26/10/20 - The impact of game birds on the environment, a farm theatre and rural life for young people.

57 million pheasants and partridges are reared by gamekeepers and released into the countryside each year. But the sport of game bird shooting is coming under increased scrutiny. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds recently called for shoots to be regulated saying the yearly release game birds was damaging the environment. Sybil Ruscoe speaks to an academic who has reviewed the literature.

"All the world’s a stage" - wrote Shakespeare - and that includes farms! We visit a Shropshire farm where a field has bee dug up to create an earthen amphitheatre, where the National Youth Theatre are staging Covid-safe performances.

And a survey commissioned by the National Federation of Young Farmers Clubs has found young people living in the countryside feel isolated as a result of COVID. It's found they are also concerned about housing and access to technology.

Presented by Sybil Ruscoe
Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Heather Simons