What a day at the beach creating Sir David Attenborough sand drawing in Morecambe. At its core, our work is about capturing a fleeting moment in time and reflecting it back against the vastness of the natural world. We have carved stories into ice, molded narrative from clay, and used the Earth itself as our gallery. But recently, we gathered on the sweeping canvas of Morecambe Bay for a project that felt profoundly momentous: an 85-metre sand drawing to honour the 100th birthday of a man who taught the world how to truly see nature—Sir David Attenborough.
Reaching a centenary is a beautiful milestone, but for Sir David, it represents ten decades of whispering—and sometimes crying out—on behalf of the wild places. We wanted to offer a gift that mirrored his life’s work: something deeply connected to the elements, born of the earth, and entirely transient.
David Attenborough sand drawing on Morecambe Bay
We chose Morecambe as our location due to our fondness of the area and our excitement at the Eden Project beginning work there for a new site. As fans of the Cornwall location, we are over the moon one will be created in the North of England. The link between the education of the natural world the Eden Project offers and Sir David Attenborough sand drawing seemed apt.
A day creating art on the beach
We have made hundreds of sand drawings over the years. From small sand drawings on golf course bunkers to huge 1km images. Raked by hand or while vehicles, each drawing is unique. We have spent years developing what we do and pushing ourselves to the next level. Sand drawings are a great way to communicate messages on a huge scale. We love making them and they are very close to our hearts as a form of artistic communication. We love the low impact it has on the environment and nature.
We started creating the David Attenborough sand drawing in the early hours of the morning, the beach was wonderfully peaceful. Our team consisted of Jamie, Dave, Claire, Jonathan and Dan. This drawing was tonal so made up of layers of different raking styles. People walking their dogs, jogging or just on their way to work stopped by to ask what we were creating and the fun part is getting people to guess what it could be. A sand drawing so large is very hard to view from the ground but as we are drawing, I can always tell if it looks correct even before the drone is in the air. You get used to the view from the ground.
The moment the drone goes up and you can see the image from the air is always magical and worth the hours raking the sand. This drawing was no exception.
When we go to the beach, we like the leave the beach cleaner than we arrived, so we often do a 10 min litter pick. Today we filled two bin bags with rubbish that would have ended up in the sea.
Thank You, Morecambe
A big thank you to the community of Morecambe for sharing your beautiful coastline with us and for joining us in this collective appreciation for a national treasure. All of the views, comments and shares of the David Attenborough sand drawing were absolutely wonderful and we will be back in Morecambe again to create some more wonderful sand art. It really matters when the work we create is accepted in such a lovely way.
Sir David Attenborough has given a century of his life to protecting our global home. As he marks this incredible 100th year, we hope our brief inscription on the earth serves as a reminder of our shared responsibility to the planet.
Happy 100th Birthday, Sir David Attenborough. Your legacy is written in the earth, the seas, and the hearts of millions. We hope you had a wonderful time celebrating.
Here is just some of the coverage of the Sir David Attenborough sand drawing.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DYB-JE4oEcj
It’s not the first time we have created a portrait of Sir David Attenborough. A few years ago Liz carved a pumpkin of the man himself.
