beneath the stream beneaththestream

A high tide coming
Will eat the land
A tide no breakwaters can withstand.
Act 1 Scene 1 Peter Grimes, Op. 33 Benjamin Britten, libretto Montagu Slater
On a cold winter's day, we go down to a river that becomes the sea and, in an exploration of the complex human relations with the tide, we go with the ‘ebb and flow’, feel the currents, watch the high water mark and study what gets cast up. We are waiting to see what the tide brings and what it takes away; especially at this time in human history. 
With music from Colin Williams.
‘JUST AS THE TIDE WAS FLOWING’ BY JON BODEN. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. USED BY KIND PERMISSION OF THE ARTIST https://www.jonboden.com 
Some of the ideas and references we make in this podcast can be found here:
Peter Grimes
River Alde 
Benjamin Britten 
Corhampton 
Svalbard 
Moby Duck
Wild Man of Orford 
Wadden Sea 
Just as the Tide was Flowing 
Isle of Iona 
Dunwich
Woodhenge 
Doggerland 
Cockles
Julius Caesar; William Shakespeare

We live in the age of the 6th Mass Extinction; one that is human caused. Yet, amidst all this loss, we are still finding so called ‘Lazarus’ species; creatures that we believe we had extirpated but have been re-found. And some that have not been proven, but many fervently believe are still alive, clinging on to existence away from human gaze and knowledge; ready for a second coming.
Why are we so reluctant to let go of that which has demonstrably gone? Why do we hold a desperate desire that some creatures are still there, but we didn’t care enough at the time to stop their eradication? In this episode we explore stories of the Tasmanian Tiger, the Ivory-billed Woodpecker and others, and wonder why do so many of us ache for natural loss not to be final.
With music from Colin Williams
Some of the ideas and references we make in this podcast can be found here:
Ivory-billed Woodpecker
Thylacine
Arthur Conan Doyle
Cottingley Faeries
Sixth Mass Extinction
Yangtze River Dolphin
Passenger Pigeon
Honshu Wolf
Mexican Grizzly Bear
Tasmanian Emu
Tasman Starling
Coelacanth
New Zealand Storm Petrel
Mahogany Glider
Mountain Pygmy Possum
Adelaide Pygmy Blue-tongued Skink
Bridled Nail-tailed Wallaby
Night Parrot
Aldo Leopold’s ‘Sand County Almanac’ 
Darren Rees
Ghosts of Gone Birds
BirdLife International
Carolina Parakeet
John James Audubon
Galapagos 
Lonesome George
Natural History Museum, Tring
Sam Keen
 

Of all the ways we relate to the natural world it could be said that the human sense of smell is by turns our most powerful sense and yet also our weakest link with the rest of Nature. Scents can transport us, can help us form enduring memories, proves the link between our olfactory system and our limbic system.
The human nose and brain can detect 1 trillion different odours yet we have inadequate language to describe them, often amalgamate them into collective smells (“it smells like a forest”) and struggle to quieten our mind in Nature and become one with the odours. With contributions from Ella Roberts, Sam Lee, Devi Singh and Gina Gow, we attempt to make sense of scents.
Music from Colin Williams
 
Some of the ideas and references we make in this podcast can be found here:
Jasmine Tom Robbins Sam Lee NatureMoroccan souk Herb Robert  Peak District Patrick Süskind  Freshwater Mint Meadowsweet  Adam Thorpe Wiltshire Downs  Hiraeth  Cistus Wild Thyme  Cairngorms  Cuban cigar  Fern Schumer Chapman  Balsam Poplar  Tamarack Song  Aldo Leopold  Red Fox Henry Beston  Sagebrush Yellowstone  Western Meadowlark  White Sage  Bay of Fundy Bougainvillaea  FungiAmanita Neroli Rosemary 

Is song connected to even deeper roots than time and place? Can music and song can bring us closer to the non-human world? Does musical meaning arise from the experience of inhabiting the world and is it shared freely between humans and birds and trees and ‘all our relations’? 
We explore all this and much more with the wonderful Sam Lee. A highly inventive and original singer, folk song interpreter, passionate conservationist, song collector and successful creator of live events. Alongside his organisation, The Nest Collective, Sam has shaken up the music scene breaking boundaries between folk and contemporary music and the assumed places and ways folksong is appreciated.
And he is the author of the acclaimed ‘The Nightingale’, a book about a bird whose presence and reassurance of nature represents an English totemism, a symbol of a visceral relationship with the natural world, myth and identity. Mixing grief, hope and vision for the future, we explore how Nature projects on to us, not us on to Nature.
Sam Lee website  
The Nightingale book 
Old Wow album 
 
Some of the ideas and references we make in this podcast can be found here:
Jeannie Robertson - MacCrimmons Lament Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Bernard Butler Buzzard Totem  Anthropomorphism  Heron  Kestrel Ornithology  Totem PoleRay Mears ShamanismMusic Declares Emergency  Wembley Stadium  Hans Christian Andersen  J M W Turner  Hawthorn Supermoon  Ecology Solastalgia  Caroline Lucas MP  Benedict MacDonald - Rebirding Monsanto  Siren Calling  Fridays for Future 

An archetype, a creature that we impose human ideas, ideals, values and characteristics upon? A real, spectral being, visiting us from the demonic world? Or simply our domestic companion for thousands of years that we have venerated, commemorated and depicted in myriad ways? Hounds have been - and continue to be - all of these for us humans.
As a denizen of the wild around them, humans have encountered wolves, jackals and dogs dependent upon geography, and those cultures have found ways to bring those relationships into myth, legend, worship, movies and more. In this episode we ponder Anubis in Egypt and the Beast of Bray Road, Robert Johnson’s ‘Hellhound on My Trail’ and the legend of East Anglia’s ‘Black Shuck’.
THEME MUSIC BY COLIN WILLIAMS
Some of the ideas and references we make in this podcast can be found here:
Holy Trinity Church, BlythburghBlack ShuckEast AngliaThe Hound of the BaskervillesHarry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Flag FenCaldicotShamanismSaint ChristopherNew TestamentBog bodiesRiver StyxSpanish Water DogAnubisSiriusTutankhamun WerewolfDogman Encounters RadioBeast of Bray RoadJungArchetypesJackalOsirisSumarian Goddess BauThe OmenLycanthropeBeowulfGrendelScuccaHellhound on My TrailRobert JohnsonDelta BluesGospel musicCaerwentStainesLeiston AbbeyFelixstoweGorlestonLong IslandIpswich

The power of place, our fascination with what is not human . . . these have been cornerstones of Beneath the Stream since we began. But so too is the power of the human mind, our perceptions, our telling of stories and perhaps, most of all, the telling of stories to ourselves through culture and memory and the tricks and truths we encounter.
The work of author Ed Parnell is a powerful illustration of all of the above. His acclaimed book Ghostland has been described as “Parnell’s moving exploration of what has haunted our writers and artists – and what is haunting him. It is a unique and elegiac meditation on grief, memory and longing, and of the redemptive power of stories and nature.” Ghostland was shortlisted for the PEN Ackerley 2020 Award for memoir.
Speaking in the book of his memories he says, “All of it was real, I think”.
Ed Parnell’s website https://edwardparnell.com 
 
INTRODUCTORY AND INCIDENTAL MUSIC: Colin Williams singing ‘Breaths’ by Sweet Honey in the Rock
Some of the ideas and references we make in this podcast can be found here:
M R James https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._R._James Algernon Blackwood https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algernon_Blackwood Stonehenge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonehenge Garth Marenghi's Darkplace https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garth_Marenghi%27s_Darkplace Boston, Lincs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston,_Lincolnshire Holbeach Marsh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holbeach_Marsh New York - Lou Reed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_(album) Fata Morgana https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fata_Morgana_(mirage) Pilgrim Hospital https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilgrim_Hospital Illustrated London News https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Illustrated_London_News The Willows https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Willows_(story) The Danube https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danube Lakenheath Fen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakenheath_Fen_RSPB_reserve Golden Oriole https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_golden_oriole Arthur Machen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Machen Alan Garner https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Garner Weirdstone of Brisingamen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Weirdstone_of_Brisingamen The Moon of Gomrath https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Moon_of_Gomrath Hemmingford Grey https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemingford_Grey Robert Lloyd-Parry http://www.nunkie.co.uk Waterland, Graham Swift https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterland_(novel) The Wash https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wash Jodrell Bank https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jodrell_Bank_Observatory E F Benson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._F._Benson Borth https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borth William Hope Hodgson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Hope_Hodgson Folk Horror https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_horror The House on the Borderland https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_House_on_the_Borderland The Blood on Satan’s Claw https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blood_on_Satan%27s_Claw The Wicker Man https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wicker_Man Witchfinder General https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witchfinder_General_(film) Psychogeography https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychogeography The Blair Witch Project https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blair_Witch_Project Lapwing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_lapwing Bella Lugosi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bela_Lugosi An American Werewolf in London https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_American_Werewolf_in_London Tolkien https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._R._R._Tolkien Harry Potter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter The X-files https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_X-Files Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%27Oh,_Whistle,_and_I%27ll_Come_to_You,_My_Lad%27 Watership Down https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watership_Down