Discovery - Wild Inside: Great Grey Owl

DISCOVERY - WILD INSIDE: GREAT GREY OWL (320kbs-m4a/62mb/27mins)
BBC World Service broadcast: 28th November 2022

One of the world's large owls by length, the Great Grey Owl is an enigmatic predator of coniferous forests close to the Arctic tundra. It's most often seen hunting around dawn and dusk, when it perches silently at the edges of clearings. But as Prof Ben Garrod and Dr Jess French delve deep inside to understand its true secret to survival, they find the deep feathery coat belies a deceptively small head and body that‘s evolved unbelievably powerful abilities to silently detect and ambush unsuspecting prey.

BBC North West Tonight - Mersey Tidal Power report

Between The Ears - Jamming With Birds

BETWEEN THE EARS - JAMMING WITH BIRDS (320kbs-m4a/66mb/29mins)
BBC Radio 3 broadcast: 5th June 2022

"In May, I sing night and day,
In June, I change my tune,
In July, far off I fly..."

Ten years ago, musician Cosmo Sheldrake started making an album of bird songs, each track inspired by an endangered species on the 'Birds of Conservation Concern' list. The album is called Wake Up Calls, a nod to the dawn chorus, but also because it is doing a second kind of waking up. Each track is a celebration of the birds that we are rapidly losing. Birds like the nightingale, the mistle thrush, the skylark, the cuckoo. With their decline comes the loss of the musical, emotional and cultural richness they bring to our lives.

For Cosmo, the process of making music with these birds opened up a whole new way of thinking about composition. It's the birds who set the tempos and inform the melodies. You could even say it’s the birds who are the lead vocalists, provoking questions around intellectual property: who owns this music? Should the birds get publishing royalties? Are the birds collaborators of sorts?

Featuring, in order of appearance, writer Robert MacFarlane, poet Erin Robinsong, sound ecologist Bernie Krause, artist Marcus Coates, musician Brian Eno, musician Sam Lee and artist Rachel Berwick.

Produced by Becky Ripley.

Pallid Swift, Hoylake 31st October 2022

Photo © Peter Sutton

Last Thursday 27th October 2022 the first record for Cheshire & Wirral of Pallid Swift was found by Jane Turner flying over her house on Hoylake promenade. The Pallid Swift didn't stay long before departing east. Another Pallid Swift was seen, again by Jane Turner, wizzing along the tideline on Saturday 29th October 2022 (although I don't know if enough characteristics were observed on this bird to clinch the id).

This morning, Monday 31st October 2022, another different Pallid Swift was observed at Hoylake, found by local birder Stu Brown. Fortunately, I was able to get over to Hoylake with Geoff Bond & Mark Wotham and watched the Pallid Swift on several occasions during the couple of hours we were on the prom. Usually, quite distant back and forth above the houses. It came closer a couple of times on its circuit.

Incredibly, later in the day a second Pallid Swift appeared! It now appears there were three birds with another at the other end of the prom by Roman Road, found by local birder Steve T!

There's been a large influx of Pallid Swifts across the whole of the UK in the last week or so due to the southerly airstream of warm air from Europe.

Between The Ears - The Nightingales Of Berlin

BETWEEN THE EARS - THE NIGHTINGALES OF BERLIN (320kbs-m4a/66mb/29mins)
BBC Radio 3 broadcast: 6th June 2021

In early summer, as darkness descends, Berlin resonates with the sound of Nightingales. You can hear their haunting, ever-changing songs in parks, woodlands and gardens across the city. From Kreuzberg to Treptower, Tempelhof to Hasenheide, Berlin has become a refuge for one of the most celebrated and mythologised birds on earth.

The city is the summer home for over one and a half thousand nesting pairs. Nobody's quite sure why Nightingales have adopted the city so enthusiastically. Maybe it's Berlin's enlightened policy towards park management which leaves areas of untended scrub and dense bushes providing ground-nesting Nightingales with perfect cover.

Whatever the reason, this blossoming of Nightingales means that their song has become the soundtrack to countless moments in Berlin's residents' lives: lovers listening to the Nightingale's melody in the depths of the night; a childhood memory of illness soothed by hearing the song – and the German name Nachtigall – for the first time; and a visit to one of the few architectural remnants of Germania, Hitler's megalomaniacal plan for a new city on the site of Berlin.

This programme gathers memories of the Nightingale's lingering, multi-faceted song and the sounds of city evenings to create an audio portrait of Berlin, its people and the bird to whom it's given refuge.

We hear too from a group of musicians who seek out Nightingales in the city's parks to play alongside them. They describe feeling their way into the Nightingale's song, the call-and-response between bird and human and the sense of each listening to the other. Some even describe themselves as Nightingales: they've travelled from far countries to make music in Berlin.

The programme is made in collaboration with Berlin Museum of Natural History's Forschungsfall Nachtigall project that asks members of the public to record Nightingales and send in their recordings – along with stories and memories of the bird which has become a symbol of the city.

With the voices of Sarah Darwin, Korhan Erel, Gaby Hartel, Volker Lankow, Christopher and Erika Lehmpfuhl, Charlotte Neidhardt, Philip Oltermann, Sascha Penshorn, Tina Roeske, David Rothenberg and Cymin Samawatie.

Featuring music from David Rothenberg's 'Nightingale Cities' project and 'Berlin Bülbül' by David Rothenberg and Korhan Erel.

Location recordings in Berlin by Martyna Poznańska and Monika Dorniak.

Producer: Jeremy Grange

Photograph courtesy of Kim Mortega

Steve Waters - Song Of The Reed - 4. Bittern

STEVE WATERS - SONG OF THE REED - 4. BITTERN (320kbs-m4a/100mb/44mins)
BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 21st March 2022

Conclusion of this seasonal drama following life on a wetlands nature reserve in Norfolk over one year. Starring Sophie Okonedo and Mark Rylance.

Ian (Mark Rylance) returns to Fleggwick for the first time since suffering serious injuries during the winter's flood and finds it as beautiful and full of life as ever, but still endangered as Liv (Sophie Okonedo) struggles to find a way to keep the Reserve going.

This is the fourth and final episode of an innovative drama, with instalments recorded on location at RSPB Strumpshaw Fen in Norfolk every three months, documenting the extraordinary wetlands habitat as it changes through the seasons.

This episode features the Bittern as its special guest star – a characterful bird known for its booming call.

Song of the Reed, by Steve Waters, is informed by the sounds of the reserve as well as the real work and science of conservation taking place in the face of rapid environmental change in the wetlands of Norfolk, and everywhere.

Cast:
Liv ..... Sophie Okonedo
Ian ..... Mark Rylance
Tam ..... Ella Dorman Gajic
Kay ..... Molly Naylor
Theo ..... Tom Goodman-Hill
Nikki ..... Karen Hill
Sadegh ..... Zaydun Khalaf
Voice of the Reed ..... Christine Kavanagh
Other parts played by staff and volunteers at RSPB Strumpshaw Fen

Written by Steve Waters
Music by Michael Somerset Ward with Rebecca Hearne
Sound design by Alisdair McGregor
Produced and Directed by Boz Temple-Morris

A Holy Mountain production for BBC Radio 4

Steve Waters - Song Of The Reed - 3. Eel

STEVE WATERS - SONG OF THE REED - 3. EEL (320kbs-m4a/100mb/44mins)
BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 21st December 2021

Ian (played by Mark Rylance) has gone to work for neighbouring landowner Theo Buckhurst as Liv (Sophie Okonedo) prepares to sell up to Wildscapes – but nature, as ever, has a different plan, and a major flood event is forecast to engulf Fleggwick.

The third in the series of Steve Waters' seasonal dramas follows the life of a fictional wetlands nature reserve, over the period of one year.

Storm clouds are well and truly established over the nature reserve Liv has inherited from her father. The oncoming flood will bring a pulse of salt water into the Fen, threatening countless fresh water species. And with plans to sell Fleggwick also complete, the future looks decidedly insecure in this otherwise beautiful corner of Norfolk.

Song of the Reed is recorded on location at RSPB's Strumpshaw Fen. The story is informed by the sounds of the reserve as well as the real work and science of conservation taking place in the face of rapid environmental change in the wetlands of Norfolk, and everywhere.

Cast:
Liv ..... Sophie Okonedo
Ian ..... Mark Rylance
Tam ..... Ella Dorman Gajic
Kay ..... Molly Naylor
Theo ..... Tom Goodman-Hill
Nikki ..... Karen Hill
Charlie ..... Jimmy Rutherford
Voice of the Reed ..... Christine Kavanagh
Other parts played by staff and volunteers at RSPB Strumpshaw Fen

Written by Steve Waters
Music by Michael Somerset Ward with Rebecca Hearne
Cello played by Liz Hanks
Sound design by Alisdair McGregor
Produced and Directed by Boz Temple-Morris

A Holy Mountain production for BBC Radio 4

Steve Waters - Song Of The Reed - 2. Whirlpool

STEVE WATERS - SONG OF THE REED - 2. WHIRLPOOL (320kbs-m4a/100mb/44mins)
BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 22nd September 2021

We return to Fleggwick where the search is on to find the miniscule Whirlpool Ramshorn Snail – a tiny creature whose presence would bolster the case for the reserve as a habitat for rare species.

Sophie Okonedo and Mark Rylance star in the second of Steve Waters' seasonal dramas following the life of a fictional wetlands nature reserve, over the period of one year.

Fleggwick, like the ecosystem it protects, is under threat. The site was not financially sustainable when its founder passed away, so his daughter Liv (Sophie Okonedo) needs to find a way for it to survive. But if that means selling out to 'trendy conservation', then Ian (Mark Rylance), the Warden, wants nothing to do with it.

Song of the Reed is recorded on location at RSPB's Strumpshaw Fen. The story is informed by the real work and science of conservation taking place in the face of rapid environmental change in the wetlands of Norfolk, and everywhere. This episode also features Tom Fewins of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, playing himself.

Cast:
Liv ..... Sophie Okonedo
Ian ..... Mark Rylance
Tam ..... Ella Dorman Gajic
Kay ..... Molly Naylor
Sadegh ..... Zaydun Khalaf
Theo ..... Tom Goodman-Hill
Nikki ..... Karen Hill
Tom ..... Tom Fewins
Voice of the Reed ..... Christine Kavanagh
Other parts played by staff and volunteers at RSPB Strumpshaw Fen

Music by Michael Somerset Ward with Rebecca Hearne
Sound design by Alisdair McGregor
Produced and Directed by Boz Temple-Morris

A Holy Mountain production for BBC Radio 4

Steve Waters - Song Of The Reed - 1. Swallowtail

STEVE WATERS - SONG OF THE REED - 1. SWALLOWTAIL (320kbs-m4a/101mb/44mins)
BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 21st June 2021

Sophie Okonedo and Mark Rylance star in the first of Steve Waters' seasonal dramas following the life of Fleggwick, a fictional wetlands nature reserve, over the period of one year.

Fleggwick, like the ecosystem it protects, is under threat. The site was not financially sustainable when its founder passed away so his daughter Liv (Sophie Okonedo) needs to find a way for it to survive. But if that means selling out to 'trendy conservation' then Ian (Mark Rylance), the Warden, wants nothing to do with it.

Recorded on location at RSPB's Strumpshaw Fen, the story is informed by the real work and science of conservation taking place in the face of rapid environmental change in the wetlands of Norfolk, and everywhere.

It's a rainy summer's day and a Swallowtail Safari is being held at the reserve with members of the public, as well as a manager from WildScapes, visiting Fleggwick with the hope of catching a glimpse of the elusive and utterly beautiful swallowtail butterfly. The future of the reserve may ride on it.

Cast:
Liv ..... Sophie Okonedo
Ian ..... Mark Rylance
Tam ..... Ella Dorman Gajic
Kay ..... Molly Naylor
Sadegh ..... Zaydun Khalaf
Nikki ..... Karen Hill
Voice of the Reed ..... Christine Kavanagh
Other parts played by staff and volunteers at RSPB Strumpshaw Fen

Written by Steve Waters
Music by Michael Somerset Ward with Rebecca Hearne
Sound Design by Alisdair McGregor

Produced and Directed by Boz Temple-Morris
A Holy Mountain production for BBC Radio 4

Sounds Natural - Percy Edwards

SOUNDS NATURAL - PERCY EDWARDS (320kbs-m4a/68mb/30mins)
BBC Radio 4 Extra broadcast: 22nd April 2022

From Willow Warblers to Little Crakes.

Bird-imitator, animal impersonator and entertainer, Percy Edwards discusses his love of the British countryside and, in particular, its birdlife with Derek Jones.

Aided by recordings from the BBC Sound Archive.

Percy Edwards MBE: died aged 88 in 1996.

Producer: John Burton

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 1972.

Seriously... - Eider Island

SERIOUSLY... - EIDER ISLAND (320kbs-m4a/64mb/28mins)
BBC Radio 4 podcast: 19th March 2022

An intimate tale of bird-human interdependence. Eider ducks probably nested on Æðey - a small island in the Icelandic Westfjords - long before the first settlers arrived. And when the settlers arrived, the birds continued to nest there. There is one house on the island and, with spring, an extended family of eider farmers gathers from all over Iceland for an annual ritual. The farmers tend to the eider ducks, offering them protection in exchange for a harvest of precious feathers. Acclaimed Danish feature-maker Rikke Houd captures a day - and a centuries old tradition - on Æðey.
Presented and produced by Rikke Houd With specially composed music by Sóley Stefánsdóttir.

A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4

BBC Springwatch 2022 - Bee-eaters Breeding In Norfolk

Between The Ears - Flight Of The Monarch

BETWEEN THE EARS - FLIGHT OF THE MONARCH (320kbs-m4a/67mb/29mins)
BBC Radio 3 broadcast: 3rd January 2021

Composer and sound artist Rob Mackay traces the migratory route of the monarch butterfly, from the Great Lakes in Canada to the forests of Mexico, via the shifting coastal landscape of the eastern shores of Virginia.

Along the route of this sonic road-movie Rob meets people working to protect this extraordinary species: Darlene Burgess, a conservation specialist monitoring butterfly populations on the shores of Lake Eerie; Nancy Barnhart, coordinating the monarch migration programme for the Coastal Virginia Wildlife Observatory at Kiptopeke State Park, where we also encounter composer Matthew Burtner, whose sonifications of data from the local seagrass beds help track changes in the monarch's environment; and butterfly expert Pablo Jaramillo-López giving a tour of the Sierra Chincua and Cerro Pelón reserves in Mexico. We also hear reflections from the late Lincoln Brower, the American entomologist whose legacy has inspired many of today's research and conservation efforts.

The programme features Rob Mackay's binaural field recordings, and audio from live stream boxes, set up in partnership with the ecological art and technology collective SoundCamp to monitor the monarch's changing habitats. Plus Rob’s own flute playing, recorded in the Mexican forest meadows with David Blink on handpan and trumpet, alongside poetry in Spanish about the monarch by Rolando Rodriguez.

Between The Ears - The Lark Descending

BETWEEN THE EARS - THE LARK DESCENDING (320kbs-m4a/66mb/28mins)
BBC Radio 3 broadcast: 29th May 2022

Half environmental warning, half re-imagining of a classic work - The Lark Descending features the premiere of Hinako Omori's new electronic arrangement of Ralph Vaughan Williams' The Lark Ascending.

When Vaughan Williams wrote his most famous work in 1914, the skylark would have been a ubiquitous presence in the British countryside, but today the skylark is on the "red list" of conservation concern. This bird may have inspired one of the most famous pieces of classical music ever, but now we're facing an increasingly silent sky.

Between The Ears explores what we have lost, presenting The Lark Ascending in a new light, with a fresh, electronic arrangement. Here, the soloist is the skylark itself - captured by sound recordist Chris Watson in Northumberland this spring.

Naturalist and broadcaster Lucy 'Lapwing' Hodson explores the relationship between The Lark Ascending and the birds disappearing from our skies. Along the way, Lucy meets concert violinist Jennifer Pike at Vaughan Williams's childhood home, producer and nature beatboxer Jason Singh, and writer and conservationist Laurence Rose.

150 years after Vaughan Williams was born, the contrast between the popularity of his most famous work and the steady decline of skylark numbers in the UK has never been as stark. Composer Hinako Omori's electronic re-imagining of the piece explores this contrast, in the premiere of her new arrangement Conversation With A Lark.

Produced in binaural sound, immerse yourself in the skylark's world by wearing headphones for the best listening experience.

Credits
Producer: Rebecca Grisedale-Sherry
Mixing Engineer: Marvin Ware

BBC Springwatch 2017 - James Bayliss-Smith On Hilbre Island

BBC One Countryfile - Hoylake Beach

BBC North West Tonight - Hoylake Beach Report

Sable Island - A Dune Adrift

SABLE ISLAND - A DUNE ADRIFT (320kbs-m4a/64mb/28mins)
BBC Radio 4 Extra broadcast: 13th November 2021

100 miles east of Nova Scotia lies a 30 mile-long sand dune: Sable Island, population, two, who work in the weather and research station - and 300 wild horses.

Sean Street reveals how this remote place, this dune adrift in the Atlantic, is providing information vital to us all, and has gained a powerful presence in the imagination.

In the middle of the world's worst weather systems, held tentatively in place by ocean currents, it's the perfect place to monitor climate change, and air and sea pollution.

More than 500 ships have been wrecked here. There have been several attempts at colonisation, by the Portuguese, the French (Sable is the French word for Sand) and even a group of prominent Bostonians, and all have failed.

Thomas Raddell, Nova Scotia's finest writer, was a radio operator on Sable for a year, and this inspired his novel The Nymph and the Lamp. Poet Elizabeth Bishop visited and wrote about the island.

Sean examines wreckage from some of over 500 ships that came to grief here. There is a poignant baby's crib made from wreck wood. He meets artist Roger Savage who battled to capture the landscape. And he meets a man who dedicated years to studying the rare Ipswich Sparrow, which nests only here.

What emerges is that Sable Island is for the Canadians what the Galapagos are for the people of Ecuador, or Easter Island for Chileans. It is important scientifically and historically, but more than this it is important culturally, as part of their identity.

Producer: Julian May.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 2009.

Living World - Green Hairstreak

LIVING WORLD - GREEN HAIRSTREAK (320kbs-m4a/49mb/21mins)
BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 10th August 2014

The Living World is a natural history strand that revels in rich encounter, immersion in the natural world and warm, enthusiastic story telling.

The Green Hairstreak butterfly is small, bright green and feisty. The males fight for females, spiralling in the air at break neck speed. This lovely butterfly was not recorded in the Pentland Hills, south of Edinburgh, until 20 years ago but now populations are being discovered in more and more places. Sensitive management is helping bring back this bright jewel to the bilberry and heather clad hills. By excluding sheep and letting gorse and bilberry grow together the right conditions now exist. Green Hairstreak only appear on the wing in May and Victor Partridge takes Mary Colwell to see where he first spotted them in the Pentland Hills.

Living World - The Dance Of The Dragonfiles

LIVING WORLD - THE DANCE OF THE DRAGONFILES (320kbs-m4a/50mb/22mins)
BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 4th September 2016

Chris Packham relives programmes from The Living World archives.

In many ways 1985 changed Raury MacKenzie-Dodds' life. Idly walking along a London canal towpath a dragonfly landed on his shirt. So mesmerised was Raury by the beauty and form of this dazzling 'devils darning needle' as dragonflies are sometimes known, that a few years later he created the Ashton Water Dragonfly Sanctuary in Nottinghamshire.

In this programme from 1994 Lionel Kelleway travels to the Dragonfly Sanctuary to discover for himself why these aerial predators delight Raury so much. With them is dragonfly ecologist Erica Towner who's studies are providing a vital link between dragonflies and a changing environment.

Producer: Andrew Dawes

Living World - A Visit To Shetland (Bobby Tulloch)

LIVING WORLD - A VISIT TO SHETLAND (BOBBY TULLOCH) (320kbs-m4a/50mb/21mins)
BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 17th March 2019

In the 50 years of Living World it has traveled across almost every corner of the British Isles, sometimes it is a contributor rather than the wildlife which attracts attention. In this Living World from 1974 Peter France headed up to Shetland to meet the late Bobby Tulloch, who was then working for the RSPB. When Living World visited the arrival of the Shetland Oil industry was just in its planning stage and so this unique archive programme provides a glimpse back to those days. Bobby Tulloch himself rose to fame a few years before Living World visited as the finder of a Snowy Owl nest on Fetlar, the first ever substantiated record in Britain. In this programme Bobby takes Peter to the Snowy Owl site, along the way exploring some of the other wildlife in this 'Land of the Simmer Dim'

In the decades since this episode was first broadcast, Shetland's wildlife has changed and adapted. Today there is a museum containing Bobby Tulloch's archive, The Old Haa Museum and Visitor Centre on the island of Yell. Wildlife presenter Lindsey Chapman revisits this Living World and gently updates the story for today's audience.

Producer Andrew Dawes

Living World - Liverpool Brownfield

LIVING WORLD - LIVERPOOL BROWNFIELD (320kbs-m4a/50mb/22mins)
BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 1st November 2015

Chris Packham relives programmes from The Living World archives.

In this programme recorded in 1993, Lionel Kelleway is joined by Gary Clennan and pioneer of restoration ecology the late Tony Bradshaw, at a rubble strewn wasteland in Liverpool. As Shakespeare said, "all the World is a stage, all the men and women merely players", which sets the scene for Lionel to discover the process of habitat restoration in an urban landscape. Along the way Lionel, Gary and Tony are in search of nature's actors, performing in a wildlife play about scavengers, opportunists and colonisers.