Michael Lythgoe

Michael Lythgoe was born in Liverpool in 1950. He began his career in the Merchant Navy as a junior engineering officer. After getting married in 1975 he emigrated to Ontario, Canada to work in the ship building industry and spent his spare time watching and photographing the birdlife of the region. He was inspired to take up carving by an old wooden bird decoy that he bought on a visit to Cape Cod. This interest became his new career on his return to the UK with his family in 1986.

Michael’s stylised, curvilinear representations of wildfowl and waders have evolved into his own recognisable style which is collected by many. From Wrens to Bewick Swans, each sculpture is unique, hewn from blocks of wood using drawknives and spokeshaves, then sympathetically painted using acrylic paint.