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Episode details

Radio 4,02 Nov 2025,1 min

Paul Farley on the Shelduck

Tweet of the Day

Available for over a year

Poet Paul Farley welcomes the return of the shelduck to our shores, back after their summer migration to the Wadden Sea. These vast mudflats off the coast of The Netherlands and Germany provide a refuge for shelducks as they go through their so-called 'catastrophic moult' where they simultaneously loose all their flight and tail feathers. Paul imagines this vast gathering of around 200,000 birds as sort of 'Shelduck Glastonbury' where they get completely flightless, and is always glad to see them home. Presented by Paul Farley and produced by Sophie Anton for BBC Audio in Bristol

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