being able to see Old Gold, the Wolverhampton Wanders FC wolf, up close as he was in the gift shop, which wasn't open when we walked the trail. However, the biggest disappointment was seeing the damage done to Flame (in honour of the West Midlands Fire Service) outside the Express & Star offices. It is really such a shame to see vandalisim like this, when these works of art are there to help raise money for charity, and to be enjoyed by everyone. As we walked around a man told us that Flame was hopefully going to be repaired, so I hope he is restored soon and left alone this time.

There were several wolves we thought were our favourite, until we saw the next one! Having said that, the one that really touched me when we saw it was Support Life. A very thought provoking design. All the designs were superb, and there wasn't one we didn't like, so congratulations to all the artists and designers who put all the effort into making the wolves.

One thing that was great about the project for us was that the exhibition of the little wolves, design by various schools, were all collected within the Wolverhampton Art Gallery in the centre of the city. 70 fantastic designs all in one room, together with the first two large wolves, saved a lot of walking and hunting. In another art project the location of little versions of the animals has proved far too time consuming and has distracted from the fun of hunting them.

Ethne and I had fun taking selfies (thank you to everyone who liked us on Instagram) of all the large wolves, as well as enjoying a good trek around the city. My pedometer told us we'd walked 10 miles back forth around the city, and while we could have taken some short cuts, I think we got to see more of the city on our route. We met quite a few people on the hunt for the wolves, with lots of young children eagerly hugging the statues.

It's a great day out, so if you're stuck for something to do with the kids during the summer, and fancy a day ambling around Wolverhampton (you really don't need to take as long as we did!), Wolves In Wolves is heartily recommended. There is also an extra mini-game for kids to play as they find each wolf, as several have a gold star with a letter on the plinth placque. Unscramble all the letters and you could win a prize of a mini wolf.

If you get stuck looking for Claude, the mobile wolf, check out the WolvesInWolves Pop-Up shop in the Mander Centre, or find a City Centre Ambassador to give you a hint. Apparrently he's usually close to the city centre, so you won't have to walk too far to find him. 

A little aside on our day was riding the tram from Grand Central to The Crescent. The station announcements on the tannoy system was read by Ozzy Osbourne. It was quite a nice surprise to hear him. It also made me wonder whether Wolves In Wolves might have missed out a few wolves, celebrating well known people from the city and surrounding area. Aside from many sporting heroes, there's Slade, Judas Priest, Robert Plant, Meera Syal and Caitlin Moran (author of Made In Wolves). Perhaps we'll see some of those on a future public art trail the city puts on :)