Wildlife sculpture becomes home to nesting dove at the Harley Foundation, Nottinghamshire

An art gallery is attracting visitors of a different kind after a nesting bird took up residence inside of a wildlife sculpture.

A horse sculpture made from recycled materials has become the unlikely new home for a dove who has built a nest inside the work of art.

The life-size horse sculptures by artist Michelle Reader are on display at The Harley Foundation, and are made entirely from recycled materials collected from the Welbeck estate.

The artist has been creating works from waste since 1997, and aims to highlights the links between the things we consume and the destruction of wildlife habitats.

Michelle said: “I love the unpredictability of discarded objects, and the inventiveness necessary to transform them into a sculpture.

“The medium is a big part of the message, so the materials I use vary widely. Finding ways to combine and transform existing objects has meant that I’ve developed an eclectic range of techniques.

“This is not only in order to join dissimilar materials, but also increasingly to find ways of joining that are reversible, meaning materials can potentially be reused or recycled again and again.”

The Harley Foundation has asked visitors to help name the nesting bird with suggestions such as ‘Neigh-omie’, ‘Duchess’ and ‘Whinny’.

The north Nottinghamshire gallery is free to enter, open from 10am to 5pm on Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 4pm on Sundays and closed on Mondays.