An archetype, a creature that we impose human ideas, ideals, values and characteristics upon. An unknowable, untouchable creature of the dark, whose call provokes fear and awe. A silent, surreptitious, living breathing feathered predator, whose beyond-human abilities allow it to master the night and span almost every habitat on Earth. Which of these is Owl for you?
As a family of birds, owls are all of these and more, and we explore their role in human culture from 30,000 years ago to the present day, as well as sharing tales of owl encounters around the globe. Evil messenger and harbinger of Death? Wise councillor and friend from childhood literature? Owl can be what each of us bring to it but is also master of its world.
THEME MUSIC BY DAVID ROTHENBERG. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. USED BY KIND PERMISSION OF THE ARTIST http://www.davidrothenberg.net
Some of the ideas and references we make in this podcast can be found here:
Forest Eagle Owl
Sinharaja, Sri Lanka
Pliny the Elder
Tengmalm’s Owl
Florence Nightingale
Pablo Picasso
Winnie the Pooh
Bagpuss
Tawny Owl
Eric Hosking
Ural Owl
Sir David Attenborough
Hawk Owl
Saariselkä, Finland
Little Owl
Chauvet Cave, France
Eurasian Scops Owl
Athena
Harry Potter
Western Screech Owl
Hopi
Sokoke Scops Owl, Kenya
Aztec god of death
Cider with Rosie, Laurie Lee
Barn Owl
William Wordsworth
Tlingit
Egyptian Book of the Dead
Great Horned Owl
Seminole Apache
The Secret Life of the Owl, John Lewis-Stempel
Great Grey Owl
Barred Owl
Minnesota, USA
Eurasian Eagle Owl
Eurasian Pygmy Owl
Pel’s Fishing Owl
Blakiston’s Fish Owl
Snowy Owl
Twin Peaks, David Lynch
The Messengers, Mike Clelland
Whitley Strieber
Owlman, Cornwall
The Mothman Prophecies, John Keel
Mark Twain
Elf Owl
Short-eared Owl
Denmark
Öland, Sweden
Goldcrest
“In a hole with an owl” The Fast Show
35. Tide ~ time & tidings
34. Extinction ~ loss, hope and redemption
33. Sense of scent ~ second nature, beyond words
32. Sam Lee. The Nightingale ~ totem, identity and hope
31. Black Shuck ~ and the hounds of the liminal lands
30. Ed Parnell. Ghostland ~ In Search of a Haunted Country
29. Ed O’Brien. Earth ~ the album and in nature
28. Gillian Burke ~ storytelling & the light and shade of being alive
26. Karen Parry. Wild Swimming ~ held by water
25. Eva Gunnare. Wild Food ~ tradition & knowledge
24. The Wolf ~ and humanity
23. Interspecies ~ a language between us?
22. The River ~ all things merge into one
21. Roger Hardy, Rhett Griffiths. Sea Voices ~ Siren voices
19. Wilderness ~ is it beyond our reach?
18. The Sea ~ a prelude
17. Dan Richards. Outpost ~ wilderness and the other
16. Pilgrimage ~ endurance, faith and the 'other'
15. Julian Hoffman. Irreplaceable ~ the fight to save wild places
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