Northland bird conservationist Robert Webb to be celebrated in sculpture

Robert and Robyn Webb's lifetime of volunteer work for Northlands birds will soon be immortalised in bronze forever.

Titled Moment of Release, the artwork tells the story of how Whangārei Native Bird Recovery Centre manager Robert Webb returned Albert Ross the albatross back to the wild in 2005.

"Robert's lifetime of helping birds has changed the way many people around the country view our native birds," the fundraising page notes.

Founders Robert and Robyn Webb have cared for and treated thousands of birds since August 1, 1992, when the Whangārei Native Bird Recovery Centre was established.

The project is a collaboration between portrait sculptor Dell Pryor and bird sculptor Susan Dinkelacker.

"This is by far the biggest work that I've done and I'm really just so keen to start," said Dinkelacker, who came up with the idea for the project.

Whangārei Bird Recovery centre manager Robert Webb with artists Susan Dinkelacker and Dell Pryor. Photo / Supplied

The bronze will be life-size and stand 2.2m tall and depict Robert Webb launching a 3.2m wingspan albatross.

"It's also about the seabirds, they're under threat from climate change, fisheries and all the rest," said Dinkelacker.

Both artists are experienced in creating bronze artworks and met when Pryor was teaching a sculpting class in Whangārei.

The design of the sculpture has been refined over a period of two years with $5,740 already being raised online, surpassing the $5,000 goal.

The $5,000 target covers only 10% of the projected cost of the sculpture and the pair plan to apply for further funding from agencies like CreativeNZ.

Casting the bronze at the foundry, artists' time sculpting, engineering design to ensure safety, plinth fabrication and installation all add up to around $50,000.

Whangārei Native Bird Recovery Centre manager Robert Webb feeds a pilchard to his royal visitor - a southern royal albatross that landed exhausted near Dargaville in 2005. Photo / Tania Whyte

"This bronze will last forever - as will its message of support for the Whangarei Native Bird Recovery Centre," said centre manager Robert Webb.

The sculpture is planned to be installed in Tutukaka on public land, where Webb released the albatross after its recovery.

"The day we let it go, to think something like that is being put back into the wild again is really special to me.

"They're such a big, majestic bird ... those albatross travel right around the world."

A statement on the statue's plaque will recognise Robyn Webb's decades of dedication and hard work behind the scenes at the Whangārei Native Bird Recovery Centre.

"It's not really about me, it's about the centre," Webb said.

The artwork is planned to be unveiled in October 2023 and Tutukaka Marina has offered to provide maintenance for the artwork in the future.

You can follow the project on Facebook here.