CONSERVATIONIST and TV presenter Bill Oddie will join a guided walk around a nature reserve as part of Thornbury Arts Festival.

The former Goodie is already set to launch the festival with award winning composer and singer-songwriter Sarah Class on April 17, when they present a musical safari in the Armstrong Hall.

But now he has also agreed to be at the Kites Hill reserve, near Painswick, the following day to give an insight into just one of the sites supported by the World Land Trust.

Both Bill - regarded as Britain’s best known birdwatcher - and Sarah are involved in the international conservation charity, which protects the world’s most biologically important and threatened habitats, and are keen to spread the word about its work.

The walk will take festival-goers around the site of special scientific interest but it is only open to those who book a place on a coach from Thornbury to Kites Hill. Details are on the Thornbury Arts Festival website www.thornburyartsfestival.com

The festival runs from April 17-26 and includes 34 events ranging from live music and talks to stand-up comedy and drama.

Internationally renowned jazz duo Keith and Julie Tippett will be at the festival after touring Japan to appear with Bath band Radio Banska in An Evening of Rare Music. The Tippetts will also discuss their music in a pre-concert talk.

Other highlights include comedian Jo Caulfield, the band Moscow Drug Club and a talk by the Government’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Mark Walport.

The film The Great Escape will be shown ahead of a talk by Simon Pearson about Squadron Leader Roger Bushell, the leader of the great escape from Stalag Luft III in 1944, while Jacqueline Wadsworth will give an insight into life in Bristol during the Great War.

Thanks to rescheduling by Downton Abbey star Samantha Bond to fit in with filming of the latest series of the TV drama, she will be a guest of the festival with her actor father Philip on Saturday, April 18.

Samantha plays Lady Rosamund Painswick in the popular show and after her visit to Thornbury will return to the Downton film set in London.

Details of the festival programme, with online booking, are available on the festival website or by calling 07762 717310. A box office is also open in Thornbury Town Hall, High Street, from 10am-noon on Tuesdays and Thursdays until April 16.