Scotland Outdoors

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Episodes

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Episodes

Bracklinn Falls, Needle Felting and The Cabrach Distillery

Golf courses are often criticised for their lack of biodiversity, but at The Plock, near Kyle of Lochalsh, a community project is reclaiming the local golf course and giving it back to the wild. Mark met up with the local ranger, Heather Beaton, to find out more about this rewilding initiative. A new award-winning footbridge has been built at Bracklinn Gorge near Callander. Mark visits the site and meets with advisor and architect Murray McKellar from the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National P...

Mar 08, 2025•1 hr 24 min•Transcript available on Metacast

Preserving Antarctica's Heritage Buildings with Conservation Carpenter Graham Gillie

Mark Stephen hears from Graham Gillie about his extraordinary working life in Antarctica

Mar 05, 2025•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast

Kingfishers, a Gunpowder Mill and a Halifax Bomber Relic

Mark visits the Montrose Air Station Museum to hear about a new addition to their collection, part of a Halifax Bomber, which crashed in the Angus glens in 1944. Shan Brewis tells us the story behind the plane crash, and how the piece of wreckage came to be discovered exactly 80 years after the tragedy. Red Squirrels in Scotland are often under threat, but Rachel finds out about the newest concern for our native population. Speaking to Meja Vesterlund from Saving Scotland's Squirrels, she hears ...

Mar 01, 2025•1 hr 25 min•Transcript available on Metacast

Wildlife on the Water of Leith

During the Covid lockdown, Tom Kelly decided to stroll along the Water of Leith Walkway every single day and take photographs of the wildlife in the area. The photographer from Edinburgh has always had a keen interest in nature and he wanted to explore what was living in his own neighbourhood. The result is a huge collection of photographs showcasing what lives on and near the river at different times of the year.

Feb 26, 2025•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast

A Soutar's Shop, Jigsaws and Gorillas

Winchburgh in West Lothian is expanding rapidly, with several new housing developments underway. At the heart of these new developments is the 85 acre Authcaldie Park, where Mark visits a group of volunteers who are building a new centre piece for the area – a model cathedral made entirely out of willow. RSPB Loch Leven has recently hosted the Convention of Migratory Species, a UN convention with 130 member states involved. Rachel meets up Sarah Scott and Professor Des Thompson to find out about...

Feb 22, 2025•1 hr 22 min•Transcript available on Metacast

The Glasgow Seed Library with Rowan Lear

Helen Needham meets seed librarian Rowan Lear

Feb 19, 2025•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast

Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Snowdrops and a Beaver MOT

Auchnerran Farm is run by the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust as a demonstration farm to test and trial conservation and land management strategies. Mark visits the farm to hear about their projects and how they manage these alongside a profitable enterprise of sheep farming. It is the 20th anniversary of the opening of Five Sister’s Zoo this year, and the facility has grown from very small beginnings to now housing over 160 species on site in West Calder. Rachel chats to Brian and Gary Cur...

Feb 15, 2025•1 hr 24 min•Transcript available on Metacast

Sunset Song - Exploring The Mearns - Part 2

The 7th February 2025 marks 90 years since the death of Scottish writer Lewis Grassic Gibbon, author of Sunset Song. In 2016, it was voted Scotland's favourite novel. In this archive programme, Mark Stephen explores the area it was set in, the Mearns.

Feb 12, 2025•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast

Water of Leith Otters, Salmon Fishing on the River Tweed and a Famous North East Cow

The National Farmers Union of Scotland Conference has been underway this week, and Kevin Keane is there, joined by Professor Colin Campbell from the James Hutton Institute, to hear his advice on how farms can become more resilient in the face of climate change. Muiravonside, Falkirk’s only country park, features several attractions, from a sculpture and poetry trail to the Avon aqueduct. Rachel catches up with the park’s ranger, Claire Martin, to hear about the history and appeal of the estate. ...

Feb 08, 2025•1 hr 24 min•Transcript available on Metacast

Sunset Song - Exploring the Mearns - Part 1

The 7th February 2025 marks 90 years since the death of Scottish writer Lewis Grassic Gibbon, author of Sunset Song. In 2016, it was voted Scotland's favourite novel. In this archive programme, Mark and Euan explore the area it was set in, the Mearns.

Feb 05, 2025•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast

The Festival of Imbolc, World Wetlands Day and the Big Farmland Bird Count

Parts of the country are still recovering after last week’s Storm Eowyn including Jupiter Artland. The 100-acre sculpture garden on the outskirts of Edinburgh suffered quite a bit of storm damage as Mark saw when he visited earlier this week. Rachel meets a group of volunteers from a whole variety of backgrounds who have come together to help restore the HMS Unicorn, a 200-year-old ship which is docked in Dundee. Next Friday sees the start of the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust’s annual Big...

Feb 01, 2025•1 hr 22 min•Transcript available on Metacast

Burns on Birds, Golden Eye and How to Make Haggis

We celebrate Burns Day on Out of Doors on the 265th anniversary of his birth. Mark chats to Professor Fiona Stafford from University of Oxford who writes about Burns ‘the bard of nature’. They chat about his understanding of ecology and how that comes through in his poetry. Rachel hears the good news story about Goldeneye Ducks in the Cairngorms. Goldeneyes are a protected species that have suffered severe population declines, with only around 200 pairs in the UK. But recent work has seen their ...

Jan 25, 2025•1 hr 23 min•Transcript available on Metacast

Wandering Morven - A Wander up Morven with Artist and Adventurer Morven Stewart

Helen Needham walks up Morven in Aberdeenshire with Morven Stewart

Jan 22, 2025•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast