As a nation, we are obsessed with the weather. Studies have shown that over half of us talk about the weather at least once day and check the forecast regularly before making plans and heading out. We despair when it rains, we swoon in the sun, we can't bear the sight of clouds in the sky, yet we hate the thought of hosepipe bans and appear to be spectacularly unprepared for extreme weather events, even when expected or forecast. The weather certainly seems to matter to most of us, but is extrem...
Jan 29, 2011•25 min
Portbury Wharf lies on the land between Portishead and Royal Portbury Dock, adjacent to the Severn Estuary. Helen Mark visits the area's newest developing nature reserve and discovers how local residents are making a unique investment to their natural habitat. Look one way and you'll see a new housing construction, look the other and your eyes will be met with acres of grazing marsh land, hay meadows, and hedgerows rich in insect life stretching out to the Gordano Valley. The two are not only li...
Jan 22, 2011•25 min
Snow, biting winds and a tent made to the design used by nomads in Ulaanbaatar ... but Richard Uridge hasn't travelled to Mongolia for this week's Open Country, he's high up on Exmoor. He meets Hen and Leo - who are braving winter on the moor in pursuit of their dream of a low impact, but not entirely low-tech lifestyle - their pig-farming neighbour and the man who made their yurt. Producer Steve Peacock.
Jan 15, 2011•25 min
Richard Uridge travels the route proposed for high speed rail in Buckinghamshire to find out what is so special about the countryside there that inspires people to battle to protect it.
Jan 08, 2011•25 min
The River Thames was recently selected as the winner of the international Theiss River Prize, an award which celebrates outstanding achievement in river management and restoration. Fifty years after being declared biologically dead, the Thames scooped the prize thanks to a dramatic turnaround in its environment. Environment organisations now say that the Thames is the cleanest it has been in more than 150 years, with almost 400 new habitats being created to allow wildlife back to the river which...
Jan 01, 2011•25 min
Owen Sheers is in Worcestershire to learn about the Druidic custom of gathering in the mistletoe. Each year it is harvested and blessed at the Mistletoe Festival in the town of Tenbury Wells. Producer: Maggie Ayre.
Dec 25, 2010•25 min
Helen Mark is in Dorset to hear how the area around Studland Bay could be affected by a proposed Marine Conservation Zone and how one fishy resident has stirred up passions locally. As parts of the sea around Studland and Swanage are being considered as a possible Marine Conservation Zone, Helen finds out about the possible impacts on the local community; in particular to some of the residents of Studland Bay The bay is home to a colony of breeding sea horses and opinions are divided as to wheth...
Dec 18, 2010•25 min
Richard Uridge joins South Cumbrian Wildlife Crime Officers, volunteers and members of the local community on the trail of poachers in an attempt to crack down on wildlife crime. Wildlife Officers receive several wildlife crime reports a month, many of which relate to deer poaching which is becoming big business for criminals, particularly in the run up to Christmas. This year has also seen hundreds of sheep rustled across Cumbria and hundreds of ewes and lambs have been stolen in several separa...
Dec 11, 2010•25 min
In this weeks Open Country Richard Uridge visits the Norfolk Coast.Better known as an area of coastal erosion, Happisburgh is proving that community spirit is far from eroded as teams of volunteers work tirelessly to protect the local landscape and those who come to enjoy it. Navigation reform could've seen the Happisburgh lighthouse fall into disrepair but a team of volunteers campaigned to keep it working and 20 years on it's still beaming across the Norfolk high seas. In view of the red and w...
Dec 04, 2010•25 min
In Open Country this week, Helen Mark visits Ardtornish Estate in Morvern, in the western Highlands of Scotland. The estate covers around sixty square miles of hill, woodland, rivers and lochs and has been in the Raven family for three generations. Hugh Raven describes himself as the present 'steward' of Ardtornish, working on behalf of the whole family and the local community, and, along with his wife, Jane Stuart-Smith, is building on groundwork laid down at Ardtornish by his late brother, And...
Nov 27, 2010•25 min
In a year that has seen a record rise in the number of people seeking medical help after eating poisonous fungi, Richard Uridge visits the New Forest to hear about the variety of wild mushrooms to be found, the dangers of picking the wrong ones and the problems this can also cause to the ecosystem of the forest. Richard joins mycologist, John Wright, to hear about his lifelong passion for wild mushrooms and joins him on a forage in the forest to find out how to know what to look for when picking...
Nov 20, 2010•24 min
In Open Country this week, Helen Mark visits the Whitelee Plateau in Ayrshire, once a treeless bog grazed by very hardy sheep and cattle but now transformed into a vast conifer plantation of ten million trees. The 'greening' of the Whitelee Plateau was part of a tremendous shift in land use in Scotland, nearly trebling tree cover in just forty years.Historian Ruth Tittensor saw the importance of this change in the Ayrshire landscape and recorded the thoughts and feelings of local people affected...
Nov 13, 2010•25 min
Author and poet Owen Sheers visits South Wales, the setting for his book Resistance, which was inspired by the tales he heard growing up of a secret rural army trained to hold off a potential German invasion during the second world war. Owen meets one of the last surviving members of the rural auxiliary unit and speaks to some of the people who had no idea that members of their family were highly trained to move silently through the surrounding countryside, ensuring it became a difficult and hos...
Nov 06, 2010•25 min
Helen Mark visits Pluckley, a village with the reputation as the most haunted in Britain. While genuine ghosthunters, with an interest in all things paranormal, bring with them a welcome boost to local businesses, this reputation is not without problems. In recent years the village has seen an increased police presence due to the sheer number of visitors, particularly around the time of Halloween. There have been problems of anti-social behaviour which last year led to the parish council cancell...
Oct 30, 2010•25 min
Helen Mark travels along a stretch of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal and hears from just a few of the people whose lives revolve around it. Stretching 127 miles the canal crosses the Pennines, and climbing to 487 feet at its summit, the canal has 91 locks including the unique 5-rise lock at Bingley in Yorkshire. Helen hears from Vince Moran of British Waterways about the reason for the recent closure of almost half of the canal from Wigan to Gargrave following the prolonged spell of dry weather e...
Sep 11, 2010•25 min
Helen Mark is in Cornwall to find out why the reintroduction of cattle to graze the Penwith Moors of Cornwall and improve the area's bio-diversity has upset some of the local community. She meets up with archaeologist Craig Weatherhill at the Tregeseal Stone Circle to hear about the damage he says is being caused to these ancient monuments by the horns of the non-native Longhorn breed of cattle being grazed on the moors. Craig also tells Helen about the difficulties faced by horses and their rid...
Sep 04, 2010•25 min
