Welcome to the Fern podcast as the season turns.

I'm Lea Lane Dirtz and I'm delighted to introduce this Found Sound for May,

created by musician and sound artist Alice Boyd.

For this year's Found Sounds, Alice travels across the UK

to meet people inspired by heritage crafts, folklore and the landscape,

creating a sonic scrapbook of their practice.

This month, Alice meets wildlife TV presenter, activist and birder Nadine Pereira in St Andrews Park in Bristol.

We hear about how birdwatching has changed Nadine's life and his role in building community.

Nadine is a founder of Flock Together, a birdwatching and nature club that started as a space for people of colour to connect with nature.

Since 2020, it's grown into a global movement that's championing inclusivity in the outdoors.

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 in Bristol. It's about 5. to sunrise here in Bristol.

It's about 5.30 a.m.

And I'm in Lee Woods, which is just west of the city centre.

And I can already hear the rumble of the road.

But what I'm here to record is the dawn chorus.

In a couple of hours, I'll be meeting Nadine Pereira. And I thought since May is peak dawn chorus. In a couple of hours, I'll be meeting Nadine Pereira,

and I thought since May is peak dawn chorus season

when the birds sing at their loudest before sunrise,

I thought it made sense for me to go out and record the dawn chorus

nice and early before going into the chat with Nadine. So in today's dawn chorus we can hear chif chaffs, blue tits, great tits, wrens, song thrushes, robins, blackbirds, black caps, carrying crows, green finches, nut hatches and more.

And I think for me, the dawn chorus truly symbolises spring.

And there's something that I try and do at least once each spring,

...