BBC Radio 4 LW

The Diaries of Brett Westwood

The Diaries of Brett Westwood: Episode 3: Sewage

Documentaries

Factual

Factual: Science & Nature: Nature & Environment

Episode 3

Episode 3: Sewage

Sewage

BBC Radio 4 - The Diaries of Brett Westwood, Sewage

Brett Westwood reflects on wildlife changes in his local patch over 40 years.

Brett Westwood reflects on how the wildlife has changed in five different habitats of his local patch over the past 40 years. In this episode he visits a former sewage farm.

3. Sewage. When Brett Westwood began a wildlife diary at the age of 15, little did he think that he'd still be writing notes, nearly 40 years later about the same local patch in North Worcestershire.
In this series Brett returns, diaries in hand, to different areas of his local patch and compares notes from the past with the landscape and wildlife of today. There are genuine shocks and revelations.
In this programme, Brett visits a farm at Whittington. When he was a teenager, sewage was pumped out onto an area of about a square mile where cattle were grazed. In icy winters the fields did not freeze owing to the warmth provided by the sewage and the life breeding in it! Unusual for the West Midlands in winter, a regular flock of up to 200 curlews were joined by a pink-footed goose, pintails, wigeon, and in winter 1976 two spotted redshanks. These waders are very rare inland in winter and Brett, as a novice bird watcher at the time wasn't believed by the traditional and older birders. However once the record was accepted by the West Midlands Bird Club, the record spurred Brett on and his passion for wildlife and bird watching continues to this day. The old methods of spreading sewage stopped in the 1980s and the curlew flocks have gone but Brett still visits the area, and in recent years has been rewarded with sightings of barn owls and buzzards.

The series underlines the importance of keeping a diary like Brett's not just for personal notes but as a valuable document of change which is measurable from decade to decade.

Wildlife sound recordist: Chris Watson, Producer: Sarah Blunt.

BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

Radio 4

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Brett Westwood reflects on how the wildlife has changed in his local patch over 40 years.

Brett Westwood uses his diaries to reflect on how the wildlife has changed in five different habitats of his local patch over the past 40 years.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

The Diaries of Brett Westwood

Episode 3: Sewage

Genres

Formats

Series

BBC Radio 4 LW

About BBC Radio 4