Satush Kumar was born in Rajasthan, India, where the Peacock, the Mayura, is a sacred bird and also associated with the monsoon. In India, it is believed that after the long, hot summer peacocks come out and display their bright and vibrant feathers in an extravagant dance to please Indra, the god of rain, before calling to let the rains begin, bringing relief to plants, animals, soils and humans. Producer : Andrew Dawes Image : Copyright Resurgence Magazine

Peace & environment activist, Satish Kumar has lived in Devon for many years. In his garden he loves hearing the sweet melodious calls from a blackbird singing on a stone wall. Producer : Andrew Dawes Picture : Copyright Gregg Dalgllish / Resurgence Magazin

For Welsh poet and playwright Gillian Clarke she has had two close encounters with a grey heron, including the one in her garden reminding her of a Bishop wearing vestments. You can hear more from Gillian in the Tweet of the Week Omnibus available on BBC Sounds Producer : Andrew Dawes

Welsh poet and playwright Gillian Clarke first saw a red kite in the Welsh mountains as a child, a bird which now has expanded east and now Gillian regularly sees them sky-dancing over Reading while she travels to London on the train. You can hear more from Gillian in her Tweet of the Week omnibus, available as a download from the website, or on BBC Sounds Producer : Andrew Dawes

For wildlife sound recordist Geoff Sample the strange sound of Dupont's lark is something of an enigma, as despite recording half a dozen birds he has never actually seen one. Producer : Andrew Dawes

For wildlife sound recordist Geoff Sample hearing the jazz like notes of the Orphean warbler on the island of Lesvos reminds me of the legend of how the bird got its name. All this week Geoff will be selecting his bird species from the Tweet of the Day archive which can be heard again on the Tweet of the Week Omnibus. Producer : Andrew Dawes

Natural history writer, speaker and Natural history writer, speaker and tour leader Dominic Couzens is at the helm this week for Tweet of the Day. For Dominic the impeccably turned out goldfinch is the avian glitterati, bird royalty, star quality on the feeders. Yet it was an encounter with 400 goldfinch feeding on thistle seed heads which captivated Dominic. You can hear more from Dominic in his Tweet of the Week omnibus available on the Radio 4 website or via BBC Sounds. Producer Andrew Dawes

Natural history writer, speaker and tour leader Dominic Couzens is in the chair this week for Tweet of the Day. Taking a break from his worldwide travels, Dominic recounts why the moorhen is a comical bird which can hold a few surprises that's no laughing matter. You can hear more from Dominic in his Tweet of the Week omnibus available on the Radio 4 website or via BBC Sounds. Producer Andrew Dawes

For many, actress Trudie Goodwin is best known for her television roles as Sergeant June Ackland in The Bill and latterly in Emmerdale. But during all that time Trudie has possessed a lifelong love of bird watching. At the age of ten she was given the Collins Book of British Birds, which on a well thumbed page contained occasional accidental migrants which could be found in Britain, including the hoopoe. It was not until much later in life that she finally managed to see this bird, while on holiday in Portugal. Producer: Andrew Dawes

Trudie Goodwin is probably best known for her television roles as Sergeant June Ackland in The Bill and latterly in Emmerdale. But during all that time Trudie has possessed a lifelong interest in birds and bird watching. It was while on holiday in the Caribbean that Trudie first heard the call of the male carib grackle, a tropical blackbird. And she fell in love with this noisy, curious and intelligent bird so much she'd have loved to bring one home with her after the holiday.. Producer : Andrew Dawes

For actress Kirsty Oswald, an appreciation of nature has always been a family affair. In this episode of Tweet, she explains how it was her Uncle who sparked her fascination with the natural world, and what the significance of the robin's place in Irish folklore means to her. Producer Elliott Prince

Actress Kirsty Oswald has embarked on an ambitious bird-watching feat; over the course of a year, she plans to spot 100 different species of bird in the British Isles. In this episode of Tweet of the Day, she explains how a serendipitous walk led to her undertaking such a task, and how enthusiasm, enjoyment and a love of walking can be more fortuitous than formal ornithological knowledge. Producer: Elliott Prince

For Rachel Unthank a lifetime interest in the magpie provides inspiration for this Tweet of the Day. Along with her sister Becky, Rachel is part of the family affair The Unthanks from the North East of England. As one of the leading exponents of traditional music The Unthanks are equally at home playing to Tyneside folk club one night, 2000 Londoners the next before inspiring the next generation of songwriters at a primary school. They see their work as delivering an oral history for the modern audience. Which is perfect for Tweet of the Day, as Rachel recalls how her son drew her a special button to represent a magpie, and why offering an old lady a lift may inspire some deep held beliefs on the role of magpies in bringing bad luck as they cross your path.. You can hear more from Rachel in her Tweet of the Week podcast, downloadable from BBC Sounds Producer Andrew Dawes

For Becky Unthank her interest in birds goes beyond just watching them while out in the countryside, as she has recently named her son wren to reflect her love of the natural world. Along with her sister Rachel who will present her own Tweet of the Day next week, The Unthanks is a family affair from the North East of England. As one of the leading exponents of traditional music they have been nominated for the Mercury Music Prize and represent the only British folk group in the The Guardian's and Uncut's best albums of last decade. Categorizing their music is difficult, but The Unthanks see their work and songs as less a style of music and more delivering an oral history for the modern audience. Which is perfect for Tweet of the Day, as Becky Unthank recalls how her son was named wren and also how she has been inspired by the story of the King of the Birds. You can hear more from Becky in her Tweet of the Week podcast, downloadable from BBC Sounds Producer Andrew Dawes

For writer, gardener and TV presenter Monty Don, swallows are as central to his garden as any plant. Their return to the garden in April brings a soaring familiarity of song, which when they depart in September leaves the skies above silent and empty, and for Monty a feeling of loss and longing for their return after the long winter months. Monty Don takes over the Tweet of the Day output this week with a selection of seasonally relevant episodes by Sir David Attenborough. Producer Andrew Dawes

For writer, gardener and TV presenter Monty Don, the changing seasons herald different sounds and atmospheres in the garden. In autumn as the leaves begin to fall, the arrival of flocks of fieldfares from the north of Europe are as much a part of the garden in winter as are summer migrants during the long days of June. A mixture of truculence and shyness, everything about fieldfares is harsh or jerky, but for Monty he likes them. Producer Andrew Dawes

Former Stornoway band member Brian Briggs with a story of how the chaffinch song was the first he recognised. Brian, now a reserve manager at the Wetlands and Wildlife Trust's Llanelli Wetland Centre, remembers how his first job as an ecologist at Oxford's Wytham Woods ignited his journey into learning the language of birds throughout the seasons. Producer: Andrew Dawes

Brian Briggs, former singer, lyricist, and guitarist with the band Stornoway, has had a lifelong passion for the natural world and birding, even completed a PhD on ducks. Stornoway, who's third album Bronxie (the colloquial name for the arctic skua) finally disbanded in 2017, allowing Brian to convert his hobby and long standing love affair with birds into a career. He is now is the reserve manager of the Wetlands and Wildlife Trust's Llanelli Wetland Centre. With a lifetime of bird knowledge, Brian recalls the other-worldly sound of Manx Shearwaters, calling from their burrows on the island of Skomer in west Wales, the largest known concentration of these birds in the world. Producer Andrew Dawes

Although Carry Akroyd, who is is President of the John Clare Society, grew up in the countryside, as a child she was never shown or taught anything of the natural world around her. It was not until adulthood that a revelatory moment occurred. Walking one day in Wicken Fen, that she heard an unfamiliar noise above her, which she discovered was the drumming flight of an overhead snipe, a bird whose long bill the peasant poet John Clare described as "...of rude unseemly length" . Carry has chosen 5 episodes from the back catalogue to share with you, which you can hear Monday to Friday and in the Tweet of the Week Omnibus. Producer Andrew Dawes

Calling herself a bird noticer rather than a bird watcher, for painter and print maker Carry Akroyd birds are part of the landscape she connects to for her work. Carry illustrated the Tweet of the Day British Birds book in 2013, where she began noticing birds of a single bold colour; black, white, or even black and white. Producer Andrew Dawes

Throughout the First World War, birds were protected across the Western Front and elsewhere, which resulted in some remarkable stories of soldiers ceasing fire in order to protect birds from being killed. Writer Derek Niemann who worked for the RSPB for 25 years, has latterly turned his time to writing, including the book Birds in a Cage, an affectionate tale of British prisoner of war ornithologists. Derek recalls how one species, the grey partridge, thrived in the area that became known as no-mans land. Including one remarkable story involving a French Colonel who halted a planned artillery barrage to allow his sergeant to move a covey of grey partridge to safety. Producer Andrew Dawes

Derek Niemann recalls that within the horrors of the First World War the ubiquitous house sparrows living in the shattered buildings along the Western Front were one of the great survivors during the onslaught. Despite the devastation they thrived within the ruins of bombed out buildings and for the soldiers these 'wee spuggies' brought a little bit of home, and hope, to their day. Derek who previously worked for the RSPB for 25 years, has latterly turned his knowledge of birds and nature into a career as a writer, including the book Birds in a Cage, an affectionate tale of British prisoner of war ornithologists. For the next two weeks Derek has chosen episodes from the Tweet of the Day archive, with a connection to times of conflict. Derek begins his tenure curating the archives with his own tale. You can hear more from Derek and his interest in birds during wartime in the Tweet of the Week podcast, available as a download from the Radio 4 website.. Producer Andrew Dawes

Author of the prequel detective Jack Frost thrillers James Henry picks the diminutive, non native little owl beloved by Florence Nightingale for his Tweet of the Day. The diminutive little owl takes it genus name, Athene from Athena, the Olympian goddess for war and wisdom, and protector of Athens. It is from this ancient connection that Western culture derives an association of wisdom and knowledge with owls. And maybe why Florence Nightingale on a tour of Greece rescued a Little Owl chick she found at the acropolis. The owl, she named Athena was her companion for 5 years. Producer Andrew Dawes

Detective Jack Frost prequel author James Henry picks the yellowhammer, whose song is believed to have influenced one of the world’s greatest composers Ludwig Van Beethoven.. Although many think the yellowhammer is a symbol of English farmland, it is in reality very much a European bird, famous for it's song. The natural world provided Ludwig Van Beethoven with a constant source of ideas and a number of his works are often attributed to the yellowhammer’s song. Many critics cite the dramatic first four bars of Beethoven's fifth symphony but for James and many others the more gentle first movement of Beethoven's fourth piano concerto is a more fitting celebration and for James it is that which he listens to during the winter months to remind him of the summer, and his favourite farmland bird. Producer Andrew Dawes

Theatre maker artist Tom Bailey, the parallels between human migration and bird migration are different, yet strangely possess many cross-overs. Tom has chosen five episodes from the Tweet of the Day archive which you can hear all this week. In addition you can hear more from Tom and his artistic work Zugunruhe, an ornithology term for 'migratory restlessness in birds', in the Tweet of the Week podcast, available on the Radio 4 website as a download. You can read more about Zugunruhe and Tom's other projects on the website: http://www.mechanimal.co.uk/ Podcast Producer: Elliott Prince Producer: Andrew Dawes

Being a human, being a bird, is fun, stupid, impossible, tragic, sweaty, lonely, wild, restless and death to your vocal cords. So says theatre maker Tom Bailey who has spent much of 2018 following in the migratory restlessness of the marsh warbler in his Tweet of the Day. Tom has chosen his five episodes from the Tweet of the Day archive which you can hear all this week. In addition you can hear more from Tom and his artistic work Zugunruhe, an ornithology term for 'migratory restlessness in birds', in the Tweet of the Week podcast, available on the Radio 4 website as a download. Podcast Producer: Elliott Prince Producer: Andrew Dawes

For singer and songwriter Kitty Macfarlane the natural world and the landscape around her provides the inspiration for her work, especially when she takes a sound recorder out with her to record bird songs. Or takes part in an eel project, with an ever present grey heron never far away. Kitty continues her selections from the Tweet of the Day back canon.. You can hear all five episodes chosen this week, and further thoughts from Kitty on how she first saw a bittern recently via the the Tweet of the Week omnibus edition, which is available to download via the Radio 4 Website. Producer : Andrew Dawes

Singer songwriter Kitty MacFarlane has a strong connection to a Sense of Place in her work, especially the Somerset Levels and the birds which flock there providing inspiration. A previous semi-finalist in the BBC Young Folk awards, Kitty begins her first week selecting from the Tweet of the Day back catalogue. You can hear all five episodes chosen this week, and further thoughts from Kitty on how the landscape influences her work via the the Tweet of the Week omnibus edition, which is available to download via the Radio 4 Website. Producer Andrew Dawes.

For editor of The Countryman magazine, Mark Whitley, autumn may be around the corner, but he's transported back to spring. The sight of male lapwings performing their tumbling display flight, and hearing their distinctive 'peewit' call is a sure sign that spring is on its way to the Yorkshire Dales. Mark begins his second week curating the back catalogue from Tweet of the Day. You can hear all five episodes chosen this week, and further thoughts from Mark and his passion for the natural world via the the Tweet of the Week omnibus edition, which is available to download via the Radio 4 Website.

Editor of The Countryman magazine Mark Whitley reveals how moving offices recently has opened up a whole new vista of bird species in this Tweet of the Day. Mark begins his two weeks curating the back catalogue from Tweet of the Day. You can hear all five programmes chosen this week, and some thoughts from Mark and his passion for the natural world via the the Tweet of the Week omnibus edition, which is available via the Radio 4 Website. Producer Andrew Dawes.

Kate Bradbury loves watching the swifts screaming across her new garden in the centre of Hove near Brighton. As yet though they aren't nesting in here house, but with help, they might just do so. As a wildlife gardener Kate encourages as many bird species as possible to visit. But for this Tweet of the Day it may be a slight wait until she can call the swifts over Sussex, her swifts. As Kate heads into her second week curating her favourite episodes from the Tweet of the Day back catalogue, you can hear all five programmes chosen this week, and some thoughts from Kate about her love of wildlife in the Tweet of the Week omnibus edition, which is available via the Radio 4 Website. Producer: Andrew Dawes Photograph: Paul Dubois.

Kate Bradbury loves the sparrows which come into her tiny garden in Hove near Brighton. As a wildlife gardener she is passionate about organic, wildlife-friendly gardening and has recently documented her love of creating a wildlife oasis in her latest book The Bumblebee Flies Anyway. But for this Tweet of the Day, Kate returns to those noisy chirruping sparrows which provide a calm in the urban jungle. So we begin Kate's first week curating her favourite episodes from the Tweet of the Day back catalogue. You can hear all five programmes chosen this week, and some thoughts from Kate about her passion for wildlife and gardening in the Tweet of the Week omnibus edition, which is available via the Radio 4 Website. Producer: Andrew Dawes. Photograph: Sarah Cuttle.

Chris Turner's quotable gags and rapid freestyle raps have established him as one of the most in-demand comedy acts on the circuit. Possibly less well known is his interest in birds. Thus for this Tweet of the Day, coinciding with his month long show at the Edinburgh Festival, Chris gives his own comedic view on those tweety-birds. Producer: Elliott Prince Photograph: Abby Tebeau.

Chris Turner's quotable gags and rapid freestyle raps have established him as one of the most in-demand comedy acts on the circuit. Possibly less well known is his interest in birds. Thus for this Tweet of the Day, coinciding with his month long show at the Edinburgh Festival, Chris gives his own comedic view on those tweety-birds. Producer: Elliott Prince Photograph: Abby Tebeau.

For writer, filmmaker and co-founder of the bird song recognition app Warblr Florence Wilkinson, the brown thrasher, as the state bird of Georgia in the United States, is a apt choice as she recalls how her citizen science inspired project is being used to help schoolchildren recognise birdsong in North America and elsewhere. You can here more from Florence and her work in the accompanying Tweet of the Week podcast, via the Radio 4 website. Producer : Sarah Addezio.

Writer, filmmaker and co-founder of bird song recognition app Warblr Florence Wilkinson has early memories of watching wildlife and being woken by her parents to hear tawny owls. But in this Tweet of the Day she discusses why the siskin has been chosen, not the brightly coloured male, but the female which Florence thinks of as subtly nuanced in colour, rather than drab as some people would say. You can here more from Florence and her work in the accompanying Tweet of the Week podcast, via the Radio 4 website. Producer Sarah Addezio.

Horror novelist and keen bird watcher Stephen Gregory returns for a second instalment selecting favourite episodes from the Tweet of the Day back catalogue. As a keen birdwatcher all of his novels have some elements of an ornithological theme. With either birds in the title such as Wakening the Crow from 2014, or have birds as subject to build the tension into his world of macabre such as The Waking That Kills featuring swifts and the folklore that provided inspiration. His first novel The Cormorant based on observing cormorants in Wales received the 1987 Somerset Maugham Award. In this episode Stephen recalls how he and his wife loved to watch swiftlets nesting underneath their house in Brunei, or the hornbills that visited the garden in the afternoons. You can hear more thought's from Stephen via the Tweet of the Week podcast available on the Radio 4 website. Producer by Maggie Ayre.

Horror Fiction writer and keen bird watcher Stephen Gregory sets out on his first week selecting favourite episodes from the Tweet of the Day back catalogue. As a keen birdwatcher all of his novels have some elements of an ornithological theme. With either birds in the title such as Wakening the Crow from 2014, or have birds as subject to build the tension into his world of macabre such as Blood of Angels featuring a jackdaw with a broken beak. His first novel The Cormorant based on observing cormorants in Wales received the 1987 Somerset Maugham Award. Stephen recalls how the cormorant bird inspired his work and also how he was impressed by the harpy eagle in South America. Producer by Maggie Ayre.

Actor, television and radio presenter Lindsey Chapman, with a life long passion for the natural world, begins her second week curating the airwaves with some of her favourite episodes from the back catalogue. In this episode Lindsey recounts that while presenting the BBC's Springwatch Unsprung programme, she and the team set off to locate and hopefully see the mysterious nightjar which had been heard nearby. Lindsey introduces the five species she has chosen for the listener this week, from spoonbill sandpiper to kittiwake, on Radio 4, from Monday through to Friday at 05.58. You can hear more thoughts on Lindsey's passion for wildlife in the Tweet of the Week omnibus podcast, which can be found on the Radio 4 website, or can be found on the BBC iplayer Radio App by searching search for Tweet of the Week. Producer : Andrew Dawes.

With a life long passion for the natural world, actor, television and radio presenter Lindsey Chapman begins her two week take over of the Tweet of the Day airwaves. As a BBC Unsprung presenter before choosing some of her favourite birds from the extensive back catalogue, Lindsey recalls how she is absolutely fascinated by the symbiotic relationship between the natural world and our own cultural and artistic heritage. Birds are a constant reminder of how these two worlds overlap, from the musicality of the dawn chorus to the brushstrokes of a swift wheeling by on the wind. Lindsey introduces the first five species she has chosen for the listener this week, from alpine swift to icterine warbler, here on Radio 4, from Monday through to Friday at 05.58. You can hear more thoughts on Lindsey's passion for wildlife, including her love of gannets in the Tweet of the Week omnibus podcast, which can be found on the Radio 4 website, or can be found on the BBC iplayer Radio App by searching search for Tweet of the Week. Producer : Andrew Dawes.

Actor and keen birdwatcher Samuel West returns to Tweet of the Day for this his second week, rummaging through some of his favourite episodes from the back catalogue. In this episode Samuel recalls an early morning family visit to Oare Marshes in Kent where hearing nightingales and turtle dove reminded them of the decline in these species since the 1970's. You can hear Samuel's selection from greenfinch to turtle dove all this week on Radio 4, from Monday through to Friday at 05.58. And you can hear more from Samuel in the Tweet of the Week omnibus podcast, which can be found on the Radio 4 website, or can be found on the BBC iplayer Radio App by searching search for Tweet of the Week. Producer : Maggie Ayre.

Actor and keen birdwatcher Samuel West returns to Tweet of the Day for this his first week curating the airwaves with some of his favourite episodes from the back catalogue. In this episode Samuel introduces the five species he has chosen from swifts to nightjar all of which you can hear this week on Radio 4, from Monday through to Friday at 05.58. You can hear more from Samuel in the Tweet of the Week omnibus podcast, which can be found on the Radio 4 website, or can be found on the BBC iplayer Radio App by searching search for Tweet of the Week. Producer : Maggie Ayre.

It is the final week of the BBC's wildlife series Springwatch; what better time then than for it's host Chris Packham, a long time presenter and supporter of Tweet of the Day, to select five of his personal favourites from the Radio 4 series. Birds which should be calling or singing while Springwatch is on air. In this episode Chris recalls the delight on seeing a sparrowhawk in the garden before introducing the five species he has chosen from his own time presenting on the series, which you can hear Monday to Friday at 05.58 this week. You can hear more from Chris in the Tweet of the Week omnibus podcast, which can be found on the Radio 4 website, or can be found on the BBC iplayer Radio App by searching search for Tweet of the Week. Producer Andrew Dawes.

In the second week of wildlife photographer, naturalist and presenter of the Wild Voices Project podcast, Matt Williams continues his quest to unearth the best and most uplifting episodes from the Tweet of the Day back catalogue. Producer Andrew Dawes.

During his first week, wildlife photographer, naturalist and presenter of the Wild Voices Project podcast, Matt Williams continues his quest to unearth the best and most uplifting episodes from the Tweet of the Day back catalogue. Producer Andrew Dawes.

For his second week at the helm of the Tweet of the Day archive, sports writer and avid bird watcher Simon Barnes introduces more seasonal offerings from the back catalogue. Producer Maggie Ayre.

Simon Barnes is known as a prolific sportswriter and writer of the bad birdwatching series of books which makes him an ideal candidate to share his passion for ornithology as he takes over Tweet of the Day all this week. Producer Maggie Ayre.

Miriam Darlington, author of Owl Sense, selects a second week of birds for Tweet of the Day Producer: Sarah Addezio Photograph: Richard Austin.

Writer and naturalist Miriam Darlington selects her quintet of birds for Tweet of the Day Producer: Sarah Addezio Photograph: Richard Austin.

Martin Noble of British Sea Power leafs through the Tweet of the Day back catalogue to pick out five more favourite birds from the series.

Martin Noble is the guitarist with British Sea Power and a keen birdwatcher in his spare time. He introduces us to some of his favourite birds and tells some of his favourite stories from his birdwatching travels. Producer Maggie Ayre.

Comedian Ed Byrne perches on the Tweet of the Day bird feeder for a second week to pick more of his favourite episodes from the Tweet archive. Producer: Tom Bonnett Photograph: Roslyn Gaunt.

There's a coup of a different kind on Tweet of the Day as comedian Ed Byrne takes control and is curating his favourite episodes to play all week. Here, we hear how he arrived at his first choice. Producer: Tom Bonnett Photograph: Roslyn Gaunt.

Sitting close to the very spot where writer and ornithologist Mark Cocker first saw a ring ouzel as a schoolboy, he recalls the sense of ecstasy hearing and seeing a ring ouzel among the high moorlands landscape of Derbyshire. Producer Tim Dee Photograph: Peter Lewis.

High in the Derbyshire hills the bubbling melancholic sound of the curlew lifts nature writer Mark Cocker's heart in this Tweet of the Day. Producer Tim Dee Photograph: Kevin Carolan.

Nature writer Mark Cocker heard his first wood warbler at the age of thirteen. Now in middle age spring has not truly begun until he has heard the first wood warbler of the year singing explosive song, likened to a coin spinning on a metal top.. Producer Tim Dee Photograph: Gray Clements.

Nature writer Mark Cocker recalls seeing twite feeding between the goalposts at his school in Derbyshire, however twite and its trilling song are a rare sound today in the uplands. Producer Tim Dee Photograph: Simon Stobart.

Nature writer Mark Cocker is in Derbyshire where he revels in the windblown melancholy of the meadow pipit's song, on these wild moorland landscapes he knew as a child. Producer Tim Dee Photograph: Jenny Brewster.

Avian vet Richard Jones introduces a strange tale from his surgery, involving a runaway Gyr falcon, a black hat, and a peculiar mating habit. Producer: Melvin Rickarby Photograph: Joe Cox.

Avian vet Richard Jones introduces the bird that inspired his career. A childhood trip to Anglesey led to an obsession with the fastest bird in the world, a love affair with falconry, and a career as a vet. Producer: Melvin Rickarby Photograph: Alan Williams.

Poet and editor of British Birdwatching magazine Matt Merritt revels in fast cheery song of the wheatear, which gave this bird the old name of English Ortolan, in this Tweet of the Day. Producer Maggie Ayre Photograph: Ian Redman.

Poet and editor of British Birdwatching magazine enjoys seeing the first male redstart of spring, around April 20th, which has become Redstart Day for him in this Tweet of the Day. Producer Maggie Ayre Photograph: Paul Higgs.

Poet and editor of British Birdwatching magazine revels in sounds of approaching spring as the call of the curlew once more fills the air in this Tweet of the Day. Producer Maggie Ayre Photograph: Anthony Pope.

Andy Clements of the British Trust for Ornithology explains why he rates the song of the Garden Warbler above that of the similar sounding Blackcap, or even the Nightingale. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Rhys Thatcher.

Sarah Harris of the British Trust for Ornithology recalls the excitement of watching clouds of migrating blackbirds arriving at Spurn in East Yorkshire from the continent as they seek out the milder winter weather here. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Emilpix.

Nick Moran of the British Trust for Ornithology describes the surprise he got when he listened back to a recording he had made during the night of birds on the move. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Ian Logan.

Jennifer Border of the British Trust for Ornithology has a special affection for whinchats even though research trips don't always go to plan as she recalls when following the song of a whinchat resulted in a broken signpost and a cracked car bumper! Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounters with nature and reflections on our relationship with the natural world. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Jez Nunn.

Andy Clements of the British Trust for Ornithology explains why he finds the sound of Pink-footed Geese so exciting as they fly overhead calling to one another. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounters with nature and reflections on our relationship with the natural world. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Mark Rhodes.

In this episode about the birds which are encouraged by his 'wildlife-friendly' garden in inner-city Wolverhampton, naturalist and environmentalist Chris Baines describes the regular visits of the stunning-looking Nuthatches which visit his pond for mud to line their nests and his feeders for food. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Alan Brewster.

In another of his TWEETS about the birds which are encouraged by his 'wildlife-friendly' garden in inner-city Wolverhampton, naturalist and environmentalist Chris Baines is delighted to find Great Spotted Woodpeckers visiting after he noticed that a local neighbour had success with tempting fat bars! Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Ian Redman.

Naturalist and environmentalist Chris Baines describes the wonderful song battles for territory and mates between Song Thrushes making home in his and his neighbours' gardens. His garden pond is also raided by these musical songsters for mud and wet leaves to line their nests. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Charles McKeddie.

In another of his TWEETS about the birds which visit his 'wildlife-friendly' garden, naturalist and environmentalist Chris Baines revels in the sight of tiny Goldcrests teasing out insects from between the needles of his much maligned Leyland cypress trees. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Jez Taylor.

The striking-looking Bullfinch is the subject of the first of five TWEETS from naturalist and environmentalist Chris Baines about the birds he hears and encourages into his 'wildlife-friendly' garden. In the past, Bullfinches were persecuted for their fondness for fruit tree buds but as far as Chris is concerned, this is a small price to pay to have a pair of these beautiful birds visit his garden. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Sharon Marwood.

Ever since her first encounter with a Scarf as they are known locally when she was a child and her Mum rescued a casualty of an oil spill, Helen Moncrieff, Shetland Manager for RSPB Scotland has had a particular fondness for these birds seeking them out in in the darkness of sea caves where they nest on ledges and fill the air with their strange sounds. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Paul Lee.

Ever since childhood, Helen Moncrieff, Shetland Manager for RSPB Scotland has been fascinated by the ways in which Shetland Starlings can mimic not only other birds but other sounds including a squeaky toy belonging to her own dog! Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: John Dixon.

Fulmars defend their nests by launching their stomach contents at an intruder. Now this may not seem like an appealing behaviour but as Helen Moncrieff, Shetland Manager with RSPB Scotland describes, it was a tactic she used to her advantage as a child and has felt protective of these cliff-nesting birds ever since. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Andrew Thompson.

Known locally as Sten-shakker or Chek after their alarm call, Northern Wheatears never cease to delight Helen Moncrieff, Shetland Manager for RSPB Scotland when they return to Shetland for the breeding season. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Sonia Johnson.

Helen Moncrieff, Shetland Manager for RSPB Scotland recalls some of her encounters with the Black Guillemot or Tystie as they are known locally in Shetland after their piercing whistle. These include watching one disappear into the jaws of an Orca. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Brian Burke.

Children's author and poet Michael Morpurgo reflects on the swan, celebrating its mysterious beauty and the wonder of its wings as they pass overhead. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. In this latest series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer: Tom Bonnett Photograph: Bryan Garnett.

Music professor and philosopher David Rothenberg asks a simple question, why is the song thrush with its beautiful, exuberant and melodious song not famous for this Tweet of the Day. Producer: Tim Dee Photograph: Feathers Allan.

David Rothenberg on the jazz artist of the bird world - the humble robin. David explains what the song of the robin has in common with experimental free form jazz, not dissimilar to the sound of saxophonist Eric Dolphy who spent a long time listening to birds. Producer: Tim Dee Photograph: Christine Sweet.

For professor of philosophy and music at the New Jersey Institute of Technology David Rothenberg, the blackbird is a beautiful melodic songster which helps explains the difference between bird song and bird call in this Tweet of the Day. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. In this latest series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer: Tim Dee Photograph: Tim Gardner.

Musician Joe Acheson of Hidden Orchestra describes how slowing down recordings he made of the diminutive wren song during a dawn chorus, sounded like the morning calls of gibbons across the rainforest. Producer: Tom Bonnett Photograph: Sam Linton.

Ecologist Penny Anderson learns how to differentiate between the songs of Blackcap and Garden Warbler when to her delight she hears a Garden Warbler singing in the scrub patch in her garden. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: James Hanlon.

Mandarin Ducks are flamboyant, brightly coloured ducks which originally hail from the Middle East. A feral population established here in the last century here and a pair regularly visit the garden of ecologist Penny Anderson where they waddle across the lawn, roost on her ponds and perch in her trees. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Derek Morgan.

Ecologist Penny Anderson wonders whether evolution is a work in her garden as the behaviour of the frogs in her ponds seems to be changing in response to the annual visits by the herons which enjoy a spot of fishing. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Ian OK.

When a pair of spotted flycatchers decided to build a nest in a gap in the wall, ecologist Penny Anderson had to stop the pointing work being done to her house but she has no regrets as the birds have bred in her garden ever since. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection on our relationship with the natural world. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Ian Redman.

Ecologist Penny Anderson has always liked Red Grouse and they never fail to make her laugh as she reveals in this recollection about her encounters with this dumpy red bird. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Fox Pix.

Mike Toms of the British Trust for Ornithology describes his night-time encounters with Tawny Owls in Thetford Forest in Norfolk. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Neil Cowley.

Ben Darvill of the British Trust for Ornithology recalls his first encounter with the Common Rosefinch after it woke him up when he was camping on the Island of Canna in Scotland. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Eero Kiuru.

Dave Leech from the British Trust for Ornithology describes his excitement at finding a Water Rail nest containing the most beautiful eggs after having spent three years searching for a nest. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Nathian Brook.

Bonita Johnson of the British Trust for Ornithology recalls seeing a pair of Robins locked in combat on a woodland floor until they were surprised by her approach and flew apart, one of them almost colliding with her! Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Sam Linton.

Andy Clements of the British Trust for Ornithology describes how he was first bewitched by the captivating sound of the Golden Plover in summer above the moors. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Simon Stobart.

Environmentalist Tony Juniper grew up in a neighbourhood where linnets were kept in captivity. As he recalls they were popular not only because of their striking looks but also for their song. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Alan Leech.

Environmentalist Tony Juniper recalls his first encounter on the island of Lundy in the Bristol Channel with an "elegant beauty"; a large wading bird with a long straight bill and tall slender neck which turned out to be a Black-tailed Godwit. This was a first not only for Tony but for Lundy as well! Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Jeff Phillips.

Environmentalist Tony Juniper recalls catching a whitethroat in a mist net in Portugal which had been ringed in Dorset and listening to their song as part of the soundtrack of summer. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Denis Williams.

Environmentalist Tony Juniper recalls his delight at seeing a Corn Bunting; a bird whose song was part of his childhood, before the population declined mainly as a result of changes in farming practises but is responding and returning to areas where insects and seeds are plentiful. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Nick Brown.

Environmentalist Tony Juniper recalls his encounters with Woodcock from startling them in a woodland during a daytime walk to enjoying the curious sight and call of the birds as they perform their curious roding flight at dusk. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Mike.

Wildlife artist Jane Smith describes her excitement at hearing the song of the whitethroat heralding his return to her garden every year. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Dave Bushell.

Wildlife artist Jane Smith is captivated by a group of ringed plovers and their ability to seemingly appear and disappear before her eyes so good is their colouring at camouflaging them, but their calls give them away! Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Denis Eagling

Wildlife artist Jane Smith listens in the fog to a Great Northern Diver and is drawn towards the strange eerie call of the bird. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Della Lack.

Wildlife artist Jane Smith is captivated by Barnacle geese arriving from the Arctic Tundra and filling the air with their barking yapping sounds and wonderful black and white markings. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Whistling Joe.

Wildlife artist Jane Smith reveals why she feels such a strong connection with Snipe which produce a drumming sound which seems to encapsulate the sound of the Hebrides. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photographer: Milo Bostock.

As she watches House martins land and take off from telegraph wires, audio-visual artist Kathy Hinde was struck by how they looked like notes on a musical score. This inspired a musical sculpture in which the birds compose the music! Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Andy & Helen Holt.

"Its one of the most breathtaking experiences I've witnessed" says Kathy Hinde as she recalls watching thousands of Knot being forced by the incoming tide into the air above the mudflats at Snettisham In Norfolk. Here she shares that experience with us. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Ian Redman

Migrating Barnacle geese inspire audio-visual artist Kathy Hinde to create an installation in Scotland to celebrate their winter residence. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Eljay Rogers.

Audio-visual artist Kathy Hinde enjoys the sounds of a flock of Pink-footed Geese as they take to the air. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Tom Mckibbin.

Audio-visual artist Kathy Hinde has always loved cranes, ever since she learned to make origami cranes as a child. Here she recalls a magical sunrise watching a balletic performed by dancing Common Cranes. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Tony McLean.

Professor Andy Radford, a Behavioural Biologist at the University of Bristol describes the role of sound when it comes to competing choruses of Green Woodhoopoes. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Nigel Voaden.

Professor Andy Radford, a Behavioural Biologist at the University of Bristol describes how the Pied Babbler uses the Watchman's song in its role as a sentry whilst the rest of the flock forage for food on the ground. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Petrus van Zyl.

Professor Andy Radford, a Behavourial Biologist at the University of Bristol describes the fascinating abilities of Superb Fairy Wrens to recognise the alarm calls of other species and use this skill to their own advantage. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: David Munro.

The variety of sounds produced by Robins has long fascinated Professor Andy Radford, a Behavioural Biologist at the University of Bristol. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Laurie Robinson.

Professor Andy Radford, a Behavioural Biologist at the University of Bristol recalls how the evocative cries of the Curlews on the Yorkshire Moors first captivated him as a child and inspired his interest in bird vocalisations. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Rachel Walker.

In the last of five recollections about his encounters with birds in Antarctica, wildlife cameraman Doug Allan recalls his encounters with Giant Petrels with mixed feelings as he recalls their baleful stare, steely grey blue eyes and predatory intent! Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Christopher Mckenzie.

In the fourth of five recollections about his encounters with birds in Antarctica, wildlife cameraman Doug Allan recalls his excitement at lying under the outstretched wings of a Wandering Albatross. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Richard Witham.

In his recollections about his encounters with birds in Antarctica, wildlife cameraman Doug Allan recalls watching an opportunistic Snowy Sheathbill taking advantage of a young Adelie Penguins to get an easy meal. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Murray Foubister.

Recollecting about his encounters with birds in Antarctica, wildlife cameraman Doug Allan recalls ringing Snow Petrels with mixed feelings. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Doug Allan.

Wildlife cameraman Doug Allan recalls hearing a Emperor Penguin chick for the first time. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Christopher Michel.

During this season of goodwill our thoughts turn to crackling fires, being with the family and for many a song or a carol to bring merriment to the colder days. Tweet of the Day has been entertaining early morning listeners to the Radio 4 schedule every day since 2013, but this Christmas we will delight in an avian offering of the well known song the Twelve Days of Christmas. Reaching the the final verse of the song brings a requirement for twelve drummers drumming. As actress Alison Steadman recalls, is that the sound of drumming a distant drum-roll I can hear? Or maybe just a male snipe on an amorous fly by? Producer : Andrew Dawes Photograph: Steve Waddingham.

During this season of goodwill our thoughts turn to crackling fires, being with the family and for many a song or a carol to bring merriment to the colder days. Tweet of the Day has been entertaining early morning listeners to the Radio 4 schedule every day since 2013, but this Christmas we will delight in an avian offering of the well known song Twelve days of Christmas. As the song hints at, no festive party for a true love would be complete without eleven massed pipers piping. And possibly the best pipers of the British bird world can be found down on the coast. For actress Alison Steadman two species which come to mind are the redshank and the oystercatcher. Producer : Andrew Dawes Photograph: Tim Marlow.

During this season of goodwill our thoughts turn to crackling fires, being with the family and for many a song or a carol to bring merriment to the colder days. Tweet of the Day has been entertaining early morning listeners to the Radio 4 schedule every day since 2013, but this Christmas we will delight in an avian offering of the well known song Twelve Tweets of Christmas. As actress Alison Steadman recounts, while the original song called for ten Lords a Leaping, in the bird world a there are a number of species which could be thought of as able to leaping about. Choosing which birds come to mind from that list brings to mind the pied wagtail and the common crane. Producer : Andrew Dawes. Photograph: Deanne Wildsmith.

During this season of goodwill our thoughts turn to crackling fires, being with the family and for many a song or a carol to bring merriment to the colder days. Tweet of the Day has been entertaining early morning listeners to the Radio 4 schedule every day since 2013, but this Christmas we will delight in an avian offering of the well known song the Twelve Days of Christmas. As actress Alison Steadman recounts, there are many birds who could be thought of as the best dancers, but for me I'm sure the nine ladies dancing (and gentlemen) in the song would relish a chance to relax for a while and watch the dancing display of the great crested grebe. A sure sign that winter is nearly over. Producer : Andrew Dawes Photograph: Tim Donovan.

During this season of goodwill our thoughts turn to crackling fires, being with the family and for many a song or a carol to bring merriment to the colder days. Tweet of the Day has been entertaining early morning listeners to the Radio 4 schedule every day since 2013, but this Christmas we will delight in an avian offering of the well known song the Twelve Days of Christmas. As actress Alison Steadman reveals during the cold mid-winter as they went about their business, those eight maids a milking were probably not thinking of a familiar bird which also produces milk. The domestic pigeon. Producer : Andrew Dawes Photograph: David England.

During this season of goodwill our thoughts turn to crackling fires, being with the family and for many a song or a carol to bring merriment to the colder days. Tweet of the Day has been entertaining early morning listeners to the Radio 4 schedule every day since 2013, but this Christmas we will delight in an avian offering of the well known song the Twelve Days of Christmas. The big day has arrived and with it seven swans a swimming. Though wrapping these may have been an issue. As actress Alison Steadman discusses deeply embedded in the British culture the mute swan, which for many is the perfect bird for the seventh day in the song. Although in winter two other contenders arrive on our shores, the Bewick swan from Siberia and the slightly more vocal Whooper swan from Iceland. Producer : Andrew Dawes Photograph: Kevin Neal.

During this season of goodwill our thoughts turn to crackling fires, being with the family and for many a song or a carol to bring merriment to the colder days. Tweet of the Day has been entertaining early morning listeners to the Radio 4 schedule every day since 2013, but this Christmas we will delight in an avian offering of the well known song the Twelve Days of Christmas. As preparations for Christmas gather pace, what better for a true love than to supply a laying goose for the family table? Though six geese a-laying may be a gaggle too much in some households. As actress Alison Steadman discusses a strong contender for the goose-a-laying could well be the gregarious greylag goose, the wild ancestor of many a farmyard goose today. Producer : Andrew Dawes Photograph: John Dixon.

During this season of goodwill our thoughts turn to crackling fires, being with the family and, for many, a song or a carol to bring merriment to the colder days. Tweet of the Day has been entertaining early morning listeners to the Radio 4 schedule every day since 2013, but this Christmas we will delight in an avian offering of the well known song the Twelve Days of Christmas. As actress Alison Steadman outlines the refrain Five Gold Rings in the song is a recent thing, having emerged as an Edwardian addition to the song when Frederic Austen composed the music we know and love today. Yet in the century before that, a small colourful bird captivated Victorian society like no other. The goldfinch. Producer : Andrew Dawes Photograph: Janet Sharp.

During this season of goodwill our thoughts turn to crackling fires, being with the family and for many a song or a carol to bring merriment to the colder days. Tweet of the Day has been entertaining early morning listeners to the Radio 4 schedule every day since 2013, but this Christmas we will delight in an avian offering of the well known song Twelve Days of Christmas. As actress Alison Steadman discusses, on the fourth day of the song, a true love is sent four calling birds. Given that most birds call, which quartet of birds could be calling? Possibly the four calling birds could refer back to colly, a derivative of the older col, roughly translated as coal. In other words, birds as black as coal. But which black bird would capture a wooing heart? Producer : Andrew Dawes Photograph: John Quine.

During this season of goodwill our thoughts turn to crackling fires, being with the family and for many a song or a carol to bring merriment to the colder days. Tweet of the Day has been entertaining early morning listeners to the Radio 4 schedule every day since 2013, but this Christmas we will delight in an avian offering of the well known song the Twelve Days of Christmas. As actress Alison Steadman discusses working out what the actual bird is on the third day of the song could prove a headache. The original three French hens mentioned in the song could be of course domestic chickens or hens in France, but not, I suggest, French Hens, a species which as far as we know doesn't exist. It's thought then our domestic chickens are descendants of junglefowl, forest dwelling members of the pheasant family from southern Asia. Of all the junglefowl, it is the red junglefowl that is believed to be the primary ancestral source of our humble hen. Producer : Andrew Dawes Photograph: Graham Ball.

During this season of goodwill our thoughts turn to crackling fires, being with the family and, for many, a song or a carol to bring merriment to the colder days. Tweet of the Day has been entertaining early morning listeners to the Radio 4 schedule every day since 2013, but this Christmas we will delight in an avian offering of the well known song the Twelve Days of Christmas. As actress Alison Steadman discusses at the time of the song's creation, across England the soft call of the turtle dove would have sent amorous sounds to many a loved one, though not at Christmas of course. These days however the soft dove call that a true love would most likely hear is that of the collared dove. Producer: Andrew Dawes Photograph: Mediocreimage.

During this season of goodwill our thoughts turn to crackling fires, being with the family and, for many, a song or a carol to bring merriment to the colder days. Tweet of the Day has been entertaining early morning listeners to the Radio 4 schedule every day since 2013, but this Christmas we will delight in an avian offering of the well known song Twelve Days of Christmas. On the first day of Christmas so the song goes, a true love sent a partridge in a pear tree. As actress Alison Steadman suggests as ground birds, partridges are not known for their amorous arboreal perching. Why a partridge in a tree could have many meanings, but given the song is of possible French origin, the French or red-legged partridge seems an ideal candidate as sitter in a pear tree. Producer : Andrew Dawes Photograph: Lynn Martin.

Having recorded a number of bird calls in Australia, back home musician Fyfe Dangerfield manipulates their speed and pitch to experiment in music and melody composition. Producer : Mark Ward.

Childhood holidays in France, sitting in the back of the car were for musician Fyfe Dangerfield a great opportunity to view rare birds, such as the woodchat shrike known also as the butcherbird. Producer: Mark Ward Photograph: Neil Hilton.

For musician Fyfe Dangerfield seeing a rare bird on his travels is as exciting as seeing a celebrity on the street, and the bluethroat he saw in India is on top of his list. Producer Mark Ward Photograph Kevin Mayhew.

Musician Fyfe Dangerfield loves being in places which feel removed from modern life where the prehistoric looking grey heron can be a great leveller. Producer: Mark Ward Photograph: Alan Matthew.

As a child, musician Fyfe Dangerfield learnt bird calls from a sound tape borrowed from the library, meaning he was able to hear before seeing a golden oriole in the French countryside. Producer Mark Ward Photograph Martin IG.

Despite having a call like an asthmatic dog, for birdwatcher and naturalist Mark Cocker, the flight of a wintering short-eared owl is one of the most beautiful sights you will ever see. Producer Tim Dee Photograph Steve Boddy.

The simple call of the cuckoo in spring has inspired theatre director Tara Robinson to create a play all about bird migration. Producer Andrew Dawes Photograph Mark Pirie.

While in Spain, theatre director Tara Robinson recalls seeing a treecreeper close on a tree while she and her partner were relaxing by the poolside. Producer Andrew Dawes Photograph Steve Balcombe.

Comedian Sue Perkins recalls attending the Staffordshire Country Show where she came face to face with a great horned owl possessing a powerful grip. Producer Andrew Dawes Photograph Neils Jensen.

Actress Greta Scacchi compares the birds she once knew in Australia with those who now visit her London home, especially the goldfinch which makes her very happy. Producer: Andrew Dawes Photograph: Gareth Hardwick.

On a visit to the Camargue National Park in France, author Michael Morpurgo found getting close to beautiful and elegant flamingos, and hearing their call, touched his soul. Producer: Tom Bonnett Photograph: Ashutosh Jhureley.

Author Michael Morpurgo doesn't go out looking for birds, but when out walking along a river he loves to glimpse a dipper and would love to get up closer to them. Producer: Tom Bonnett Photograph: Keith Docherty.

Children's Author and playwright Michael Morpurgo enjoys talking to oystercatchers on his annual visit to the Isles of Scilly. Producer: Tom Bonnett Photograph: Chris Kilpatrick.

Children's author Michael Morpurgo recounts how his daily walk in the Devon countryside is often enlivened by the call of buzzards overhead for this Tweet of the Day. Producer: Tom Bonnett Photograph: Mandy West.

Children's author and poet Michael Morpurgo discusses the cackling magpie in this Tweet of the Day, a bird that seemingly never dies. Producer: Tom Bonnett Photograph: Ken Bentley.

Musician Fyfe Dangerfield describes being enthralled by the rapid, bombing dive of a gannet fishing out at sea and the magic of unexpectedly seeing one up close. Producer: Mark Ward Photograph: Debbie Stevens.

Musician Fyfe Dangerfield enjoys how his young son's interest in some of our more common birds helps stop him from overlooking everyday avian beauty. Producer: Mark Ward Photograph: Tori Andrews.

The jewel-like patterns of the black-throated diver have musician Fyfe Dangerfield in awe as he heads to Highlands in search of space to write. Producer: Mark Ward Photograph: Paul Jessett.

Musician Fyfe Dangerfield imagines his perfect outfit, a technicolour dreamcoat resplendent in the shimmering hues of the bee-eater. Producer: Mark Ward Photograph: Paul Miguel.

Musician Fyfe Dangerfield tells the story of an inspirational trip to the 'birdland' of the Farne Islands where a seabird inspired the name for the band that made him famous. Producer: Mark Ward Photograph: Simon Stobart.

The dunnock is a newly-appreciated bird in the O'Leary household and as Dermot potters around the garden he admires the work ethic and understated beauty of this industrious little brown bird. Producer: Tom Bonnett Photo: Ian Redman.

Presenter Dermot O'Leary relishes the effortless soaring of swifts and remembers the joy of the independence of his first car and the feeling of taking country roads home to visit his family and seeing swallows bobbing along in front of him on the lanes. Producer: Tom Bonnett Photo: Phill Luckhurst.

Presenter Dermot O'Leary hails the greater black-backed gull as an 'Alsatian of the skies' as he marvels at their hardy survival skills and effortless aerodynamics. Producer: Tom Bonnett Photo: Simon Richardson.

Since his early teens, presenter Dermot O'Leary has into birdlife and from his kitchen in Central London he loves gazing into the garden and watching the effort small birds like the coal tit put in as they troop back and forth from the bird feeders. Producer: Tom Bonnett Photo: Tom McKibbin.

Presenter Dermot O'Leary goes in search of sea eagles in the Highlands. He's enlisted wildlife cameraman Gordon Buchanan to help him track them down but with the light fading their chances of seeing them are not looking good. Producer: Tom Bonnett Photo: Ian Ireland.

Wildlife sound recordist Gary Moore hears a skylark at the site of the Battle of the Somme and imagines soldiers over a century ago finding comfort in that familiar British sound. Producer: Tom Bonnett Photograph: _pauls.

Braving dark countryside, sound recordist Gary Moore goes in search of the rarely-heard sound of the stone curlew and finds himself laying in wet grass swaying his mic in the air. Producer: Tom Bonnett Photograph: Andy Harris.

When wildlife sound recordist Gary Moore put on his headphones to capture the sound of a woodlark his recording revealed some unusual behaviour that was snapped up by the Springwatch TV team. Producer: Tom Bonnett Photograph: Ian Redman.

Wildlife sound recordist Gary Moore tells how he became a launching pad for migrating Manx Shearwater when he took a trip to the island of Skomer off the coast of Wales. Producer: Tom Bonnett Photograph: Lakes4Life.

Gary Moore describes the elation of tracking down the notoriously elusive golden pheasant and finding it basking in sunshine as it poses for a mate. Producer: Tom Bonnett Photograph: Martin Clay.

On the eve of Halloween, the silence of a graveyard is broken by the raucous calls of an inky black Crow "Throwing her voice as if coughing up a bone" as writer Paul Evans encounters a crow in a cemetery. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Derek Wood.

Writer Paul Evans encounters a pair of ravens and reflects on their dark associations and their playful and ominous voices. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photo: Michael Davey.

Merlins are "ariel sprites" says writer Paul Evans, but they also kill skylarks in a rather gruesome manner as we hear in this specially commissioned dark seasonal tale. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photographer: David Gibbon.

In a house on the marsh which has been abandoned for forty years, Paul Evans disturbs a Barn owl and the ghosts of a tragic past as he recalls in this specially commissioned Halloween tale. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Joshua Myers.

It's Halloween and Tweet of the Day has descended into the darkness - artist Jeremy Deller describes the stench and force of a flight of Mexican free-tailed bats streaming out of a Texan cave. Producer: Eliza Lomas Photo: USFWS/Ann Froschauer.

Actor and birdwatcher Samuel West laments on the lost call of the once very common summer visitor, the turtle dove. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photo: Ian Clarke.

Actor Samuel West is especially fond of ducks, especially the eider duck, which for Samuel sound like a coven of Frankie Howerds gossiping around the village pond. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer: Tom Bonnett Photo: Steve Balcombe.

Keen Birdwatcher and actor Samuel West recalls the chattering calls of the long tailed tit, the first bird he ever identified by sound. Producer: Tom Bonnett Photo: Kevin Mayhew.

Actor and birdwatcher Samuel West discusses the stocky almost brutish looking bullfinch and it's rather wheezy complex high pitched song. Producer: Tom Bonnett Photo: Gareth Hardwick.

Actor and keen birdwatcher Samuel West on hearing first the call of a dipper above the water of a fast flowing river. Producer: Tom Bonnett Photo: Keith Docherty.

Musician Joe Acheson of Hidden Orchestra describes how the scraping noise of a corncrake sounded like a ceaseless alarm as it carried over the island of Inishbofin. Producer: Tom Bonnett Photograph: Melvyn Fagg.

Musician Joe Acheson describes recording the sounds of starlings at the Lizard in Cornwall to use in his work as Hidden Orchestra. Producer: Tom Bonnett Photograph: PeskyMesky.

Birdwatching's irreverent Tweeter YOLOBirder tells how a kindly hotel owner took him to see peregrine falcons and got him hooked on watching these magnificent flyers for the rest of his life. Producer: Andrew Dawes Photograph: Adrian Dancy.

Birdwatching's irreverent commentator YOLOBirder on his love of the hipster-goatee beard and slick back quiff of the brightly-coloured waxwing, a bird so vibrant and uplifting he has come up with a special collective noun for them. Producer: Andrew Dawes Photograph: Richard Johnson.

Birdwatching's irreverent Tweeter YOLOBirder remembers rescuing redwings when snow hit the North East, standing with a bird in each hand. Producer: Andrew Dawes Photograph: John Thistle.

Rob Martin of BirdLife International shares an encounter in Indonesia with one of the rarest birds in the world: the Cerulean Paradise-flycatcher, which he feared was extinct. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. In this latest series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer: Eliza Lomas.

Sue Patterson from BirdLife International has a story of introducing the great spotted woodpecker to the next generation of birders, revealing the key to determining the bird's sex. Producer: Eliza Lomas Photograph: Gareth Hardwick.

Rosa Gleave from BirdLife International, reveals how she recognises the song of the goldcrest and why that has inspired a change in her life. Producer: Eliza Lomas Photograph: Francis C. Franklin.

Bruce Winney from BirdLife International remembers seeing red kites overhead whilst driving in Harrogate, after years of absence from the skies. Producer: Eliza Lomas Photograph: PLFoto.

BirdLife International's chief scientist Dr Stuart Butchart reveals the bronze-winged jacana. He shares what he found out whilst spending three years studying them at Vembanur Lake in India, surrounded by water lilies and patiently watching on a canoe. Producer: Eliza Lomas Photograph: Prerna Jane.

In a recollection about his encounters with birds, writer and wildlife programme-maker Stephen Moss recalls his first encounter with what he describes as 'the most beautiful bird' he had ever seen - the Great Crested Grebe. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Tori Andrews.

In a recollection about his encounters with birds, writer and wildlife programme-maker Stephen Moss explains how a chance encounter with a coot when he was just three years old, inspired a lifelong passion for birds and bird-watching. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Martyn Illes.

In the third of five recollections about his encounters with birds, writer and wildlife programme-maker Stephen Moss recalls the first time he saw a Bittern - a bird which whilst it produces a loud booming call can be quite elusive. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Czech Conroy.

In the second of five recollections about his encounters with birds, writer and wildlife programme-maker Stephen Moss recalls going in search of a bird that 50 years was rare but today are found all over southern Britain - and is most often heard before it is seen, having a very loud song! It is the Cetti's Warbler. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer: Sarah Blunt Picture: Jim Thurston.

Writer and wildlife programme-maker Stephen Moss explains why the sound of the song thrush evokes such powerful memories of his grandfather. Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Full Moon Images.

Nature writer Melissa Harrison presents the case for why we should love the humble and rather noisy 'spadger', better known as the house sparrow, though she won't waste her breath trying to win round her dog. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. In this latest series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer: Tom Bonnett Picture: Feathers [Allan].

The clacking call of the stonechat punctuates nature writer Melissa Harrison's memories of cagoule-clad walks on Dartmoor with her family in the 1970's. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. In this latest series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer: Tom Bonnett Picture: Kirsty Taylor.

Nature writer Melissa Harrison braves a dip in a Dorset river and hears the high 'pip' of a kingfisher. She realises she must be sharing with the water with one of her favourite birds. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. In this latest series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer: Tom Bonnett Picture: Lynn [Mrs Birds].

Nature writer Melissa Harrison muses on the mimicking sounds of starlings, particularly one that learned the ring of her family phone causing calamity in the house. Producer: Tom Bonnett Picture: Merseymouse.

Nature writer Melissa Harrison describes how the call of a tawny owl takes her back to childhood, reminding her of people and a feeling that slipped into memory. Producer: Tom Bonnett Picture: Jim Thurston.

Slow down the song of the veery thrush and what have you got? For David Rothenberg in this Tweet of the Day, its compressed tiny bits of music that humans can really relate to. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. In this latest series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer Tim Dee Image : Salaman.

The white-crested laughingthrush is a superb accompaniment to David Rothenberg as he plays the clarinet, the best bird to play along with in this Tweet of the Day. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. In this latest series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer Tim Dee Image WikiCommons / cuatrock77.

As David Rothenberg suggests in this Tweet of the Day the superb lyrebird is a bird which evolved to excess experimentation and craziness. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. In this latest series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer Tim Dee Image : Roger Powell.

David Rothenberg grew up in Connecticut at a time when mockingbirds moved north filling the air with a kaleidoscope of calls, as he explains for Tweet of the Day. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. In this latest series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer Tim Dee.

Professor of philosophy and music at the New Jersey Institute of Technology David Rothenberg discussed the brown thrasher. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. In this latest series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer: Tim Dee Picture: Denise Laflamme.

Chris Jones was brought a swift which had fallen from its nest, hand reared it and then for this Tweet of the Day, releases it back to the wild...how good is that? Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer: Karen Gregor Picture: Mandy West.

For this Tweet of the Day writer and explorer Hugh Thomson suggests his love of the call of the wood pigeon song in an English woodland is as good as that of the nightingale. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer: Tom Bonnett Picture: Steve K.

For Tara Robinson the sound of oystercatchers recalls her father taking her to Loch Fleet as a child and being quizzed by him about the birds she saw, for this Tweet of the Day. Conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. An encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer Mark Ward. First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2017.

After years of inactivity, Tara Robinson describes an unexpected barn owl encounter in a fallen nest box in her own back garden for this Tweet of the Day. Producer: Mark Ward Picture: Tim Felce.

Theatre director Tara Robinson on the common tern and her grandfathers passion for birdwatching in today's Tweet of the Day. Producer: Mark Ward Picture: Dale Ayres.

Actor Samuel West remembers one of his proudest moments as a birdwatcher was spotting a rarely seen Red Eyed Vireo on the Isles of Scilly and pulling in crowds of twitchers from all over the island to see it. Producer: Tom Bonnett Image : Kelly Colgan Azar.

Actor Sam West describes how the turkey-like capercaillie makes unfathomably strange sounds reminiscent of a rolling snooker ball followed by a champagne cork being unscrewed for Tweet of the Day. Producer: Tom Bonnett Picture: Paul Jessett.

Actor Samuel West laments how the beautiful collared dove is saddled with a morose call that sounds like the chant of a bored football fan echoing down own our streets. Producer: Tom Bonnett Picture: Pat Adams.

Actor Samuel West recalls how his birdwatching companion unpicked a riddle-like line in Hamlet but told him just late enough that he'd finished playing the part. Producer: Tom Bonnett Picture: Richard Blackburn.

Actor Samuel West describes gathering with his family at dusk to listen for Nightingales. Its song may be a cultural touchstone but it is far less harmonious a sound than poets may lead us to believe. Producer: Tom Bonnett Picture: Ian Redman.

Orcadian writer Amy Liptrot reflects on the greylag goose on Orkney, where seemingly no car journey can be completed without seeing a field of geese, in this Tweet of the Day. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer: Mark Ward Picture: Simon Richardson.

Writer Amy Liptrot reflects on her favourite bird, the curlew, whose evocative call reminds her of her childhood home back in the Orkneys, in this Tweet of the Day. Producer: Mark Ward.

Writer and Orkney native Amy Liptrot recalls her work as the RSPB's corncrake officer on the look out for this largely nocturnal bird in the wee small hours for Tweet of the Day. Producer: Mark Ward.

Writer Amy Liptrot recalls seeing hooded crows while living in Berlin and reflects on their namesakes back at her childhood home in Orkney for Tweet of the Day. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer: Mark Ward Photograph: Paul Smith.

Orcadian author and conservationist Amy Liptrot laments of the disappearance of breeding Arctic terns from her family farm for Tweet of the Day. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer Mark Ward.

BBC security correspondent and avid birdwatcher, Frank Gardner, on an encounter with Little Auks on Svalbard for this Tweet of the Day. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer: Tom Bonnett Photograph: JanuaryJoe.

Tiffany Francis recalls not realising, after stumbling across some baby ducks on the island of Lunga, she had infact seen corncrake chicks for this Tweet of the Day. Producer Maggie Ayre.

Two-time Olympic Gold medalist Alex Gregory reflects on the birds he sees such as the kingfisher and heron while out on early morning training for this Tweet of the Day. Producer: Mark Ward Photograph: Anna Bilska.

Clare Jones recalls the inspiration of seeing a little egret and how a small event can change an entire outlook on life in this Tweet of the Day. Producer Tom Bonnett.

Seabird zoologist Tim Birkhead recalls the moment while on Skomer which changed his view on the old thought that the guillemot was a foolish bird for Tweet of the Day. Producer: Tom Bonnett Picture: George Hart.

Large numbers of visitors come to Skomer just to see puffins, however for seabird zoologist Tim Birkhead puffins are boring dull birds, in this Tweet of the Day. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer: Tom Bonnett Photograph: Sam Linton.

British zoologist Professor Tim Birkhead talks about the intelligence of egg stealing ravens while he is working on guillemot research on Skomer for Tweet of the Day. Producer Tom Bonnett.

British zoologist Professor Tim Birkhead recounts the sharp bill of the well named razorbill while going about his scientific work for Tweet of the Day. Producer Tom Bonnett.

In the first of a week of Tweet of the Day's by British zoologist professor Tim Birkhead, he recalls a guillemot chicks first, and ultimately last flight on Skomer. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer: Tom Bonnett Photograph: Harry McBride.

The BBC's Frank Gardner remembers watching white-throated kingfishers being chased by a Eurasian kingfisher in Israel. Producer: Tom Bonnett Photograph: Ashutosh Jhureley.

High in the cloud forest of Costa Rica, Frank Gardner recalls for Tweet of the Day, a bird he has heard but never seen, the three wattled bell bird. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer: Tom Bonnett Picture: Feroze Omardeen.

High up in the rain-forests of Papaua New Guinea the BBC's Frank Gardner recalls hearing the King of Saxony Bird of Paradise for Tweet of the Day. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer: Tom Bonnett Picture: Wanghc732.

In this Tweet of the Day, BBC's security correspondent Frank Gardner recalls the song of a golden oriole in a Bahrain date grove. Producer Tom Bonnett Photograph: Ashutosh Jhureley.

In the first of five Tweet of the Days this week, the BBC's security correspondent Frank Gardner recalls listening to great northern divers on television programme by Ludwig Koch, as a boy. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer: Tom Bonnett.

Tiffany Francis recalls her encounters with yellowhammers at the Butser Ancient Farm in Hampshire for Tweet of the Day. Producer Maggie Ayre.

Springwatch producer Laura Howard describes how the arrival of swifts in May and learning more about nature walking in the countryside felt like wearing glasses that let her see clearly for the first time. Producer: Tom Bonnett Photograph: Phil Luckhurst.

Double Olympic gold medal-winning rower Alex Gregory recalls seeing white stork in Portugal for Tweet of the Day. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer: Mark Ward Photograph: Boberskik.

Rower and two times Olympic Gold medallist Alex Gregory tells the story of his childhood pet, a house sparrow called Sparky. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer Mark Ward.

Nadia Archer of the RSPB recalls volunteering in Manchester on a peregrine watch at the Arndale Centre for Tweet of the Day, where the call of the wild could bring relaxation to a busy city centre. Producer Tom Bonnett.

Paul Brook recalls that at the age of eight the redwing ignited his love of birds and birdwatching for Tweet of the Day. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer Maggie Ayre.

Paul Brook recalls a long awaited for encounter with a black tern near Leeds for Tweet of the Day. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer: Maggie Ayre Photograph: Darran Jones.

Craig Hartley revels in a near miss encounter with a green woodpecker while cycling along a lane for Tweet of the Day. Producer Tom Bonnett.

Photographer and Gaelic broadcaster Cailean Maclean recalls an encounter with a great skua, or bonxie on St Kilda for Tweet of the Day. Producer Maggie Ayre.

Writer Eleanor Matthews recalls how the magpie came into her life at a time of change for Tweet of the Day. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer: Eliza Lomas

RSPB Yorkshire staff are reflecting on birds all this week for Tweet of the Day. Today reserve manager Matthew Capper recalls school holidays quests for a bittern in East Anglia. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world.

RSPB community and volunteer development officer Danielle Meyer recalls working with gannets on Bempton cliffs in Yorkshire. Producer Tom Bonnett.

RSPB Yorkshire staff are reflecting on birds all this week for Tweet of the Day. Today reserve warden Heather Bennett recalls how the lapwing began her love affair with nature. Producer Tom Bonnett.

RSPB Yorkshire staff are reflecting on birds all this week for Tweet of the Day. Today Visitor Experience Manager Liane Holdsworth recalls the thrill of watching a kestrel. Producer Tom Bonnett.

RSPB Yorkshire staff are reflecting on birds all this week for Tweet of the Day. First, volunteer Steve Vickers recalls childhood memories of the eider duck. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer Tom Bonnett.

Wildlife cameraman Nigel Bean relives the moment he discovered a water rail nest deep among a reedbed in west Wales, a nest that became the star of a BBC Springwatch series Producer Tom Bonnett.

Paul Brook discusses watching a garden warbler for Tweet of the Day. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer Maggie Ayre.

RSPB Old Moor Learning Officer John Clifton on the bee-eater for Tweet of the Day. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world.

Gull researcher Peter Rock on the Lesser Black Backed Gull he ringed in Bristol turning up in the Bay of Biscay for Tweet of the Day. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer Maggie Ayre.

Kim Durbin recalls an encounter with a blackbird for Tweet of the Day. Producer Maggie Ayre.

Teenager Josh Myers describes how photographing wildlife in the Peak District around Sheffield helps him to control the symptoms of Tourette's syndrome. He tells the story of spotting short-eared owls from the window of his car and spending the afternoon tracking them with his lens. Producer: Tom Bonnett.

Bristol based Schoolgirl Mya Rose Craig recalls seeing a white tailed eagle in her holidays for Tweet of the Day. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer Maggie Ayre.

Wildlife photographer John MacPherson recalls a childhood memory of his mother and a herring gull for Tweet of the Day. Producer Maggie Ayre.

Norfolk based bird therapist Joe Harkness on the calming effect a nightingale song can be for Tweet of the Day. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer Maggie Ayre.

Wildlife photographer John McPherson recalls, for Tweet of the Day, watching hooded crows working intelligently to obtain food caught by an otter on the Isle of Mull. Producer Maggie Ayre.

After a bad day at work, Joe Harkness recalls an encounter with a woodlark on Buxton Heath in Norfolk for Tweet of the Day. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer Maggie Ayre.

Thirteen year old Northern Ireland wildlife blogger Dara McAnulty on the hen harrier for Tweet of the Day. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer Maggie Ayre.

London chef and restaurant owner Cyrus Todiwala recalls for Tweet of the Day a once familiar sound to him in India, now heard near his London home, the ring-necked parakeet. Producer Maggie Ayre.

Mya Rose Craig recalls for Tweet of the Day her first really striking encounter with a bird, the nuthatch, not long after she began at primary school in Bristol. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world.

Wildlife sound recordist Gary Moore describes for Tweet of the Day, the surprising encounter he had with capercaillie when in the Scottish Highlands. Producer Tom Bonnett.

Wildlife sound operator and recordist Gregory Ovenden tries to think creatively about the sounds he records for Tweet of the Day. He tells the story of when he went to record birds walking on a frozen lake and came across a novel solution to record a Canada goose unable to grip the ice. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer Tom Bonnett.

Alasdair Grubb from the remote camera team on Springwatch describes to Tweet of the Day how a blue tit seemingly cried out for his help when he was volunteering for the RSPB. Producer For BBC Audio in Bristol : Tom Bonnett.

When Springwatch presenter Lindsey Chapman went walking with fellow Springwatch host Brett Westwood it was the first time she had heard a call so boisterous that now she recognises it instantly whenever she hears it, the Cetti's warbler. Producer Tom Bonnett.

Musician Jimi Goodwin of Doves on an extraordinary encounter with a mallard, a kestrel, plus many chicks ... up a tree, in this Tweet of the Day Producer Miles Warde.

Wildlife cameraman Neil Anderson describes hiking and abseiling on a cliff-side in the Scottish Highlands to track down a golden eagle nest for Tweet of the Day. Producer Tom Bonnett.

Musician Jimi Goodwin on being shown a cuckoo chick in a nest, and his shock at discovering the cuckoo's wicked ways in this Tweet of the Day. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer Miles Warde.

Tristan Gooley describes how for him the wood pigeon is a special bird for Tweet of the Day Producer Miles Warde.

Singer Will Young dates his love of birds from this encounter with the woodland kingfisher. Producer Miles Warde.

Polly Weston describes an important encounter with an eagle owl in this Tweet of the Day Producer Miles Warde.

Cameraman Mark Smith describes an unusual encounter with a corncrake in this Tweet of the Day Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer Miles Warde.

Urban Birder David Lindo reflects on the arrival of the swift as a sign that summer is here. He marvels at the ability of this small bird to navigate its way to Britain across Africa and Europe. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer Maggie Ayre.

Osprey and Wormwood Scrubs are not usually words you expect to read in the same sentence, but Urban Birder David Lindo has seen one on his birdwatching patch next to the prison. His mantra is to look up and around in the city as there are more varieties of bird to be seen than you might imagine. Producer Maggie Ayre.

David Lindo the Urban Birder tells the story of one magical early morning in central London, spotting a honey buzzard flying over the face of Big Ben. He urges people in cities to 'always look up' as there is an amazing variety of birds to be spotted even in the most concrete of jungles. Producer Maggie Ayre.

David Lindo is the Urban Birder who has loved birds since he was a tiny boy. Here he extols the virtues of Britain's national bird, the robin. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer Maggie Ayre.

David Lindo is known as the Urban Birder. His love of all things feathered began when he was tiny, but it was seeing a kestrel while he was at school in north London one day that set him on the road to birdwatching in the city. Producer Maggie Ayre.

Paul Brooks suffers from depression. He talks about the beneficial effects of bird watching on his mental health and how seeing a water rail one grey day lifted his mood. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer Maggie Ayre.

Joe Harkness indulges in some bird therapy, rejoicing in the sight and song of the skylark. Joe writes about the benefits of birdwatching towards wellbeing through connecting people with nature. Producer Maggie Ayre.

Chris Jones from Worcestershire has been fascinated by the corvid family from childhood. For years he has been rescuing sick and injured birds. Here he tells the story of one of his favourite rescue ravens. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer Maggie Ayre.

Peter Cranswick of the Slimbridge Wetland Centre on the beautiful red-breasted goose, and freezing wintry days counting them in fields. Producer Miles Warde.

David Salmon of the Slimbridge Wetland Centre on the song of the woodlark. Producer Miles Warde.

Peter Cranswick of the Slimbridge Wetland Centre on the amazing common scoter. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. Producer Miles Warde.

Debbie Pain of the Slimbridge Wetland Centre explains her joy at the return of the marsh harrier to her local patch. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer Miles Warde.

Ruth Cromie of the Slimbridge Wetland Centre proclaims her love for the eider duck, both rock hard and extremely soft. Producer Miles Warde.

Kane Brides of the Slimbridge Wetland Centre on why the humble coot means so much to him. Producer Miles Warde.

Ashley Davies of the Slimbridge Wetland Centre reveals why a kingfisher changed his life. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer Miles Warde.

Val Thompson describes the comfort she derives from seeing pink footed geese in Norfolk, a place she visited with her late husband, and how reconnecting with birds has helped her through bereavement. Producer Maggie Ayre.

Ideally suited to its mountain habitat the ptarmigan enthralled photographer John McPherson as he climbed in the Cairngorms one winter's day. At one point a wheeling lone bird crash landed beside him, looking almost embarrassed to take a tumble. Producer Maggie Ayre.

Young conservationist and Birdgirl Mya Rose Craig aged 14 recalls the excitement of seeing a black browed albatross in Cornwall at the age of seven, thousands of miles from where it should be seen in Antarctica. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer Maggie Ayre.

In this programme, Bristol based bird scientist Peter Rock talks about his decades of research into urban lesser black backed gulls, including surprising finds in Morocco. Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer Maggie Ayre.

In this programme, London based chef and restaurant owner Cyrus Todiwala talks about his love of the city's house sparrow, bringing a bit of joy to the bustling streets. Producer Maggie Ayre.

Since he was a small boy, Fermanagh based bird blogger Dara McAnulty has been enthralled by birds. For this Tweet of the Day Dara draws a comparison with seeing whooper swans near to his home in Northern Ireland with the swans from Irish mythology, the Children of Lir. Dara, who has Aspergers Syndrome, blogs as Young Fermanagh Naturalist to convey his love of nature and wildlife through the written word. Producer Maggie Ayre.

David Lindo, otherwise known as the urban birder, recalls his first encounter with the ring ouzel on his local patch near to Wormwood Scrubs in London. Producer Maggie Ayre.

In this programme young girl Gabi Mann recalls how she became friends with American crows in her suburban garden in Seattle, one of whom she named Baby Face. She and her mother began feeding the crows regularly in 2011 and soon the crows began bringing Gabi gifts. Over time these trinckets and corvid offerings amounted to a sizeable hoard which Gabi treasures. Producer Maggie Ayre.

Worcestershire lawyer Mat Waddington recounts an encounter with a long tailed tit tapping at his window, his girlfriend at the other end of the village was similarly visited by a long tailed window tapper. Was this the same bird flying between the two houses which Mat describes as being the lovebird of Hallow? Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. Producer Maggie Ayre.

Tweet of the Day has captivated the Radio 4 audience with its daily 90 seconds of birdsong. But what of the listener to this avian chorus? In this new series of Tweet of the Day, we bring to the airwaves the conversational voices of those who listen to and are inspired by birds. Building on the previous series, a more informal approach to learning alongside a renewed emphasis on encounter with nature and reflection in our relationship with the natural world. For this first programme, folk musician and Mercury Prize nominee Sam Lee considers the nightingale, that amazing songster which can use two voice boxes to produce over 200 different styles of phrasing; enriching the gathering darkness for those fortunate enough to hear. Having sung with nightingales in Sussex woodlands for many years, for Sam that richness of the male nightingale territorial song, is mesmeric. Producer Maggie Ayre.

The best bits of International Dawn Chorus day when radio stations across the globe come together and broadcast the dawn chorus in real time. Pop star and bird lover Will Young joins Brett Westwood and a gang of unexpected bird lovers as Radio 4 throws an all-nighter in search of the Dawn Chorus. Going on air just after midnight and staying up till 7am Brett and Will host a night of conversation, story-telling, argument and explanation culminating in the live broadcast of the Dawn Chorus from Ham Wall Nature reserve in Somerset. Other guests include Birds Brittania author Mark Cocker, Bird acoustics expert Dr Jenny York and singer Hanna Tuulikki. Radio 4 is doing this as part of International Dawn Chorus day - a unique broadcast event hosted by RTE in Ireland - in which radio stations in India and Europe join together to track the rising sun across the continent from Delhi to Dublin. You'll hear capercaillies in from Norway, bitterns in Somerset, bluethroats in Holland - it's like the Eurovision Song contest, but with much better singing. In our increasingly digital world Dawn Chorus provides a genuine encounter with the natural world on unmediated terms. There's a lovely sense of anticipation as you hunt and you wait and you feel the sense of being really there - of the sudden excitement of a Tawny Owl at midnight, the joy of a cuckoo at 4am. And as we wait and we listen we take the opportunity to have a series of interesting conversations about wildlife and literature, music, evolution and conservation.

Michael Palin presents the secretive chowchilla from Queensland, Australia. The chowchilla gets its name from its song, which is one of the most distinctive sounds of the coastal rainforest of north-east Queensland. You're not likely to see the bird though because it spends its time skulking on the forest floor. Chowchillas belong to the family known as logrunners because they feed and nest on or near ground-level. They're stout thrush-like birds; the males are dark brown with a white chest and throat, whilst the female's throat is rusty-orange. Chowchillas have been found to sing with different dialects in different areas. Within say, 50 hectares, all the family groups of pairs and non-breeding younger birds may share the same dialect. But in an adjacent area, the families may assemble some of their song components slightly differently. Over time, their song culture could change and a new dialect would be born. Producer : Andrew Dawes

Michael Palin presents the Mauritius kestrel from the island of Mauritius. Today the calls of several hundred Mauritius kestrels ring out across the forests and farmland of the island, so it's hard to believe that as recently as the early 1970s, only four birds could be found in the wild. These smart chestnut falcons were almost wiped out by a cocktail of threats ...destruction of their evergreen forests, pesticides and the introduction of predators such as monkeys, mongooses, rats and cats. When a species is so critically endangered there aren't many options, and conservationists decided that their only choice was to take some of the wild Mauritius kestrels into captivity. By 1993, 300 Mauritius kestrels had been released and by November of that year there were as many as 65 breeding pairs in the wild. Now the kestrels are back, hovering above the landscapes that nearly lost them forever. Producer : Andrew Dawes

Michael Palin presents the avian record breaking ostrich in the Kalahari Desert. Ostriches are ornithological record-breakers. The black and white adult male ostrich is taller and heavier than any other living bird, reaching almost 3 metres in height and weighing a whopping 150 kilograms. Females are smaller but lay the largest eggs of any bird. The ostrich's eye measures 5cm in diameter and is the largest of any land vertebrate. Ostriches live in the wide open landscapes of central, eastern and South-West Africa. As well as being tall and observant, Ostriches also minimise their chances of being predated on, by living in groups and sharing lookout duties, or staying close to sharp-eyed antelope and zebra herds. They can also use their powerful legs to try and outrun a predator, reaching speeds of up to 70 kilometres per hour which makes them the fastest avian runner.

Michael Palin presents the Asian koel's arrival to an Indian orchard. This long-tailed glossy blue-black bird, is a well-known British harbinger of spring, and like its British counterpart, it is a cuckoo. The koel's plaintive call is heard from late March until July around villages and in wooded countryside from Pakistan east to Indonesia and southern China. In India, it symbolises the birth of a new season, the flowering of fruit-trees, the bloom of romance and all that's good about spring. The koel's song can be heard in many Bollywood movies and has inspired poems and folk songs; it's even rumoured to help mangoes ripen faster. This almost universal feel-good factor doesn't extend to its victims, because the koel is after all a cuckoo, and lays its eggs in other birds' nests. Asian Koels are parasitic on a wide range of birds, but in India especially, on House Crows and Jungle Crows. Producer Andrew Dawes.

Michael Palin presents the northern cardinal from a New York's Central Park. Northern Cardinals are finch-like birds and make British robins look positively anaemic. They are common residents in the south and east of North America where they live in woods, parks and gardens. Your first sighting of these vermilion birds with their black masks and outrageous crests comes as a shock. They seem too tropically colourful to brave the dull North American winter. Only the male Cardinals are bright red. Females are browner with flashes of red on their wings and red bills. Both sexes obtain their red colours from seeds and other foods which contain carotenoid pigments. Their familiarity and eye-catching colours have endeared cardinals to North Americans. No fewer than seven states, including Kentucky, Illinois and Ohio have adopted cardinals as their state bird and it's also the mascot of many famous sports clubs including the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team. Producer : Andrew Dawes

Michael Palin presents the black-nest swiftlet deep inside an Indonesian cavern. The Black-nest swiftlet landing on the cave wall, begins work on one of the most expensive and sought- after items connected with any bird; its nest. The swiftlet's tiny bowl -shaped nest is highly-prized as the main ingredient for bird's nest soup and is built by the male from strands of his saliva which harden into a clear substance which also anchors the nest to the vertiginous walls. Black-nest swiftlets are so-called because they add dark-coloured feathers to their saliva which are then incorporated into their nests. The nests fuel expensive appetites. A kilo of nests can fetch 2500 US dollars and worldwide the industry is worth some 5 billion US dollars a year. Today in many places in South-east Asia artificial concrete "apartment blocks" act as surrogate homes for the Black-nest swiftlets. The birds are lured in by recordings of their calls, and once they've begun nesting, the buildings are guarded as if they contained gold bullion. Producer : Andrew Dawes

Michael Palin presents the magnificent frigatebird a true oceanic bird, and resembling a hook-billed, pterodactyl of a seabird. Magnificent frigatebirds are some of the most accomplished aeronauts of the tropical oceans. Their huge wingspans of over two metres and long forked tails allow them to soar effortlessly and pluck flying fish from the air, and also harass seabirds. These acts of piracy earned them the name Man-o' War birds and attracted the attention of Christopher Columbus. Magnifcent Frigatebirds breed on islands in the Caribbean, and along the tropical Pacific and Atlantic coasts of central and South America as well as on the Galapagos Islands. Frigatebird courtship is an extravagant affair. The males gather in "clubs" , perching on low trees or bushes. Here they inflate their red throat-pouches into huge scarlet balloons, calling and clattering their bills together as they try to lure down a female flying overhead. If they're successful, they will sire a single chick which is looked after by both parents for three months and by its mother only for up to 14 months, the longest period of parental care by any bird.

Michael Palin presents the wild budgerigar from Australia. Budgerigars are small Australian parrots whose common name may derive from the aboriginal "Betcherrygah' which, roughly speaking, means "good to eat" though it could mean " good food" as budgerigars follow the rains and so their flocks would indicate where there might be seeds and fruits for people. Where food and water are available together; huge flocks gather, sometimes a hundred thousand strong, queuing in thirsty ranks to take their turn at waterholes. Should a falcon appear, they explode into the air with a roar of wingbeats and perform astonishing aerobatics similar to the murmurations of starlings in the UK. Although many colour varieties have been bred in captivity, wild budgerigars are bright green below, beautifully enhanced with dark scalloped barring above, with yellow throats and foreheads. With a good view, you can tell the male by the small knob of blue flesh, known as a cere, above his beak.

Michael Palin presents the iconic bald eagle from Alaska. In days of yore, when bald meant "white" rather than hairless, these magnificent birds with a two metre wingspans were common over the whole of North America. They were revered in native American cultures. The Sioux wore eagle feathers in their head-dresses to protect them in battle and the Comanche celebrated the birds with an eagle dance. The bird became a national symbol for the United States of America and on the Great Seal is pictured grasping a bunch of arrows in one talon and an olive branch in the other. But pomp and reverence don't always guarantee protection. In 1962 in her classic book "Silent Spring", Rachel Carson warned that bald eagle populations had dwindled alarmingly and that the birds were failing to reproduce successfully. Rightly, she suspected that pesticides were responsible. Bald eagle populations crashed across the USA from the middle of the twentieth century, but fortunately are now recovering following a ban on the use of the offending pesticides.

Michael Palin presents the scarlet macaw from Costa Rica. The Scarlet Macaw is a carnival of a bird, eye-catching, noisy and vibrant, with a colour-scheme verging on bad taste. Its brilliant red feathers clash magnificently with the bright yellow patches on its wings, and contrast with its brilliant blue back and very long red tail. It has a white face and a massive hooked bill and it produces ear-splitting squawks. Subtlety is not in its vocabulary. Scarlet macaws breed in forests from Mexico south through Central America to Bolivia, Peru and Brazil. They use their formidable beaks not only to break into nuts and fruit, but also as pick-axes. Colourful and charismatic birds usually attract attention and in some areas where the Scarlet Macaws have been collected for the bird trade, numbers have declined. In south-east Mexico where they are very rare, a reintroduction programme is underway to restore these gaudy giants to their ancestral forests. Producer Andrew Dawes.

Michael Palin presents the kea from a windswept mountain in New Zealand. A a snow-capped mountain in New Zealand's South Island are not a place where you'd expect to find a parrot, least of all a carnivorous one (and with a penchant for rubber). But this is the home of the kea.Keas are curious birds in every sense of the word. Drab greenish brown, they're the world's only Alpine parrot. When they can find them, keas eat fruits and berries, but also, especially in winter they descend from the higher slopes and scavenge on animal carcasses at rubbish dumps, cracking bones with their sharp beaks to reach the marrow. They will even attack live sheep, stripping the fat from their backs and damaging vital organs. Although this habit is rare and is now understood to be largely restricted to injured sheep, it led to widespread persecution of the birds and a bounty was paid on the head of each bird killed which led to widespread declines so that keas became endangered.Today Keas are legally protected. In their mountain homes, the parrots survive to entertain and exasperate tourists as they clamber over cars, strip rubber seals from windscreens and remove wiper-blades ... curious birds indeed.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Michael Palin presents the black sicklebill of New Guinea. The black sicklebill is a breath-taking creature. It's a bird of paradise, and the male sicklebill's black feathers gleam with metallic blue, green and purple highlights. But his most striking features are a slender scythe-like bill, and an extremely long sabre-shaped tail whose central plumes can reach 50cm in length.During courtship, he transforms his pectoral and wing feathers into a huge ruff which almost conceals his head and exposes an iridescent blue patch. Perching on a dead branch, he displays horizontally, looking less like a bird than a small black comet, all the while producing strange rattling cries.It is thought that the Black sicklebill and its relative the Brown Sickle bill may have spooked the Japanese in the Second World War. Japanese forces had occupied the North coast of (Papua) New Guinea and during their push south to the capital, Port Moresby, had to cross the mountain territories of the sicklebills. It's said that on hearing the birds' courtship displays; they flung themselves to the ground, thinking that they were under fire from the Allies.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Michael Palin presents the oilbird, from a Venezuelan cavern. Demonic screeching's and the rush of unseen wings mixed with a volley of strange clicks are the sound backdrop to oilbirds.Oilbirds are known in Spanish as guacharos .."the wailing ones". These bizarre-looking brown birds with huge mouths, long broad wings and long tails were seen in 1799 by the explorer Alexander von Humboldt in 1817 who described their sounds as "ear-splitting". They're similar to nightjars, their closest relatives, but unlike them, oilbirds feed on fruit; ..... they're the world's only nocturnal flying fruit-eating bird.In their dark breeding caves, they navigate using echolocation like bats. Young oilbirds grow fat on a diet of fruit brought in by their parents and can weigh half as much as again as the adults. These plump chicks were once harvested by local people and settlers for oil which was used in cooking and, ironically for a bird which spends its life in darkness, for lighting lamps.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Michael Palin presents the common poorwill from an Arizona desert. In the dead of night, loud calls pierce the stillness on a moonlit track, a small shape suddenly sprouts wings and flutters into the darkness ... a Common Poorwill is hunting.Poorwills are small nightjars that breed mainly in western North America, often in deserts and dry grassland. By day the poorwill sits in the open or among rocks relying on its mottled plumage for camouflage. By night, it emerges to hawk after insects snapping them up with its large frog-like mouth.This technique works if it's warm enough for insects to be active, but in some places where poorwills live there are sudden cold snaps. Instead of migrating, the poorwill slows down its metabolism and goes into torpor for days or even weeks . This hibernation-like state is very rare among birds and allows the poorwill to get through lean periods and was first scientifically described in 1948, although the phenomenon had been recorded more than 140 years earlier by the great explorer Meriwether Lewis, during the Lewis and Clark Expedition to discover western side of America in 1804.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Michael Palin presents the red-eyed vireo from North America. About the size of British great tits the red-eyed vireo is a common summer visitors to much of North America where they breed in woodlands. The adult vireos are mainly olive green with white bellies and grey heads and their red eyes are highlighted by a white eyestripe. Seeing the birds as they hunt insects among the leaves is much harder than hearing them, because red-vireos are tireless songsters. They used to be known locally as "preacher birds " and territorial males hold the record for the largest repertoire produced by a songbird in a single day.Each vireo can have a repertoire of between a dozen and over a hundred different song-types. And while these marathon "question- and- answer" sessions are the soundtrack to many North American woods, they aren't universally appreciated. The nature writer Bradford Torrey wrote in 1889 that "whoever dubbed this vireo the preacher could have had no very exalted opinion of the clergy"Producer Andrew Dawes.

Michael Palin presents the snail kite from the Florida Everglades. Unlike many birds of prey which are known for their speed and agility, the snail kite hunts at a leisurely pace, one which matches its prey; and here in Florida's swamps, it is on the lookout for the apple snail.To pick them out of floating vegetation, the kite has evolved long needle-like claws, and its slender, viciously-hooked bill is perfect for snipping the snails' muscles and winkling them out of their shells. Snail kites are common across wetlands in South and Central America, but rare in Florida where there are around one thousand birds. Drainage of these marshes has made them scarce, but popular with bird watchers.It's easy to see why, because snail kites are striking birds with their orange feet and black and red bill. The males are ash-grey apart from a white band at the base of their tails. Females and young birds are browner and more mottled. In times of drought, they will eat turtles, crabs or rodents, but these avian gourmets always return to their favourite dish of, escargots.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Michael Palin presents the greater roadrunner of south western North America. A cuckoo that can run at 20 miles per hour and snap up venomous reptiles might not seem destined for cartoon fame, but that's exactly what happened to the Greater Roadrunner.The loud "beep-beep" call of the Warner Brothers cartoon creation, always out-foxing his arch-enemy Wile-E. Coyote brought this very odd member of the cuckoo family racing into the living rooms of the western world from 1949 onwards . Greater roadrunners live in dry sunny places in the south western states of North America, where their long-tailed, bushy--crested, streaky forms are a common sight. They will eat almost anything from scorpions to rats, outrunning small rodents and lizards and even leaping into the air to catch flying insects. As it runs across the desert, the roadrunner's footprints show two toes pointing forward and two backwards. The "X" shape this forms was considered a sacred symbol by Pueblo tribes and believed to confound evil spirits because it gives no clues as to which way the bird went.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Michael Palin presents the Venezuelan horned screamer. Soundling as if someone is using a giant plunger in the Venezuelan marshes, these are the mating calls of the Horned Screamer. They're sounds that only another Horned Screamer could love, but then screamers are very odd birds. Over the years ornithologists have struggled to classify them, modern thinking puts their closest living relatives as the primitive Australian Magpie Goose.Protruding from its head is a long wiry horn made of cartilage, which could rightfully earn it the title of "unicorn of the bird world" Usually seen as pairs or, outside the breeding season in small groups in the marshes and savannas of the northern half of South America, as you'd expect from their name , they are very vocal and these primeval bellows which sound more cow like than bird like and can be heard up to 3 kilometers away.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Michael Palin presents the New Zealand Kakapo, high on the ferny slopes of its island fortress off the coast of New Zealand. Kakapos are flightless and the heaviest parrots in the world. They're also called owl-parrots from their nocturnal habits and open owlish expressions. Like owls their plumage is richly mottled although no owl shares their beautiful moss-green tones. Kakapos also have a curious mating strategy. The males gather at traditional "leks" or display areas to attract mates. At the top of a wooded ridge, the male digs one or more a bowl- like depressions in the ground which function as an amplifier. He then takes a deep breath, swells his throat-pouch like a balloon then releases the air with a soft booming call which can carry up to five kilometres. This sound can now only be heard on a handful of offshore islands. The kakapo story is tragically familiar. Flightless and ground-nesting, it was helpless in the face of settlers who logged its forests and introduced cats and rats which slaughtered the birds. Between 1987 and 1992 the last surviving kakapos were relocated to predator-free islands. Now following intensive care and a national conservation strategy, there are about 130 kakapos in the wild.

Michael Palin presents the harpy eagle flying over the Brazilian rainforest. This is one of the most powerful birds of prey and links mythological corpse-bearers, the coat of arms of Panama and the Harry Potter films. In Greek mythology harpies were creatures with the bodies of eagles and the faces of women, who seized people in their claws. A human body is beyond the real-life harpy eagle, but with its massive 12 cm talons, it can carry a full-grown sloth or an adult howler monkey. Being versatile hunters, the eagles catch a range of birds and reptiles and can easily hoist porcupines and armadillos into the treetops to feed their young.Harpy Eagles breed in the rainforests of central and South America. They're blackish- grey above and white below with a black collar and a divided crest which gives them an uncanny resemblance to Buckbeak the Hippogriff in 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'. Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.Liz Bonnin presents the raucous calling sulphur-crested cockatoo from Australia. It is with somewhat heavy irony that with its loud, jarring calls, the sulphur crested cockatoo is also known as the "Australian Nightingale". These large white parrots with their formidable curved beaks and long yellow crests which they fan out when excited are familiar aviary birds. One of the reasons that they're popular as cage birds is that they can mimic the human voice and can live to a great age. A bird known as Cocky Bennett from Sydney lived until he was a hundred years old, although by the time he died in the early 1900s he was completely bald, and was then stuffed for posterity. In its native forests of Australia and New Guinea, those far-carrying calls are perfect for keeping cockatoo flocks together. They're highly intelligent birds and when they feed, at least one will act as a sentinel ready to sound the alarm in case of danger. So well-known is this behaviour that in Australia, someone asked to keep a lookout during illegal gambling sessions is sometimes known as a "cockatoo" or "cocky".Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Liz Bonnin presents the sonorous trumpeter swan of North America. Across an Alaskan wilderness powerful sounds and calls emanate from the largest and heaviest of all wildfowl, the pure white trumpeter swan. With a wingspan of up to 250 cm, the biggest male trumpeter swan on record weighed over 17 kilogrammes, heavier than mute swans. They breed on shallow ponds and lakes in the wilder parts of north west and central North America. Hunted for feathers and skins, they were once one of the most threatened birds on the continent, with only 69 birds known in the United States, although populations hung on in Alaska and Canada. Since then trumpeters have been protected by law and populations have recovered in many areas. Alaska and Canada remain strongholds and today reintroductions are returning this musical bird to their former range in the USA.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Liz Bonnin presents the adelie penguin on a windswept Antarctic shore. A huddle of braying shapes on a windswept shore in Antarctica reveals itself to be a rookery of Adelie Penguins. These medium sized penguins whose white eye-ring gives them an expression of permanent astonishment were discovered in 1840 and named after the land which French explorer Jules Dumont d'-Urville named in honour of his wife Adele. They make a rudimentary nest of pebbles (sometimes pinched from a neighbour) from which their eggs hatch on ice-free shores in December, Antarctica's warmest month, when temperatures reach a sizzling minus two degrees. In March the adult penguins follow the growing pack ice north as it forms, feeding at its edge on a rich diet of krill, small fish and crustaceans. But as climate change raises ocean temperatures, the ice edge forms further south nearer to some of the breeding colonies, reducing the distance penguins have to walk to and from open water. But, if ice fails to form in the north of the penguin's range it can affect their breeding success, and at one research station breeding numbers have dropped by nearly two thirds.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Liz Bonnin presents the black-footed albatross of Midway Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. Two dusky-brown birds point their bills skywards to cement their lifelong relationship, these are black-footed albatrosses are plighting their troth in a former theatre of war. At only a few square kilometres in size, the island of Midway is roughly half way between North America and Japan. Once it was at the heart of the Battle of Midway during World War Two, but today it forms part of a Wildlife Refuge run by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and is home to white laysan albatross and the darker Black footed Albatross. Around 25,000 pairs of Black-foots breed here. Each pair's single chick is fed on regurgitated offal for six months, after which it learns to fly and then can be vulnerable to human activity on the airbase. But careful management of both species of albatrosses near the airstrip has reduced the number of casualties to a minimum.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Liz Bonnin presents an Antarctic specialist, the delicate looking snow petrel. On a wind blasted Antarctic iceberg, small white hummocks sprout beaks to bicker and flirt with each other. These are snow petrels, one of the hardiest bird species in the world. Few bird species breed in the Antarctic and fewer still are so intimately bound to the landscape of snow and ice. But the near pure white snow petrel makes its home in places where temperatures can plummet to -40 Celsius and below. Returning to their breeding areas from October, the nest is a skimpy affair nothing more than a pebble-lined scrape in a hollow or rocky crevice where the parents rear their single chick on a diet of waxy stomach oil and carrion. But for a bird of such purity the snow petrel has a ghoulish diet, foraging at whale and seal carcasses along the shore. Although it breeds on islands such as South Georgia which are north of the summer pack ice, the snow petrel's true home is among snow and ice of its Antarctic home.Producer Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.Liz Bonnin presents Montserrat oriole from the Caribbean island of Montserrat. In 1995, after being dormant for over 300 years, a volcano on erupted. The eruption not only destroyed Montserrat's capital but much of the wildlife couldn't escape, and one bird, the Montserrat oriole was almost silenced forever. The male is a colourful bird with coal-black head, wings and tail and underparts the colour of egg-yolk. It is one of the most endangered birds in the world, a bird caught between a rock and a hard place. Its forest home had already been reduced by cultivation and introduced predators. It was reduced to living in fragmented pockets of forest, two thirds of which were destroyed in the 1995 and later eruptions. This threatened to wipe out an already endangered bird. So, conservationists from Jersey Zoo moved 8 orioles into captivity to avoid natural extinction and now a captive breeding programme is successfully underway, such as this oriole specially recorded for Tweet of the Day at Chester Zoo by Andrew DawesProducer Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Liz Bonnin presents brown skua hunting over an Antarctic landscape. These bulky brown birds with their hooked death dealing bills are often cast as villains alongside the apparently helpless and lovable penguins. But skuas are highly efficient predators, their skills honed to find the maximum food they can in a largely barren landscape. They're resourceful pirates, forcing other birds to drop or disgorge their catches. They also scavenge around fishing boats or loiter at seal colonies where carcases are easy meat. But a penguin rookery which may have hundreds of pairs of birds provides a real bounty, where waiting for an opportunity, the keen-eyed skua swoops to seize its next victim which if it is small enough, will even swallow it whole.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.Liz Bonnin presents the blue rock thrush, perched high on a Spanish castle. The blue rock thrush has a slim silhouette, rather like that of a blackbird, but these largely sedentary, elusive and sun-loving birds are a rare sight in northern Europe. They are widespread in summer across southern Europe and also occur in the Arabian Peninsula and across most of south-east Asia. The male lives up to his name, as in sunlight his deep indigo body feathers contrast with his darker wings and tail. His mate is a more muted mid brown, and barred beneath. Blue rock thrushes often nest in old ruins, but can also be found in houses in villages and on the edge of towns. Here in sunny spots they feed on large insects like grasshoppers and will even take small reptiles in their long thrush-like bills.Producer Andrew Dawes.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Liz Bonnin presents the diminutive spoon-billed sandpiper of the high Russian tundra. Spoon-billed sandpipers are wading birds, no bigger than a house sparrow. They have rust-coloured feathers and a black, spoon-shaped bill for sifting tiny creatures from the mud or catching insects on the tundra of eastern Russia, where they breed. In winter they fly down to south-east Asian estuaries. Here they are increasingly threatened by the reclamation of mudflats for development and by local people who trap the waders in fine nests to eat. Today, there may be fewer than a thousand birds left. Now conservationists have taken some birds into captivity to establish a breeding stock, but others are being helped on their breeding grounds by headstarting, whereby adults are encouraged to lay a second clutch of eggs after the first are removed. Its hope that this work, plus encouraging local hunters in Asia to release any sandpipers caught in nets, will secure the spoon-billed sandpiper for future generations.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Liz Bonnin presents the displaying Raggiana bird-of-paradise from Papua New Guinea. An explosion of colour flashes across the tree canopy of a rainforest: male Raggiana birds-of-paradise, one of the most spectacularly coloured birds in the world, are displaying to one another. The Raggiana or Count Raggi's bird-of-paradise is Papua New Guinea's national bird and it's easy to see why. His yellow head and green throat are eye-catching enough but even more flamboyant are the long tufted flank feathers which he can raise into a fan of fine reddish-orange plumes. Males gather at traditional display sites quivering these enormous flaming plumes like cabaret dancers as they cling to an advantageous branch. The urgency of their display is underlined by frantic calls which echo through the canopy, in the hope he can impress the much plainer female to mate with him.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Sir David Attenborough presents a widely regarded symbol of Australia, the black swan. These stately looking birds are native to the wetlands of south-western and eastern Australia. The New Zealand population was hunted to extinction but has now been reintroduced there. Their plumage is charcoal grey rather than black and beautifully ruched along their lower back, hiding the white primary feathers which are fully revealed in flight. Their only colour is a raspberry- coloured bill. Black swans behave like nomads, tracking local rains and breeding when they can. In Britain as a collection bird, a few have even cross-bred with mute swans to produce a greyish hybrid nick-named the 'Blute Swan'.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Sir David Attenborough presents the widespread marine species, the white tern. Also known as fairy terns or angel terns, these are very slender, long-winged birds, brilliant white except for a black, slightly-upturned bill, dark eyes and very short blue-grey legs. In flight, their wings appear almost translucent. For such a delicate-looking bird, they have rather harsh calls. Unusually they lay their eggs on a bare branch. The female tern selects a small groove in the bark or on the leaf-stalks of palms where her single egg will be most secure. Here, on its tropical tightrope, the egg is safer from ground predators like rats and because there's no nesting material, there's less chance of parasites.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Sir David Attenborough presents the mimic specialist Greater Hill Mynah from Asia. Like many members of the starling family, Greater Hill Mynah's are superb mimics with a remarkable ability to reproduce the tones of the human voice. This makes them popular as cage and now some wild populations have been severely reduced by collecting. Hill mynahs are not just vocally outstanding. They're dapper looking birds too; glossy purplish-black with a white wing-patch and wattles of bright yellow skin under their eyes and around the back of their necks. The wild birds don't impersonate people though; it's only those captive birds which are amongst some of the best mimics of the human voice.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Sir David Attenborough presents Australia's laughing kookaburra. At 45cm the laughing kookaburra is one of the world's largest kingfishers. Native to south and eastern Australia, they have now been introduced to Western Australia and parts of New Zealand. Although they do catch fish, they hunt mainly on land where they eat reptiles, small mammals and invertebrates. The cacophony of loud hooting laughs from which they get their Aboriginal name, is often produced by several birds in chorus. The cackling call is one of the few exotic bird sounds that is recognised around the world: a captive kookaburra named Jacko became a radio celebrity in Australia through his ability to break into that laughing call on demand. By the time of his death in 1939 he was one of the best known birds in the world.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Sir David Attenborough presents the red-throated caracara from the Amazonian rainforest. The size of buzzards, red-throated Caracaras are black- and -white birds of prey that travel together when searching for paper wasp nests among the leaves. While some birds search for food, others act as sentinels on the lookout for predators. If a monkey or a spotted cat approaches, the sentinel will alert the flock and together they will mob the intruder with loud calls. They specialise in bee and wasp grubs, but seem impervious to stings and it was once thought that they may possess a special repellent which deters the adult insects. Latest research now shows that when they are disturbed by the caracaras, paper wasps keep away from their damaged nest to avoid further danger and so the birds simply take advantage of the wasp's absence.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Sir David Attenborough presents the wandering albatross of the South Atlantic Ocean. On the windswept South Georgian Islands, a stiff breeze is ruffling the grass tussocks as a Wandering Albatross is billing and coo-ing to its mate. These huge seabirds, mate for life and can live for 50 years (or more). Longevity is vital for a species which produces only one chick every two years. The chocolate brown youngster takes to the air nine months after hatching, the longest pre-fledging period of any bird, but when it does, it breaks another record, as adults have the longest wingspan of any living bird, which can reach over 5metres.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.Sir David Attenborough presents the Christmas shearwater. 2000km south of Hawaii the highly marine Christmas shearwater is at home over the Central Pacific seas, tirelessly riding the air-currents, skimming wave-crests and hugging the contours of the sea looking for food. They rarely come to land as adults, but when they do, it is to return to their place of birth on remote oceanic islands to breed. Here they form loose colonies, laying a single white egg which is incubated for around 50 days. Inhabiting these far flung inaccessible islands means little is known about their biology, but that remoteness gives them protection from land based predators.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Sir David Attenborough presents the house wren found across the New World. Having one of the largest ranges of any songbird in the New World, the migratory house wren occurs anywhere from their breeding grounds in Canada and North America, to their to wintering grounds from Central America to Chile. The male house wren's song is a torrent of trills delivered at full volume from his territory of shrubs, low trees and ferny banks. Diminutive he may be but he's feisty and is known to drag other birds' eggs or chicks from a nest-hole he wants for himself. In parts of North America, house wrens are a significant cause of nest failure in some other species of songbirds.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Sir David Attenborough presents the hyacinth macaw of the Brazilian Pantanal. Raucous ear-piercing screeches are produced by one of the most beautiful parrots in the world, flying high over the marshy wetlands of the Pantanal. As their name suggests they are a rich cobalt blue, with sulphur-yellow eye rings with a massive bill and long elegant tail-feathers streaming behind them in flight, making them our longest parrot. Popular as captive caged birds, they are now endangered in the wild and legally protected in Brazil. They feed on palm nuts, including those of the acuri palm which are so hard that even the macaw's powerful bill can't break into them, until they've first passed through the digestive tracts of cattle. Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Sir David Attenborough presents the New Zealand robin. The toutouwai or New Zealand robin may share a name with the more familiar European robin, but it is a very different bird to the robin redbreast we know so well. Although about the same size with the same perky upright stance, the New Zealand robin, is appropriately enough nearly all-black, with a pale belly and a white splash just above the bill, but no trace of red. Three subspecies exist; one in north Island, one in South Island, and another in Stewart Island. And like their British counterparts, who they are not closely related to at all, can become quite tame and friendly to humans. The song is very varied and each male has a repertoire of around two dozen different notes.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Liz Bonnin presents the eastern orphean warbler in an olive grove near Athens. Until recently there used to be just a single species of Orphean Warbler; a summer visitor to southern Europe, North Africa and western Asia: a handsome bird much like a large blackcap with a white throat and greyish-brown back. But across the wide breeding range which stretches from Portugal to Pakistan some orphean warblers look and sound different. Those east of Italy tend to be subtly greyer above and paler beneath. And the songs of birds from Greece eastwards are longer and richer, often including the richness of nightingale like notes. These slight differences have persuaded many ornithologists that the Eastern Orphean warbler is a different species to the Western Orphean Warbler. Biologists call this "splitting "although exactly where these new species boundaries lie is a moot point.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Liz Bonnin presents the greater racket-tailed drongo of South-East Asia. Across a clearing in a Malaysian forest flies a dark bird, seemingly chased by two equally dark butterflies. Those butterflies in hot pursuit aren't insects at all; they are the webbed tips of the greater racket-tailed drongo's excessively long wiry outer-tail feathers, which from a distance look like separate creatures as it flies. Glossy blue-black birds which live in wooded country and are great insect catchers, hawking after them in mid-air before returning to a perch. They're bold too and won't hesitate to harry and chase much larger birds than themselves, including, birds of prey. Like other drongos the greater racquet-tailed drongo has an extensive but not very musical repertoire which includes the sounds of other birds it meets, when it joins mixed feeding flocks, and can imitate the call of a hawk to alarm the hawk's victims and so steal food from them while they are distracted by the call: an ingenious tactic, which few other birds have learned.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Liz Bonnin presents the formerly widespread saddleback of New Zealand. It's loud, piping and whistling calls once resounded throughout New Zealand's forests, but now the saddleback is heard only on smaller offshore islands. This is a bird in exile. About the size of a European blackbird, saddlebacks are predominantly black with a rust-coloured saddle-shaped patch on their backs. In Maori culture this mark came from the demi-God Maui who, after trying to catch the sun, asked the saddleback to fetch water. The bird refused, so hot-handed Maui grabbed it and left a scorch mark on the bird's back. As well as this chestnut saddle, the bird has two bright red wattles at the base of its beak which it can dilate when it displays. It also has an extensive vocabulary and one of its calls has earned it the Maori name –"Ti-e-ke".Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Liz Bonnin presents the advancing, leaping and queuing male blue manakin of Brazil. Male blue manakins are small, blue and black birds with scarlet caps. They live in the forests of south-east Brazil and neighbouring areas of Argentina and Paraguay. Whilst their plumage is eye-catching, their mating display is one of the strangest of any bird. A dominant male Blue Manakin enlists the support of one or more subordinate males. Calling loudly, all the males sidle along a branch towards the female, taking turns to leap into the air and then fly back down and take their place at the back of the queue. This sequence of advancing, leaping and queuing occurs at a frenetic pace, until, without warning, the dominant male calls time on this avian dance-off, with a piercing screech.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Liz Bonnin presents the Nene, or the endemic and rare Hawaiian goose. Visit a Wildfowl and Wetland Trust centre in the UK and it is likely you'll be mobbed by the nasal calls of one of the world's rarest birds, the Hawaiian Goose or "Ne-Ne". In the late 18th century there were around 25,000 of these neat attractive geese, with ochre cheeks and black-heads, on the Hawaiian Islands. But by the early 1950s, due to development and introduced predators, a mere 30 or so remained. A few of these remaining Nene's were taken to Slimbridge, home of Peter Scott's Wildfowl Trust as part of a captive breeding programme. They bred successfully and now many generations of geese produced there have been returned to their native islands. Their future is still precarious in the wild, but as the state bird of Hawaii the Nene's outlook is more secure today than for the last seventy years.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Liz Bonnin presents the morepork or Ru-Ru, New Zealand's only surviving native owl. Strange double notes in the forests of New Zealand were once thought to be cries from the Underworld. But these calls are most likely to be that of a morepork calling. Its familiar call earned it the alternative Maori name of "ruru". Largely nocturnal, it has brown, streaky feathers and large bright yellow eyes which are well adapted for almost silent night hunting forays for large insects, spiders, small birds and mammals. In Maori mythology, moreporks, or "ruru" are spiritual birds, and can represent the ancestral spirit of a family, taking the form of a woman known as "Hine-Ruru" or "owl woman" who acts as a guardian, protecting and advising the family members.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Liz Bonnin presents the gaunt undertaker-looking marabou stork in Africa. It is not very scientific to describe a bird as ugly, but the marabou stork would not win any prizes for beauty or elegance. This bulky stork, with a funereal air, has a fleshy inflatable sac under its throat which conspicuously wobbles as it probes African rubbish dumps for carrion. Seemingly more at home amongst the melee of vultures and jackals squabbling over a carcass, it is known in some areas as the undertaker bird. But, in the air the marabou stork is an elegant sight. It has one of the largest wingspans of any bird, up to 3 metres across. Soaring effortlessly on these broad wings the storks scan the sub-Saharan landscape for food. Marabou storks are doing well, thanks to our throwaway society and they've learned to connect people with rubbish – a salutary association one might say.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Liz Bonnin presents the northern jacana at home in Central American wetlands. A cross between a coot and a plover, northern Jacanas are found in swamps in Central America and Mexico. They're long legged birds with a black head and neck, and a chestnut body with yellow highlights. And, northern jacanas are polyandrous; the females have more than one partner. Males build platforms of floating vegetation and attract females by calling or posturing. If a female mates with a male, he may use his platform as a nest for her eggs. The female doesn't care for the eggs, but goes in search of up to three other mates. The result is that a single female may have several males raising different clutches of eggs for her and each clutch may contain the eggs of more than one male!Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Liz Bonnin presents the North American black chinned hummingbird. What seems to be a large green beetle is flying erratically across a Los Angeles garden: suddenly, it hovers in mid-air to probe a flower bloom; this is a black-chinned hummingbird. Although often thought of as exclusively tropical, a few species of hummingbirds occur widely in North America and in the west; the Black-chinned hummingbird is the most widespread of all. Both sexes are glittering emerald above: the male's black throat is bordered with a flash of metallic purple, which catches the sun. Black-chinned "hummers" are minute, weighing in at just over 3 grams. But they are pugnacious featherweights seeing off rival males during intimidation flights with shrill squeals, whilst remarkably beating their wings around 80 times a second. They'll also readily come to artificial sugar-feeders put out by householders to attract these flying jewels to their gardens.Producer Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Liz Bonnin presents the red-crowned crane from Japan and Asia. Backlit by a Japanese winter sun, huge black and white birds dance for an audience. Their plumage mirrors the dazzling snow and dark tree-trunks. The only spots of colour are crimson - the caps of these Red-crowned Cranes. Red-crowned Cranes breed only in far-eastern Russia. Tall, majestic and very vocal, red-crowned cranes gather in groups to reinforce pair-bonds, by leaping into the air and fluttering their 2.5 metre wings, sometimes holding sticks or twigs in their long bills. During winter months, the cranes are fed with grain, and receive a stream of captivated visitors. In front of a wall of clicking camera shutters, the cranes perform their elaborate dance, to delight their captivated audience.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.Chris Packham presents the brown thrasher, usually seen in North America. Brown thrashers are related to mockingbirds that breed across most of eastern and central North America. They're famous for their vast repertoire which can include over 1000 song types. They spend much of their time skulking in dense shrubs at woodland edges and in parks and gardens. They're russet on top, white below and heavily streaked like a large thrush but with much longer tails and stout curved bills. Their name comes from the noisy thrashing sound they make as they search the leaf litter for food. Normally, brown thrashers are short distance migrants within North America but in 1966, in November of that year, in Dorset, birdwatchers almost dropped their binoculars in disbelief when they heard the call of a brown thrasher coming from a coastal thicket. It remained here until February 1967 and is the only British record.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Chris Packham presents the nocturnal red-necked nightjar of the Spanish countryside. Like others in the family, red-necked nightjars are nocturnal birds which feed on large insects, snapping them up with huge bristle-lined mouths. A summer migrant, the red-necked nightjar breeds mainly in Spain, Portugal and North Africa. It is closely related to the common European nightjar, but it sounds very different. By day they hide on the ground among scrub where their cryptic patterns provide excellent camouflage. They're the colour of mottled bark and as you'd expect from their name, have a rusty-red collar. As the sun sets, they emerge from their hiding places to glide and turn on slender wings through scrub and pinewoods, occasionally warning rivals by clapping their wings together over their backs with a sound like a pistol-shot. Between bouts of moth-chasing, they settle on a pine branch and pour forth their repetitive, but atmospheric song.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Chris Packham presents the Atlantic canary singing in the Tenerife treetops. The ancestor of our cage-bird canaries is the Island or Atlantic Canary, a finch that is native to the Azores, Madeira and Canary Islands, which include Tenerife. The Canary Islands were named by early travellers "the islands of dogs from 'canis', the Latin for dogs, because of the many large dogs reputedly found there. And so the common and popular song-bird which is now a symbol of the islands became known as the canary. Unlike their domestic siblings, wild Island canaries are streaky, greenish yellow finches: males have golden- yellow foreheads, females a head of more subtle ash-grey tone. But it's the song, a pulsating series of vibrant whistles, trills and tinkling sounds; that has made the canary so popular. They were almost compulsory in Victorian and Edwardian parlours; a far cry from the sunny palm -fringed beaches of the Atlantic islands.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Chris Packham presents the greater rhea roaming the South American pampas. Greater rheas are the largest birds in South America and look like small brown ostriches. They're flightless, but can avoid danger by sprinting away on sturdy legs reaching speeds of up to 60 kilometres per hour. Gauchos, the horsemen of the pampas, used to hunt them on horseback using a bolas; a well-aimed bolas would wrap around the rhea's legs or neck and bring it down in a tangle of feathers and limbs. In the breeding season males call loudly to proclaim territories, and to woo potential mates the male runs around erratically, spreading his wings and booming. He mates with several females who lay their eggs in the same nest. Then the females depart to mate with another male leaving the first male to incubate the clutch and rear the huge brood of chicks on his own.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Chris Packham presents the wedge-tailed shearwater of the Indian and Pacific oceans. Wedge-tailed shearwaters are large sepia brown seabirds with long wings and streamlined bodies. They feed mainly on fish and squid which they scoop from the surface or catch by diving. While the parents are careering over the open seas, their solitary chick squats alone in its island burrow. The return of the adults means a welcome feast for the chick. Its reward is a mouthful of warm and waxy stomach oil, the digested remains of the adults prey. It may sound revolting to us, but this oil is rich in energy and allows the chick to grow even bigger than its parents before losing weight again prior to its first flight, which happens a few weeks after the adult birds have abandoned it to its fate.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Chris Packham presents the Madagascan Harrier-hawk from Madagascar. Among the branches of a Madagascan forest, there's a flutter of wings and a flash of double-jointed feet. The Madagascan harrier-hawk is a striking bird, uniform grey above and finely barred beneath with black wing-tips and a white-banded black tail. There's a patch of sulphurous skin around its bill and eyes: and its long legs are also bright yellow. Those long legs help the harrier-hawk hunt for food that's beyond the reach of most other birds of prey. Using its wings for balance and twisting its flexibly jointed legs at seemingly impossible angles, the harrier-hawk inserts its talons into tiny holes, relying on its sense of touch to locate its prey. Madagascan Harrier-hawks do hunt more conventionally by gliding over the forest, seizing small birds, reptiles and mammals such as the Verreaux's sifaka.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.Chris Packham presents the wild turkey of North American woodlands. We are so used to seeing mass-produced captive turkeys (the centrepiece for many a Thanksgiving meal in the United States and Canada) that the sight and sound of a displaying male wild turkey is a real surprise. With his tail fanned and red wattles a-quiver; he struts-his-stuff in a woodland clearing to win the favours of the less flamboyant hens. There are now around 7 million wild turkeys in the USA. But it wasn't always so. Wild turkeys were nearly wiped out in many states by over-shooting and woodland clearance. Their numbers fell from tens of millions in pre-Columbus days, to about thirty thousand by the last Century. Land which had been previously cleared for farming was allowed to return to woodland. Wild turkeys were released back into areas where they'd been wiped out. This along with hunting controls and behavioural research allowed their numbers to increase and their spectacular displays are once again a common sight in many areas of the USA.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Chris Packham presents the superbly camouflaged great snipe of Eastern Europe. A thin drizzle of tinkling notes mingled with rhythmic tapping drifts across a Polish marsh in spring a sign that great male snipes are displaying. Great snipe are wading birds with short legs and very long two-toned bills, which they use to probe bogs and wet ground for worms. Across much of Europe having newly returned from its sub-Saharan wintering grounds a number of northern and eastern European marshes, set stage as breeding sites for the larger, great snipe. They court females at traditional lekking or displaying grounds where several males vie for attention. Perched on a small mound, males gather at sunset to fan their white outer tail feathers, puff out their chests and produce a medley of very un-wader-like calls. The females, looking for a mate, are attracted to the dominant males at the centre of the lek.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Chris Packham presents the flightless cormorant adapted to its Galapagos world. The isolated Galapagos Islands are famous for their unique wildlife which has evolved to adapt to a landscape free of predators. This absence of predators has allowed the native cormorant to dispense with the need to fly, why waste energy when there's nothing to fly away from? This is the only flightless member of the cormorant family, which feeds on fish and for that reason it has developed stronger feet for swimming after its prey. They nest on the rocky coasts of Fernandina and Isabela islands and the population can dip below a thousand birds especially after hurricanes or collapses in local fish numbers. They recover quickly though, but are vulnerable to introduced dogs which nearly eliminated the cormorants on Isabela Island.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Chris Packham presents a true global ocean going mariner, the red-billed tropicbird. These elegant birds are masters of the winds and tides. There are three species of tropicbirds and all of them nest on tropical islands, spending the rest of the year roaming the open ocean. All are instantly recognisable by their very long whippy central tail-feathers which can be longer than the rest of the bird. With scarlet beaks, black wing-tips and white-tail streamers from a distance they look all-white, but a closer view reveals a narrow black mask. Red-billed Tropicbirds nest on the ground and use their impossibly long tails in courtship displays, moving the feathers to register excitement or aggression. In flight they are graceful soarers and swoopers, and often call a trill chattering rattle in mid-air chases. This sound which resembles a bosun's (boatswain's) whistle, gave rise to their alternative name of 'Bosun Bird'.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Chris Packham presents the ivory gull from the northern polar seas. Ivory gulls breed on rocky outcrops and cliffs and has a near-circumpolar distribution, spending most of the year near the edge of the pack ice throughout Arctic Europe, Arctic Russia, Greenland and Canada. They regularly venture farther north than any other bird. The adults are brilliant white with black legs and black eyes; their only splash of colour is on the bill which is a pastel rainbow of blue, green, yellow and pink. At rest they look rather dove-like. Although their colour suggests purity, their tastes are definitely not. Ivory gulls are scavengers. Dead seals or whales will draw them from miles around and those birds which have turned up as rare winter visitors to the UK have often shown an uncanny ability to locate strandline corpses of porpoises, dolphins or seals. Diet aside these are entrancing gulls to watch as they loaf on icebergs or waft angelically over arctic seas.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Chris Packham presents the purple martin from eastern North America. Every spring, across the land from Chicago to St Louis, you can hear couples squabbling over the best real estate. But these aren't human house-buyers, they're purple martins. Purple Martins are the largest North American swallow, glossy blue-black rather than purple and much chunkier than the well-known barn swallow. They spend the winter in insect-rich places in South America and return to their North American breeding colonies each spring. In the west, they nest in holes in trees or even in giant saguaro cacti, but in the east where they're much more common, they almost exclusively rely on people to provide them with nest-sites. Visit almost any city, town or homestead and you'll see multi-story nest-boxes, the home of a score of purple martin families. Around 1 million people are thought to erect housing each year. Their human landlords take a personal pride in their martin colonies, listening each spring for those first pebbly calls which are a sign that their protégés have made it back from the tropics, once again.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Chris Packham presents the rare Asian crested Ibis formerly common in Japan and China. The crested ibis is mainly white with a shaggy white crest and a red face; but in the breeding season its plumage is tinged with ash-grey. Under its wings is a subtle peach tone, a colour known in Japan as toki-iro. Unfortunately its beauty hasn't saved the crested ibis from persecution in Japan, China or Siberia where it used to breed. It was thought to be extinct in China, until seven birds were found in 1981. In 2003 the crested ibis became extinct in the wild in Japan. Now, crested ibis are conservation symbols in the Far East. They are strictly protected in China where they are being reintroduced to increase the small wild population. In Japan the first wild Japanese crested ibis chick flew from its nest in 2012.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Chris Packham presents the rhinoceros auklet found around the North American western seaboard. Rhinoceros auklets are auks. They look very different to their relatives the puffins or guillemots. They're dark grey-ish brown birds, and in the breeding season both male and female have flowing white plumes above their eyes and behind their orange bills. It is the white vertical plate at the base of its bill which has inspired the birds' common names of "horn-billed puffins" or "unicorn puffins". This horn is only grown in the breeding season; the birds shed it in autumn when they head out to sea. Rhinoceros auklets in burrows or cavities in grassy places or on forest floors: most colonies are small, but some contain a hundred thousand birds which produce a soothing chorus of mooing and grunting sounds, strange to hear in the blackness of a coastal wood.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Chris Packham presents the Arabian babbler of a Yemeni Desert. Arabian babblers could almost be described as feathered meerkats. They're sociable, charismatic and always on the alert. These energetic and curious birds are found around the Arabian peninsula and in Egypt, often in dry scrubby places. They have long tails, curved bills and a bounding gait, and their sandy plumage is superb camouflage against the parched ground where they roam in search of insects and seeds. If on their travels, a group of babblers discovers a snake they will mob it with loud shrieks, raising their wings and calling to each other until they see it off. Arabian babblers don't use their social skills just to chase away predators. They spend all their time in groups of usually four to six adult birds and in these groups their relationships are fluid. They are also co-operative breeders and help each other to rear their chicks, a communal way of life that helps to forge bonds between these very vocal birds.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.Chris Packham presents the bell miner of eastern Australia. The sound of a tiny hammer striking a musical anvil in a grove of gum trees signifies that bell miners are in search of sugar. More often heard than seen the bell miner is a smallish olive-green bird with a short yellow bill, with a small orange patch behind the eye. It belongs to a large family of birds known as honeyeaters because many have a sweet tooth and use their long bills to probe flowers for nectar. But the bell miner gets its sugar hit in other ways. Roving in sociable flocks, bell miners scour eucalyptus leaves for tiny bugs called psyllids who produce a protective waxy dome. Bell miners feed on these sweet tasting shelters. Some scientists suggest that Bell Miners actively farm these insects by avoiding over-exploiting of the psyllid colonies, allowing the insects numbers to recover before the birds' next visit. So dependent are they on these psyllids bugs that Bell Miners numbers can often fluctuate in association with any boom-and-bust changes in psyllid population.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.Chris Packham presents the Plumbeous antbird in a Bolivian rainforest. When army ants go on the march in the Bolivian rainforest, they attract a huge retinue of followers; often heard but rarely seen. These include Antbirds. The Plumbeous Antbird is a lead-coloured bird; the males have a patch of blue skin around their eyes, whilst the females are bright russet below. Like other antbirds they are supreme skulkers, hiding under curtains of dense foliage and only betraying themselves by their calls and song, a particularly fluty call. But you'd think that with a name like antbirds, their diet is easily diagnosed, but surprisingly antbirds rarely eat ants. Instead, most species shadow the columns of army ants which often change nest-sites or raid other ant colonies. As the ants march across the forest floor, they flush insects and other invertebrates which are quickly snapped by the attendant antbirds.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Chris Packham presents the Indian cuckoo found across much of South East Asia. A bird singing "crossword puzzle" - "crossword puzzle" over the woods is an Indian Cuckoo, a shy and slender bird, grey above and barred black and white below. These features are similar to those of a small hawk and when a cuckoo flies across a woodland glade, it's often mobbed by other birds. They're right to sense danger. Indian cuckoos are brood parasites and the females lay their eggs in the nests of other species including drongos, magpies and shrikes. The Indian cuckoo's song is well-known in the Indian sub-Continent and has been interpreted in different ways. As well as "crossword puzzle " some think it's saying "one more bottle" or "orange pekoe". And in the Kangra valley in northern India, the call is said to be the soul of a dead shepherd asking "... where is my sheep? Where is my sheep?".

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Chris Packham presents the roaring southern cassowary of Australia's Queensland. The territorial roaring calls of the world's second heaviest bird, the cassowary are odd enough, but it still won't prepare you for your first sighting of these extraordinary birds. Reaching a height of over 1.5 metres, they have thick legs armed with ferocious claws, blue – skinned faces and scarlet dangling neck- wattles. These are striking enough but it is the large horn, or casque, looking like a blunt shark's fin on the bird's head that really stands out. It's earned this giant its common name - cassowary comes from the Papuan for "horned head". Such a primitive looking creature seems out of place in the modern world and although the southern cassowary occurs widely in New Guinea, it's still hunted for food there. Cassowaries can kill dogs and injure people with their stout claws, but the bird usually comes off worst in confrontations.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Chris Packham presents the vegetarian tree finch on the Galapagos Islands. These streaky sparrow-like birds found on the Galapagos Islands may look rather plain, but belong to the evolutionary elite, having attracted the attention of Charles Darwin on his visit there in 1835. Darwin noticed that the fourteen or so species of finches, which he concluded were derived from a common ancestor on this isolate archipelago, had evolved bills adapted to the type of food available. The Vegetarian finch has a bill rather like a parrot's, with thick curved mandibles and a biting tip which also allows it to manipulate seeds, similar to a parrot or budgie. Vegetarian finches are especially fond of the sugar-rich twigs of certain shrubs and are use the biting tip of their bills to strip off the bark to reach the softer sweeter tissues beneath: a niche that other finches on Galapagos haven't exploited yet.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Chris Packham presents the North American blue jay. The loud warning screams of blue jays are just part of their extensive vocabulary. These birds are intelligent mimics. Blue jays are neat handsome birds; lavender-blue above and greyish below with a perky blue crest, black collar and white face. But the blue jay is not blue, but black. Its feather barbs contain a dark layer of melanin pigment; the blue we see is caused by light scattering through modified cells on the surface of the feather barbs and reflected back as blue. Common over much of eastern and central North America, blue jays will move in loose flocks to take advantage of autumnal tree mast. A single blue jay can collect and bury thousands of beechnuts, hickory nuts and acorns (in a behaviour known as caching) returning later in the year to retrieve these buried nuts. Any they fail to find, assist in the natural regeneration of native woodlands.Producer Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Chris Packham presents the North Island kokako from New Zealand. Kokakos are bluish-grey, crow-sized birds with black masks. Those from the North Island sport bright blue fleshy lobes called wattles; one on each side of the bill. And they are famous in New Zealand for their beautiful haunting song which males and females sing, often in a long duet in the early morning.Known by some people as the squirrel of the woods because of their large tails and habit of running along branches, kokako used to be widespread, today fewer than 1000 pairs remain. The kokako's slow and deliberate, almost thoughtful, flute-like song evokes the islands' forests and in the film, The Piano, it features as part of the chorus of woodland birds in some of the most atmospheric scenes.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Chris Packham presents the red-breasted goose in Siberia. Red-breasted geese are colourful birds with art-deco markings of brick-red, black and white. Despite their dainty and somewhat exotic appearance, these are hardy birds which breed in the remotest areas of arctic Siberia. They often set up home near the eyries of birds of prey, especially peregrine falcons. But there's method in the madness; These wildfowl nest on the ground where their eggs and chicks are vulnerable to predators such as Arctic foxes. But the ever vigilant peregrine falcons detecting a predator, will defend their eyries by calling and dive-bombing any intruders, and this also doubles as a warning system for the geese. In winter red-breasted geese migrate south where most of them graze on seeds and grasses at a few traditional sites in eastern Europe around the Black Sea.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.Chris Packham presents the New Zealand bellbird. In 1770, during Captain James Cook's first voyage to New Zealand, an extraordinary dawn chorus caught the attention of his crew "like small bells exquisitely tuned": these were New Zealand bellbirds. New Zealand bellbirds are olive green birds with curved black bills and brush-like tongues which they use to probe flowers for nectar. Like other honeyeaters, they play an important role in pollinating flowers and also eat the fruits which result from those pollinations and so help to spread the seeds. The well camouflaged bellbird is more often heard before it is seen. They sing throughout the day, but at their best at dawn or dusk when pairs duet or several birds chorus together. Their song can vary remarkably, and it is possible to hear different 'accents' in different parts of New Zealand, even across relatively short distances.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Chris Packham presents the South American toco tucan. Few of us are lucky enough to have seen or heard a Toco Toucan at home in its South American strongholds but its image will be familiar to drinkers of a certain age. Its pied plumage and sky-blue eye-rings are striking enough but it is the toco toucan's huge black-tipped orange bill that makes the bird instantly recognisable. Despite appearances this cumbersome-looking banana-shaped bill is really quite light. Under the colourful plates which cover the bill a matrix of horny fibres and air-pockets combines strength with lightness a formula which has caught the attention of light aircraft manufacturers . The bird's massive bills were prominent in advertisements for a well-known brand of Irish stout beer in the 1930s and 40s. In various poses, often with a pint pot perched precariously on its bill, toucan's, extolled the virtues of beer-drinking.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the blood sucking vampire finch. On Wolf Island in the remote Galapagos archipelago, a small dark finch sidles up to a booby with a taste for blood. Sharp-beaked ground finch is found on several islands in the Galapagos and is one of the family known as Darwin's finches. Several species of ground-finches have devolved bill sizes which vary depending on their diet and the competition for food. Usually seeds, fruits, nectar and grubs. But one sharp-beaked ground-finch has gorier ambitions. On the isolated islands of Wolf and Darwin where seeds are scarcer in times of drought this bird has taken to drinking the blood of other seabirds, especially boobies. It pecks at the bases of their feathers and greedily laps up the flowing blood. For this reason it's often known as the, the vampire finch.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the greater honeyguide of sub-Saharan Africa. A loud repetitive "it's - here" – "it's -here" is a sound the greater honeyguide only makes to humans in an extraordinary co-operative act between humans and bird. Relatives of woodpeckers they are one of the few birds which can digest wax and also feed on the eggs, grubs and pupae of bees. A greater honeyguide knows the location of the bee colonies in its territory and is able to lead honey-hunters to them. Once it has successfully guided its helpers to a nest, it waits while the honey-hunters remove the comb. Then it moves in to snap up the grubs and wax from the opened nest. So reliable are honeyguides that the Boran people of East Africa save up to two thirds of their honey-searching time by using the bird's services and use a special loud whistle (called a fuulido) to summon their guide before a hunt.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the resplendent quetzal of Guatemala. The image of resplendent quetzals are everywhere in Guatemala, but the source of their national emblem is now confined to the cloud forests of Central America. Its beauty has long entranced people, the male quetzal a shimmering emerald-green above and scarlet below. His outstanding features are the upper tail feathers which, longer than his entire body, extend into a train almost a metre in length, twisting like metallic ribbons as he flies through the tree canopy. Historically resplendent quetzals were considered sacred to the Mayans and Aztecs for their brilliant plumage, with the lavish crown of the Aztec ruler Moctezuma the Second, containing hundreds of individual quetzal tail plumes.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the snow goose found breeding across Canada and Alaska. Although most snow geese are all-white with black wing-tips, some known as blue geese are blue-ish grey with white heads. Snow geese breed in the tundra region with goslings hatching at a time to make the most of rich supply of insect larvae and berries in the short Arctic summer. As autumn approaches though, the geese depart and head south before temperatures plummet, and the tundra becomes sealed by snow and ice. As they head for areas rich in grain and nutritious roots hundreds of thousands of snow geese fill the sky with their urgent clamour providing one of the greatest wildfowl spectacles in the world.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Galapagos Islands blue-footed booby. Far off the Ecuador coastline the Galapagos Archipelago is home to a strange courtship dance and display of the male blue-footed booby and his large bright blue webbed feet. The intensity of the male's blue feet is viewed by the female as a sign of fitness and so he holds them up for inspection as he struts in front of her. She joins in, shadowing his actions. As the pair raise and lower their feet with exaggerated slow movements, they point their bills sky-wards while spreading their wings, raising their tails and calling.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Arctic specialist the king eider duck. Relatives of the larger common eider found around the British coast, king eiders breed around the Arctic and sub-Arctic coasts of the northern hemisphere. As true marine ducks they can dive to depths of 25 metres on occasion, to feed on molluscs and marine crustaceans. The drake King Eider has colourful markings; having a black and white body with a reddish bill, surmounted by an orange-yellow shield. His cheeks are pale mint-green and his crown and nape are lavender-grey. He uses his bill pattern and head colours in a highly ritualised display to woo his mate, fluffing up his chest and issuing an amorous coo-ing call.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the house crow, native of southern Asia. Leggier and longer-billed than the slightly larger European carrion crow and having a charcoal grey bib and collar and raucous call, these are common birds in towns and villages from Iran through India to Thailand. As scavengers they eat almost anything, which is how they've come to live alongside us. We provide water as well as food and have introduced the birds into areas of the Middle East and Africa. Although they don't fly long distances, the crows often hop aboard ships and arrive in foreign ports. Ship-assisted house crows have the potential to spread around the globe, a beautiful example of avian exploitation of human activity.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the World's most numerous bird; red billed quelea. Red-billed queleas are the most numerous birds in the world and as part of the weaverbird family sound and look like small neat sparrows. Their ability to adapt to local conditions and travel for food allows large populations of fast-breeding queleas to build up. The statistics are mind-boggling. Some flocks of red-billed quelea can comprise millions of birds which may take hours to fly past. There are probably between one and a half and ten billion birds in Africa. They breed in vast colonies; one colony in Nigeria covered one hundred and ten hectares and contained thirty one million nests.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Miranda Krestovnikoff presents Australia's satin bowerbird. Then male is a blackish looking bird with bright purple eyes, whose plumage diffracts the light to produce an indigo sheen with a metallic lustre. He builds a U-shaped bower of sticks on the forest floor into which he hopes to lure a female. But brown twigs on a brown woodland floor aren't very eye-catching, so he jazzes up the scene with an array of objects from berries and bottle-tops to clothes-pegs and even ballpoint pens. All have one thing in common: they are blue. The male dances around his bower to attract the greenish females: often holding something blue to impress her. As he poses, he calls enticingly to advertise his prowess. Once she's made her choice, she will leave to build her nest and rear her young alone.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Panamanian Montezuma oropendola. In a clearing in the humid rainforest in Panama a tall tree appears to be draped in hanging baskets. These are the nests of a New World blackbird, Montezuma oropendola. The male produces an ecstatic bubbling liquid call as he displays to females, reaching a crescendo whilst bowing downwards from his perch, spreading his wings and raising his tail. They weave long tubular basket-like nests from plant fibres, which they suspend in clusters from tall trees. Colonies can contain up to one hundred and seventy nests, but more usually number about thirty.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the echo parakeet found only in Mauritius, a bird which has brushed extinction by its wingtips. This once familiar bird of the island of Mauritius will only nest in large trees with suitable holes, few of which remain after widespread deforestation on the island. A close relative of the more adaptable ring necked parakeet found now across southern Britain where it's been introduced, by the 1980's the wild population of echo parakeets numbered around ten birds. Threatened with extinction in the wild, captive breeding and successful releases into the wild have stabilised the population to about three hundred birds.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the crested lark found from Europe across to China. The west coast of Europe is one edge of the huge range of the crested lark. Much like many larks it is a streaky brown bird but supports, as its name suggests a prominent crest of feathers on its head. Its song is delivered in a display flight over its territory as a pleasant series of liquid notes. Unlike skylarks which are rural birds, crested larks often nest in dry open places on the edge of built-up areas. Its undistinguished appearance and behaviour were cited by Francis of Assisi as signs of humility and he observed that like a humble friar, "it goes willingly along the wayside and finds a grain of corn for itself".

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Miranda Krestovnikoff presents a bird which intrigued Darwin, the Galapagos mockingbird. There are four species of Mockingbird in the Galapagos islands, which probably all descended from a single migrant ancestor and then subsequently evolved different adaptations to life on their separate island clusters, hence their fascination for Charles Darwin. The most widespread is the resourceful Galapagos Mockingbird. Unlike other mockingbirds which feed on nectar and seeds, the Galapagos mockingbird has adapted to its island life to steal and break into seabird eggs and even attack and kill young nestlings. They'll also ride on the backs of land iguanas to feed on ticks deep within the reptiles' skin and will boldly approach tourists for foot. They aptly demonstrate the theory of the "survival of the fittest".Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the common hawk cuckoo from the Bengal region. The repetitive call of the common hawk-cuckoo, otherwise known as the brain-fever bird, is one of the typical sounds of rural India and on into the foothills of the Himalayas. Its name partly derives from its call sounding like "brain fever" but also what one writer called its repetition being a "damnable iteration". It looks like a bird of prey, and flies like one too, imitating the flapping glide of a sparrowhawk in the region, known as the shikra, often accompanied by mobbing small birds. Unwittingly as they mob her, birds like babblers betray their nest, into which the cuckoo will lay her egg.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the virtuoso songster the pied butcherbird of Australia. Australian parks, gardens resonate to the flute like calls of a medium sized black and white bird with stout blue-grey bills, and a black hood. They earned their name 'butcherbird' from their habit of storing prey by impaling it onto thorns or in a tree crevice before feeding on it with their hooked bill. They can sing for up to twenty minutes at a time, appearing to improvise as they perform a mellifluous, but unpredictable performance which they deliver as a solo or a duet with another butcherbird. Australian composer David Lumsdaine, described its call as..... "a virtuoso of composition and improvisation".Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the long distant migrant Arctic warbler. These classic olive-grey warblers, slightly smaller than the European robin, with a pale eye-stripe, winter in south-east Asia, but each spring fly to northern forests to breed. This can be as far as Finland, up to 13,000 kilometres away as well as Arctic and sub-Arctic Russia, Japan and even Alaska. They do this to feed on the bountiful supply of insects which proliferate during the 24-hour daylight of an Arctic summer. A few make it to Britain, the Northern Isles, but whether they finally return to Asia is not known.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the black drongo of Southern Asia. What looks a like a small crow crossed with a flycatcher is riding a cow's back in an Indian village. Black drongos are slightly smaller than European starlings, but with a much longer tail. They feed mainly on large insects: dragonflies, bees, moths and grasshoppers which they will pluck from the ground as well pursuing them in aerial sallies. Although small, these birds are famous for being fearless and will attack and dive-bomb almost any other bird, even birds of prey, which enter their territories. This aggressive behaviour has earned them the name "King Crow" and in Hindi their name is Kotwal - the policeman.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the poisonous variable pitohui from New Guinea. This jay sized, black-and-tan bird hides a dark secret. Named for their voice, pitohui is a representation of their song and 'variable' refers to their plumage colour which varies across their range. What is striking about this bird is that it is poisonous: its skin and feathers contain powerful neurotoxic alkaloids similar to those of South American poison-dart frogs. For the pitohui, this chemical defence is unlikely to be fatal to predators which prey on them; rather it discourages further attacks. People who've handled have suffered burning sensations in the mouth, numbness in fingers and bouts of sneezing. It is not recommended.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the Andean Cock-of-the-rock from Peru. Deep in a cloud forest a female awaits the display of her displaying males. Gathered in front of her several head-bobbing wing-waving males, these males are spectacularly dazzling; a vibrant orange head and body, with black wings and tails, yellow staring eyes, and ostentatious fan-shaped crests which can almost obscure their beaks. Male cock-of-the rocks gather at communal leks, and their performances include jumping between branches and bowing at each other whilst all the time calling loudly. Yet, for all the males' prancing and posturing, it is the female who's in control. Aware that the most dominant and fittest males will be nearest the centre of the lekking arena, it's here that she focuses her attention.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the now extinct in the wild Hawaiian Crow. It's hard to imagine any crow becoming endangered, but only a hundred or so the formerly widespread Hawaiian crow survive and all of them in captivity. Also known by its Hawaiian name 'Alala' these sooty black brown crows produce a chorus of caws and screeches. Early settlers in the Hawaiian archipelago reduced their numbers, leaving the remaining populations vulnerable to introduced predators; feral pigs further reduced the fruit-laden understory plants favoured by the crow. The species was last seen in the wild in 2002. All may not be lost. A captive breeding programme overseen by San Diego Zoo is hoping to reintroduce the crows into the wild, so perhaps the Hawaiian forests will once again resound with their calls.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the North American Swainson's hawk. About the size of the European buzzard, Swainson's hawks are dark-brown birds, rusty brown on the chest and white on the belly, and a familiar sight across open farmland and prairies of western North America where they soar effortlessly in search of prey. Most winter in South America, this epic round-trip of around 20,000 kilometres is probably the longest regular migration made by any American bird of prey. When they reach their wintering grounds they switch diet. In North America they feed mainly on mammals, but in South America, they gather in flocks to hunt dragonflies and grasshoppers in the vast pampas plains.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the mysterious shoebill of Uganda. Reaching almost one and a quarter metres in height and looking like a hefty-looking blue-grey stork, ornithologists remain unsure which birds are their closest relatives. As its name suggests, the Shoebill's most outstanding feature, is its enormous clog-shaped bill. Up to 20cm long, half as wide and ending in a nail-like hook. They live in central and east African swamps where they feed on reptiles, fish, amphibians and even young crocodiles. Their bill is also useful in the baking heat of the African sun, when the adults scoop up beak-fulls of water and shower it over their chicks to help them keep cool.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the New Zealand brown kiwi. A piercing wail can be heard in a forest at night. A brown kiwi is calling. Only found in New Zealand, kiwi are flightless birds and the brown kiwi, which is about the size of a domestic chicken, lays an egg weighing as much as a quarter of its own bodyweight – proportionally; the largest egg for its size of any bird. More mammal like than birds; their tiny eyes are of little use, but they have an excellent sense of smell, using their nostrils located unusually for birds near the end of the bill. Held in great affection, brown kiwi appear on coins, stamps and coats-of- arms as well as providing a nick-name for New Zealand's national rugby team.Producer: Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the wetland loving African Jacana. Being rich chestnut coloured above, with black heads, white throats, each has a patch of blue skin above the bill, known as a shield, Jacanas are waders with very long slender toes which allow them to walk on floating plants giving them the name lily-trotters. Widespread in wet places south of the Sahara desert they may become nomadic moving between wetlands as seasonal water levels change. They have an unusual mating system. Females mate with several males, but leave their partners to build the nest, incubate the eggs and bring up the chicks. With up to 3 or 4 mates rearing her different broods, her strategy is to produce the maximum number of young lily-trotters each year.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.Miranda Krestovnikoff presents the African southern ground hornbill. Ground hornbills live in south and south east Africa. They're glossy black birds, as big as turkeys with huge downward-curving bills. The bird produces a deep booming sound that reverberates over long distances, sometimes as much as 5 kilometres, across its grassy habitat. Preferring to walk rather than fly, they strut about in the long grass, searching for prey. Snakes are a favourite: even deadly puff adders are no match for the birds' bludgeoning beaks.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Sir David Attenborough presents the emperor penguin from the Antarctic Peninsula. With temperatures down to minus 50oC, midwinter blizzards scouring one of the most inhospitable places on the planet, this is not an obvious location for raising young. Yet at the heart of this landscape, the world's largest penguin, the emperor, stands guard over their young. Tightly-packed colonies of hundreds or sometimes thousands of birds huddle together, to conserve heat. The male broods the single egg on his feet, protected under folds of bare abdominal skin. Females travel up to 100km from the colony in search of food, using a technique called tobogganing which is far more efficient than walking on their short legs. Harsh though the landscape is in midwinter, all this activity is co-ordinated to allow the young to fledge into the relatively warmth of an Antarctic summer.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.Sir David Attenborough presents the laughing gull off the Florida coast. In summer, the hearty peal of laughter is one of the characteristic sounds people hear along the North American east coast where laughing gulls come to breed. America's version of the British black-headed gull they are easy to recognise as they patrol the seashore in search for food. Like many gulls they eat what they can find and will scavenge at rubbish dumps, and will even feast on the eggs of horseshoe crabs which spawn in Deleware Bay each spring. Some become swept up in autumnal hurricanes and having crossed the Atlantic, occasionally turn up on a European's bird-watching list.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.Sir David Attenborough presents the Eurasian scops owl found in Mediterranean regions. In summer a mournful monosyllabic call interrupts the heady scented air of a Greek olive grove at dusk. A male scops owl is proclaiming his territory with a repeated call lasting over 20 minutes. Hearing these tiny owls, no bigger than a starling is one thing, seeing one roosting in an old tree is quite a challenge. They feed mainly on moths and beetles which they hunt for in open country with scattered trees. By autumn these largely nocturnal birds are heading south to sub-Saharan Africa, until the following spring when once again the olive groves resound to their plaintive song.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.Sir David Attenborough presents the Vogelkop bowerbird of west New Guinea. The forest floor resembles a market stall with neat piles of brightly-coloured fruits and leaves placed carefully on a mossy lawn in front of a cave of thatched twigs. This is the work of the Vogelkop bowerbird. Native to New Guinea and Australia, this drab olive brown male, uses aesthetic tastes to bring vibrancy of colour into his life: and to woo his mate. His brightly coloured exhibits are graded for size and colour and any withered or faded items are quickly replaced. Satisfied with his work, he whistles, and growls to entice her to a private view. After mating the female departs to rear her single chick unaided, while the male returns to the task of tending his creation.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Sir David Attenborough presents the sociable weaver of the Kalahari Desert in Namibia. Travel through the dry margins of the Kalahari Desert and the telegraph poles stretching across the treeless plain could be wearing giant haystacks. These colossal communal homes are actually a home to the sociable weaver. These sparrow relatives build the largest nesting structure of any bird in the world. A hundred pairs may breed in a nest weighing nearly one tonne, built on isolated trees or any suitable man made structure such as pylons. Developed over generations these colonial nests provide a cooling structure during the searing heat of day and a warm refuge for night time roosts in this inhospitable landscape. Other animals find a use for these structures, from nesting vultures using it as a safe platform, to snakes; who if they enter the nest, can have free rein to this weaver larder.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Sir David Attenborough presents the globally widespread but secretive black stork. High up in a forest canopy, the black stork is a large but fairly secretive and mostly silent bird. They are also strong migrants capable of sustained flight, flying up to 7,000 kilometres or more, often over open seas. Black storks are summer visitors to eastern Europe and breed from Germany across Russia to Japan. A small population is resident in Spain, but most birds migrate south in winter to Africa, India or China. Unlike their relative the more flamboyant and colonial nesting white stork, black storks are a solitary nester. It is at this time of the year adults can produce a few grunts or bill clapping sounds during courtship, the young however are far more vocal at the nest.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Sir David Attenborough presents the superb lyrebird of eastern Australia. Superb lyrebirds are about the size of pheasants. During courtship, as the male struts and poses, he unleashes a remarkable range of sounds. Up to 80% of the lyrebird's display calls are usually of other wild birds. However, if kept in captivity, they can mimic a chainsaw, camera click, gunshot and a whole host of other man made sound. Research recently discovered that the lyrebird co-ordinates his dancing displays to particular sounds. But superb lyrebirds are promiscuous performers and it's quite likely that another male may have played the leading role while he dances and sings away.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.Sir David Attenborough presents the red-headed woodpecker found in North America. With its inky black wings, snow white body and crimson hood, the red-headed woodpecker is one of the most striking members of its family, a real 'flying checker-board'. This striking Woodpecker has an ancient past, fossil records go back 2 million years and the Cherokee Indians used this species as a war symbol. More recently and nestled amongst Longfellow's epic poem The Song of Hiawatha, the grateful Hiawatha gave the red headed woodpecker its red head in thanks for its service to him.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.Sir David Attenborough presents the now extinct in the wild, Spix's macaw. The Spix's macaw was declared extinct in 2000 when the last known wild born male disappeared from its final refuge in Brazil. Fortunately this strikingly beautiful member of the parrot family survives in captivity. The Al-Wabra Wildlife Preservation centre in Qatar is providing a reservoir for an organised breeding programme which is now managed by several conservation organisations under the guidance of the Brazilian government. Soon it is hoped the bird that inspired the film Rio, can once more fly free in the wild.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Sir David Attenborough presents the guira cuckoo of central South America. Guira cuckoos break all the usual rules of their family. They are very sociable and travel in noisy gangs, feeding and roosting together. But what makes the behaviour of guira cuckoos so different is that several females often lay their eggs in a single nest, sometimes as many as 20 eggs which are tended by the respective mothers . This is known as co-operative breeding. Whether a female recognises her own eggs isn't certain, but it's possible that they can distinguish them by variable markings on the eggshells and single them out for special care.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Sir David Attenborough presents the New Zealand wrybill. The wrybill is an inconspicuous wader yet it is unique. It is the only bird in the world whose bill is bent sideways , and as it happens, always to the right. In the shingly, gravelly world it inhabits alongside fast flowing rivers, the wrybill's beak is the perfect shape for finding food. With neat, rapid movements, it sweeps aside small stones to reveal insects beneath. Endemic to New Zealand in winter dense flocks gather and display, their highly co-ordinated aerial movements having been described as a flung scarfe across the sky.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Sir David Attenborough presents the Dupont's lark of southern Europe and North Africa. The European home for the Duponts lark is the arid grasslands of south-east Spain where Spaghetti Westerns were once filmed. The Dupont's lark is notoriously difficult to find as it skulks between tussocks of dry but at dawn and again at sunset, male Dupont's larks emerge from their hiding places and perform display flights over their grassy territories. As they rise into the sky their song is a melancholy refrain, which once heard is rarely forgotten.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world.Sir David Attenborough presents the White-Bearded manakin of tropical South America. The sound of party-poppers exploding in a forest clearing tells you that white-bearded manakins are displaying at a lek. At a carefully chosen spot each male clears the forest floor of leaves and other debris before his performance begins. The commonest display is the snap-jump. As he jumps forward he strikes the back of his wings together creating a loud snapping sound followed by an excited "pee-you" call. Snap-jumps are often followed by grunt jumps or a manoeuvre known as "slide-down-the-pole". These displays continue throughout the day, but intensify when females visit.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Sir David Attenborough presents the Florida scrub jay. Less than 6,000 Florida scrub jays exist in the wild, yet these are some of the most intelligent creatures in the world. Long term research has revealed an extraordinary intelligence. If other jays are around, a bird will only hide its food when the other bird is out of sight. It will even choose a quieter medium, and rather than pebbles for example, to further avoid revealing its hidden larder to sharp-eared competitors.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Sir David Attenborough presents the North American red-winged blackbird. The arrival of spring in the USA is heralded by the unmistakable "conk-ra-lee" call of the red-winged blackbird. The male blackbirds, who are un-related to the European blackbird, flutter their red and yellow wing-patches like regimental badges to announce their territories. The numbers of Red-winged blackbirds has increased spectacularly in the mid 20th century as more land was converted to growing crops on which the birds feed. Today at a winter roost hundreds of thousands, even millions of birds darken the skies over the plantations or marshes in which they will spend the night - a loud and unforgettable spectacle.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Sir David Attenborough presents a seabird with a worldwide distribution, the brown noddy. Expert fliers, the brown noddy is seldom seen near land and is highly pelagic, wandering extensively in warm tropical waters where it searches for small fish and squid which are captured by hover-dipping and contact-dipping. However in the Galapagos Islands, brown noddies have learnt to sit on the heads of brown pelicans hoping to steal fish from their open gular pouches; a behaviour known as kleptoparasitism (literally, parasitism by theft).

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Sir David Attenborough presents the Central Asian bar-headed goose. The bar-headed goose is a high-flier of the bird world. Bar-headed geese are migrants which undertake one of the most arduous journeys of any bird. They breed mainly in the remote lakes of the Tibetan Plateau, but overwinter on the plains of northern India. But to get there, they have to cross the World's highest mountain range, the Himalayas, a height of over 20,000 feet.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Sir David Attenborough presents the Australian magpie. These large pibald birds with pickaxe bills reminded early settlers of the more familiar European magpie, but in fact they are not crows at all. Australian magpies have melodious voices which can range over four octaves in a chorus of squeaks, yodels and whistles. Pairs or larger groups of magpies take part in a behaviour known as carolling, a harmony of rich fluting calls which marks their territories and helps to cement relationships between the birds.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Sir David Attenborough presents the South American hoatzin. Moving clumsily through riverside trees the funky Mohican head crested hoatzin looks like it has been assembled by a committee. Hoatzin's eat large quantities of leaves and fruit, and to cope with this diet have a highly specialised digestive system more like that of cattle, which gives them an alternative name, 'stink-bird'.

Tweet of the Day is the voice of birds and our relationship with them, from around the world. Sir David Attenborough presents the blue bird of paradise. The crow sized blue birds of paradise provide a spectacular flash of blue in the Papua New Guinea rainforests yet it is the males dazzling courtship performance which grabs a female's attention. Tipping forward from his perch he hangs upside down fluffing out and shimmering his gauzy breast feathers. As if this weren't enough, as the female approaches, he increases the frequency of his calls to produce a hypnotic mechanical buzzing, more like the song of a giant cicada than any bird.Producer : Andrew Dawes

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about British birds inspired by their calls and songs.David Attenborough presents the story of the pied flycatcher. The pied flycatcher is the voice of western woods, as much a part of the scenery as lichen-covered branches, mossy boulders and tumbling streams. When they arrive here in spring from Africa the black and white males, which are slightly smaller than a house sparrow, take up territories in the woodland and sing their lilting arpeggios from the tree canopy.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about British birds inspired by their calls and songs.David Attenborough presents the story of the whimbrel. Whimbrels are sometimes known as 'seven whistlers' from the number of notes in their call and in parts of the English midlands these sounds in the darkness gave rise to a folk tale about the six birds of fate which flew around the heavens seeking the seventh. When they were all reunited, went the story, the world would end. Mercifully, it wasn't true but it was our ancestor's way of interpreting the mystery of nocturnal migration.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about British birds inspired by their calls and songs.David Attenborough presents the story of the reed bunting. The reed bunting makes up for its lack of musicality with striking good looks. Male birds have jet black heads and a white moustache and look stunning on a spring day as they sit on shrubs or sway on reed stems, flicking their tales nervously and chanting a simple refrain.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about British birds inspired by their calls and songs.David Attenborough introduces the final recording marking International Dawn Chorus day. The urban dawn chorus was recorded by Chris Watson in Whitechapel, London as part of a project to enable the children of the Royal London Children's Hospital to hear the wildlife sounds on their doorstep. Birds featured include the robin, blackbird, great tit and house sparrow.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about British birds inspired by their calls and songs. David Attenborough presents the third of four recordings marking Dawn Chorus Day: a dawn chorus from the marshes of North Warren in Suffolk. On clear moonlit nights the chorus can be an almost continuous chatter and includes reed and sedge warblers, reed bunting and even a bittern, with its booming, foghorn-like call.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about British birds inspired by their calls and songs.David Attenborough presents the second of four recordings marking the dawn chorus, this time the heather moors of Allendale in Northumberland. Songs featured are that of the curlew, skylark, golden plover and redshank.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about British birds inspired by their calls and songs. David Attenborough presents a dawn chorus recorded in Rutland Water. The outpouring of song is so dense that it is almost impossible to single out individual species but includes blackbirds, song thrushes, robins and newly-arrived migrants like garden warblers.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Kate Humble presents the stone curlew. Stone curlews belong to a family known as 'thick-knees' but their country name of 'goggle-eyed plover' suits them better. Their huge staring yellow eyes serve them well at night when they're most active. By day, they lie up on sparse grassland or heath where their streaky brown-and-white plumage camouflages them superbly.

Kate Humble presents the fulmar, a familiar cliff nesting seabird during the breeding season. For the rest of the year fulmar can be found over the cold subarctic northern oceans of the Atlantic and the Pacific. Coming to land only to breed, these tubenose birds despite resembling other seabirds, are closely related to petrels and albatrosses.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Kate Humble presents the red-throated diver. The eerie wails of a red-throated diver were supposed to foretell rain. In Shetland the red-throated diver is called the "rain goose" but anyone who knows the island knows that rain is never far away. Like all divers, red-throats are handsome birds with sharp bills, perfect for catching fish. In summer they have a rusty throat patch and zebra-stripes on the back of their neck but in winter they're mainly pearly grey and white.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Kate Humble presents the goosander. Goosanders are handsome ducks and belong to a group known as 'sawbills' because their long slender bills are lined with backward pointing 'teeth', for gripping slippery fish. Underwater they're as agile as otters, chasing fish in raging currents or nosing for them under riverbanks.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Kate Humble presents the ruddy duck. Ruddy ducks are natives of North America. In the late 1950s and early 1960s several ruddy ducks escaped from the Wildfowl Trust's collection at Slimbridge and within 30 years they had become established breeding birds in the UK. Some even migrated to Spain where they mated with a very rare threatened relative, the white-headed duck. Many ornithologists believed that the resulting hybrids threatened to undermine years of conservation work in Spain, so after taking scientific advice, the UK government set out to eradicate the ruddy duck. This action has reduced our population to a handful so your best chance of hearing the courtship display is by visiting a wildfowl collection.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Kate Humble presents the capercaillie. The bizarre knife-grinding, cork-popping display of the male capercaillie is one of the strangest sounds produced by any bird. The name 'Capercaillie' is derived from the Gaelic for 'horse of the woods', owing to the cantering sound, which is the start of their extraordinary mating display. These are the largest grouse in the world and in the UK they live only in ancient Caledonian pine forests.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Kate Humble presents the stock dove. Perhaps 'stock pigeon' would be a better name, because they're like slightly smaller versions of the woodpigeon. Unlike their bigger relatives they have no white marks on their wings or neck and are more blue-grey in colour. When they fly, they look dumpier ...stockier you might say. Unlike woodpigeons, stock doves haven't taken to a life in town and they're mainly birds of wooded farmland.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Kate Humble presents the little grebe. Little grebes are our smallest grebes. They're dumpy birds with dark brown feathers and in the breeding season have a very obvious chestnut patch on their necks and cheeks. Little grebes are secretive birds, especially in the breeding season when they lurk in reeds and rushes or dive to avoid being seen.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Kate Humble presents the little owl. Little owls really are little, about as long as a starling but much stockier with a short tail and rounded wings. If you disturb one it will bound off low over the ground before swinging up onto a telegraph pole or gatepost where it bobs up and down, glaring at you fiercely through large yellow and black eyes. Today, you can hear the yelps of the birds and their musical spring song across the fields and parks of much of England and Wales.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Kate Humble presents the hoopoe. The hoopoe, a salmon-coloured bird with a long curved bill and a black-tipped crest, which it can spread like a fan when excited, is so outrageously exotic that its call reminds us of the Mediterranean. Several hoopoes arrive in the UK each spring and autumn. These are usually birds which have overshot their migration routes and almost certainly won't find a mate here, though they do breed very occasionally.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Kate Humble presents the green woodpecker. The maniacal laughing call, or 'yaffle', of a green woodpecker was supposed to herald rain, hence its old country name of 'rain bird'. You can hear their yodelling calls in woods, parks, heaths and large gardens throughout most of the UK. Altough green woodpeckers do nest in trees they spend a lot of their time on the ground, probing lawns and meadows for their main food, ants and their pupae.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Kate Humble presents the meadow pipit. No-one would give the meadow pipit any prizes in a beauty competition but this small streaky bird has its own charm, as it bustles through the turf with a jerky motion. If you're hiking across the moor it will rise ahead of you, dither in mid-air and then dart off, buffeted by the spring breeze.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Kate Humble presents the swallow. A flash of blue across farmland or a stableyard and a burst of twittering can only mean one thing, the swallows are back after their long migration from South Africa. No matter how grey the April weather, the sight and sound of a swallow dispels the winter blues at a stroke. These agile migrants arrive as the insect population is beginning to increase, and they are a delight to watch as they hawk for flies in the spring sunshine.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Kate Humble presents the common whitethroat. Whitethroats are warblers which winter in the Sahel region south of the Sahara desert and spend spring and summer in Europe. When they arrive in April the males establish a territory by singing that scratchy song from hedgerow perches or by launching themselves into the air.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Kate Humble presents the great grey shrike. Great grey shrikes feed on small birds, which they can catch in flight. They also eat mice, voles and shrews and, as spring approaches, they'll include bees and larger beetles in their diet. Shrikes are also known as "butcher birds" because of their habit of impaling their prey on thorns, just as a butcher hangs his meat on hooks.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Kate Humble presents the grasshopper warbler. The reeling song of the grasshopper warbler sounds more like an insect than a bird. Like the paying out of an angler's line from a reel, the grasshopper warbler's song spills out from the bush or bramble clump in which he sits. You'll hear it most often at dawn or dusk in overgrown scrubby or marshy areas.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Kate Humble presents the bittern. As the first shoots of spring appear in the reed-beds, you might hear the booming sound of a bittern. The bittern's boom is lower pitched than any other UK bird and sounds more like a distant foghorn than a bird. Today these birds are on the increase, thanks to the creation of large reed-beds.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Kate Humble presents the curlew. The haunting song of the curlew instantly summons the spirit of wild places. By April, most curlews have left their winter refuge on estuaries and marshes and have returned to their territories on moorland or upland pastures. Wherever they breed you'll hear the male birds singing and displaying. It's often called the bubbling song.

Kate Humble presents the snipe. The snipe is an intricately patterned wader, not much bigger than a blackbird but with an enormously long bill. In the breeding season they fly high above their territories before dashing earthwards and then sweeping upwards again. Throughout this display you'll hear a bleating sound, known as 'drumming'. Find out how the sound is made in today's programme.Producer Sarah Blunt

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Kate Humble presents the willow warbler. The first willow warblers return from Africa in late March. Willow warblers were once the commonest and most widespread summer migrant to the UK but in the last two decades numbers in the south and east of England have dropped. Fortunately in Scotland, Ireland and the west, numbers seem to be holding up.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Kate Humble presents the story of the black grouse. A black grouse lek is one of Nature's spectacles. Charged with testosterone, the males, known as 'black cocks', compete on 'jousting lawns' for the females or grey hens. Fanning their lyre-shaped tails and displaying a flurry of white undertail feathers, the males rush towards their rivals with harsh scouring sneezes and bubbling cries, known as 'roo-kooing'.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Kate Humble presents the woodcock. Woodcocks are waders, thickset, long-billed, and superbly camouflaged. On the woodland floor, where they hide by day, their rust, fawn and black plumage conceals them among the dead leaves of winter. Often the first sign that they're about is a blur of russet and a whirr of wings as a woodcock rises from almost under your feet and twists away between the tree-trunks.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Bill Oddie presents the ring ouzel. Ring ouzels are related to blackbirds and because they nest in the uplands, they’re sometimes known as the ‘mountain blackbird’. The male ring ouzel is a handsome bird, sooty black with a broad white ring called a ‘gorget’ right across his chest that stands out like a beacon. Unfortunately these summer visitors are becoming harder to find even in their strongholds, which include the North York Moors and several Scottish and Welsh mountains.

As part of Radio 4's Character Invasion, Chris Packham presents a unique Tweet of the Day to tell the story of Big Bird.Avis giganteus, is , as its scientific name suggests, a large, conspicuous and highly vocal species, and one of the few birds for which binoculars are redundant. At a staggering 249 cm high, it is over-topped only by the male ostrich. But while the ostrich is an athletic creature of wild open spaces, our bird is a denizen of urban thoroughfares and film studios.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Bill Oddie presents the black redstart. It was the German Luftwaffe which enabled black redstarts to gain a real foothold here. The air-raids of the Blitz created bombsites which mimicked their rocky homes and the weeds that grew there attracted insects. In 1942 there over twenty singing males in London alone and now they're being encouraged by the creation of ‘green roof’ habitats, rich in flowers and insects.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Bill Oddie presents the little ringed plover. In 1938, there was great excitement at a Hertfordshire reservoir. On the gravelly shoreline a pair of birds, which had never bred in the UK before, were showing signs of nesting. They were little ringed plovers, summer visitors to Continental Europe and they'd been attracted to the reservoirs' shingle banks where they laid their clutch of four eggs. Today there are around a thousand pairs in the UK.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Bill Oddie presents the ruff. The glory of the ruff lies in its extravagant courtship displays. For most of the year these waders look similar to our other long-legged water-birds such as redshanks or sandpipers but in the breeding season the males sprout a multi-coloured ruff. The impressive ruffs of feathers come in infinite variety, black, white, ginger, or a mixture of these. The males gather at traditional spring leks with the aim of winning one or more mates.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Bill Oddie presents the alpine swift. Alpine swifts are impressive anchor-shaped birds, the colour of coffee above and milk-white below. In the UK Alpine swifts are annual visitors, appearing in Spring, but they don't breed here. They spend the winter in Africa and on their journey north in spring some birds overshoot their breeding areas. Alpine swifts can be seen as they arc through the skies and because they travel so fast they can turn up almost anywhere from central London to Shetland.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Bill Oddie presents the Egyptian goose. Although Egyptian geese are common throughout most of sub-Saharan Africa and in Egypt, they are now officially a British bird. These striking birds attracted the attention of wildfowl collectors and the first geese were brought to the UK in the 17th century. By the 1960's it became obvious that the geese were breeding in the wild in East Anglia and since then they've spread in south and eastern England.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Bill Oddie presents the snow goose. Snow geese breed in the Canadian Arctic and fly south in autumn to feed. Their migrations are eagerly awaited and the arrival of thousands of these white geese with black-wingtips is one of the world’s great wildlife spectacles. Here, on the opposite side of the Atlantic, snow geese are seen every year, often with flocks of other species such as white-fronted geese. Snow geese are commonly kept in captivity in the UK, and escaped birds can and do breed in the wild. So, when a white shape turns up amongst a flock of wild grey geese, its origins are always under scrutiny.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Bill Oddie presents the goldeneye. Although they’re a common winter visitor, you’ll need to travel to Speyside in the Scottish Highlands to see goldeneyes in their breeding season where, since 1970, a small population has bred there. Unlike dabbling ducks, such as mallard and teal, they don’t need muddy shorelines and lots of vegetation. Goldeneyes are diving ducks that feed mainly on shellfish and crustaceans.

Bill Oddie presents the sand martin. The flickering shapes of sand martins over a lake or reservoir are a welcome sign of spring. After winging their way across the Sahara Desert, the first birds usually arrive in the UK in March. They're smaller than house martins or swallows, and they're brown above and white below with a brown band across their chest. Often you can hear their dry buzzing calls overhead before you see them.Producer: Sarah Pitt

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Bill Oddie presents the great crested grebe. In Spring, great crested grebes perform a high ritualized mating display. This includes head shaking and a spectacular performance during which both male and female birds gather bunches of waterweed and as they swim towards each other, before rising vertically in the water, chest to chest, and paddling furiously to keep themselves upright.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Bill Oddie presents the Grey partridge. The grey partridge, a plump game bird, is now a rarity across most of the UK. Found on farmland, a partridge pair will often hold territory in a few fields beyond which they seldom stray during their whole lives. They should be doing well but increasing field sizes, which reduce nesting cover and the use of pesticides, which kill off vital insects, have taken their toll.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Bill Oddie presents the woodlark. Woodlarks are closely related to skylarks, but they're much rarer in the UK, where they’re mainly confined, as breeding birds, to southern England. Unlike the skylark, the male woodlark will sing from trees but his piece de resistance is the song-flight in which he flies slowly in a broad loop, often very high above his territory.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Bill Oddie presents the Cetti's warbler. Until the 1960s, Cetti's warblers were unknown in the UK but on the Continent they were common in marshy areas, especially dense scrub and the edge of reed-beds and ditches. They first bred in these habitats in south-east England in the early 1970s and by the end of the century their loud and sudden song-bursts were startling people from southern England and South Wales and northwards as far as Yorkshire.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Bill Oddie presents the rook. High in the treetops buffeted by March winds, rooks are gathering twigs to build their untidy nests. The bustle of a rookery is one of the classic sounds of the UK countryside, especially in farming areas, where rooks are in their element, probing the pastures and ploughed fields with long pickaxe bills.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Bill Oddie presents the peregrine. The peregrine is a truly awesome predator and a bird that we associate with wild places where, with wings flickering like knife-blades, it chases its prey in thrilling pursuits and breath-taking dives. Our city churches, cathedrals and other tall buildings are a perfect substitute for cliffs and quarries where they like to nest and with a plentiful supply of town pigeons they’re thriving in these artificial eyries.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Bill Oddie presents the treecreeper. Treecreepers are common woodland birds but because their high-pitched almost whispering song, is often drowned out by the dawn chorus, they're often overlooked. The first glimpse may be a silhouette, its belly close to the bark, braced by stiff tail feathers. It has a curved, tweezer-like bill with with which it delicately probes for hidden insects and spiders deep in the crevices of the bark.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Bill Oddie presents the nuthatch. Nuthatches are the only UK birds that can climb down a tree as fast they can go up and you'll often see them descending a trunk or hanging beneath a branch. Nuthatches are unmistakable: blue-grey above, chestnut under the tail and with a black highwayman's mask.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Bill Oddie presents the lapwing. The lovely iridescent greens and purples of the lapwing: with its delicate crest and broad rounded wings that almost seem to twinkle in level flight, they are seen less often on our farmland today. At one time they were so common that their freckled eggs were harvested and sent off to the cities to pamper the palates of urban epicures.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Bill Oddie presents the chiffchaff. Chiffchaff are small olive warblers which sing their name as they flit around hunting for insects in woods, marshes and scrubby places. Chiffchaffs are increasing in the UK and the secret of their success is their ability to weather our winters. Many stay in the milder south and south-west of England where the insects are more active.Producer Sarah Pitt

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Bill Oddie presents the blackbird. Blackbirds are thrushes and the brown female often has a few speckles on her throat to prove it. Velvety, black and shiny, the males sport an eye-ring as yellow as a spring daffodil and a bill glowing like a buttercup. Happily blackbirds aren't doing too badly. There's so many of them that their territories often overlap so that where one song leaves off, another song begins.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Bill Oddie presents the St Kilda wren. The Island of St Kilda is not where you'd expect to see wrens but the wrens that sing along the cliffs of St Kilda are the same species as the common wren, but after 5000 years of isolation they've evolved a different song and are slightly larger and slightly paler than the mainland wrens. Bill Oddie remembers an encounter with the St Kilda Wren.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.John Aitchison presents the wigeon. Wigeon are dabbling ducks and related to mallards and teal but unlike these birds Wigeon spend much of their time out of the water grazing waterside pastures with their short blue-grey bills. The drakes are handsome-looking birds with chestnut heads and a cream forehead which contrasts well with their pale grey bodies.John Aitchison recorded a flock of wigeon, for Tweet listeners, on a pool in Norfolk where they had found a safe place to roost on an island.

John Aitchison presents the black-throated diver. Black-throated divers are strong contenders for our most beautiful bird. Their breeding plumage with a neck barcoded in white, an ebony bib and a plush grey head is dramatic. The black dagger-like bill and broad lobed feet are perfect for catching and pursuing fish, which the divers bring to their chicks in nests on the shoreline of the Scottish Lochs on which they breed.Producer: Sarah Pitt

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.John Aitchison presents the white-fronted goose. Flocks of White-Fronted Geese return each year to their favourite wintering areas, the bogs and and saltmarshes of Ireland and the Severn Estuary as well as western Scotland, although smaller flocks are found elsewhere. John Aitchison recorded the musical yapping of white-fronted geese for Tweet listeners as they flew over his home in western Scotland.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.John Aitchison presents the golden pheasant. Golden pheasants are native to the mountains of China where they live in thick bamboo forest. The males are brightly-coloured; gold and scarlet, with a long tail and a cape of black and orange which they use to woo the much duller brown females. From the late 1800's Golden Pheasants were introduced to many bird collections and shooting estates around the UK. Today the strongest colonies are in East Anglia.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.John Aitchison presents the lesser spotted woodpecker. Lesser spotted woodpeckers are the smallest of our three woodpeckers and about the size of a house sparrow. They have horizontal white stripes across their backs, hence their old name of 'barred woodpecker'. The lesser spotted woodpecker is one of our most elusive birds. For most of the year it's relatively silent but in late February and March, males begin to stake out their territories in old woods and orchards by calling loudly and drumming softly.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. John Aitchison tells the story of the Slavonian grebe. In winter, Slavonian Grebes, with their vermilion eyes, bright and shiny as redcurrants, fly south from Scandinavia and Iceland to spend the winter around our coasts. Their winter plumage is black, grey and white but in spring they moult into their breeding plumage with a rich chestnut throat and belly and golden ear-tufts. A small population breed on a few Scottish Lochs where you might hear their trilling calls.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.John Aitchison tells the story of the parrot crossbill. The Parrot Crossbill lives only in a few native pinewoods in Scotland. When they're at the top of pine trees a view of the Parrot Crossbill is tricky, so crossbill experts use the birds' calls to tell them apart from Common and Scottish Crossbills. Parrot crossbills have a deeper call than the others.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.John Aitchison tells the story of the chough. Our healthiest chough populations are in Ireland, southwest and north Wales and western Scotland. The last English stronghold was in Cornwall and Choughs feature on the Cornish coat of arms. Even here they became extinct until wild birds from Ireland re-colonised the county in 2001. Now the birds breed regularly on the Lizard peninsula.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.John Aitchison tells the story of the skylark. No other UK bird is capable of sustaining such a loud and complex song while hovering high above the ground, rapidly beating its wings to stay aloft. Some songs can last 20 minutes or more and their performance is likely to be as much a territorial display as an exhibition of the male's physical fitness to impress a female.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.John Aitchison tells the story of the Canada goose. These large black-necked geese with white cheeks and chinstraps are native to Canada and the USA. The first reference to them in the UK is in 1665 when English diarist, John Evelyn, records that they were in the waterfowl collection of King Charles II at St. James' Park in London.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.John Aitchison presents the waxwing. Waxwings are winter visitors from Russia and Scandinavia where they breed in conifer forests. They head south to feed on berries and other fruits, and if these are in short supply on the Continent, the birds flood into the UK. It happens every few years or so and the sight of these punk-crested plunderers swarming over rowan and other berry-producing trees is sure to attract your attention.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.John Aitchison presents the long-eared owl. The low moaning hoot of a long-eared owl filters through the blackness of a pine wood. Long-eared owls are nocturnal and one of our most elusive breeding birds. They nest in conifer woods, copses and shelter-belts of trees near wide open grasslands and heaths where they hunt for rodents.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.John Aitchison presents the dunnock. You'll often see dunnocks, or hedge sparrows, as they were once called, shuffling around under a bird table or at the bottom of a hedge. They're inconspicuous birds being mostly brown with a greyish neck and breast. They aren't, as you might imagine, closely related to sparrows, many of their nearest relatives are birds of mountainous regions in Europe and Asia.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.John Aitchison presents the wren. You'll often see the male wren, with its tail cocked jauntily, singing from a fence-post or shrub, bill wide and trembling with the effort of producing that ear-splitting territorial advertisement. It's the extrovert side of what can be an introvert bird that normally creeps, like a mouse, among banks of foliage or in crevices between rocks. They can live almost anywhere from mountain crags and remote islands to gardens and city parks.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.John Aitchison presents the chaffinch. The name chaffinch refers to its habit of flocking in stubble fields, often in the company of other birds, to sort through the chaff for seeds. In less tidy times when spilled grain was a regular feature in farmyards and stubble was retained for longer periods, these winter flocks were widespread.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Chris Packham presents the great spotted woodpecker. In late winter and early spring, brightly-coloured head-bangers are livening up the woods. The handsome Great Spotted Woodpecker really knows how to grab our attention. They don't sing but instead advertise their territories by drumming loudly on the branch or trunk of a tree.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Chris Packham presents the avocet. With its black and white plumage, blue-grey legs and delicate upturned bill, the avocet is one of our easiest birds to identify. They are a conservation success and are now breeding in Norfolk, Lincolnshire, Kent and elsewhere.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Chris Packham presents the mallard. Mallards are our commonest ducks. In winter, mallards from Continental Europe join our resident birds. Some may have flown from as far away as Russia and many infiltrate local flocks, so the bills which snatch your bread may have been born hundreds, if not thousands of kilometres away.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Chris Packham presents the great bustard. Great bustards, one of the heaviest flying birds in the world, were most common in Wiltshire and East Anglia but in the past they were hunted to extinction and the last known breeding birds in the UK were in 1832. Today, great bustards are back on Salisbury Plain, thanks to the work of the Great Bustard Group. The Group aims to establish a self-sustaining population in the UK.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Chris Packham presents the grey heron. Winter can be a challenging time for grey herons. In freezing conditions, their favoured food supplies of fish and amphibians are locked beneath the ice and prolonged spells of cold weather can be fatal for these birds.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Chris Packham presents the story of the great northern diver. The wailing cries of a great northern diver echo around the lakes where they live. If the bird sounds striking, then its appearance is just as dramatic....a dagger bill, sleek submarine–shaped body, it's plumage covered in graphic patterns of black and white stripes, dots and dashes.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Chris Packham presents the story of the hen harrier. The sight of hen harriers floating in to their roost on a winter's afternoon is one that once seen, you'll never forget. Hen harriers are long-winged, graceful birds of prey which hunt by quartering rough ground such as marshes and moorland.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Chris Packham presents the story of the grey wagtail. Grey wagtails are supremely graceful birds which boost their appeal by nesting in photogenic locations. They revel in shaded spots near swift-flowing water and will also nest by canal lock-gates or mill-races.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Chris Packham presents the story of the blue tit. The perky blue tit is a stalwart of garden bird-feeders. This popular British bird has a blue cap and wings, olive green back and yellow belly. The male and females look identical to us but blue tits can clearly tell each other apart, find out how in this episode.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Chris Packham presents the story of the shoveler. Swimming in circles, their huge beaks trawling the surface, shovelers do the job of baleen whales on our lakes and ponds. In winter our shoveler population is boosted by Continental birds. They're rather shy though and you're not likely to see them taking bread on the park lake!

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Chris Packham presents the story of the merlin. These diminutive falcons nest in deep heather on moorland, mainly in the north and west. In winter they also hunt over open country, hillsides and coastal marshes. The male merlin or jack is our smallest falcon, about the size of a mistle thrush.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Chris Packham presents the story of the Moorhen. Almost anywhere there's freshwater you might hear or see a moorhen. They're easy to identify from their red and yellow bill, red shield on the forehead and green-ish yellow legs with a red patch that looks like a garter.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Chris Packham presents the story of the Coot. The explosive high-pitched call of the coot is probably a sound most of us associate with our local park lakes. Coot are dumpy, charcoal-coloured birds related to moorhens, though unlike their cousins, they tend to spend more time on open water, often in large flocks in winter.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Chris Packham presents the story of the Lesser White-Fronted Goose. The lesser white-fronted goose is now a very rare bird in the UK, but the siting in Bristol of the BBC's Natural History Unit, owes much to this bird.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Chris Packham presents the story of the Mandarin Duck. A drake mandarin has orange whiskers, red bill, a broad creamy eye-stripe and an iridescent purple chest, set off by a pair of extraordinary curved orange wing feathers which stand up like a boat's sails. Today there are seven thousand birds living in the wild and the numbers are increasing.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.David Attenborough presents the story of the Glossy Ibis. If, from a distance, you see what appears to be a stout-looking curlew with bronze-coloured highlights, it's probably a glossy ibis. Glossy ibis have always been rare visitors to the UK but in recent years, they've flown here much more regularly.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.David Attenborough presents the story of the Black-Necked Grebe. In winter, the black-necked grebe is largely grey and white with a dark cap and eyes like rubies. You'll need to seek out Black-necked grebes in their favourite spots, which include large London reservoirs and shallow seas along the south coast.Producer: Sarah Pitt

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.David Attenborough presents the story of the Greylag Goose. Greylags are the biggest and bulkiest of our wild grey geese with bright orange bills and pink legs. When they fly, you can see large pale grey panels on the wings. The greylag has been fully domesticated for around three thousand years.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.David Attenborough presents the story of the Great White Egret. Great White Egrets are much bigger than little egrets, another recent colonist. These majestic birds first bred in Britain in 2012 at Shapwick Heath National Nature Reserve in Somerset where two nests produced a total of five chicks, four of which fledged successfully: they bred again in 2013.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.David Attenborough presents the story of the Bewick's Swan. This year is the 50th anniversary of Bewick Swan studies, begun by Sir Peter Scott, at Slimbridge in Gloucestershire. Bewick Swans return here and to other UK sites each winter to escape the icy grip of the Arctic tundra and studies have identified individuals through their varying bill patterns.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.David Attenborough presents the story of the Collared Dove. Although these attractive sandy doves grace our bird-tables or greet us at dawn almost wherever we live in the UK, their story is one of the most extraordinary of any British bird.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. David Attenborough presents the story of the ring-necked Parakeet. These long-tailed emerald-green parakeets from Africa and Asia first appeared in the wild in the UK in 1969. Forty years on ring-necked parakeets are here to stay and their progress is being carefully monitored.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.David Attenborough presents the story of the Great Tit. That metallic 'tea-cher, tea-cher' song of the great tit is instantly recognisable and you can hear it on mild days from mid-December onwards. It's the origin of the old country name, 'Saw-Sharpener'.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.David Attenborough presents the story of the Mistle Thrush. Mistle thrushes are early singers and you'll often hear one singing from the top of a tall tree in windy winter weather. Because of this habit, an old name for the thrush is 'storm cock'.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.David Attenborough presents the story of the Crossbill. Crossbills are large finches that specialise in eating conifer seeds. To break into the pine or larch cones, they've evolved powerful bills with crossed tips which help the birds prise off the woody scales of each cone. Crossbills breed very early in the year and incubating birds sometimes have snow on their backs.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.David Attenborough presents the magpie. Magpies have always had a rascally streetwise image. They featured in anti-theft campaigns on television in the 1980s, and long before that, their kleptomaniac tendencies were celebrated by Rossini in his opera, 'The Thieving Magpie'. Their pied plumage isn't just black and white, but gleams with iridescent greens, blues and purples.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.David Attenborough presents the story of the raven. Ravens are one of the most widely distributed birds in the world and can survive Arctic winters and scorching deserts. In the UK, Ravens were once widespread, even in cities but persecution drove them back into the wilder parts of our islands. Now they're re-colonising the lowlands and are even turning up on the outskirts of London where, since Victorian times, the only ravens were the ones kept at the Tower.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. David Attenborough presents the story of the song thrush and reads a passage from Thomas Hardy's poem, The Darkling Thrush. Written at the end of the 19th century, this poem is about the hope that birdsong can bring at the bleakest time of the year. This episode examines how often song thrushes sing in winter.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. David Attenborough presents the Tawny Owl. Tawny owls are our most urban owls, often living close to the centre of towns and cities, so long as there are hollow trees or old buildings in which they can nest.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.David Attenborough presents the starling. Throughout autumn parties of starlings have been crossing the North Sea to join our resident birds and as winter's grip tightens they create one of Nature's best spectacles. These huge gatherings, sometimes a million or more strong, are called murmurations and they offer the birds safety in numbers.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. David Attenborough presents the knot. Knot are dumpy waders which breed in the high Arctic but winter in hundreds of thousands on our estuaries and salt-marshes. Crammed together shoulder to shoulder at the water's edge, you can see how they got their scientific name Calidris canutus...a tribute to King Canute who discovered, despite his best attempts, that he didn't have the power to turn back the tides.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. David Attenborough presents the red kite. After centuries of persecution red kites were almost wiped out but in 1989 a project to restore the red kite back into the wild began. Since then kite numbers have soared, so that now these birds are foraging even around the outer suburbs of London.

David Attenborough presents the robin. Christmas cards became popular around 1860 and robins often featured, carrying letters in their beaks or lifting door-knockers and were often referred to as the 'little postmen'. Until 1861, postmen wore red coats and were nick-named redbreasts or Robins, so the association between a familiar winter bird and the person who brought Christmas greetings was irresistible.Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. David Attenborough presents the dipper. On a cold winter's day when few birds are singing, the bright rambling song of a dipper by a rushing stream is always a surprise. Dippers sing in winter because that's when the males begin marking out their stretch of water, they're early breeders.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. David Attenborough presents the lesser redpoll. You can spot Lesser Redpolls hanging like tiny acrobatic parrots among the slender twigs, while a rain of papery seeds falls down around them. They're lively birds which allow you to get fairly close, and then sometimes flocks will explode en masse for no apparent reason and fly around calling.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. David Attenborough presents the purple sandpiper. On winter beaches, where waves break on seaweed-covered rocks, purple sandpipers make their home. 'Purple' refers to the hint of a purple sheen on their back feathers. They are well camouflaged among the seaweed covered rocks and being relatively quiet, compared to many waders, are easy to overlook.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. David Attenborough presents the snow bunting. The ornithologist and author, Desmond Nethersole-Thompson, described the snow bunting as 'possibly the most romantic and elusive bird in the British Isles'. When you disturb a flock of what seem to be brownish birds, they explode into a blizzard of white-winged buntings, calling softly as they swirl around the winter strandline.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. David Attenborough presents the sanderling. Twinkling along the tideline, so fast that their legs are a blur, sanderlings are small waders. It's the speed with which they dodge incoming waves that catches your attention as they run after the retreating waters and frantically probe the sand.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.David Attenborough presents the ptarmigan. Few birds are tough enough to brave winter on the highest of Scottish mountains but Ptarmigan are well adapted to extreme conditions. They're the only British bird that turns white in winter and Ptarmigan have feathers that cover their toes, feet and nostrils to minimise heat loss.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.David Attenborough presents the shelduck. Shelducks are birds of open mud and sand which they sift for water snails and other tiny creatures. They will breed inland and they nest in holes. Disused rabbit burrows are favourite places and they'll also settle down in tree cavities, sheds, out-buildings and even haystacks.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Chris Packham presents the brent goose. Brent Geese are our smallest wild geese and are unmistakable with their rather funereal colours, blackish heads and grey backs with a wisp of white on the neck. Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland is a very important wintering site for Brent Geese.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Chris Packham presents the Mute Swan. Mute Swans are deeply embedded in our culture. They are unique among British birds because the Crown retains the rights of ownership of all unmarked mute swans in open water. Since the 15th century, an annual census of mute swans has been held annually on the River Thames.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Chris Packham presents the water rail. Water rails are very secretive and live in thick vegetation in marshes and fens where the birds breed. The adult birds look rather like small moorhens but with chestnut on top, a blue-grey face and a zebra-stripe patch on their sides. They have long blood-red bills used for probing for insects.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Chris Packham presents the gadwall. Gadwall were rare ducks until a few decades ago, now though, gadwall are spreading fast in the UK. Gadwall can be sneaky thieves, exhibiting what scientists call klepto-parasitic tendencies. They often wait for birds such as coot and mute swans to bring up aquatic vegetation beyond their reach and seize it before their victims can eat it themselves.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Chris Packham presents the long-tailed duck. The musical call of the long-tailed duck gives it the Scottish name of 'calloo', or 'coal- and-candlelight'. In the UK you're more likely to see them in Scotland and northern England where they seek out shellfish, diving up to 60 metres to retrieve them.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Chris Packham presents the teal. Teal are our smallest duck and the drakes are striking birds, heads burnished with chestnut surrounding a green mask fringed with yellow. They whistle softly in a piping chorus which sounds, from a distance, like the chime of tiny bells. That sound of the male's call is probably the origin of the bird's name, teal.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Chris Packham presents the fieldfare. Fieldfares are thrushes, and very handsome ones. They have slate-grey heads, dark chestnut backs and black tails and their under parts are patterned with arrows. Although birds will stick around if there's plenty of food available, fieldfares are great wanderers and are quick to move out in freezing conditions.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songsChris Packham presents the blackbird. Resident blackbirds are on the alert just now because their territories are under siege. Large numbers of Continental blackbirds pour in to the UK each winter to escape even colder conditions elsewhere.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Chris Packham presents the barn owl. As soft-plumaged birds which weigh very little Barn Owls avoid hunting in strong winds or heavy rain. Snow is a problem too because it allows voles and mice to tunnel beneath its blanket, out of the owls' reach. But in spite of seasonal perils, barn owls are a welcome sight over grassy fields and verges in many parts of the UK.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Chris Packham presents the whooper swan. The elegance and beauty of wild swans has inspired writers and musicians across the centuries – the most familiar perhaps being Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake, which may well have been inspired by the Whooper swan.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Martin Hughes-Games presents the Little Auk. Little auks are black and white relatives of the puffin but only about half the size. They're one of the most numerous seabirds in the world, with around twelve million pairs of birds. In autumn and early winter we see them in the UK as they head south into the North Sea.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Martin Hughes Games presents the Goshawk. A favourite bird of Martin Hughes-Games, the goshawk is a powerful deep-chested relative of the sparrowhawk: its name derives from "goose-hawk", though in practice goshawks rarely catch geese - they prefer woodpigeons, rabbits and squirrels. A female goshawk is a hefty bird, as big as a buzzard and much bulkier than her smaller mate.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Martin Hughes-Games presents the Twite. Twites are birds of heather moorland and crofting land - a Scottish name is "Heather lintie", as they nest in the shelter of wiry heather clumps and feed on seeds. To see twites, you'll need to visit some of our most scenic spots; the Scottish Isles, the moorlands of northern England or the western Irish coast.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Martin Hughes-Games presents the Tree Sparrow. With its russet cap, white cheeks and smarter appearance, the tree sparrow looks like a freshly-scrubbed house sparrow. Unlike house sparrows whose sexes look very different, the male and female tree sparrows are identical.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Martin Hughes-Games presents the Black-Tailed Godwit. A black-tailed godwit in its summer finery is a stunningly attractive bird, russet brown with a long orange and black bill. A few pairs of black-tailed godwits breed in the UK, most of them in damp grazing meadows such as the Ouse Washes in East Anglia. When breeding is over the male and female split up and spend the winter months apart, often in widely separated locations.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Martin Hughes-Games presents the Hawfinch. The Hawfinch is a large thickset finch with a massive bill. It uses this to crack open hawthorn and cherry stones as well as hornbeam seeds to get at the soft kernels inside. In doing so, it exerts a force of around 180 pounds per square inch.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Martin Hughes-Games presents the Willow Tit. Willow Tits are declining rapidly in many areas: they are very similar to marsh tits, so alike in fact that no-one realised that they existed here until 1897 and their identity as a breeding bird in the UK was confirmed three years later.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Martin Hughes-Games presents the Marsh Tit. The marsh tit is badly-named. It doesn't live in marshes, and is most at home in older broad-leaved woodlands. "Oak tit" might be a better name. Unlike some other tit species they don't travel far, holding and defending their woodland territories throughout the winter.ProducerBrett Westwood,MRS SARAH PITT,Sarah Blunt.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Martin Hughes-Games presents the Dunlin. Dunlins are a stirring sight, en masse, as their flocks twist and turn over the winter shoreline. When the tide turns they take to the air in a breath-taking aerobatic display. Around 350,000 Dunlin winter here, travelling from Scandinavia and Russia.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Martin Hughes-Games presents the pied wagtail. In winter, pied wagtails can often be seen roosting in towns and cities in large flocks. By day, pied wagtails are often obvious in fields feeding on insects but they're equally at home on our streets gleaning prey from pavements and road surfaces.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Martin Hughes-Games presents the Linnet. Linnets gather in large flocks to feed on weed-seeds and the seeds of oilseed rape and flax left behind after harvesting. You can often identify the flocks from a distance as the birds circle over a field, by their tight formation and bouncing motion.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Martin Hughes-Games presents the Common Crane. Common Cranes were extinct in the UK in the 17th century. Now, they are being re-introduced to the Somerset Levels and Moors. The aim is to release a hundred birds into the wild over five years and establish a strong population.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Martin Hughes-Games presents the Golden Plover. If, among a flock of lapwings circling over a ploughed field, you see smaller birds with wings like knife-blades and bell-like calls ... these are golden plovers.

Martin Hughes-Games presents the Black-Headed Gull. Black-Headed Gulls are our commonest small gull and throughout the year you can identify them by their rather delicate flight action, red legs and the white flash on the front edge of their wings.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Martin Hughes-Games presents the Siskin. Siskins are visiting our gardens as never before. These birds now breed across the UK and cash in on our love of bird-feeding. They are now regular visitors to seed dispensers of all kinds.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Martin Hughes-Games tells the story of the flocks of waders which are drawn to the UK's estuaries. Britain's estuaries contain around 2,900 square kilometres of mud and sand-flats. Washed daily by the tides, these places are packed with food, molluscs, worms and crustaceans that support thousands of waders.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Martin Hughes-Games presents the Bar-tailed Godwit. Bar-tailed godwits are waders which occur around the globe and are now known to make the longest non-stop journey of any migratory bird.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Martin Hughes-Games presents the barnacle goose. Yapping like terriers, skeins of barnacle geese leave their roosts on mud-flats and fly inland at dawn to feed in grassy fields.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Martin Hughes-Games presents the Redshank. Redshanks spend the winter on our estuaries and wetlands, taking food from the surface of the mud and probing the ooze for creatures which live beneath.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Martin Hughes-Games presents the story of the curlew. The UK is a vital wintering ground for flocks of curlews. Some birds fly in from as far away as Belgium and Russia, probing our coastal mudflats and thrilling us with their mournful cries.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Martin Hughes-Games presents the jackdaw. Jackdaws are scavengers with a reputation for stealing shiny or glittering objects. Martin Hughes-Games tells the story of a tame jackdaw he had as a child, which became a very colourful member of the family, with her very own store of costume jewellery to play with.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Mourning Dove. On a November evening at the end of the last Millennium, Maire MacPhail looked through the window of her home on the island of North Uist in the Outer Hebrides to see an odd pigeon sitting on the garden fence. It looked tired, as well it might have done, for it turned out to be only the second mourning dove to occur naturally in the British Isles.The sound archive recording of the mourning dove featured in this programme was sourced from : Andrew Spencer, XC109033. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/109033.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Bobolink. You might never have heard of a Bobolink – but these birds do occur very rarely in the UK although their true home is in the grasslands of Canada and the northern states of the USA. They look like large finches but belong to the family of New World blackbirds. Because the breeding males have black and white plumage they are sometimes called 'skunk blackbirds'. The sound archive recording of the bobolink featured in this programme was sourced from The Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Firecrest. Firecrests are very small birds, a mere nine centimetres long and are often confused with their much commoner cousins, goldcrests. Both have the brilliant orange or yellow crown feathers, but the firecrest embellishes these with black eyestripes, dazzling white eyebrows and golden patches on the sides of its neck ... a jewel of a bird.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Shore Lark. Shore Larks are also known as horned larks because in the breeding season the male birds sprout a pair of black crown feathers which look like satanic horns, but at any time of year the adult larks are striking birds. They are slightly smaller than a skylark but with a yellow face, a black moustache and a black band on the chest.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Cattle Egret. Cattle egrets were originally birds of the African savannahs but they have become one of the most successful global colonisers of any bird species. In 2008 a pair of cattle egrets made ornithological history by breeding in the UK, on the Somerset Levels, for the first time.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Leach's Storm-Petrel. Only the most far-flung islands around our coasts provide sanctuary for Leach's Storm-Petrels, one of the most difficult of our breeding birds to see. Chris Watson tells the story of a perilous 2am climb he made to record the sounds of Leach's Storm-Petrel's in their breeding burrows on cliff ledges on the Island of Hirta in the St Kilda group.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Sooty Shearwater. Sooty Shearwaters are rather scarce seabirds around our islands as they breed on islands off South America and the coasts of eastern Australia and New Zealand. After breeding, the shearwaters head north to feeding grounds in the North Pacific and North Atlantic undertaking one of the longest journeys of any migratory animal.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Yellow-Browed Warbler. The delicate yellow-browed warbler breeds in Siberia and winters in south-east Asia. Several hundred birds, sometimes many more, turn up each autumn anywhere between the Isles of Scilly and Shetland.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Crested Tit. Although crested tits are quite common in Continental Europe, they are confined in the UK to the central Highlands of Scotland. They're the only small British bird with a crest so identification shouldn't be a problem and their black eye-stripe contrasts well with their grey and white face.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Goldcrest. Goldcrests are, by a whisker, our smallest bird - roughly nine centimetres long and the weight of a ten pence coin. They migrate in October and November from Continental Europe and some people used to believe that because they arrived around the same time as wintering woodcock they'd travelled on the waders' backs and the tiny goldcrest became known as the 'woodcock pilot'.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Carrion Crow. The crow is defined in Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language as "a large black bird that feeds upon the carcasses of beasts." Crows have always suggested an element of foreboding. They are arch-scavengers and black mobs of them crowd our rubbish tips but they're also birds we admire for their intelligence and adaptability.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Short-eared Owl. Short-eared owls, one of our most spectacular birds of prey, are nomads, roaming over vast areas of open countryside and breeding where they find their favourite habitat of moorland or long grass.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Rock Dove. The birds that Woody Allen once described as "rats with wings" are for many the bane of urban life. Feral pigeons, as domesticated rock doves are known, live closely alongside us. But the same species has, over millennia, been cosseted by pigeon fanciers, used to deliver wartime messages and been housed in dovecotes.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Jack Snipe. The song of the Jack snipe has been likened to the sound of a distant horse cantering along a road. To hear it though, you need to visit Scandinavian bogs and mires where these small waders breed. When the ice seals their northern breeding areas jack snipes head south and west and many winter in the British Isles.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Grey Plover. The call of the grey plover across the shimmering mud-flats of an autumn estuary is a haunting sound. They feed out on open mudflats using the "run, stop, peck" method....a quick run towards any worms or shellfish which they spot with those big eyes, stop, then a slight lean forward to pick it up.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Brambling. Bramblings are the northern equivalent of the chaffinch and breed across huge areas of Scandinavia and Russia. In autumn they migrate south in search of seeds and are particularly fond of beech-mast. The largest recorded gathering of any living bird species in the world is of a flock of over 70 million bramblings at a roost in Switzerland in the winter of 1951.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Common Pheasant. The crowing of pheasants is a sound inseparable from most of the UK countryside, yet these flamboyant birds were introduced into the UK. The pheasant's coppery plumage and red face-wattles, coupled with a tail that's as long again as its body, make the cock pheasant a strikingly beautiful bird.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Bearded Tit. Bearded Tit live in reed-beds, eat mainly reed-seeds in winter and build their nests using reed leaves and flower-heads. The males do have a flamboyant black moustache which would be the envy of any Chinese mandarin.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Pink-Footed Goose. To see and hear a skein of pink-footed geese as they fly from their roost on coastal mudflats to feed inland is a stirring experience. In winter the British Isles hosts well over half the global population of pinkfeet.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Ortolan Bunting. Ortolan Buntings are smart relatives of our yellowhammer. They're migrants which winter in Africa and small numbers of birds heading south for the winter may turn up on our coasts in autumn. But until recently in parts of southern Europe, their arrival was welcomed by hunters with nets.The sound archive recording of the ortolan bunting featured in this programme was sourced from: Volker Arnold, XC139765. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/139765.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Eider. Eiders are northern sea-ducks perhaps most famous for the soft breast feathers with which they line their nests. These feathers were collected by eider farmers and used to fill pillows and traditional 'eider –downs'. Drake eiders display to the females with odd moaning calls which you can hear in the programme.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs. Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Red-legged Partridge. The red-legged partridge, which are sometimes called French partridges, are native to Continental Europe and were successfully introduced to the UK as a game bird in the 18th century. Seen from a distance, crouching in an arable field, they look like large clods of earth, but up close they have beautiful plumage.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Wildlife Sound Recordist, Chris Watson, presents the Redwing. The soft thin 'seep' calls of redwings as they fly over at night are as much a part of autumn as falling leaves, damp pavements and the smoke of bonfires. In winter up to a million redwings pour into our islands, most of them from Scandinavia and Iceland.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Brett Westwood presents the serin. Serins breed just across the English Channel but they are small finches that continue to tantalize ornithologists here in the UK. Hopes were raised that this Continental finch would settle here to breed, especially if our climate became warmer. However, something about our islands doesn't suit them. They do like large parks and gardens, so keep an ear out for the song of this visitor....a cross between a goldfinch and a goldcrest, and you may be rewarded.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Brett Westwood presents the tawny pipit. Tawny pipits have never bred in the UK in real life but they have in fiction. Released in 1944 the film, 'The Tawny Pipit', featured a pair found in an English village. Their rarity causes the village to rally round to protect the birds when the field in which they are nesting is marked out for ploughing. The film leaves the audience with the message that nothing can change traditional village life.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Brett Westwood presents the great reed warbler. As you'd expect from their name, Great Reed Warblers are a much larger version of the Common Reed Warbler and breed in Continental Europe where their very loud song echoes around reed-beds, it can be heard up to half a kilometre away. We can hear one or more singing Great Reed Warblers in the UK each spring.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Brett Westwood presents the melodious warbler. A lemon-yellow warbler singing on a sunny Spanish hillside will be the well-named Melodious Warbler. They are slightly smaller than blackcaps, moss-green above and pale yellow below. You may occasionally see them in the UK in late summer or autumn. The song is melodious and the bird often includes nasal chattering phrases that sound like house sparrows.

Brett Westwood presents the aquatic warbler. The stripy aquatic warbler is streaked like the sedges it lives in and is the only globally threatened European perching bird. They sing in the marshes of central and eastern Europe where the small European population has its stronghold. Unfortunately, this specialized habitat is disappearing because of drainage, disturbance and peat extraction. They are migrants so it's vital to protect their wintering areas as well as their breeding sites. It's known that up to 10,000 birds winter in the swamps of North-west Senegal.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Brett Westwood presents the bluethroat. This is a fine songbird and a sprightly robin-sized bird with a dazzling sapphire bib. Your best chance of seeing one is in autumn when they pass through the north or east coast on migration.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Brett Westwood presents the jay. This bird is a colourful member of the crow family. In September and October you'll often see jays flying around woodland with their bills and throats crammed with acorns. Many of these they bury as winter stores but not all are retrieved by Jays and many germinate and grow into young oaks, making the jay a tree-planter on a national scale.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Brett Westwood presents the thrush nightingale. Even though there's no sign of the whistling crescendos that are a hallmark of its close relative, the Nightingale, the song of the thrush nightingale is an accomplished performance. They are summer visitors to Europe and prefer dense damp thickets from which they often sing.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Brett Westwood presents the turnstone. A turnstone is a stout little wading bird which you'll often see probing under seaweed on rocky shores or flipping pebbles over with the stout bills...hence their name....Turnstone. In summer they are intricately patterned and strikingly coloured like a tortoiseshell cat but at other times of year they look brownish and can be hard to see against the seaweed covered rocks among which they love to feed.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Brett Westwood presents the Hobby. Sickle winged, red-trousered and black-moustached, the hobby is a strikingly beautiful falcon. Hobbies arrive in the UK in late April or May from their wintering grounds in Africa. They are now flourishing in the UK where there are now around 2000 pairs, breeding mainly on farmland and heaths in England and Wales.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Brett Westwood presents the Great Shearwater; a wanderer of the open ocean. They breed on remote islands in the South Atlantic and then disperse widely and many follow fish and squid shoals northwards, appearing around UK coasts in late summer and early autumn. The south-west of Britain and Ireland is the best area to look for them.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Brett Westwood presents the Great Spotted woodpecker. In spring Great Spotted Woodpeckers drum loudly with their bills against tree bark to advertise their territories. Unlike many of our woodland birds, which are declining, Great Spotted Woodpeckers have increased rapidly over the last few decades - up to 250% since the 1970's.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Brett Westwood presents the Mistle Thrush. Loud rattling calls, like someone scraping a comb across wood, tell you that Mistle Thrushes are about. From midsummer to early autumn, bands of Mistle Thrushes roam the countryside, where they feed on open pastures, among stubble or on moorland. These birds are very fond of the white sticky berries of mistletoe and spread the seeds into cracks of tree bark when they wipe their bills or defecate.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Brett Westwood presents the Wood Sandpiper. Wood Sandpipers are elegant waders and just a handful of pairs breed in the UK, in wooded marshes and remote bogs of Northern Scotland. There's a chance to see them when they break their migration journey south at inland pools and marshes here. Listen out for their cheerful call that has been described as sounding like an old penny-whistle.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Brett Westwood presents the Green Sandpiper; a bird with a wonderful yodelling call and the heart-stopping suddenness with which it leaps up from its feeding place and dashes off. The birds that visit the UK are often from Scandinavia, where they nest high up in a fir-tree. When the chicks hatch they tumble unharmed from the nest and are escorted to safe feeding places by their parents.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Brett Westwood presents the Meadow Pipit. The thin but penetrating calls of the meadow pipit can be heard on a remote mountainside or high above the city streets on an autumn day. Meadow pipits are often the main hosts for the parasitic Cuckoos and many a pipit pair ends up stuffing insects into a much larger cuckoo chick.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Brett Westwood presents the Red Grouse. These birds like to eat the shoots of young heather and nest in the shelter of older clumps. For many years Red Grouse were thought to be the only species of bird found in the British Isles and nowhere else, but scientists now believe the Red Grouse is a relative, a subspecies of the Willow Grouse, which is a widespread bird of northern Europe.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Brett Westwood presents the Greenshank. The ringing triple call of a greenshank from a pool or marshy area is something to listen out for and a sure sign that autumn migration is under way. It's during their migration north that most of us meet greenshanks because in the UK they breed only in Scotland and even there, they are usually in the most remote bogs and mires of the Flow Country of Caithness and Sutherland.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Brett Westwood presents the Roseate Tern. One of the rarest of the UK's breeding seabirds, the Roseate Tern is exquisitely graceful. Roseate means flushed with pink and seen close this bird does have a faint pinkish wash on its chest in summer, but from a distance, it's the brilliant-white freshly-laundered look of its back and wings that distinguishes a Roseate Tern from its greyer relatives, the Common and Arctic Terns.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Brett Westwood presents the swallow. You can see Swallows at this time of year gathering on telegraph wires, strung out like musical notes on a stave, before their long journey south to Africa. The female swallow often rears two broods of young each year but in sunny weather when there are plenty of flying insects, she may manage three broods.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Brett Westwood presents the robin. The autumn song of the Robin is the soundtrack to shortening days, gathering mists and ripening fruit. Robins sing in spring but their autumn song is different. It may sound melancholy to us but for the Robin it has clear purpose - to defend the winter territories that male and female robins establish separately after they've moulted.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Michaela Strachan presents the barred warbler. With its glaring yellow eyes, banded chest and long white-tipped tail, the Barred Warbler is always an exciting find. Look out for them in late summer and autumn, when young Barred Warblers turn up here regularly as they migrate south.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Michaela Strachan presents the white-tailed eagle. These magnificent birds, sometimes called the sea eagle, are our largest breeding bird of prey and in flight have been described as looking like a "flying barn-door". The adults have white tail feathers, a bulky yellow bill and long parallel-sided wings: they really do deserve that barn door description.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Michaela Strachan presents the golden eagle. Golden Eagles are magisterial birds. With a wingspan of over two metres their displays are dramatic affairs involving spectacular aerobatics. They can dive upon their quarry at speeds of more than 240 kilometres per hour, using their sharp talons to snatch up their prey.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Michaela Strachan presents the spotted redshank. Spotted Redshanks are elegant long-legged waders which don't breed in the UK but pass through in spring and autumn on journeys between their summer home in Scandinavia and their wintering grounds in southern Europe and Africa.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Michaela Strachan presents the common gull. In spite of their name Common Gulls aren't as common or widespread as some of our other gulls. Most of the breeding colonies in the UK are in Scotland. In North America their alternative name is Mew gull because of their mewing cat-like cries.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Michaela Strachan presents the common tern. The Common Tern is the most widespread of our breeding terns and is very graceful. It has long slender wings and a deeply forked tail with the outer feathers extended into long streamers. These features give the bird its other name, sea swallow, by which terns are often called.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Michaela Strachan presents the honey buzzard. The Honey Buzzard is more closely related to the Kite than it is to our common Buzzard. It gets its name for its fondness, not for honey, but for the grubs of bees and wasps. The bird locates their nests by watching where the insects go from a branch. It then digs out the honeycomb with its powerful feet and breaks into the cells.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Michaela Strachan presents the white stork. White Storks are annual visitors in small numbers to the UK, mainly in spring and summer when migrating birds overshoot their Continental nesting areas and wander around our countryside. They used to breed here, most famously documented on St Giles's cathedral in Edinburgh in 1415 and who knows, they may well breed here in the future.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Michaela Strachan presents the northern wheatear. With their black masks, white bellies, apricot chests and grey backs, male wheatears are colourful companions on a hill walk. The birds you see in autumn may have come from as far as Greenland or Arctic Canada. They pass through the British Isles and twice a year many of them travel over 11,000 kilometres between Africa and the Arctic. It's one of the longest regular journeys made by any perching bird.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Michaela Strachan presents the icterine warbler. Icterine Warblers are fluent mimics and include phrases of other species in their song. Their name, icterine, is derived from ikteros, the ancient Greek word for jaundice and describes the bird's spring plumage...yellowish beneath and olive brown on top.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Michaela Strachan presents the yellow wagtail. Arriving in April, Yellow Wagtails are summer visitors to the UK, breeding mostly in the south and east. The Yellow Wagtail has several different races which all winter south of the Sahara and all look slightly different. The birds which breed in the UK are the yellowest of all.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Michaela Strachan presents the arctic skua. Arctic Skuas are the pirates of the bird world and cash in on the efforts other seabirds make to find food. They are elegant birds with long angular wings, projecting central tail feathers and a hooked bill. The dashing flight of an Arctic Skua as it chases a hapless gull is always thrilling to watch.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Michaela Strachan presents the rock pipit. The sight of a greyish bird no bigger than a sparrow, at home on the highest cliffs and feeding within reach of breaking waves can come as a surprise. In spring and early summer, the male Pipits become wonderful extroverts and perform to attract a female, during which they sing loudly to compete with the sea-wash.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Michaela Strachan presents the Bullfinch. The males have rose-pink breasts and black caps and are eye-catching whilst the females are a duller pinkish-grey but share the black cap. Exactly why they're called Bullfinches isn't clear - perhaps it's to do with their rather thickset appearance. 'Budfinch' would be a more accurate name as they are very fond of the buds of trees, especially fruit trees.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Michaela Strachan presents the common redstart. Redstarts are summer visitors from sub-Saharan Africa. The males are very handsome birds, robin-sized, but with a black mask, white forehead and an orange tail. John Buxton gave us a fascinating insight into their lives when, as a prisoner of war in Germany, he made a study of them.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Michaela Strachan presents the long-tailed tit. They are sociable birds and family ties are vital. They even roost together at night, huddled in lines on a branch, and this behaviour saves lives in very cold winter weather. The nest of the Long-Tailed Tit is one of the most elaborate of any UK bird, a ball of interwoven moss, lichen, animal hair, spider's webs and feathers.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Michaela Strachen presents the oystercatcher. These black and white waders used to be called sea-pies because of their pied plumage, which contrasts sharply with their pink legs and long red bill. Oystercatchers don't often eat oysters. Instead they use their powerful bill to break into mussels on rocks or probe for cockles in the mud of estuaries.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about the British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Michaela Strachan presents the great black-backed gull. These gulls are the largest in the world. They are quite common around our coasts and you can see them in summer perched on a crag watching for any signs of danger or potential prey. Although they are scavengers Great Black-Backs will attack and kill other birds.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Michaela Strachen presents the ringed plover. Camouflage is crucial to ringed plovers because they lay their eggs among the pebbles and shingle of the open beach. To protect her young from a predator, the Ringed Plover will stumble away from the nest while dragging one wing on the ground.

Tweet of the Day is a series of fascinating stories about our British birds inspired by their calls and songs.Michaela Strachan presents the wood pigeon. One of our most widespread birds, you can hear this song all year round; just about anywhere. The young are called squabs and along with seeds and green foliage, Wood Pigeons feed their chicks with "pigeon milk", a secretion from their stomach lining.