BBC Radio 4 - Open Country - 26 February 2005

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BBC Radio 4 - 92 to 94 FM and 198 Long Wave

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OPEN COUNTRY

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	PROGRAMME INFO

	Saturday 6.10-6.35am Repeated Thursday 1.30-2.00pm


	From Shetland to the Scilly Isles, Open Country travels the UK in search of the stories, the people and the wildlife that make our countryside such a vibrant place. Each week we visit a new area to hear how local people are growing the crops, protecting the environment, maintaining the traditions and cooking the food that makes their corner of rural Britain unique. Email: [email protected] Postal address: Open Country, BBC Radio 4, Birmingham, B5 7QQ.


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	Listen to Open Country for 26 February 2005


	PRESENTERS

	HELEN MARK and RICHARD URIDGE



	More about Helen Mark




	More about Richard Uridge


	PROGRAMME DETAILS

	Saturday 26 February 2005
How we see and think about the world is as individual as we are. We use our senses and brain to make "sense" of the world around us. But how do the birds, insects and animals that inhabit our countryside perceive their world? How do their senses work and how do they differ from ours? Richard Uridge delves into the realm of the senses. Geoff Sample has spent years recording the sounds of the countryside. His ambient soundscapes instantly transport us into the countryside creating a landscape we may be familiar with but also a landscape of our imagination mixing memory and emotions to form a new heightened experience. Geoff also uses the birdsong he has recorded to explore the senses of the birds themselves. How would a bird hear the songs? Is it in the same timeframe as us for example? By slowing down the song of the skylark Geoff demonstrates how intricate and complex a few seconds of birdsong can be. He plays an example and the complexity transmitted in "seconds" is astounding. Geoff also tells Richard of how the sound of the countryside has been his "entry point" into the natural world, a world he feels is more "real" than most of life's experiences. Geoff Sample's work Dr Ian Morrison works at Jodrell Bank, the world's third largest radio telescope.Situated in the Cheshire plain, the main telescope at Jodrell bank is sensitive enough to receive a mobile phone signal from Mars - if one was ever sent of course. It receives radiation from space and Ian and his colleagues use their senses and imagination to interpret what the radiation could tell us about the universe. He tells Richard about pulsars - stars that are dying and spinning faster and faster, sending out pulses of radiation as they speed up, these pulses are detected by the telescope and when played through a loudspeaker they generate an audio tone. When scientists first heard the pulses they half seriously thought it may be ET phoning home but it does provide a fascinating, tangible expression of the workings of the universe. Jodrell Bank Professor Graham Martin is an Avian Sensory scientist. He has spent a large part of his life studying how birds perceive the world around them. He tells Richard how many birds and insects can see ultra violet light for example and how that would transform their surroundings, colours would be a lot more vibrant and vivid. He also points out that many birds have 360º vision, a concept which is obviously beyond our understanding but he explains how we can use our brain to imagine and try and "think" our way into that world. He spends hours sitting in the woods "thinking" his way into the world of the Tawny Owl. Professor Martin says that the secret of the owl's prowess at hunting is not its heightent senses but its complete familiarity with its surroundings. It spends all its life in one small area, building up a store of experience and knowledge of every sound and it's this intimate knowledge that enables it to hunt at dusk in very little light. Professor Graham Martin Email Open Country: [email protected] The BBC is not responsible for external web sites

	RELATED LINKS BBC Holiday Category BBC Country file