Thrill Of The Hill

Before FAS, Farming for a Better Climate helped put practical climate action firmly on the agenda for Scottish agriculture. At its heart was a focus on practical change. The programme encouraged farmers and crofters to look at areas including energy and fuel use, renewable energy, soil carbon, fertiliser and manure management and livestock efficiency. Rather than approaching climate change as an i...

Organic farming in Scotland is entering a period of renewed growth. The latest Scottish Government statistics show that, in 2025, 168,200 hectares of Scottish agricultural land were either fully organic or undergoing conversion — an increase of 28% on 2024 and 62% since 2021. Of this, 115,800 hectares were fully organic, while 52,400 hectares were in conversion, around double the area recorded the...

Biodiversity auditing has become part of the Scottish Governments Whole Farm Plan and discussions around nature conservation are becoming commonplace around the farm table. In today’s episode Alex is joined by senior ecologist Dr Lorna Cole for a broad discussion on the state of Scotlands Nature and where biodiversity auditing fits into the bigger ambitions for nature restoration. Lorna also puts...

The beef industry in Scotland is resilient and adaptable, whether it’s changing markets and cost of production pressures, policy developments or the new entrant bottleneck. To help us navigate these topics and many more, today we are joined by Senior Beef Specialist Gavin Hill to discuss the outlook for the beef sector. This episode is brought to you by the Farm Advisory Service, presented by Alex...

Welcome to The Thrill of The Hill. Today we're talking about one of Scotland's most iconic groups of farmland birds – our waders. Species such as lapwing, curlew, redshank and snipe have long been part of the Scottish farming landscape. Their calls and displays are synonymous with springtime on farms and crofts across the country, yet many of these species have experienced significant declines ove...

Welcome to The Thrill of The Hill. This is the third and final episode in our series exploring beaver reintroduction in Scotland. Across the last two episodes, we’ve looked at the challenges, concerns, and practical realities beavers bring to land management. Today, we’re joined by farmer and rewilding advocate Tom Bowser from Lerrocks farm and we’ll be focusing on the other side of the story — th...

Thrill of the Hill is back for season 6! Armed with a new team, new ideas and a range of new speakers, Alex takes on the hot topics impacting the farmed upland environment. At Scotland's First Nature Friendly Farming Summit, Minister Jim Fairlie announced the return of the Agri-Environment Climate Scheme for a 2026 funding round and a commitment to continue the scheme through to 2030. This announc...

Thrill of the Hill is back for season 6! Armed with a new team, new ideas and a range of new speakers, Alex takes on the hot topics impacting the farmed upland environment. Reducing carbon emissions is becoming an increasingly important consideration for upland and hill farmers across Scotland. As climate targets, evolving support schemes and market expectations continue to shape the future of agr...

Thrill of the Hill is back for season 6! Armed with a new team, new ideas and a range of new speakers, Alex takes on the hot topics impacting the farmed upland environment. Cattle wintering is an unavoidable and hugely important aspect of livestock management in Scotland. Whether stock are housed in traditional courts or managed outdoors on forage crops, wintering systems sit at the heart of anima...

Thrill of the Hill is back for season 6! Armed with a new team, new ideas and a range of new speakers, Alex takes on the hot topics impacting the farmed upland environment.    Organic farming is woven through Scotland’s landscapes, from the rolling fields of Aberdeenshire to the upland pastures of Argyll. Rooted in principles of soil health, biodiversity and local resilience, organi...

Thrill of the Hill is back for season 6! Armed with a new team, new ideas and a range of new speakers, Alex takes on the hot topics impacting the farmed upland environment.  Bats are a defining—if often unseen—part of Scotland’s working landscapes. From the edges of upland pasture to lowland hedgerows, shelterbelts and farm ponds, these nocturnal insect-eaters weave through dusk and darkness,...

Thrill of the Hill is back for season 6! Armed with a new team, new ideas and a range of new speakers, Alex takes on the hot topics impacting the farmed upland environment.  The water environment is one of the defining features of the Scottish landscape, shaping both its character and its ecological richness. Rivers, lochs, wetlands and coastal waters weave through glens and straths, carving...

Thrill of the Hill is back for season 6! Armed with a new team, new ideas and a range of new speakers, Alex takes on the hot topics impacting the farmed upland environment.  Scotland’s upland farms and crofts are home to hardy cattle and sheep breeds, producing high-quality meat and supporting rural communities in some of our most challenging environments. Yet, feeding and nutrition in these...

Thrill of the Hill is back for season 6! Armed with a new team, new ideas and a range of new speakers, Alex takes on the hot topics impacting the farmed upland environment.  Often overlooked and easily mistaken for its more common relatives, the Northern Brown Argus butterfly is a small but significant species found in parts of Scotland. Closely tied to very specific habitats and entirely dep...

Thrill of the Hill is back for season 6! Armed with a new team, new ideas and a range of new speakers, Alex takes on the hot topics impacting the farmed upland environment. In this episode outreach adviser Charlie Owen from the Woodland Trust discusses the MOREwoods scheme set up by the Woodland Trust. The scheme is there to allow land owners to access partial funding and advice which may will lea...

Thrill of the Hill is back for season 6! Armed with a new team, new ideas and a range of new speakers, Alex takes on the hot topics impacting the farmed upland environment. Scotland has a vibrant and dynamic farming industry, merging traditional practices with new innovations, yet barriers and challenges to entering and exiting the industry remain. Established in 2019 in response to industry conce...

Thrill of the Hill returns for season 5, with an exciting line-up on new and returning guest speakers and specialists in their fields and on their hills. Venison, an underappreciated meat in Scotland? Despite the abundance of deer in Scotland, farmed and wild, venison has never been a staple of the Scottish diet, certainly not in the same way as beef or lamb. Scottish Government reports that the a...

Thrill of the Hill returns for season 5, with an exciting line-up on new and returning guest speakers and specialists in their fields and on their hills. We're all human, fragile and fallible, accidents can occur and mistakes can be made, people can be in danger, get hurt and when that happens, be in need of first aid. The National Farmers Union reports that despite accounting for only 1% of the w...

Thrill of the Hill returns for season 5, with an exciting line-up on new and returning guest speakers and specialists in their fields and on their hills. Technology is always progressing, and the same is true in the uplands. New innovations mean it has never been easier to collect, measure and interpret data for the benefit of farming, nature and climate change. In this episode, Environmental Cons...

Thrill of the Hill returns for season 5, with an exciting line-up on new and returning guest speakers and specialists in their fields and on their hills. Love them or hate them, geese are a recurring feature on farms across Scotland. Views differ on the benefits of having them, some see them as a pest species, others as a necessary component of a larger biodiversity network. In this episode we sit...

Thrill of the Hill returns for season 5, with an exciting line-up on new and returning guest speakers and specialists in their fields and on their hills.  As climate change, biodiversity decline and food security continue to build in our collective consciousnesses the drive to find a comprehensive solution intensifies. In this episode, Chris Clark from Nethergill Associates shares his opinion...

Thrill of the Hill returns for season 5, with an exciting line-up on new and returning guest speakers and specialists in their fields and on their hills. With COP26 in Glasgow well in the rearview mirror and 2030 on the horizon, serious, measurable change has to be made in the fight against climate change. With Scottish Climate Week coming up, in this podcast we hear from Senior Carbon & Susta...

Thrill of the Hill returns for season 5, with an exciting line-up on new and returning guest speakers and specialists in their fields and on their hills. Life as a cow is difficult and complicated, on the one hand there is a general acceptance that their non-selective grazing, trampling and dunging can contribute to diverse grassland swards, ideal habitat for ground-nesting birds etc. and promote...

Soil is a perennial topic, something that needs to be discussed on a recurring basis, and last time we did so was with Dr Bill Crooks some years ago now. In this episode, we hear from agricultural consultant and soil management enthusiast Lorna Galloway and talk all manner of things, from improving the uplands, raising soil pH, integrating clover, managing drainage and highlighting the support ava...

THRILL OF THE HILL | A Damming Conclusion: Part II with Davy McCracken Thrill of the Hill returns for season 5, with an exciting line-up on new and returning guest speakers and specialists in their fields and on their hills.  Beavers and their presence in Scotland continues to divide the agricultural community, for some they generate hope for a more nature-rich Scotland and more dynamic lands...