YOUR LETTERS
Have your say on rural issues.
Share your views and opinions by writing to us at:
Have your say: BBC Countryfile Magazine, Eagle House, Colston Avenue, Bristol BS1 4ST; or email editor@countryfile.com, tweet us @CountryfileMag or via Facebook facebook.com/countryfilemagazine
*We reserve the right to edit correspondence
SEVERN WONDER
I have just finished listening to your first podcast of the season and... wow! What a wonderful build up to the arrival of the Severn Bore – the suspense was palpable and I loved your comments as it arrived and passed by. I was listening as I was walking on a grey rainy afternoon around local roads. Not a bird was in sight and nature seemed a long way away, but as usual you cast your magic and I was transported to the banks of the Severn.
Thank you so much for providing these podcasts. I am greatly looking forward to all that you have to offer this season with a water theme. I will be interested to hear the one about your local river and its problems with pollution. I know you probably won’t be walking up the hills yet but I do hope that you return to your local walks with all your wonderful birds later in the year.
My favourites from last year were podcast 56 on Sugar Loaf Mountain and 62 in the Brecon Beacons. Lots more like that, please, and do keep teaching us how to recognise birdsong. Bridget Wesson, via email
FAR FROM A BORE
I recently had a catch up on missed ‘plodcasts’, and listened to your walk along the river Severn to see the bore. A very enjoyable programme. I was interested when you talked about how you know if the bore is coming. It reminded me of a chat I had with a friend, years ago, when training for guiding in the wilderness area of iMfolozi
Game Reserve in South Africa. We were sitting at the camp on the banks of the iMfolozi river, which is, most times, just a trickle in the centre of a wide sandy beach. My friend mentioned being there a few years before, when all of a sudden the birds screeched and flew up from the banks. Other animals also scurried away, then all went quiet. Fifteen minutes later, a tidal wave came racing down the river, flooding the whole area. This had been caused by a massive storm several kilometres up stream, unheard by humans, but alerting all the wildlife. No doubt the animals on the banks of the Severn have got used to the sounds of up-rushing floodwater.
I now guide in a small reserve in Cape Town – the site of the British battle of Blaauwberg (1806) – and when walking often have in my mind how you would describe the sights around me. I really enjoy the podcasts. Dave Honour, Cape
Town, South Africa
Fergus Collins replies:
Thank you for this fascinating email. In fact, we liked it so much we have included your words in episode four of our current season of podcasts.
PEACEFUL PLODCASTS
I have discovered the plodcast in early December and been listening from Chicago since then. Catching up on the episodes and their content has been an amazing de-stresser. You and your team create amazing stories.
I have just one request if possible. Since you are not restricted by an on-air time block, would you consider in future episodes including at the end of the episode a two-minute soundscape of just the nature/ambience sounds of the place you visited? Just to get that immersion of space and sound. Martin Adamczyk,
Chicago, USA
Fergus Collins replies:
What an excellent idea. We will trial it as soon as we can get out and record some lovely soundscapes.
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