Best of 2023: Killing the Skydancer episode one, Susie’s chicks

Science Weekly

The Guardian

Science

4.2 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 26 December 2023

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this special Age of Extinction mini-series from Science Weekly, which first aired in August 2023, the Guardian’s biodiversity reporter, Phoebe Weston, explores the illegal killing of birds of prey on grouse moors and asks why it is so difficult to solve these crimes. In episode one, Phoebe hears about the case of Susie, a hen harrier whose chicks were killed while being monitored on camera. As she starts to investigate the case, she hears from conservationist Ruth Tingay about why hen harriers are targeted and finds out about the personal costs of campaigning on this issue. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the Guardian.
0:05.0	Hi, host Madeline here.
0:08.0	Science Weekly is on its Christmas holidays.
0:12.0	So this week we're revisiting our miniseries,
0:15.4	Killing the Skydancer. Back at the start of this year,
0:19.1	Bi diversity reporter Phoebe Weston and I set out to investigate what was happening to the UK's
0:25.0	Birds of Prey and across three episodes this investigation took us into the world of
0:30.5	conservation economics and culture.
0:33.6	Today is episode one, Susie's Chicks.
0:36.6	I hope you enjoy it.
0:38.8	Just a warning before we start,
0:40.4	this episode includes descriptions of animal cruelty.
0:46.0	Is that buzzard?
0:47.0	Oh my God!
0:51.0	That's awesome! What me, Ruth, a campaigner and conservationist and a friend of
0:59.6	Ruth who was our guide for the day watching with so much excitement
1:04.3	was a bird of prey called a hen harrier.
1:07.3	Oh my gosh.
1:09.3	We were climbing a hill in England's Peak District National Park with a stream running next to us and purple Heather just coming out on the hillside when out of nowhere it just appeared.
1:23.0	Wow it's just floating on the breeze really gently flapping its wings.
1:28.0	They call it quartering when it's hunting so it's really low to the ground. It's trying to pick up sounds and just quarters
1:37.8	backwards and forward. I'd spent months thinking about Hen Harriers. The
	...

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