Tweet of the Day

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Grey Plover Oct 11, 2013

Show notes

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Grey Plover. The call of the grey plover across the shimmering mud-flats of an autumn estuary is a haunting sound. They feed out on open mudflats using the "run, stop, peck" method....a quick run towards any worms or shellfish which they spot with those big eyes, stop, then a slight lean forward to pick it up.

Brambling Oct 10, 2013

Show notes

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.

Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Brambling. Bramblings are the northern equivalent of the chaffinch and breed across huge areas of Scandinavia and Russia. In autumn they migrate south in search of seeds and are particularly fond of beech-mast. The largest recorded gathering of any living bird species in the world is of a flock of over 70 million bramblings at a roost in Switzerland in the winter of 1951.

Common Pheasant Oct 09, 2013

Show notes

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.

Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Common Pheasant. The crowing of pheasants is a sound inseparable from most of the UK countryside, yet these flamboyant birds were introduced into the UK. The pheasant's coppery plumage and red face-wattles, coupled with a tail that's as long again as its body, make the cock pheasant a strikingly beautiful bird.

Bearded Tit Oct 08, 2013

Show notes

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Bearded Tit. Bearded Tit live in reed-beds, eat mainly reed-seeds in winter and build their nests using reed leaves and flower-heads. The males do have a flamboyant black moustache which would be the envy of any Chinese mandarin.

Pink-Footed Goose Oct 07, 2013

Show notes

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Pink-Footed Goose. To see and hear a skein of pink-footed geese as they fly from their roost on coastal mudflats to feed inland is a stirring experience. In winter the British Isles hosts well over half the global population of pinkfeet.

Ortolan Bunting Oct 04, 2013

Show notes

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.

Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Ortolan Bunting. Ortolan Buntings are smart relatives of our yellowhammer. They're migrants which winter in Africa and small numbers of birds heading south for the winter may turn up on our coasts in autumn. But until recently in parts of southern Europe, their arrival was welcomed by hunters with nets.

The sound archive recording of the ortolan bunting featured in this programme was sourced from: Volker Arnold, XC139765. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/139765.

Eider Oct 03, 2013

Show notes

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Eider. Eiders are northern sea-ducks perhaps most famous for the soft breast feathers with which they line their nests. These feathers were collected by eider farmers and used to fill pillows and traditional 'eider –downs'. Drake eiders display to the females with odd moaning calls which you can hear in the programme.

Red-legged Partridge Oct 02, 2013

Show notes

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Red-legged Partridge. The red-legged partridge, which are sometimes called French partridges, are native to Continental Europe and were successfully introduced to the UK as a game bird in the 18th century. Seen from a distance, crouching in an arable field, they look like large clods of earth, but up close they have beautiful plumage.

Redwing Oct 01, 2013

Show notes

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.

Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Redwing. The soft thin 'seep' calls of redwings as they fly over at night are as much a part of autumn as falling leaves, damp pavements and the smoke of bonfires. In winter up to a million redwings pour into our islands, most of them from Scandinavia and Iceland.

Serin Sep 30, 2013

Show notes

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.

Brett Westwood presents the serin. Serins breed just across the English Channel but they are small finches that continue to tantalize ornithologists here in the UK. Hopes were raised that this Continental finch would settle here to breed, especially if our climate became warmer. However, something about our islands doesn't suit them. They do like large parks and gardens, so keep an ear out for the song of this visitor....a cross between a goldfinch and a goldcrest, and you may be rewarded.

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