26 May 07
- Grant Sonnex
- 26 May 07, 06:20 PM
Thank you :-)
Don't miss the programme that we've made from blog.
........and what shall we do next?
cut and paste -- old-style!
this blog has now been turned into a radio programme Nature -- Spring Diary which you can hear On ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 4 at 9 p.m. on Monday, May 28, immediately after the first big television Springwatch programme. And it's repeated on Tuesday, May 29 at 11 a.m. or you can hear it by the listen again facility on the Radio 4 website.
It's been a real thrill to share the energy of this wonderful season with all of you........
Continue reading "Nature Spring Diary, May 26, 2007"
15 May 07
- Paul Evans
- 15 May 07, 02:48 PM
Picture taken by Mike Toms/BTO
The highlights of this blog will be broadcast on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 4 at 9pm Monday 28th May and at 11am Tuesday 29th May, so read Paul's entry and post a comment below.
You can also e-mail us your spring photos to add to our photo-gallery: nhuradio@bbc.co.uk
"Fifteenth of May. Cherry blossom. The swifts materialise at the tip of a long scream of needle. 'Look! They're back! Look!' ". So wrote Ted Hughes in his poem Swifts, and the spirit is so right - that grabbing at the experience, that greedy joy which meets the crazy energy of these birds somewhere halfway.
Continue reading "Nature Spring Diary 15th May 2007"
9 May 07
- Paul Evans
- 9 May 07, 05:47 PM
Picture taken by Tommy Holden/BTO
The highlights of this blog will be broadcast on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 4 at 9pm Monday 28th May and at 11am Tuesday 29th May, so tell us about the spring things happening near you - post a comment below.
You can also e-mail us your spring photos to add to our photo-gallery: nhuradio@bbc.co.uk
At last, I’ve caught up with many of you who’ve seen your first cuckoo. Mine was not here in Shropshire but 200 miles away at 4 o’clock in the morning on Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire. Slightly traumatised at being up that time in the morning, I was waiting for the dawn chorus walk to assemble outside the visitor centre at Wicken Fen National Nature Reserve when the cuckoo‘s call burst from the darkness.
Continue reading "Nature Spring Diary 9th May"
1 May 07
- Paul Evans
- 1 May 07, 02:17 PM
The highlights of this blog will be broadcast on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 4 at 9pm Monday 28th May and at 11am Tuesday 29th May, so tell us about the spring things happening near you - post a comment below.
You can also e-mail us your spring photos to add to our photo-gallery: nhuradio@bbc.co.uk
May Day, mayday: reading the papers and listening to the news, it seems the world is going to hell in a handcart...
Continue reading "Nature Spring Diary 1 May 2007"
24 Apr 07
- Paul Evans
- 24 Apr 07, 05:11 PM
The highlights of this blog will be broadcast on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 4 at 9pm Monday 28th May and at 11am Tuesday 29th May, so tell us about the spring things happening near you - post a comment below.
You can also e-mail us your spring photos to add to our Flickr site: nhuradio@bbc.co.uk
It’s St George’s Day, and as if to celebrate some essential Englishness, it’s raining. And about time too. In a spring which has sustained itself through weeks of hot dry weather on nothing more than dew and exuberance, this coy and gentle rain is a relief.
Continue reading "Nature Spring Diary 23 April 07"
11 Apr 07
- Paul Evans
- 11 Apr 07, 01:38 PM
Photo taken by Stephen Moody in the New Forest last weekend.
The highlights of this blog will be broadcast on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 4 at 9pm Monday 28th May and at 11am Tuesday 29th May, so tell us about the spring things happening near you.
The glorious weather spills over from Easter and the presence of Spring is captured by these wonderful observations in response to my last blog. Although there are no reports of cuckoos yet, many of you have heard that other onomatopoeic two-note wonder, the chiff-chaff. Julie heard the earliest one here on the 2nd April in Rotherham.
According to my friend, colleague on the Nature team and uber-naturalist, Brett Westwood, chiff-chaffs migrate to Britain from the Mediterranean but many over-winter in sewage farms in south west England then spread out through the country when the weather warms up to establish breeding territory and sing. So you can’t tell where the chiff-chaff you hear comes from.
Continue reading "Nature Spring Diary 11th April 2007"
1 Apr 07
- Paul Evans
- 1 Apr 07, 11:56 AM
What has made this spring special? What have you seen and when have you seen it? What does Spring mean to you? Join in the springtime conversation.
The highlights of this diary will be broadcast on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 4 on Monday, May 28 at 9 p.m. (repeated May 29, 11 a.m.) in the first of three special Springwatch editions of 'Nature'.
You can also e-mail us your spring photos to add to this page: nhuradio@bbc.co.uk
1 April 2007
It’s April Fool’s Day and I’m on a fool’s errand, listening for the cuckoo. I know it’s too early, I know the cuckoo is not due until later this month but I’m worried that it’s due at all. Newspaper articles say the cuckoo is declining rapidly. Its ‘host’ species - birds like dunnock, meadow pipit and reed warbler - whose nests the cuckoo commandeers for its own great lummox of an offspring - have declined like many farmland birds. Wet winters are killing off the big fat hairy caterpillars and the moths the cuckoo feeds on. And goodness know what is happening in its wintering grounds in central Africa.
Continue reading "Nature Spring Diary - 1st April 2007"
31 Mar 07
- Julian Hector
- 31 Mar 07, 02:51 PM
In the northern hemisphere spring has sprung and we all want to know what sort of spring you're sensing. So have a look at the diary entries above, send us your comments, and will be turning the Spring Diary on this blog into a programme on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 4, May 28, 9 p.m. BST .
21 Apr 06
- Julian Hector
- 21 Apr 06, 12:42 PM
Welcome to the blog of the radio team at the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Natural History Unit in Bristol, England. There are about a dozen of us here with a passion for the natural world and talking to people about it. We would love to know what you think about the programmes and the subjects that they cover. You'll find postings about programmes in the pipeline, ones that we're recording at the moment, and others that are already made. (You can hear those via the "listen again" links). So please join in the discussions, tell us what you think, and contribute to the programmes themselves. We look forward to hearing from you.
The Natural History Radio team
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