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Saving Species

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Examining the world of nature and the challenges of wildlife conservation

Saving Species: Series 2

Saving Species: Series 2: Episode 30

Episode 30

Series 2

BBC Radio 4 - Saving Species, Series 2, Episode 30

Brett Westwood rounds up a busy year and revisits some key stories from Saving Species.

As the year draws to a close, presenter Brett Westwood unpacks some seasonal updates, revisiting a few favourite stories including an update on Chris, the Saving Species cuckoo.

30/30 For the final live programme of the series there will be an update from the BTO on the location of the five tagged cuckoos in the forests of Central Africa. For now, the cuckoos - Lyster, Martin, Kasper, Clement and Chris - have settled in their wintering grounds. But in the months ahead they will begin their long journey back to the UK for the Spring. 

Also on the move but on a much shorter journey are shags. Leaving their summer breeding cliffs they disperse for the winter along the coastline, and can be found anywhere from Orkney to Yorkshire. Bob Swann reports from his well-monitored seabird cliffs at North Sutor in Scotland where he has been checking the ring numbers of the shags. Brett also speaks to Jane Reid who is collecting information from such sightings - information which is helping reveal why and where the shags winter.

We then travel to the other end of the country where Peter Burgess from the Devon Wildlife Trust takes Chris Sperring on an end of year update on the beavers who are being used to manage rare culm grassland. Before finally we travel abroad, this time to Brazil, where our globetrotting reporter Mark Brazil reports on the conservation of the rare Lear's Macaw. 

And Kelvin Boot joins Brett in the studio with the latest Wildlife news roundup, and to throw down a gentle challenging gauntlet with a new Open University i-spot initiative "New Life" which we hope to report back the results of this in the spring. 

Keep an ear out for the Saving Species special debate on "Sustaining Life" pre-recorded for broadcast on Friday 23rd December at 8pm.

Presenter: Brett Westwood
Producer: Sheena Duncan
Editor: Julian Hector.

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