BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 7th to 11th January 2013
A series of five programmes to help you identify many of the birds seen and heard in Upland Britain; on heather moors, upland grasslands, cliffs and crags, bogs and mires and the high mountain tops. Not only is there advice on how to recognise the birds from their appearance, but also how to identify them from their calls and songs.
This series complements five previous series; A Guide to Garden Birds, A Guide Woodland Birds, A Guide to Water Birds, A Guide to Coastal Birds and A Guide to Farmland Birds and is aimed at both the complete novice as well as those who are eager to learn more about our upland visitors and residents.
Producer: Sarah Blunt.
A GUIDE TO MOUNTAIN AND MOORLAND BIRDS - 1. HEATHER MOORS (128kbs-m4a/13mb/14mins)
BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 7th January 2013
Which bird sounds like a coffee percolator and moves like a clockwork mouse? Well, the answer can be found in the first of a new series of guides to our commonest upland birds. Brett Westwood joins keen bird watcher Stephen Moss on the magnificent rolling hills of the Long Mynd in Shropshire where the air is filled with the 'go-back-back-back' calls of Red Grouse. With the help of recordings by wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson, Brett and Stephen offer a practical and entertaining guide to the birds which you're most likely to see and hear on heather moors in Upland Britain; birds like the Red Grouse, Black Grouse, Merlin and Short-eared Owl; an owl which you're likely to see hunting in daylight and whose eyes "look like fog lamps" exclaims Brett, "they glare at you bright, yellow and black!".
A GUIDE TO MOUNTAIN AND MOORLAND BIRDS - 2. CLIFFS AND CRAGS (128kbs-m4a/13mb/14mins)
BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 8th January 2013
Brett Westwood is joined by keen bird watcher, Stephen Moss on the magnificent rolling hills of the Long Mynd in Shropshire. With the help of wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson they offer a practical and entertaining guide to the birds which you're most likely to see and hear on the cliffs and crags of upland Britain; birds like the Raven, Peregrine and one of Brett's favourite birds, the Mountain Blackbird or Ring Ouzel; a bird he first saw in April 1971 when it stopped off migration and "I've never missed an Ouzel April since then" he says, returning to the same site every year to see this rather striking-looking bird, with its sooty black feathers and white crescent or bib.
A GUIDE TO MOUNTAIN AND MOORLAND BIRDS - 3. UPLAND GRASSLANDS (128kbs-m4a/13mb/14mins)
BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 9th January 2013
Brett Westwood is joined by keen bird watcher, Stephen Moss on the magnificent rolling hills of the Long Mynd in Shropshire as Skylarks rise up out of the heather all around them and pour out their liquid song. With the help of recordings by wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson, Brett and Stephen offer a practical and entertaining guide to the birds which you're most likely to see and hear on Britain's upland grasslands; birds like the Skylark (whose call Brett describes as sounding like "a sparrow with attitude"!), the Meadow Pipit, the Wheatear ("a bit like a light bulb against the moor" as it flies away from you), and the Curlew, whose bubbling song is so evocative of wild places.
A GUIDE TO MOUNTAIN AND MOORLAND BIRDS - 4. BOGS AND MIRES (128kbs-m4a/13mb/14mins)
BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 10th January 2013
Two birds with green legs, one with wing mirrors and a Common Gull that's not common at all (!) are discussed when Brett Westwood is joined by keen bird watcher Stephen Moss in rather wild and windy weather on the rolling hills of the Long Mynd in Shropshire. With the help of recordings by wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson, they offer a practical and entertaining guide to the birds which you're most likely to see and hear on Britain's bogs and mires; birds like the Golden Plover with its hauntingly beautiful song, the Dunlin, Greenshank and Common Gull.
A GUIDE TO MOUNTAIN AND MOORLAND BIRDS - 5. HIGH MOUNTAIN TOPS (128kbs-m4a/13mb/14mins)
BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 11th January 2013
Brett Westwood is joined by keen bird watcher Stephen Moss in rather wild and windy weather on the rolling hills of the Long Mynd in Shropshire and with the help of recordings by wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson, they offer a practical and entertaining guide to the birds which you're most likely to see and hear on Britain's high mountain tops; birds like Dotterel (which by an amazing bit of luck Brett and Stephen see on the Long Mynd as it stops off on migration), the colour changing Ptarmigan (known colloquially in America as the Snow Chicken because of its white colouring in winter) and a songbird, the Snow Bunting.
