Scotland Outdoors

Tennants of Elgin is a family quarrying business that has been operating out of the North East of Scotland for fifty years. They have had numerous impressive contracts across Europe, but have recently begun some work that’s a little closer to home – providing the granite for Aberdeen’s Union Street works. Mark went along to meet with Director Gavin Tennant, and find out more about the quarrying pr...

Mark Stephen visits the poetry path at Corbenic with its founder Jon Plunkett

The Elsick Mounth is an ancient trackway, linking the River Dee to the Mearns, and is one of the routes featured in the new Scotsways guide on hill tracks. Mark and Rachel both met up with Colin Young, a Scotsways volunteer, who guided them along part of the route to point out some of the important historical and archaeological sites that can be seen from the track. Scotland’s peatlands are an ico...

Lorraine McCall from the Highlands has overcome cancer three times in recent years. She has previously climbed all of Scotland's 221 Corbetts and 282 Munros.

The Scottish Crannog Centre on the banks of Loch Tay is a bustling model Iron Age village, filled with various craftspeople to demonstrate ancient crafts and technologies. Mark went along to find out how the site has grown over the past few years, and how the construction of the crannog over the water is coming along. Jenny Graham follows the Postie’s Path – a route once taken by “Big John MacKenz...

Helen Needham meets with bird recorder Ian Broadbent to capture the April dawn chorus

Potato Enthusiast Bob Donald talks to Rachel about a community growing project in Aberdeen which has led to libraries in the north east handing out seeds and seed tatties. Mark speaks with volunteers from a walking group in Govan, who share their personal experiences with homelessness and social hardship. They’re now involved in an innovative project that aims to turn them into city tour guides. A...

Kerri Andrews is the author of Pathfinding - On Walking, Motherhood and Freedom. She describes her own traumatic experience with pregnancy, birth and motherhood and draws on examples of other female writers and their experiences over the centuries. She also discusses the history of women and walking and her desire for a more communal child rearing experience in the UK.

Lambhill, in the North of Glasgow, is home to a thriving community hub, built out of an old stable block on the edge of the Forth and Clyde canal. Mark went along to visit their community garden, and find out more about what goes on there. Rachel is on the banks of Loch Lomond to find out about the issues of litter along the busy stretch of the A82, and what the local people have been doing to tac...

A shortage of volunteers means some clubs have struggled to restart following the Covid pandemic in 2020. Campaigners say more needs to be done to raise awareness of the issue.

The Cairngorm Funicular Railway is back up and running after some extensive structural works. Mark took a trip up to the snow-covered peak with the Interim Chief Executive Officer of Cairngorm Mountain Scotland Limited, Tim Hurst, to find out what impact the funicular has for the mountain resort. Farmers and land managers are working together in Moray to investigate how they can tackle environment...

Mark Stephen visits Duke Christie at his studio in Moray

Many landowners across Scotland are engaging with large scale restoration projects. One such project, spanning 80 thousand acres, is Wildland, in the Scottish Highlands. They have a 200 year vision to help the land heal, grow and thrive, and Rachel is there to find out more about the project, and perhaps even spot some of birds of prey who are thriving in this landscape. HippFest, a silent film an...

The actors have become regular wild swimmers in recent years. In their latest BBC Scotland TV series, they visit some of Scotland's islands and try out a whole host of different dipping spots in remote and rugged locations.

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 an...

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

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...

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 t...

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...

Helen Needham meets seed librarian Rowan Lear

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 b...

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.

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 ca...

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.

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 d...