Speechification

Not much to say about this, except it's bloody lovely. Naturalist Paul Evans takes us on a sound tour of Dungeness and the Romney marshes. Enjoy. [MP3]

(Dungeness pic by me. More at Flickr.)

Yes. It's a documentary about ivy. So you'll learn more than you've been planning to learn about ivy lately. But it's also a gorgeous trip through the soundworld of mid-Wales. Put your headphones on: sheep, birdsong, all the intimate and incidental sounds of a walk in the Autumn countryside. Also the relaxed, unconscious, almost hypnotic ease of a seasoned broadcaster - Lionel Kellaway. Musical and quite intoxicating (MP3).

This programme - with all the other Radio 4 nature programmes - is available to listen to permanently on the web site (no seven-day expiry here). There's also an excellent, year-round podcast. I mentioned this one on my Listen with Bowbrick Twitter feed the other day too.

The picture is green/red ivy by Alex Pears and it's used under licence.

Atlantic Public Media curates a weekly podcast of nature programmes from all around North American public radio - a pretty rich source, it turns out. Here's a lovely short feature from the 1980s about snakes, produced by Public Radio veteran Jay Allison.

Wouldn't it be great to add the BBC's radio nature programmes to the mix? I wonder if anyone's thought about that. Especially since most of them are already available in perpetuity online. Here's the MP3 and here's how to support Atlantic Public Media.

The picture, Southern Copperhead, is by Reader Walker. Used under licence.

"A bit of a documentary, a bit of a panel game, and a lot of archive: if it was an animal it would be a platypus." That's how Sir David Attenborough describes this little oddity (although he could be describing Radio 4 itself). If you like this, you should check out 'Beardyman And The Mimics' for more animal-noise action.

David Attenborough hosts a celebration of bird impersonator Percy Edwards, who enjoyed a 70-year career impersonating birds and beasts. The programme combines the strange story of Percy's life with archive of his impersonations, interviews with those who knew him and a quiz. Guests include Bill Oddie and the comedian Alex Horne.

Thanks to Matt for the tip. [MP3]

A lovely programme about tiny things. And about Percy Smith - one of the pioneers of natural history film-making. MP3 here. You can watch an example of his films here.

Here's an idea. Set your alarm for 5:45 on Saturday morning. Don't get up: just roll over and switch on Radio 4. You'll almost always hear something lovely like this series about fungi. In this episode Lynne Boddy—one of those inspiring and passionate experts you can hear three or four times every day on Radio 4—talks about the fabulous web of battling fungi that lives just below the surface. A proper eye-opener... (MP3).

Elegiac, pre-dawn listening from my favourite provider of... er... elegiac pre-dawn listening: Lionel Kellaway. This edition of The Living World comes from an ancient rookery in Norfolk - nighttime home (since at least the Norman invasion) to tens of thousands of rooks. I feel almost certain that if there is a heaven (which, obviously, there isn't) it'll be people like Kellaway who provide the soundtrack (MP3).

Pic by John Haslam.

Britain (long before it was called Britain, obviously. I think it was called 'Ugghh') used to be joined to continental Europe ('Hagghh'). The land between the two long ago sank below the waves but down there, on the bottom of the ocean, is a pristine archaeological site. Not a narrow 'causeway' as people used to think but thousands of square kilometres of settlements, paths, riverbeds and burial grounds. From speechification's collection of 'scientists who can't contain their excitement' here's a 2005 show about the exploration of this mysterious and inaccessible domain, only recently uncovered with the help of oil industry seismic data. Fascinating (MP3).

I went outside earlier on and, blimey, it was Spring! I kid you not: crocuses, twittering birds, the works. So here's a Spring programme from a couple of years ago. A really lovely half hour about bumble bees from Lionel Kelleway and The Living World. The show went out in April 2005 and you don't even need this MP3 because the switched-on people in Radio 4's nature department keep a proper archive so here's a working Real stream.

Steve has raved about Chris Watson before. Maybe a couple of time actually. So I suspect he's going to be a speechification staple, his recordings are just brilliant. And the way he layers them together, edits and moulds them. I know it's a cliche, but it makes you listen to the world properly again. What's extra special about this programme is also hearing from Mr Watson himself, explaining what excites him about this stuff. MP3 here.

I was just thinking how I'd love to hear this sensibility applied to the city when I noticed on Mr Watson's website, that he's leading a 'Field Recording in the City' workshop at the Museum of Garden History on January 28th. Must go to that.