George Jamieson was born in Edinburgh. Today he is one of Scotland's leading taxidermists, and his work is regularly sent to patrons in France, Germany, Scandinavia, the Netherlands, the USA, Australia and throughout the United Kingdom.

In his own words, 'Through an interest in birdwatching, painting and sketching, at the age of ten I started to collect stuffed birds - being given a Golden Eagle for passing my 11+ exam.

'Although having no desire to go hunting or shooting, I would find many dead specimens whilst out bird watching, especially seabirds at Aberlady Bay where I would go most Saturdays. At 14, I got a book from the library (dated 1890) and decided to try and mount the specimens myself as there was no local taxidermist, nor could I afford to have them mounted. The Royal Scottish Museum (now called Royal Museum of Scotland) then advised me on my work.

'For 4 years whilst at school I did taxidermy in the evenings and at weekends and I also did some painting.

'My desire to do taxidermy was to create the illusion of life using the original animal or bird skins and modelled in a lifelike manner. This appeared to me to be the most honest type of wildlife art.

'While at University in Aberdeen, I did taxidermy one day a week in the Zoology Department, both learning from and teaching the staff there. After leaving University, I started doing taxidermy full-time. In 1974, the owner of Grantully Castle asked me to hold an exhibition of taxidermy and pictures at the Castle for two weeks. This was followed by an exhibition at Jenners, the Edinburgh store, the McEwen Galleries, Braemar, and Gleneagles Hotel.

'In 1983, 1 was the first Scottish commercial taxidermist to gain professional membership of the Guild of Taxidermists. I am also registered with the Department of the Environment and have a licence to sell birds. This means keeping records of all specimens, strict laws govern what can and cannot be mounted, dependent on the cause of the specimen’s death e.g. an owl can only be mounted if it has been a road casualty, not if it has been shot.

'Customers have included Saatchi & Saatchi, the Arab Emirates, many famous Scottish Estates, Scottish museums, Heritage Centres, BBC, STV, many advertising agencies and professional advertising photographers.

'I was commissioned to prepare the limited edition casts of the most famous fish in Scotland - Miss Ballantyne's British Record Salmon of 64lbs caught in 1922.'

The work covers British birds, mammals and fish and the occasional zoo animals.