Reading the Air

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BBC Radio 4 - Reading the Air

Writer Chris Yates looks to the skies in search of the wintering hen harrier.

Naturalist and writer Chris Yates looks to the skies in deepest Wiltshire in search of the wintering hen harrier.

“I mustn't speak, neither must I breathe. It really is something sacred coming towards me...”

In the depths of mid-winter, in the corner of a field on the Wiltshire-Dorset border, naturalist and writer Chris Yates has taken up his position. A fisherman for over 60 years, his rods and reels are gathering dust at home. Now in his mid 70s, he’s let go of his lifetime’s obsession to follow something new - the wintering hen harrier.

Chris now spends his winters in search of this most elusive of birds. We join him over two days as he looks to the skies, reading the air for clues as to when and where “the illustrious one” might just make an appearance. Even the briefest of sightings fills him with joy. 

We follow Chris along a wind-whipped hillside and through tree-chattering woods, hoping to catch a glimpse of the harrier’s slow-motion flight, and all the while delighting in the sights and sounds of an English mid-winter landscape.

Photo; Dan Shepherd

Original music; Ozzy Moysey (double bass), Phil Smith (piano) and Joel Whitaker (cello)

Produced by Dan Shepherd and Phil Smith

A Far Shoreline production for BBC Radio 4

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