Tweet of the Day

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. Buil...

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 tho...

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

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 inspire...

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

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...

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. 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 1970s. 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...

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 ar...

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.