Discovery - Carl Zeiss: A State Within A State

DISCOVERY - CARL ZEISS: A STATE WITHIN A STATE (64kbs-m4a/12mb/26mins)

BBC World Service broadcast: 15th November 2009

This edition of Discovery examines German partition and reunification as seen through the lens of one of the country’s most prestigious companies, Carl Zeiss. Like Germany itself, Carl Zeiss was divided after 1945 and the history of the two Zeiss factories, both specialising in optical technologies, mirrors post-war political, social and technological separation and subsequent re-unification.

Reporter Tim Whewell charts the history of the company, founded in 1846, which built a global reputation for producing high quality microscopes, scientific instruments, cameras and lenses. Originally based in Jena in eastern Germany, the company was split at the end of the Second World War, with the Americans taking top Zeiss scientists west, to Oberkocken and the peoples' enterprise, V.E.B Carl Zeiss Jena, continuing in the GDR.

Like Germany itself, where early post war hopes lingered that the country wouldn't be divided, both parts of the Carl Zeiss company initially struggled to maintain contact. But the bitterness and mistrust of the Cold War soon created deep political, economic and social divisions and the two parts of the company became bitter international rivals, arguing about who owned the Carl Zeiss trademark on the world market.

But in November 1989, 20 years ago, the Berlin Wall came down and while Germany reunified, Carl Zeiss in Oberkocken was determined that it too, should be reunited with Carl Zeiss in the East. For this Discovery, Tim Whewell, speaks to the key figures who negotiated the subsequent unification of Carl Zeiss, to workers in Jena, many of whom lost their jobs and to current staff and the company's leadership about the impact of this merger.

This edition of Discovery is part of BBC World Service’s 1989: Europe’s Revolution coverage, marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Nature Series 2 - 7. Seabirds - Canaries On The Cliffs

NATURE SERIES 2 - 7. SEABIRDS - CANARIES ON THE CLIFFS (128kbs-m4a/26mb/28mins)

BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 3rd June 2009

Chris Sperring explores declining seabird numbers and asks if it represents a crisis or just a blip.

Visit any windy, spray laden seabird colony in the spring and early summer and every sense is fired by the sound, sight and smell of thousands upon thousand of birds flying to and fro with fish to feed their young that are perched precariously on every ledge.

Or that is how it should be. In many seabird colonies it is now much quieter and many traditional nesting ledges are empty. Seabird ecologists are increasingly concerned about how many species are fledging young, and in some areas none are successful in raising chicks at all.

These worrying signs are increased by looking at the number of birds that are washed up dead on beaches during the winter months. Once the seabirds have left the cliffs in the summer they spend the rest of the year out at sea. But many are now succumbing to starvation and end up washed ashore. There are definitely signs that the North Sea is changing and that seabirds are finding it harder to cope.

Nature Series 2 - 6. Decline In Migrants

NATURE SERIES 2 - 6. DECLINE IN MIGRANTS (128kbs-m4a/26mb/28mins)

BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 27th May 2009

Brett Westwood searches for the reasons behind the declining numbers of many of our migrant songbirds - including the Cuckoo, Turtle Dove and Spotted Flycatcher - and where the birds are most vulnerable.

Speaking to researchers from the RSPB and British Trust for Ornithology, he explores the dual world of our migrants, like the Pied Flycatcher which spends its summers in the lush oak woods in the British Isles but winters in west African savannah woods. For some species, such as the Cuckoo which evolved in Africa, northern Europe is a treasure trove of habitats and food supplies to be exploited, and many of our successful migrants are birds which originated in Africa but then moved north to cooler areas to breed.

Do the reasons for them now being under threat lie here in the UK or south of the Sahara in their winter homes, and will they be able to evolve new wintering or summering areas to compensate for losses?

Nature - A Country Fit For Cranes

NATURE - A COUNTRY FIT FOR CRANES (128kbs-m4a/26mb/28mins)

BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 26th June 2007

Last month a pair of Cranes bred in the East Anglian fens, a remarkable event since their chosen habitat was only created seven years ago. Michael Scott visits Lakenheath Fen to see the birds for himself and talk to the RSPB about the arrival of the Cranes and its effect on plans for future wetlands.

Nature - Spring Songbird Special

NATURE - SPRING SONGBIRD SPECIAL (128kbs-m4a/26mb/28mins)

BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 5th June 2007

As part of the BBC's Springwatch event, Grant Sonnex presents the programme from the RSPB's reserve at Minsmere in Suffolk. Among the reed beds and woodlands, he revels in the voices of some of Britain's finest songbirds and hears about the lives that they lead before their chorus fills the spring air.

Nature - A Hundred Years Of British Birds

NATURE - A HUNDRED YEARS OF BRITISH BIRDS (128kbs-m4a/26mb/27mins)

BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 8th May 2007

Arguably the most influential journal of its genre, British Birds reaches its 100th birthday in June. With the help of leading ornithologists, Brett Westwood looks back at a history which mirrors the growth of birdwatching in the UK. He uncovers the scandal of the Hastings Rarities, the first arrival of the Collared Dove, and the unique legacy of observations in the magazine.

Discovery - Life On The East Asian Flyway - Part Four: The Arctic

DISCOVERY - LIFE ON THE EAST ASIAN FLYWAY - PART FOUR: THE ARCTIC (96kbs-m4a/18mb/26mins)

BBC World Service broadcast: 27th June 2016

After flying thousands of kilometres from faraway Bangladesh and New Zealand via the Yellow Sea, the shorebirds of the East Asian Flyway complete their northward migration. They touch down in the Arctic Russia and Alaska to breed

In May and June, birds such as the endangered spoon-billed sandpiper and red knot fill the air of the Russian tundras with their mating calls and display flights. But why travel so far to raise the next generation

Presenter Ann Jones also discovers why Russian and British conservationists are taking eggs from the nests of the spoon-billed sandpiper, the most endangered shorebirds in the world, in a last ditch effort to save the species from extinction.

Finally, with the mating season finished and a new generation ready to migrate for the first time, we follow the incredible non-stop flight of nine days by the bar-tailed godwit, as it migrates south from Alaska all the way to New Zealand. The record-breaking species is helped by somehow being able to sense the weather patterns across the entire Pacific Ocean.

The series is a co-production from the BBC World Service and Australian ABC Radio National. The sound recordings from Russia and Alaska were provided by the Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Image: Spoon-billed sandpiper chick in Chukotka, NE Russia. Credit: Nicky Hiscock.