''Tweet of the Day'' is a British radio programme broadcast on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

on weekdays at 05:58 from Monday to Friday. In the current format, the Sunday episode, (08:58), no longer features birdsong, instead the presenter explains their reasons for 'curating' the coming week's broadcasts, selected from all 3 serie

The format of an episode is a short programme of 90 seconds, the original series featuring the song or sounds of a British bird, visitor, or bird chorus and a few facts about each bird described by a BBC wildlife presenter. The first episode was broadcast on 6 May 2013 and featured the song of the male

common cuckoo The common cuckoo (''Cuculus canorus'') is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, Cuculiformes, which includes the roadrunners, the anis and the coucals. This species is a widespread summer migrant to Europe and Asia, and winters in Africa. I ...

presented by David Attenborough. The series won the

Broadcasting Press Guild The Broadcasting Press Guild (BPG) is a British association of journalists dedicated to the topic of general media issues. History The Guild was established in 1974 as a breakaway of The Critics' Circle. Currently it groups over 100 staff and f ...

's award for radio programme of the year in 2014. The series was scheduled across a year, by the end of which 266 different bird sounds had been featured. The original series was repeated before Series Two. A follow-up series ''Tweet of the Day: World Birds'', featured a mix of worldwide and British bird species. A third series features very little birdsong, but instead features a guest describing the effect a particular species' calls has had on them personally. The current broadcasts are two-week batches of repeats.

Presenters

• Original series - David Attenborough, Miranda Krestovnikoff,

Steve Backshall Stephen James Backshall (born 21 April 1973) is an English naturalist, explorer, presenter and writer, best known for BBC TV's ''Deadly 60''. His other BBC work includes being part of the expedition teams in ''Lost Land of the Tiger'', ''Lo ...

Michaela Strachan Michaela Evelyn Ann Strachan (born 7 April 1966) is an English television presenter and singer. Early life Born in Ewell, Surrey, Strachan grew up in Hinchley Wood and attended Chadsworth Stage School, then Claremont Fan Court School, both i ...

, Brett Westwood,

Bill Oddie William Edgar Oddie (born 7 July 1941) is an English writer, comedian, songwriter, musician, artist, birder, conservationist, television presenter and actor. He was a member of comedy trio The Goodies. A birder since his childhood in Quinto ...

Chris Packham Christopher Gary Packham CBE (born 4 May 1961) is an English naturalist, nature photographer, television presenter and author, best known for his television work including the CBBC children's nature series '' The Really Wild Show'' from 1986 ...

, John Aitchison,

Kate Humble Katherine Mary Humble (born 12 December 1968) is an English television presenter and narrator, mainly working for the BBC, specialising in wildlife and science programmes. Humble served as President of the Royal Society for the Protection of Bi ...

Liz Bonnin Elizabeth Bonnin (born 16 September 1976) is a French science, wildlife and natural history presenter, who has worked on television in both Ireland and the United Kingdom. She presented morning show '' RI:SE'' and music show ''Top of the Pops'' ...

and Martin Hughes-Games.
• Second series - As above, plus

Michael Palin Sir Michael Edward Palin (; born 5 May 1943) is an English actor, comedian, writer, television presenter, and public speaker. He was a member of the Monty Python comedy group. Since 1980, he has made a number of travel documentaries. Palin w ...

, etc.

Sound recordists

* Original series - Chris Watson, Gary Moore, Geoff Sample, and Simon Elliott. * Second series - Recordings sourced from various audio libraries worldwide.

References

External links

Episodes
BBC website. BBC Radio 4 programmes Bird sounds {{Bird-stub