The Birds

While the process of bird taxidermy was lengthy and occasionally gruesome, it was consistently engaging. We filmed our contributor perform the entire process of preparing a crow over the course of the whole day. At times it was like watching John Carpnter's The Thing as the bird was literally turned inside out for the sake of cleaning up its insides. However, it was remarkably quick to forget the fleshy parts of the process once it started to shape up into something very respectful.

My peers successfully dropped one of the biggest clangers I have ever heard mid-way through filming though. Our contributor revealed that he isn't especially fond of the more modern style of taxidermy which is to dress up animals in clothing. He mentioned seeing mice dressed in a medieval costume and how disrespectful he thought that was to the animal. Literally 15 minutes later just as we we going for a tea break, our editor excitedly pulled out a tiny knitted hat and declared that it would look lovely on our new crow. No irony in her voice, just shame once she realised.