Sounds Natural - Brian Blessed

SOUNDS NATURAL - BRIAN BLESSED (320kbs-m4a/57mb/25mins)
BBC Radio 4 Extra broadcast: 12th November 2019

Actor and explorer, Brian Blessed discusses his interest in wildlife and mountaineering with Derek Jones.

The Alligator, Clouded Leopard, Baboon, Ocelot and Geoffroy's Cat are among his choice of recordings from the BBC Sound Archives.

Produced in Bristol by John Burton.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1975.

Goosander, Central Park Lake 10th January 2021

Local birder Rob Bithell reported a female Goosander and a Wigeon on Central Park Lake, Wallasey, yesterday. I took a look this morning not really expecting the Goosander to still be present, but it was, and the Wigeon. Certainly, the closest to home I've seen Goosander.

Mandarin Duck, Arrow Park Lake 7th January 2021

A visit to Arrow Park proved fruitful earlier today. There were five pairs of Mandarin Ducks on the lake. Rather conveniently, a couple clambered down to the edge of the lake opposite me to feed the ducks. Their offerings of bread brought most of the varied population of ducks out into the open water. Most of the Mandarins had been partially hidden in the dense thicket at the edge of the water until this moment. Other birds seen in a wander around the park included Nuthatch, Greater Spotted Woodpecker, Long-tailed Tit, Bullfinch, Jay, Kestrel & Sparrowhawk.

Snow Bunting, Hoylake 6th January 2021

There's been a flock of eight Snow Buntings on the beach at Hoylake for a couple of weeks, so I popped over today to take a look. Although the flock wasn't difficult to find they did suffer from repeated flushings by dog walkers, other members of the public and a rather selfish young photographer. I'm amazed they put up with all this disturbance, but they do keep returning to their favoured area just west of the Lifeboat station. With patience good views were possible from the promenade without venturing onto the beach.

Discovery - Birds: Singing For Survival

DISCOVERY - BIRDS: SINGING FOR SURVIVAL (320kbs-m4a/61mb/26mins)
BBC World Service broadcast: 9th November 2020

As large areas of the world have locked down this year, many of us have become more aware of the birdsong around us. The relative silence has allowed us to listen in. But scientists have known for several years that the birds themselves have been responding to human noise too, by pitching their songs and other calls higher, to be heard over the rumble of our urban life.

There are several ways in which birds can adapt how they communicate in the face of environmental pressures, but what are the limits to these adaptations? And what can this tell us about how to maximise conservation efforts in the future? Rory Crawford talks to ornithologists and animal behaviourists studying bird species around the world. He finds out how the advance of technology is helping researchers explore birds' preferences and behaviours in the wild, and hears how one particular bird changed its song, and the new version rapidly spread across North America – "the most viral tweet of all time", as it's been called!

Picture: A Robin [Erithacus rubecula], Credit: Gary Chalker/Getty Images

The Listening Service - Is Birdsong Music?

THE LISTENING SERVICE - IS BIRDSONG MUSIC? (128kbs-m4a/32mb/34mins)
BBC Radio 3 broadcast: 7th June 2020

Birdsong has fascinated composers for centuries, but is it really music as we understand it? Tom Service asks how birdsong has inspired and equipped human music over the years. He listens to music inspired by birdsong, made up from elements of birdsong and performed alongside birdsong - why does it have such a deep effect on the human psyche and how have the sounds of the natural world informed the development of human music?

With contributions from sound recordist, musician and ecologist Bernie Krause, Messiaen scholar Delphine Evans and naturalist Stephen Moss. Also archive material from Ludwig Koch, the pioneering sound recordist who made the first documented recording of a bird as an 8-year-old in 1889.

Rethink Music, with The Listening Service.

Each week, Tom aims to open our ears to different ways of imagining a musical idea, a work, or a musical conundrum, on the premise that "to listen" is a decidedly active verb.

How does music connect with us, make us feel that gamut of sensations from the fiercely passionate to the rationally intellectual, from the expressively poetic to the overwhelmingly visceral? What's happening in the pieces we love that takes us on that emotional rollercoaster? And what's going on in our brains when we hear them?

When we listen - really listen - we're not just attending to the way that songs, symphonies, and string quartets work as collections of notes and melodies. We're also creating meanings and connections that reverberate powerfully with other worlds of ideas, of history and culture, as well as the widest range of musical genres. We're engaging the world with our ears. The Listening Service aims to help make those connections, to listen actively.

BBC Archive Recording - Dawn Chorus
Field Recording - Nightingale [Wildsounds]
Field Recording - Blackbird [Wildsounds]
BBC Archive Recording - Starling [BBC]
BBC Archive Recording - Skylark [BBC]
Anon - Sumer Is Icumen In [Chandos]
Field Recording - Cuckoo [Wildsounds]
Louis‐Claude Daquin - Suite For Harpsichord No. 3 In E Minor, No.1; Le Coucou [Archiv]
Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony No. 6 (Op. 68) In F Major "Pastoral" 2nd Movement, Szene Am Bach [Archiv]
Gustav Mahler - Symphony No. 1: 1st Movement [DG]
Luigi Boccherini - Quintetto VI In D Major, G 276 "L'Ucelliera" - 2nd Movement: Allegro Giusto [Brilliant Classics]
Clément Janequin - Le Chant Des Oiseaux [HMC]
Ralph Vaughan Williams - The Lark Ascending For Violin And Orchestra [Warner]
Ottorino Respighi - The Pines Of Rome: The Pines Of The Janiculum [Decca]
Einojuhani Rautavaara - Cantus Arcticus [Naxos]
Olivier Messiaen - Petites Esquisses d'Oiseaux; Le Rouge Gorge [Unicorn]
Olivier Messiaen - St Francis Of Assissi - Act 2 Le Preche Aux Oiseaux [Cybelia]
Olivier Messiaen - Chronochromie - VI Epode [EMI]
Olivier Messiaen - Oiseaux Exotiques [Disques Montaigne]
Olivier Messiaen - Cataloge d'Oiseaux - La Bouscarle [Erato]
Olivier Messiaen - Cataloge d'Oiseaux - Le Courlis Cendré [Erato]
Phil Riddett - British Wren [British Library]
Ludwig Koch - Wax cylinder recording of Indian Shama (1889)
Ludwig Koch - Wax cylinder recording of Blackbird (1901)
Ludwig Koch - Recording Bitterns
Jim Fassett - Symphony Of The Birds - 1st Movement: Andante E Lirico [EMI]
Richard Savage - Goldcrest [British Library]
Richard Blackford And Bernie Krause - The Great Animal Orchestra - 1. Introduction And Tuning [Nimbus]
Jonathan Harvey - Bird Concerto With Pianosong [NMC]

Costing The Earth - Silencing With Noise

COSTING THE EARTH - SILENCING WITH NOISE (320kbs-m4a/63mb/28mins)
BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 5th May 2020

Sound is what the world does. From the tiniest bugs to the largest whales, animals use sound to communicate, for example, they sing to attract a mate and establish a territory. But this is all happening against a background of man-made noise that was, until the last few weeks, increasing in volume all the time. So what happens if you can’t hear or make yourself heard or you are too stressed or distracted to behave normally? Andy Radford, Professor of Behavioural Ecology at the University of Bristol explores the impact of this global pollutant and the mitigation measures that could help.

Producer: Sarah Blunt