I've seen kiwi, wonderful birds, I love keas –they're probably my favourite bird in the whole word, so gorgeous and cheeky. There is a falcon Iwant to try and see and various other beautiful looking things. I'll be on the lookout," he says. I remain a big fan of The Clash, Elvis Costello, Talking Heads David Byrne of course..I was a hopeless devotee of Chrissie Hynde for many years – I do like a bit of twiddly but followed by something loud, like the Queens of the Stone Age, or Sugar..then quiet again with Yo La Tengo and a smidgen of Javanese Gamelan…then wistful with Beth Orton…then off again with the Chilli Peppers… In the car CD at the moment is PJ Harvey, Snow Patrol and The Streets…Top Geeza! My most recent gig I attended was Kraftwerk which was magnificent.” Over the last few years, I have become increasingly interested in birds. I have not yet reached the status of fully-fledged twitcher, but I have approached the edge of the nest a few times and come close to leaving. One indication of this is the fact that the most exciting thing to happen to me for a long time was when, recently, a group of 8 Waxwings, not seen in my area since 2013, decided to land in the tree outside the front of my house. For a couple of days, until they moved on, my house was the centre of North Wiltshire’s, well, Swindon's, bird-watching community with twitchers standing around the front of my house pointing their binoculars and huge telephoto lenses at the tree containing the birds. I was there with both binoculars and large telephoto lens! Here is one of my pictures: Beyond party politics, he is doing his best not to be depressed by the “mess we’re in.” He lists its components. “Well, there’s the climate emergency, war, fuel crisis, cost of living crisis, permacrisis…” He trails off. He has noticed the jar full of spanners.

Having interviewed him many times over the past decade, Bailey is unfailingly generous with his time, intelligent and funny even when he's trying not to be. He is that rare comic who is naturally amusing. In2014, Bailey was selected toofficially openthe new raptor hospital at the International Centre forBirds of Prey. This came about after he discovered a Eurasian Eagle Owl in a restaurant while on holiday in Beijing. It was taped up ready to be killed and eaten. He bought the owl and released it. I'm trying to build into the show a part on identifying New Zealand native birds, sort of a quiz, so start mugging up now on your bird calls."Walking helped them to open up to each other. “When you’re talking to someone on a walk you’re facing the same way,” Bailey says. “Strolling along, chatting about difficult subjects, is easier than having a sit-down chat about it.” He adds that men are especially bad at talking about serious subjects. “I remember a friend asked to speak about getting divorced. We spoke about art, football, music, everything, then right at the end I asked how things were with his wife and he said ‘not good actually’ and got a taxi.” Jarvis (of Pulp fame, of course) has worked on an album for the National Trust, sung about trees and written a song called “The Birds in Your Garden” on the album We Love Life, and generally seems like the sort of lefty, arty, eccentric bloke who would enjoy birding. Alex Zane, Jeff Green and Jayne Middlemiss Another commenter comes through for us, thanks Tom. Sam (Samuel) West, the English actor and director is apparently a keen birdwatcher, and the evidence this time comes in the form of a BBC radio show with Clare Balding (the show is still available as at 25th Jan 2015 if you are interested!). Not sure if that qualifies Clare Balding yet, although she seems to be on a series of wildlife walks in this series so it’s promising! And the supposedly famous birders I’m not sure about… Daryl Hannah Unfortunately, despite respectable viewing figures, Channel 4 have decided not to commission a new series. The programme did receive a lot of praise, however, and has left a positive impact in the environments of many endangered British animals.

IMDB used to credit Bill as being in this film, and many people seem to be under the impression that he appeared as a zombie – probably confusing him with one of the two bald, beard-sporting zombie twins that feature prominently. Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright confirm on the DVD commentary that he was unfortunately busy with other commitments at the time, so could not have a role. There are times I guess,when you are not feeling funny and you have to be funny, it's part of the job. You just have to compartmentalise." It’s the third and final episode of Jimmy McGovern’s women’s prison drama and, remarkably, not all hope is lost – even if Orla has just been told that, without a home to return to, they’re giving her a tent to live in on release. Abi also finally opens up about what she did to her baby, but can talking about it really help her find any redemption? HR Six Four 9pm, ITV1 When herons are spooked they have a habit of vomiting as a defence. Half-digested pieces of eel and water vole skull on your head is not a good look. Just so you know.'This book has two things in its favour. Firstly, it is about birds and clearly I am increasingly drawn to these. Secondly, it is by Bill Bailey who has the honour of being one of very few stand up comedians who can make me laugh. I’m a miserable person, really, but both Bill Bailey and Ross Noble can reduce me to tears of laughter. I don't know why I mention Ross Noble when the book is written solely by Bill Bailey. This is a beginners guide more than anything else, Bill recommends starting bird-watching by try to find a pigeon, so if you know anybody showing an interest in birds then this will be a great gift for them. My youngest daughter is going to read this next and I think she’ll enjoy it mainly because of the interesting gruesome facts included, a bit like the horrible histories books. Dylan Moran has stated in a recent article that there will not be, although he alludes vaguely to thepossibility of transferring it to the stage. When watching Bill perform live I’ve always thought he was very birdlike, he always seems wide-eyed and a bit twitchy. I think he has been influenced by his years of bird watching and it’s nice to hear that when on tour he always finds time to have a look around to see what he can spot.