MORE than ten years' work by a Tyneside wildlife recording expert is helping radio listeners discover what it feels like to be a migrating bird.

Five stages of a swallow's 6,000-mile flight between the UK and South Africa are featured in a 15-minute programme being broadcast on Radio Four each afternoon this week.

Actor Bill Paterson's narration explains what is happening, but listeners are encouraged to imagine they are flying with the bird, through the sounds broadcast during each stage.

Freelance recordist Chris Watson told the BBC his portfolio of sounds from Africa and Europe would provide an ideal basis for a programme tracing the swallow's inter-continental travels.

"Sounds reflect the dangers faced by the swallow along the way - being pursued by a falcon, running into a tropical storm, crossing the Sahara Desert, gunfire from hunters in southern Europe and a marauding cat in Scotland," said Mr Watson, of Newcastle.

The series is written by Stephen Moss, producer of wildlife TV programmes such as Bill Oddie Goes Wild, which is currently being repeated on BBC2.

Mr Moss said: "I had never done radio work before this and it's been a fascinating experience. We hope listeners will be very satisfied too - the sounds are so evocative they could well feel they're flying along with the bird.

"Chris is one of the top wildlife recordists, with many other sounds in his library, so we are looking forward to the possibility of producing more such stories in the future."

Soundscape: A Swallow's Journey is being broadcast from 3.45pm to 4pm daily, until Friday.