Birds and the Battlefield
January 8th, 2009 by Steve BowbrickThis is just lovely. It's got the stuff you want from radio feature-making: something you didn't know, an unexpected insight, evidence that people you thought you knew all about aren't what you thought they were. It's about soldiers and birdwatching: specifically birdwatching done in warzones, birdsong on battlefields. Twitchers in uniform—and in peril of death. Moving and enlightening (web page, MP3). (Here comes the clunky link). And while we're talking about sound (we were talking about sound weren't we?), you should get over to the WNYC web site and listen to this really gorgeous show (there's a link to the MP3 on the page) from the Radiolab team (from the end of 2007) about the way they work with sound to tell stories. Clever and humane communication.
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 (
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