A Carnival of Animals at Warwick Hall

The Arctic Animal That Fished the Thames in 1251

In the last fifty years, more than half of all wild things on earth have disappeared. That's how it starts — and it's Katherine Rundell's opening, from her BBC Radio 4 production A Carnival of Animals, brought to Warwick Hall for the Burford Festival by members of the local community.

Rundell is a bestselling author and Oxford scholar, and through natural history, myth, cultural insight and science she turns the spotlight on creatures most of us barely consider. The agility of a giraffe's tongue. The bird that stays on the wing for ten months at a time, sleeping with half its brain switched off. The arctic animal that turned up fishing in the Thames in 1251. Each one a reason to look more carefully at what's still here.

Tickets £5–£10. Equal parts eulogy and celebration — and exactly the kind of evening the Burford Festival does well.

Saturday 13 June 2026 · Warwick Hall, Burford OX18 4RY · 7pm