Radio Features

Real scary

'Come and see our scarecrows,' said the e-mail sent by Victoria to Planet Ray. So I did.

Scarecrow of Margaret Thatcher, 'thatcher', get-it

There's more than 65 of them, all around the village of Clavering in the northwest of the county.

And it's not just in Clavering; Planet Ray listeners, Pete and Christine from St Osyth sent in their picture of their really scary scarecrow, who does a very fine job of keeping away birds, animals and humans.

Everyone knows Nigel

Every town has its characters and in Maldon, most people know Nigel.

He's a regular at the Maldon deli, where he now has a 24-hour presence, after local artist David Wiseman painted his portrait.

Maldon character and good egg Nigel with 'Nigel'

Nigel is thrilled with the finished article and the attention, because he's a friendly sort of bloke.

"I like it very much. Honestly. I think he's a wonderful lad to do it," he told me.

"I am a bit of a clown, I make them laugh. You get one or two miserable ones, but you're bound to put up with that. But the majority of them are lovely - they can see the funny side of things."

Beautiful Essex

The county is looking at its best in the current spring sunshine. Ray Clark Breakfast Show listener, Chris, discovered a part of Essex that was new to him when he took a stroll along the canal banks to Heybridge Basin and the River Blackwater.

Fortunately for us he had his camera with him.

Essex's beauty is unquestioned - here's Ashingdon

Poet Nat

As the BBC launched its poetry season, we sent our reporter Natalie 'off to the caff' to see whether people use poetry in the real world.

Natalie astounded us by reciting an inspirational rhyme off-by-heart which she used when she was swimming for England. You didn't know she'd swam for England, did you?

So many people asked about the poem, that we've included it here. We don't who wrote it, but if it was you then step forward and we'll acknowledge your work:

The Story What You Write

A great story from Sally about a plain Jane (or in this case a plain Sophie).

If you want to join, then e-mail me.

Planet Ray is off to another orbit

Next week, Ian Puckey will be taking care of the Breakfast Show. But as I'm going to be spending most of the time sitting in the sunshine, I'll have plenty of time to add some posts to our Facebook page. Why not be our friends?