Searching for Butterflies

Seriously...

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary

4.1 • 885 Ratings

🗓️ 19 July 2024

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In the mountains of Latakia, Syria, Mudar Salimeh devotes much of his time to searching for butterflies. A geologist, artist, and nature lover, Mudar's fascination with butterflies began in the spring of 2018 when a great number of caterpillars appeared in his art studio. Over time, the caterpillars transformed into a cloud of white butterflies, sparking Mudar's quest to find and document these beautiful, elusive creatures.

Syria's civil war has caused extensive ecological damage, affecting far more than just human lives. Then, in February 2023, an earthquake struck the region of Latakia.

Spring 2024 arrives and butterflies start to emerge, we join Mudar as he creates an encyclopedia of the different butterfly species in Western Syria - a task made challenging by the shadows of war.

Photo credit: Mudar Salimeh From his blog: https://syrianbutterflies.wordpress.com/

Field Recordings by Mudar Salimeh Music by Samer Saem Eldahr a.k.a. Hello Psychaleppo https://www.psychaleppo.com/ Lepidoptera Sound Recordings: Maria Brænder

Produced by Nanna Hauge Kristensen A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This was an impregnable fortress. The only way you get out was in a wooden box.
0:05.0	The controversial maximum security prison impossible to escape from.
0:09.0	And one of the duties of a political prisoner is the escape.
0:12.0	The IRA inmates who found a way. of a political prisoner is the escape.
0:12.5	The IRA inmates who found a way.
0:14.5	I'm Carlo Gableer and I'll be navigating a path
0:19.5	through the disturbing inside story of the biggest jailbreak in British and Irish history.
0:25.0	The narrative that they want is that this is a big achievement by them.
0:28.5	Escape from the maze, listen first on BBC Sounds.
0:36.0	BBC Sounds. BBC Sounds, Music Radio Podcasts.
0:40.0	Welcome to Seriously from BBC Radio 4. I'm Vanessa Kasule. This podcast finds the world's best
0:47.0	audio documentaries and puts them all in one place. Yes, I know you.
0:55.0	I know you.
0:57.0	Do you go. If you want to take photos for a flower, the flower cannot escape.
1:17.0	But the magic of butterflies is when you find the butterfly, it's not sure that you can take the photos.
1:30.0	One more. It just come and say hello, look at me and fly away.
1:38.0	Beautiful.
1:47.0	Oh my God, Faus Apollo at least. Hello.
1:49.0	I'm creating a list or an encyclopedia of different butterfly species in Syria.
1:57.0	Oh, Naz Zarian blue.
2:04.0	Very shining blue.
2:07.0	The most exciting for me is to see a species where it is not recorded in Syria before.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.