Radio Times: Review by:; Jane Anderson

Regular readers will know that I am a devoted fan of the output of natural history sound recordist Chris Watson, whose remarkable body of work has brought to life every continent of the globe in the most magical, inspiring ways. In this series his recordings paint vivid aural pictures of caves, which are cleverly edited around essays by writers, each of whom takes a very different approach to these dark hollows of nature.

My favourite is a recollection by Watson himself of time spent in the limestone caves of Waitomo in New Zealand and the Kverkfjoll caves in Iceland. Never has the sound of water dripping into an icy puddle been so eerie — it is as if the Earth herself has become a clock and this constant spectral beat is the sound of her ticking.

About this programme

1/5. New series. The first of five essays by different writers on the theme of caves. In this edition, Paul Evans considers the significance and symbolism of an image of a horse scratched onto the wall of a cavern in the Creswell Crags ravine, which lies on the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire border. Narrated by Paul Evans and Adjoa Andoh.