A celebration of birds in Lego and ink – in pictures

Roy Scholten has been interested in birds ever since he can remember. In his 50 Birds series, the Netherlands-based artist and printmaker has created handmade prints of local species including pied flycatchers, skylarks and blue-headed wagtails. Each print is made using Lego letterpress, combining individual building blocks into stamps to recreate the birds' shapes and patterns, a technique perfected over the past decade by his frequent collaborator, the artist Martijn van der Blom. Birds are daily reminders of the richness of our natural surroundings. They can fly! How cool is that!" says Scholten. Sadly most species are in decline, which makes it all the more worthwhile to really look and appreciate them."

• Works from Scholten and Van der Blom's book Print & Play are on show at Grafisch Atelier Hilversum in the Netherlands until 4 February 2024