MALVERN'S famous buzzard sculpture could soon be joined by another public art work with an avian theme.

The Autumn in Malvern Festival, which commissioned the buzzards in Rose Bank Gardens to mark the Queen's diamond jubilee, has now approached their creator, artist Walenty Pytel, to create a new sculpture.

Peter Smith, the festival's director said: "The sculpture is of a skylark, a small bird associated with the Malvern Hills and is inspired by Vaughan Williams' musical setting of George Meredith's poem The Lark Ascending.''

The sculpture will be ten feet tall and will be placed on a ten-foot column. It will be located on the bank rising up to the second tier of the gardens. The position has been chosen to give an impression of a bird in flight above the gardens.

The location will allow the new sculpture to be visible when standing next to the buzzards sculpture and the aim is to encourage visitors to explore further into the gardens.

Other major works by Walenty Pytel may be seen at Birmingham International Airport, on the river front at Ross on Wye, and by the state entrance to the Palace of Westminster.

This year's Autumn in Malvern Festival will include a concert in October, when violinist Fenella Humphreys and pianist Nicola Eimer will perform the original version of The Lark Ascending.

This was written by Vaughan Williams in 1914 for Marie Hall, a pupil of Elgar, who lived for a period at Guarlford, near Malvern. Miss Hall premiered both the original composition and the later version for chamber orchestra,

Before the statue can be installed, planning permission will have to be obtained, and this week, Malvern Town Council agreed to make a grant of £96.25 to cover the cost of the application.