Horatio Clare on the Great Crested Grebe

If ever you feel uncertain about the world, writer Horatio Clare recommends heading to a pond to find a pair of great crested grebes. In spring, pairs perform a sequence of elaborate mirrored routines to establish and reinforce their bond, which Horatio describes as one of the great courtship dances of the world.Produced by Sophie Anton for BBC Audio in Bristol.This programme features audio from Xeno-Canto by Ulf Elman (XC1097495 - Great Crested Grebe).

Why the red grouse always scares the life out of broadcaster and musician Tom McKinney.Produced by Sophie Anton for BBC Audio in Bristol.This programme features audio from Xeno-Canto by Patrik Åberg and Simon Elliott (XC145653 and XC591863 - Lagopus lagopus scotica)

Author Jasmine Donahaye observes a winter flock of female chaffinches.Produced by Sophie Anton for BBC Audio in Bristol.

RSPB President and NHS GP Dr Amir Khan has made his garden a haven for birds, with feeders and nest boxes. The sparrowhawk is among his garden visitors, a bird of prey which he describes a complicated relationship with. Produced by Sophie Anton for BBC Audio in Bristol.This programme features audio from Xeno-Canto by Regina Eidner (Eurasian Sparrowhawk - XC818384).

Nature writer Sophie Pavelle has been searching for the merlin, but is yet to see one.Produced by Sophie Anton for BBC Audio in Bristol.

For broadcaster and musician Tom McKinney the autumn arrival of fieldfare to the UK's east coast is one of the country's greatest wildlife spectacles. He describes being immersed in fieldfare at places like Spurn Point in East Yorkshire, with a constant stream of flocks coming in off the North Sea, and the noise of their cackles and wheezes becoming an overwhelming cacophony. Produced by Sophie Anton for BBC Audio in Bristol.This programme features audio by from Xeno-Canto by Simon Elliott and Stanislas Wroza (XC633551 and XC600107 - Fieldfare).

After seeing a flock of goldfinch in a neighbour's garden, comedian Susan Calman suffered from a bout of 'bird jealousy', and describes the great lengths she went to in order to entice them into hers.Produced by Sophie Anton for BBC Audio in Bristol.This programme features audio by David Bissett from Xeno-Canto (XC811560 - European Goldfinch).

Every autumn naturalist Mike Dilger looks forward to the arrival of pink-footed geese to the Moray coast in Scotland. With its feet always caked in brown estuarine mud, Mike thinks this might be one of the more confusingly named British birds, and wonders if the 'chocolate-headed goose' would be more appropriate. Mike describes the spectacular skeins of birds as they arrive at the coast, and fly between mudflats and their farmland feeding grounds.Produced by Sophie Anton for BBC Audio in Bristol.This programme features audio from Xeno-Canto by Agris Celmins (XC1049856 - Pink-footed Goose).

Conservationist Isabella Tree describes how the bill-clattering of white storks has become a characteristic sound of spring at Knepp in West Sussex. Since 2020 they've been nesting at the top of oak trees, and are the first to breed in England for centuries. Knepp is one of two sites where the White Stork Project has established a colony, where wild white storks are now breeding with re-introduced birds.Produced by Sophie Anton for BBC Audio in Bristol.This programme features audio recorded at Knepp by Hazel Reeves.

On a hot summer walk, author Jasmine Donahaye feels refreshed by the sound of mallards, as it announces the hidden presence of water. She's reminded that the familiar quack sound is the voice of the female, as they dabble on the water, corralling ducklings and sounding alarms. In summer the males molt their bright feathers and temporarily resemble the females, though their quieter, raspy quack gives them away.Produced by Sophie Anton for BBC Audio in Bristol.