Currently starring in the new BBC chilling drama Requiem are five starlings belonging to Lloyd and Rose Buck.

The couple from North Somerset are bird handlers on television and film sets, training their tame birds to emulate those in the wild, making it easier for the cameraman to capture natural footage.

The starlings, Lilly the barn owl and Bran the raven will be flying in to Swindon's Arts Centre in a new theatre show, Our Life With Birds, which Lloyd says is a talk with a twist.

Lloyd said: "We talk about what we do, the discoveries we make, and show footage of sequences that our birds have appeared in with people like David Attenborough. We let the birds fly in the theatre and it works well, very popular with families.''

Lloyd said that when they are not performing on stage the birds stay happily in the wings.

"The birds sit in their travel boxes, which they are used to, a sort of home from home, off stage but close by where I can get to them,'' said Lloyd.

The couple also train geese, swans and birds of prey such as falcons and peregrine hawks but Lloyd stresses they are not specialist breeders even though they start teaching when the birds are really young.

"Birds of prey are bred in captivity, but they are parent raised until they are 16 weeks, although our Goshawk Lilly was hand-raised,'' said Lloyd. "Our crow Simba who is 21-years-old was a rescue bird, and the starlings we got permission to take from the wild on the understanding they would stay with us for life.

"We make a close social bond with the birds and we use their natural abilities in a special way, to get it right for the camera,'' said Lloyd.

The couple's birds have starred in Poldark, Top Gear, The Hollow Crown, television commercials and a Disney film called Born In China.

The birds are often called upon to appear in stunts such as chasing a sky diver or a freefall jumper. The Red Bull mountain bike advertisement became really popular with one of Lloyd's birds as the star.

"We use their natural instinct and that hooks in the audience. The mountain bike sequence got people interested in birds. In our own small way I like to think we encourage people to look at nature and wild life,'' said Lloyd, who is probably best known for his appearances on Springwatch.

"One of the funniest was Autumnwatch when we did the Game of Crows starring Bran our Raven. Bran is our most intelligent bird and good at problem solving,'' said Lloyd, who has also worked with Steve Backshall on Live and Deadly and various other productions for the National Geographic Channel.

Rose met Lloyd when he moved to Bristol, she was worked in a junior school but she had always been interested in birds and belonged to the Young Naturalist Society as a girl.

"When I met him I thought what a lovely job and when Lloyd had to imprint some swans he said you are the right sort of caring person to do that. So, I had to spend 24 hours a day with them when they were first hatched, literally sleeping with swans and then geese and we gradually built the bond,'' said Rose.

Lloyd christened her Mother Goose and she says it is exactly like that and that even now her 12 swans will come when she calls.

"All our birds fly free and they choose to come back,'' said Rose. "Our starlings we even flew standing in the middle of London.''

Lloyd agrees and says none of the birds are forced to fly.

"When we did the David Attenborough sequence with Greenland Geese that came to North Wales they used our geese flying over the sea. Our geese flew with them but it was great to see them looking for us when they flew back,'' said Lloyd.

It is not all work for the birds as Lloyd has played the piano since he was a child and in the evenings they have a singsong.

"The birds love classical music and so do I,'' said Lloyd "The starlings like Mozart, in fact the composer had his own starling. They roost in the house by the piano and sing along. Bran has his own radio tuned to classic FM he likes the orchestral sonatas,'' said Lloyd. - Flicky Harrison

Our Life With Birds, is at the Arts Centre, Devizes Road, Swindon on Monday February 26 at 7.30pm. Tickets are £17 from 01793 524481 or visit www.swindontheatres.co.uk