Nicholson made a significant body of prints, which he produced in phases rather than continuously throughout his life. Between the wars he carved relief prints – apart from one woodcut he worked only in linoleum; immediately after the Second World War he made a small group of drypoints and, in the 1960s, he executed a large group of etchings with the Swiss printer François Lafranca. The etchings of the 1960s including 'Bird's Eye', may have influenced his later drawings. Nicholson stated: 'The bite of the steel point into the metal is a terrific experience when all goes right and the necessity I am finding to reduce the idea to a series of lines is interesting.' Nicholson only started to work with etching at the age of 69. He moved to a remote lakeside house in Switzerland with his third wife, where he met the young artist Francois Lafranca, who offered to print Nicholson's etchings.