Whale skeleton installation wows Sheffield residents for second time at Endcliffe Park

Biology lecturer, Dave Clay, 65, from Crookes, exhibited the carcass of a long-finned pilot whale for three and a half hours in an open field within the park, near to Riverdale Road, while passersby stopped to look on Sunday, October 25.

This is the second time the biologist has displayed the four-metre long skeleton in public, after he hung the whale bones from Blonk Street bridge in the city centre back in July.

The 65-year-old who plans to donate the installation to Weston Park Museum, hopes to fit in more exhibitions across the city before he hands the skeleton over next week.

Dave, who found the whale carcass buried in the sand on a beach on the island of South Uist in Scotland two years ago, completely rebuilt its skeleton from head to tail.

The former Sheffield College lecturer explained how the current coronavirus crisis inspired him to display the whale bones for a second time.

Dave said: "I'm passionate about natural history and in these covid times it's quite nice to have something spring out at you.

"It is whatever people want it to be but hopefully it is for people to stop and wonder for a minute and find it wonderful.

"It definitely has an artistic element to it, it is just a beautiful thing, it's striking.”

The installation which took the biologist an hour to set up last weekend attracted attention from walkers in the park, who were stunned to see the four-metre long structure hanging there.

"Everybody was really complementary and they said things like thanks for doing it, it's fantastic”, he added.

"Kids were the same, pulling faces at me and asking if it was a dinosaur.

"That particular whale skeleton is just a wonderful piece of evolution, something that has got five fingers on each of its hands.

"The whole thing is just a lovely experience really, there's nothing in it for me apart from pleasure.

"I went to bed that night after the Blonk Street one with a smile on my face."

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