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PROGRAMME INFO |
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The Living
World is a gentle weekend natural history programme,
presented by Lionel Kelleway, which aims to broadcast the
best, most intimate encounters with British wildlife. nhuradio@bbc.co.uk |
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LISTEN
AGAIN 25min |
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PRESENTER |
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"The Living World is the next
best thing to being there. Our contributors are skilled
naturalists who are able to reveal those fascinating facts
about animals and plants that you don't always find in books.
It's like having a personal guided tour of the countryside,
without needing to leave the house."
Lionel Kelleway
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PROGRAMME DETAILS |
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Herons
For some people, the main
experience they have of herons is when these large predators
come to raid goldfish from their garden pond. But in this
week's Living World, Lionel Kelleway has been given
permission to enter the largest heronry in the country, at the
Northward Hill RSPB reserve in Kent.
It's 75 years
since the heron became the subject of the longest-running
wildlife survey in the world and, to mark the occasion, heron
counts this year will be more detailed and extensive. Owen
Sweeney is co-ordinating the British Trust for Ornithology
census in Kent and he's a big fan of the birds.
In some
parts of the country grey herons are affectionately called
'Frank', because of the 'fraaaank' noise they make. Amid the
noise of the heronry, Lionel finds out more about these birds
at the top of the food chain.
At Northward Hill there
are more than 150 pairs of herons, which share the woods with
more than 200 pairs of noisy rooks. The birds tolerate each
other, but rooks have been known to predate heron eggs and
chicks, and the herons don’t want to leave their nests
unprotected for any length of time.
It’s the start of
the breeding season, and the herons at Northward Hill are busy
readying their nests. The giant birds, with a wing span of up
to six feet, constantly swoop backwards and forwards carrying
large twigs to line their treetop homes. It’s usually the
males who gather (or more often than not steal) the twigs, so
the female can arrange the nest the way she wants it. When one
partner returns to the nest after a period away, the two
herons greet each other with a special display.
The
grey heron has the scientific name Ardea cinerea which means
ash-coloured. During the breeding period the birds change
colour, with their legs going from brown to orange and their
plumage turning iridescent.
They are unmistakable
birds, and are a familiar sight. The RSPB estimates there are
13 thousand breeding pairs in the UK. Their success is partly
down to warmer weather in the past few decades, and protection
by law. In the Middle Ages herons were hunted for food, and
later on they were killed because they were a threat to the
fishing industry. Now herons are fully protected.
In
this final programme in the current series of Living
World Lionel and Owen creep into the heronry to get a
closer look, and see the herons go about their daily
lives.
Living World returns in
June. |
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