Episode description

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 Curran about their growth over the last two decades and their recent attempts to rescue zoo animals from Ukraine.

2025 marks 20 years since the Scottish Outdoor Access Code came into force, and Mark is joined by journalist and broadcaster Lesley Riddoch to look at exactly how this has impacted Scotland’s relationship with the outdoors.

Rachel is on the banks of Loch Lomond visiting a project attempting to combat erosion on one of Scotland’s most popular hills. Conic Hill has undergone a £900,000 path restoration, and access officer Dave Robinson meets her to explain why such a project is so necessary.

Mark is at Dunnottar Castle, one of the locations featured in Lewis Grassic Gibbon’s novel Sunset Song. Speaking to Emily Cruickshank, Mark finds out the history of the castle and spots some of the wildlife that surrounds it.

Mark and Rachel are joined by a lifelong scholar of Lewis Grassic Gibbon’s work, Bill Malcolm, to find out more about the author’s background and the incredible impact he has made on Scottish literature, even 90 years on from his death.

It is the height of Snowdrop season, with many gardens across Scotland opening their gates for visitors to enjoy the carpet of white flowers. Mark visits Bruckhills Croft in Rothienorman and meets Helen Rushton, whose garden boasts nearly 600 different varieties of the plant.

Back at Five Sister’s Zoo, Rachel finds out about the important work the zoo does in partnership with the Beavers Trust, managing populations across Scotland.

Mark heads to Charlesfield Farm and meets Trevor and Lorna Jackson, the couple behind Border’s Bubbly, who are hoping to be the first sparkling wine producers in Scotland