BBC Radio 4 - Open Country - 22 October 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 22 October 2005


	PRESENTERS

	HELEN MARK and RICHARD URIDGE



	More about Helen Mark




	More about Richard Uridge


	PROGRAMME DETAILS

	Saturday 22 October 2005
Bardsey Island, situated a couple of miles off the coast of North Wales, has been a place of pilgrimage since the fifth century. St Cadfan was drawn to Bardsey, which he saw as his place of "resurrection" and established a small religious community there. It's also an important staging post for migrating birds. Migration happens throughout the year but there are intense pulses of migration in spring and autumn when thousands of seafaring birds descend on the island, resting before they continue on their journeys to warmer climes. Bardsey Island info Colin Evans has lived on Bardsey all his life. He too, is a migrating species as every winter he leaves the island for the Welsh mainland, where he lives for five months. He has the fishing rights around Bardsey and earns his living selling his catch of lobsters and crabs. He loves Bardsey and, especially precious to Colin, is the independence it allows him. Colin says his way of life, a traditional one of "peasant fishermen", has sustained generations for hundreds of years and will continue to do so for hundreds more. He is not a fan of modern life and is adamant that his way of life is more "real" and the concrete canyons of city life is a man-made artifice. Rodger Lovegrove was head of the RSPB in Wales and, although he has retired, he still enjoys walking and bird watching on the Lleyn. He tells us of the great migrations that will begin at Bardsey, epic journeys undertaken by birds weighing only ounces and yet capable of travelling thousands of miles. These migrations have been going on since the continents separated millions of years ago and birds are oblivious to man-made boundaries that divide land into countries and states but the recent concern over migrating birds carrying disease such as avian flu has reminded us that these natural processes have effected our history too. The Rev Evelyn Davies is parish priest at Aberdaeron. She administers to her flock from the church of St Hywyns. St Hywyns is a beautiful stone church perched on a small rise on the sea front. The church has tended to pilgrims for centuries and still does today. Eighteen thousand people visted the church last year and people have gathered here for prayer and contemplation before they set out for Bardsey, fearful perhaps before their journey across the Sound to the island, in effect risking their lives to save their souls. Bardsey Sound is a treacherous stretch of water. Although only a few miles wide, the powerful tidal currents that swirl and pull boats onto the rocks make any journey to Bardsey one to be treated with caution - the sea bed of the Sound has gathered enough bones of unfortunate fishermen and pilgrims to demand respect from even the most experienced sailors. Pilgrim routes in North Wales Email Open Country: [email protected] The BBC is not responsible for external web sites

	RELATED LINKS BBC Holiday Category BBC Country file