Birds Britannia

Last updated

Birds Britannia
GenreNatural history
Created by BBC
Narrated by Bill Paterson
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series1
No. of episodes4
Production
Executive producer Neil Nightingale
Producer Stephen Moss
Production locationUnited Kingdom
Running time60 minutes
Release
Original network BBC Four
Original release3 November (2010-11-03) 
24 November 2010 (2010-11-24)

Birds Britannia is a BBC's four-part television series about the birds of the United Kingdom, first shown from 7 to 28 November 2010 on BBC Four. [1] It was produced by Stephen Moss.

Contents

Each of the four, sixty-minute episodes concentrates on one kind of bird: garden birds, waterbirds, seabirds and birds of the countryside. [1]

The series has no presenter, and is narrated by the Scottish actor Bill Paterson, [1] with filmed interviews with a wide range of experts and bird enthusiasts, including David Attenborough, Mark Cocker, Jeremy Mynott, Tim Birkhead, Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall, Christopher Frayling, Kate Humble, Rob Lambert, Desmond Morris, David Lindo, Helen Macdonald, Andrew Motion, Tony Soper, and Bill Oddie. [1]

It has been announced that a book of the same title, by Stephen Moss, will be published by Collins in April 2011 ( ISBN   978-0007413447). [2]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Oddie</span> English conservationist, entertainer and ornithologist

William Edgar Oddie is an English actor, artist, birder, comedian, conservationist, musician, songwriter, television presenter and writer. He was a member of comedy trio The Goodies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Fry</span> English actor and comedian

Stephen John Fry is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director, narrator and writer. He first came to prominence as one half of the comic double act Fry and Laurie, alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring in A Bit of Fry & Laurie (1989–1995) and Jeeves and Wooster (1990–1993). He also starred in the sketch series Alfresco (1983–1984) alongside Laurie, Emma Thompson and Robbie Coltrane, and in Blackadder (1986–1989) alongside Rowan Atkinson. Since 2011, he has served as president of the mental health charity Mind.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Birdwatching</span> Observation of birds as a recreational activity or citizen science

Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, by listening for bird sounds, or by watching public webcams.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eurasian bittern</span> Species of bird

The Eurasian bittern or great bittern is a wading bird in the bittern subfamily (Botaurinae) of the heron family Ardeidae. There are two subspecies, the northern race breeding in parts of Europe and across the Palearctic, as well as on the northern coast of Africa, while the southern race is endemic to parts of southern Africa. It is a secretive bird, seldom seen in the open as it prefers to skulk in reed beds and thick vegetation near water bodies. Its presence is apparent in the spring, when the booming call of the male during the breeding season can be heard. It feeds on fish, small mammals, fledgling birds, amphibians, crustaceans and insects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jarvis Cocker</span> English musician and broadcaster

Jarvis Branson Cocker is an English musician and radio presenter. As the founder, frontman, lyricist and only consistent member of the band Pulp, he became a figurehead of the Britpop genre of the mid-1990s. Following Pulp's hiatus, Cocker has pursued a solo career, and for seven years he presented the BBC Radio 6 Music show Jarvis Cocker's Sunday Service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Moss</span> English natural historian, ornithologist, author and television producer

Stephen Moss is an English natural historian, birder, author, and television producer.

Richard Thomas Mabey is a writer and broadcaster, chiefly on the relations between nature and culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Carwardine</span> British zoologist

Mark Carwardine is a British zoologist who achieved widespread recognition with his 20-year conservation project – Last Chance to See – which involved round-the-world expeditions with Douglas Adams and Stephen Fry. The first series was aired on BBC Radio 4 in 1990, and the second, a TV series, on BBC2 in 2009. There are two books about the project: Last Chance to See, which he co-wrote with Adams (1990), and Last Chance to See: In the footsteps of Douglas Adams (2009). He is a leading and outspoken conservationist, and a prolific broadcaster, columnist and photographer.

Springwatch, Autumnwatch and Winterwatch, sometimes known collectively as The Watches, are annual BBC television series which chart the fortunes of British wildlife during the changing of the seasons in the United Kingdom. The programmes are broadcast live from locations around the country in a primetime evening slot on BBC Two. They require a crew of 100 and over 50 cameras, making them the BBC's largest British outside broadcast events. Many of the cameras are hidden and operated remotely to record natural behaviour, for example, of birds in their nests and badgers outside their sett.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kate Humble</span> British television presenter and narrator

Katherine Mary Humble is an English television presenter and narrator, mainly working for the BBC, specialising in wildlife and science programmes. Humble served as president of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds from 2009 until 2013. She is an ambassador for the UK walking charity Living Streets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Packham</span> British naturalist

Christopher Gary Packham CBE is an English naturalist, nature photographer, television presenter and author, best known for his television work including the CBBC children's nature series The Really Wild Show from 1986 to 1995. He has also presented the BBC nature series Springwatch, including Autumnwatch and Winterwatch, since 2009.

Dominic Couzens is a British birdwatcher, author and journalist specialising in avian and natural history subjects. He writes three regular magazine columns, and to date, has had more than 700 published articles and is a named author on 40 books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Watson (musician)</span> English musician and sound recordist

Christopher Richard Watson is an English musician and sound recordist. A founding member of the Sheffield-based industrial band Cabaret Voltaire, Watson's subsequent work in field recordings since 1981 has included television documentaries and experimental musical collaborations.

The following is a chronological list of television series and individual programmes where Sir David Attenborough is credited as writer, presenter, narrator, producer or interviewee. In a career spanning eight decades, Attenborough's name has become synonymous with the natural history programmes produced by the BBC Natural History Unit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eurasian wren</span> Species of bird

The Eurasian wren or northern wren is a very small insectivorous bird, and the only member of the wren family Troglodytidae found in Eurasia and Africa (Maghreb). In Anglophone Europe, it is commonly known simply as the wren. It has a very short tail which is often held erect, a short neck and a relatively long thin bill. It is russet brown above, paler buff-brown below and has a cream buff supercilium. The sexes are alike.

<i>Birds Britannica</i>

Birds Britannica is a book by Mark Cocker and Richard Mabey, about the birds of the United Kingdom, and a sister volume to Mabey's 1996 Flora Britannica, about British plants. It was published in 2005 by Chatto & Windus.

Timothy Robert Birkhead is a British ornithologist. He has been Professor of Behaviour and Evolution at the University of Sheffield since 1976.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helen Macdonald (writer)</span> British writer

Helen Macdonald is an English writer, naturalist, and an Affiliated Research Scholar at the University of Cambridge Department of History and Philosophy of Science. She is best known as the author of H is for Hawk, which won the 2014 Samuel Johnson Prize and Costa Book Award. In 2016, they also won the Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger in France.

Dynasties is a 2018 British nature documentary series on five vulnerable or endangered species known to form enduring populations: chimpanzee, emperor penguin, lion, tiger and African wild dog. The series is produced by the BBC Natural History Unit and narrated by David Attenborough. The music score was composed by Benji Merrison. Each episode ends with Dynasties On Location, a behind the scenes look at the planning of each episode, which could be years in advance before production crew even started filming.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "BBC – Nature UK: Birds Britannia". BBC . Retrieved 20 November 2010.
  2. Amazon.co.uk record for Birds Britannia. ASIN   0007413440.