Radio Times: Review by:; Eddie Mair

My regular burblings generally record my physical decline. Failing eyesight, thinning hair, the struggle to hear — the costs of getting older, which have no purchase with the under-25s. But there’s an upside to the relentless shuffle towards the grave. The younger me would have asked you to shoot him if you caught him: in a garden centre; joining the National Trust; or, worst of all, walking in the countryside just because.

Yet, lately, you can’t keep me away from country walking. It’s life-enhancing. But each adventure reminds me of how little I know about the soundscape that is as much a part of the experience as the crops, spinneys and cowpats. I want to know more but am not yet ready for the full-on Bill Oddie experience.

In A Guide to Farmland Birds, with Brett Westwood and Stephen Moss, there is enough for me and, I suspect, better-informed listeners (everyone else alive). Their knowledge is never used as a weapon, but their enthusiasm and love of birds are infectious.

The programme open with a sound I recognise — turns out it’s the skylark, “liquid warbling”. I will know it on my next walk. The red-legged partridge sounds like a “steam engine labouring up a hill” and the lapwing sound is compared to the soup dragon from Clangers. Chris Watson’s recordings are pin-sharp.

There’s explanation of why some of these birds are in decline, some old sayings and poetry (though that doesn’t help you tell the difference between rooks and crows), and this: “It’s impossible to feel sad when you hear a house sparrow chirping.”

About this programme

New series. Brett Westwood and Stephen Moss are joined by sound recordist Chris Watson on the Marlborough Downs in Wiltshire to offer advice on identifying birds. In this episode they focus on the species most likely to be seen and heard in arable fields, including skylarks, grey partridges, lapwings and red-legged partridges.