Home Planet - 22/09/2009

There's a distinctly avian hue to this programme as we reveal the results of our summer-long house martin survey. Just how have these birds fared in 2009? How do they manage to live alongside the apparently similar swifts and swallows, are they competing for a limited supply of food, or is there something else going on? And just why did one listener's house become a magnet for little owls? We also keep our gaze upwards to answer two astronomical queries. Does the Moon appear different to observers in the southern hemisphere and are there really more stars in the universe than grains of sand on the beach? On the panel are astronomer Dr Carolin Crawford, ornithologist Graham Appleton and Prof Philip Stott, an environmental scientist from the University of London. As always we want to hear your comments on the topics discussed and any questions you might want to put to future programmes.