Brand-new sculptures have been unveiled at Vergelegen Wine Estate in Somerset West. Cast by renowned sculptor Keith Calder, they are an ode to the four pairs of breeding cranes, South Africa’s national bird, that regard the 322-year-old estate as their home. The bronze birds, situated near the popular Stables restaurant, were unveiled on Friday 19 August in a ceremony attended by Calder, members of the estate’s gardening committee, and Daniel Dolpire, author and photographer of the book The Sentinels: cranes of South Africa. The work was commissioned by Wayne Coetzer, Vergelegen’s managing director, in August 2020. “I was trying to come up with concepts for Vergelegen and spent some time at the estate,” said Calder. “One day, as I was leaving, I saw a pair of blue cranes in a field. That was it, and in retrospect it was the appropriate thing to do. Blue cranes are magnificent birds and with four breeding pairs in the fields beyond where the sculpture is going, it made total sense. I had to work hard to get my work to stand up to their beauty and I now fully appreciate why they are our national bird.” Here Calder surveys his sculpture in its beautiful natural setting at Vergelegen.


Ode to breeding cranes

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