Welcome to the Fern podcast as the season turns. I'm Lea Leanderts and I'm delighted to introduce this

found sound for December, created by musician and sound artist Alice Boyd.

For this year's found sounds, Alice has been travelling across the UK to meet people

inspired by heritage crafts, folklore and the landscape, creating a sonic scrapbook of their

practice. In this month's episode, Alice walks with broadcaster Matthew Bannister, creator of folk on foot through the wild brooks of Amberley in West Sussex.

Their conversation wonders through Matthew's discovery of folk music to the new voices keeping the tradition alive today.

You may wish to pause the podcast here for a moment,

while you find somewhere warm and quiet,

to close your eyes, sit back and settle down

into this month's found sound.

Thank you. So Matthew, can you introduce yourself and describe your work?

My name's Matthew Bannister and I'm the host and founder of a podcast called Folk on Foot,

where I go walking in every episode with a different folk artist in the landscape that's inspired their music.

And they sing and play for me on location. It's my perfect job.

We're outside your home in West Sussex and we're looking out at this beautiful view.

There are these jackdores in a tree nearby. Can you tell me a little bit about this place we're in?

We have the most astonishing view from our house and it's across a place called the Amberley Wildbrooks,

which is 800 acres of a floodplain of the river Arran.

So it stretches out flat in front of you.

And at this time of year in December, it's starting to flood.

So you can start to see patches of water.

And you get the overwintering waterbirds coming here to spend their time and at some points in the winter it is completely covered in water so you get this extraordinary ever-changing

...