Embrace the Darkness

This season, join Elinor to explore and encounter some of our fabulous nocturnal wildlife . For this episode, she joins David Atthowe , Founder of Reveal Nature , whose mission is to "is to ignite a sense of awe and wonder for the mysteries of the natural world." David spends a lot of time out in the darkness, and one of the things he is an expert in is biofluorescence , or the glowing o...

This season, join Elinor to explore and encounter some of our fabulous nocturnal wildlife . For this episode, she joins Olivia French , Heathlands Reunited SAMM Project Team Leader, in the north of the South Downs National Park at Weavers Down, seeking out the amazing and elusive European nightjar . Sitting on the side of a hill as the sun sets, waiting for the nightjars to make themselves known,...

Join Elinor for a magical night under the stars as she explores the breathtaking dark skies of Bignor Hill , a designated dark sky discovery site.   Elinor is joined by Vicki Wells , a member of the South Downs National Park Authority and a former producer of BBC Sky at Night , for a fascinating conversation about astronomy, dark sky conservation, and the beauty of stargazing. As the sun sets, the...

In this week's episode, we teamed up with Francesca Turauskis and Katie Stokes from the Tremula Network - an award-winning, audio-first podcast company dedicated to unheard stories of adventure, nature and the outdoors. This week's episode was recorded live at the Brighton Seafront Star Party on 22 February - the final event of the 2025 South Downs Dark Skies Festival.  With Elinor havin...

In this week's episode, Elinor chats to Dr. Christopher Barnes, a chartered psychologist conducting and supervising doctoral research in the areas of parenting, child development and nature connection. Following his own 'dark skies epiphany', Dr. Barnes began combining his academic research on child development and nature connectiveness with connectiveness to the night sky.  Togethe...

On this week's episode, Elinor is joined by Mark Westmoquette , astrophysicist,  Zen yoga teacher, author and 'mindful stargazer.' Knowledgeable and insightful, Mark shares with Elinor his journey from focusing purely on the science of the cosmos, to embracing the deeper relationship people can have with the universe and their place within it.  The conversation spans from Mark'...

In this episode Elinor takes a night time stroll across Iping Common with South Downs Health and Wellbeing Officer, Kate Drake.  A Dark Sky Discovery Site, Iping Common is not only one of the best places to view the night sky, it is also a great location to connect with wildlife and nature, especially nocturnal critters.  On this walk, Kate and Elinor chat about their experiences of spending night...

In this episode Elinor is joined by 'Dark Skies' Dan Oakley, founder of Darkscape Consulting and chair of the International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) Places committee. Hugely knowledgeable and with an incredible passion for dark skies, Dan was instrumental in the South Downs National Park achieving International Dark Skies Reserve status in 2016.  On this 'talk and walk' of Qu...

Dark skies aren't just for stargazing, you know? It's also a habitat, an environment, a place for us to escape to with our thoughts or to let go of thoughts entirely. In this new podcast series from the South Downs National Park Authority , Einor Newman - "Queen of Darkness" and organiser of the National Park's annual Dark Skies Festival - chats to a number of different gu...