Oliver G Pike
Photographs in the Inter-War Years
Oliver Pike returned from service in the Royal Flying Corps and
the RAF, in which he attained the rank of Captain, in 1919. He
immediately re-started his photography and cine film career.
He continued to use his own Birdland camera and occasionally a
half-plate field camera, mainly for close-ups of nests.
Many of the photographs that appeared in his books were taken
with a cine camera, initially a Pathé model but later with
his custom-built Newman Sinclair.
Click on the borders of the photos to zoom in.
The photo of the Black-necked Grebe was taken in the Spring
of 1919, very shortly after
Oliver Pike returned from the RAF. It was the first time that
a Black-necked Grebe's nest had been found in England, and Pike
found it on Marsworth Reservoir near Tring, Herts. This bird was
photographed with the Birdland camera.
The Song Thrush at its nest is typical of the photos that he took
in this period. This one was exhibited at Paris in 1938.
The Little Ringed Plover chicks were photographed at Startops End
reservoir (next to Marsworth) in 1938. This was the first time
that Little Ringed Plovers had been known to breed in England.
Oliver Pike used a Rolleiflex camera on this occasion. A report
was published in British Birds, Sept. 1938.
