Rachel visits the Scottish Wildlife Trust’s Montrose Basin reserve in Angus where a group of nursery children were out exploring the mudflats to see what beasties they could find. She speaks to nursery and reserve staff about the importance of getting young kids involved in nature. Isle Martin is a small island just three miles off the coast of Ullapool. It’s had many uses over the years including a herring station, a flour mill and a bird reserve. It’s now in community ownership and recently Ma...
Jun 01, 2024•1 hr 26 min•Transcript available on Metacast Mark Stephen visits Isle Martin which forms part of the Summer Isles lying north of Ullapool in Wester Ross. The island is owned by a community trust and one of it's directors, Lesley Strachan shows Mark round the island
May 29, 2024•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast Rachel visits Fairhill Rise, an education centre in East Lothian which is part of the Ruskin Mill Trust. The centre provides outdoor learning and activities for those with autism and additional needs. Rachel meets the manager and hears about their work. Ahead of World Otter Day this coming Wednesday, Mark visits International Otter Survival Fund in Broadford on Skye to hear about the work they carry out across the world and meet some of the otters they have in their care. Over the past couple of...
May 25, 2024•1 hr 23 min•Transcript available on Metacast Mark Stephen visits the Chippendale International School of Furniture near Haddington in East Lothian. He meets the principal and students from home and abroad taking part in the courses run by the school
May 22, 2024•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast In our latest Scotland Outdoors podcast Helen Needham meets regenerative farmer Nikki Yoxall in the hills of Aberdeenshire. Nikki’s cattle are outside all year round, moving from field to field as part of a system called mob grazing. She tells Helen about the benefits it has for the cattle and the land. In the last few years, there’s been an explosion in the number of community run gardens across the country. These bring huge positives to those who look after and visit them. However, new researc...
May 18, 2024•1 hr 24 min•Transcript available on Metacast Helen Needham visits Nikki Yoxall and her herd of pasture fed cattle in Aberdeenshire
May 16, 2024•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast Mark Stephen and Rachel Stewart follow the river Tweed from Kelso to Berwick Upon Tweed. In Kelso, they visit Floor Castle and Gardens in the company of Matt Thomson and Simon McManus. Jonathan Garrett shows Mark round the town's racecourse In Coldstream, John Elliot of the local historical society tells the story of one of the earliest bridges built across the Tweed into England, Mark delves into the history of the Coldstream Guards and Rachel hears about a marriage house with a past to rival G...
May 11, 2024•1 hr 25 min•Transcript available on Metacast Helen Needham learns about the We Feed the UK project
May 08, 2024•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast On Thursday this week campaigners gathered outside the Scottish Parliament to protest the proposed plans for a new powerline between Kintore and Tealing. SSEN Transmission says the upgrade is needed to meet net zero targets, while protestors say they haven’t been properly consulted and the scheme will blight the countryside. Mark went along to speak to Thomas Nicoll from SSEN Transmission and some of the protestors from Angus Action Against Pylons and Save Our Mearns. TV Nature series Wild Isles...
May 04, 2024•1 hr 24 min•Transcript available on Metacast Producer Alastair Fothergill has spent decades making nature documentaries around the world, often working closely with Sir David Attenborough. His work includes Blue Planet and Planet Earth. In this podcast, Alastair discusses why he felt the time was right to make a series concentrating on the nature and wildlife that can be found in the British Isles. He talks about the challenges of securing the footage in some remote locations in Scotland as well as his highlights from the series which took...
May 01, 2024•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast Back in 2020, some of farmer Steve Barron’s cattle fell ill and died. Initially he had no idea what had caused their sudden deaths until lead poisoning was found to be the reason. He tells Mark about what happened and the impact it had on him. Steve’s cattle died so had no chance of entering the food chain, but Food Standards Scotland take incidents of livestock poisoning very seriously. They are raising awareness of the risks that farmers face as we hear from their head of incidents, Stuart McA...
Apr 27, 2024•1 hr 24 min•Transcript available on Metacast Helen Needham hears from musician and composer Anne Wood
Apr 24, 2024•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast American Mink are an invasive non-native species which have become widespread in parts of Scotland after their release from fur farms. Rachel meets Karen Muller from the Scottish Invasive Species Initiative on the River Spey to hear why it’s important to catch the mink. They also scope out a potential site to set a mink trap. In his day job, George Sherriffs is an acquisitions librarian with the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. But in the coming week, George is going to be running an incredible 3...
Apr 20, 2024•1 hr 24 min•Transcript available on Metacast Stanley Robertson was from the Travelling People and in the 1980's he published a book called 'Exodus to Alford' featuring stories associated with a particular road his people used to take each Summer when he was a boy. Former BBC Producer Doreen Wood went there with Stanley in 1988 and recorded an interview with him describing his memories of this special place. In this podcast, Mark Stephen and Helen Needham go in search of the Old Lumphanan Road with the archive of Stanley in their ears, offe...
Apr 17, 2024•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast Linda is in Pitlochry where a group of volunteers meet once a fortnight to help maintain the area’s much loved and well used path network. She hears why the group were founded and about the different kinds of work they carry out. Mark is in Dunbar Harbour, marvelling at the kittiwakes and exploring a site that was once home to a fish hatchery. And not far along the coast in North Berwick, Rachel meets artist and campaigner Julie Barnes, who created what is believed to be the largest mural in the...
Apr 13, 2024•1 hr 22 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this week’s Scotland Outdoors podcast, Mark chats with Landward’s Cammy Wilson about his sheep-farming career. We hear an excerpt where Cammy is telling Mark the story of Fiona, the 'world’s loneliest sheep'. Killiechassie Burial Ground near Aberfeldy holds just six graves, five of which are covered over with recumbent flat slabs. For years, it was allowed to become neglected but in the 1990s, the Breadalbane Heritage Society started to take an interest and discovered that it not only dates b...
Apr 06, 2024•1 hr 25 min•Transcript available on Metacast Mark Stephen visits Youtuber and TV presenter Cammy Wilson on his farm in Ayrshire
Apr 03, 2024•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast Mark Stephen and Rachel Stewart with stories from the great outdoors
Mar 30, 2024•1 hr 24 min•Transcript available on Metacast Mark revisits a series of programmes he made in the early 2000s called Mountain Tales. The programmes feature Scotland's iconic hills and mountains and what it means to those who live and work in the area nearby. Mark finds out what the mountain range, the Cuillins of Skye mean to a mountain guide, climber, musician, geologist and sailor
Mar 27, 2024•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast Rachel is in East Lothian where local residents are campaigning for better access across the busy A1 road. For a considerable stretch there’s no official pedestrian crossing linking the villages close to Dunbar with the coast. And as Rachel sees, it’s a very busy road to try and cross as a cyclist or pedestrian. Mark visits Dean Castle in Kilmarnock and finds out about its fascinating history including being completely destroyed by fire before an impressive restoration in 2018. The Covid lockdow...
Mar 23, 2024•1 hr 22 min•Transcript available on Metacast Helen Needham wanders around Glasgow Green with Laura-Beth Salter and Ali Hutton who have created a new album called 'From the Ground' as a response to climate change
Mar 20, 2024•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast Mark Stephen and Rachel Stewart with stories from the great outdoors
Mar 16, 2024•1 hr 24 min•Transcript available on Metacast Rachel Stewart speaks to Anne Butler, the new President of Mountaineering Scotland and newly appointed Chair Jo Dytch. The pair are the first women to hold the roles. During a walk up Glen Tilt near Blair Atholl, Rachel asks them about their aspirations in their new jobs and whether they think more females are taking to the hills.
Mar 13, 2024•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this week’s Scotland Outdoors podcast, Mark visits what is believed to be the UK’s largest urban farm. Lauriston Agroecology farm is on a hundred-acre site near Edinburgh Airport and is a hive of activity. Mark hears how the site has been developed so far. The Highland Wildlife Park near Kingussie is well known for its polar bears, wildcats and over recent weeks, its monkeys. But as Rachel found out, it’s also home to an important conservation breeding programme for leeches. Not perhaps the m...
Mar 09, 2024•1 hr 22 min•Transcript available on Metacast Mark Stephen gets a tour of the UK's biggest urban farm from Lisa Houston
Mar 06, 2024•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast Rachel heads to Fort Augustus for a chat with Cieran Watson from Forestry Land Scotland and Morag Milne from NatureScot about how they can manage the growing number of feral pigs living wild in the Scottish countryside. Mark meets Niall MacLeod who is part of the Loch Awe National Park committee to chat about their bid for Loch Awe to be a contender for Scotland’s next National Park. Over the winter, the Cairngorm Reindeers have been busy shedding their antlers. Rachel chats to one of the herder...
Mar 02, 2024•1 hr 24 min•Transcript available on Metacast Mark Stephen speaks with furniture makers who are turning wood that has been affected by the ash dieback fungal disease into furniture and other objects.
Feb 28, 2024•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast Mark Stephen and Rachel Stewart with stories from the great outdoors
Feb 24, 2024•1 hr 24 min•Transcript available on Metacast Mark Stephen visits Schiehallion in Perthshire. Known as the hill of the wee folk, Mark meets those who live nearby and finds out what the iconic hill means to them
Feb 21, 2024•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast Mark heads to Turriff to attend the 2024 opening of the River Deveron. He hears from Richie Miller of the Deveron District Salmon Fishery Board as well as John Beattie, who officially opens the salmon season. Rachel visits warden Jim Hughes who is celebrating 25 years in post at the Balgavies Loch nature reserve in Angus, to chat about the most memorable moment of his career. It has been 6 years since the community buy-out of the Isle of Ulva in the Inner Hebrides. In the first episode of her po...
Feb 17, 2024•1 hr 23 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
