Main content
Sorry, this episode is not currently available

The Falcon and the Hawk

Falconer Helen Macdonald loved JA Baker's book The Peregrine as child. Her play brings their birds together. With David Birrell.

Helen Macdonald is a falconer and poet. She keeps a goshawk called Mabel. As a child she fell in love with a rare book of intense nature writing, J.A. Baker's The Peregrine, which records a winter watching wild peregrines on the Essex coast. Her new play brings her birds and his together. Baker tramps the bleak coastal marshes scanning the skies for fleeting moments of bloody drama as a peregrine stoops at immense speed after a plover or a pigeon. Helen woos her captive-bred goshawk in her spare bedroom - acclimatising it to human noise and human movement. Baker crouches over a half-dead pigeon and finishes it off for the wild falcon; Helen walks the city street with a goshawk on her fist. The stories begin to fly closer to one one another.

Part recorded on location on The Bird of Prey Centre at Newent, Gloucestershire.
Producer: Tim Dee.

45 minutes

Last on

Wed 6 Jul 2016 21:15

Credits

Role Contributor
JA Baker David Birrell
Young Helen Gemma Lawrence
Helen Helen Macdonald
Writer Helen Macdonald
Producer Tim Dee

Broadcasts

  • Thu 15 Sep 2011 14:15
  • Thu 10 Apr 2014 14:15
  • Wed 6 Jul 2016 11:15
  • Wed 6 Jul 2016 21:15

Opening Lines

Opening Lines

John Yorke unpacks the themes behind the stories in Radio 4's weekend afternoon dramas.

The Shakespeare Sessions

The Shakespeare Sessions

Immerse yourself in Shakespeare鈥檚 world