My Living World

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Living World

Factual: Science & Nature: Nature & Environment

The Living World

Getting up close and personal with wild nature in Britain and beyond.

Intimate encounters and extraordinary observations of wild nature in Britain and beyond.

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Living World: My Living World: Jackdaw Roost

Jackdaw Roost

BBC Radio 4 - Living World, My Living World, Jackdaw Roost

Hannah Stitfall and Billy Clarke discuss a winter jackdaw roost from Living World archive

Hannah Stitfall and Billy Clarke reveal another pick from the Living World archive; Jackdaw Roost. As night gathers, jackdaws in their thousands gather over the British landscape.

Naturalist and wildlife film maker Hannah Stitfall is joined by Billy Clarke, a researcher with the BBC Natural History Unit to discuss another selection from the LIVING WORLD archive. 

In this episode from 2011 Joanna Pinnock wonders what makes jackdaws roost together, and to find out more heads to the Cambridgeshire countryside with corvid scientist Dr Alex Thornton. Arriving in the dead of night they await one of nature’s spectacles, of thousands of jackdaws simultaneously leaving their night roost in a cacophony of sound. It is one of those winter spectacles often overlooked but rivalling any in the natural world. So what is actually going on here? For Hannah and Billy this gives them the opportunity to discuss corvid activity. Science is beginning to unravel the biology and social intelligence of corvids, recently dubbed feathered apes, but there is a lot still to learn about these familiar if mysterious jackdaws. If the morning was a spectacle, how will that compare with the evening gathering at the roost; some roosts have been recorded in the Domesday Book and are still being used centuries later?

Producer Sarah Blunt

Living World: My Living World

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

Hannah Stitfall and guest discuss a selection from the Living World archive.

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