Scotland Outdoors

It’s the time of year when we celebrate leaves as Autumn unfolds. Mark meets up with leaf expert Professor Jonathan Silverman who’s written a book about them called Nature’s Magicians. Did you know that way back when there were no leaves on trees at all? Rachel’s been to the Carse of Gowrie to find out about the ancient pear orchards of the area, and the attempt to bring back Scottish pear varieti...

Mark Stephen meets Professor Jonathan Silvertown whose book Nature Magicians is all about leaves and why they matter

Funding is being made available to improve core paths in Aberdeen over the next few years and Rachel joined Chris York from environmental consultancy Walking the Talk to find out what a core path actually is Mark visits a surf resort and he’s not had to go that far! He’s at Lost Shore in Newbridge just outside Edinburgh to find out what’s available at the inland resort which boast Europe’s largest...

Helen Needham meets up with writer Gabriella Bennett to discuss her book 'How to Build a City'. They meet in Glenrothes in Fife where Gabriella spent part of her childhood.

Up until now, access from the top station of the Cairngorm funicular railway onto the mountain was not allowed outside the winter snowsports season, unless visitors were accompanied by a guide. However, as Mark went to find out, a trial is underway to allow visitors carrying GPS handsets to explore an "approved zone" in the mountain's ski area. Mark hears how the system works. Rachel is on the New...

Rachel Stewart finds out about a major heritage project linked to the distinctive stone.

The Denburn car park in Aberdeen city centre is well known by locals, but not many people might be as familiar with what sits on top of it. Around the derelict health centre, a community group, Upper Denburn Gardens, is working to improve the site and use it to hold events. Laura Guthrie catches up with one of the volunteers, Joe, and hears about their plans. In this week’s Scotland Outdoors podca...

Horseback UK is a charity run by Jock Hutchison and his wife Emma bringing together horses and humans to overcome some of the stresses of everyday life

Mark visits the James Hutton Institute in Aberdeen where researchers are carrying out a project to restore, preserve and digitise irreplaceable soil and peat maps, aerial imagery, field notebooks and survey records collected since 1947. Mark hears why Hutton Unearthed: A New National Soils and Peat Map Archive is so important for the future of soil health. Stirling is busy this weekend as Radio 2...

Mark Stephen talks to former colleague Karen Miller about swapping her desk for wildlife.

Mark visits NatureScot’s Forvie National Nature Reserve in Aberdeenshire where little egrets have bred in north-east Scotland for the first time. They are a welcome addition to the reserve although as manager Catriona Reid tells him, climate change is thought to be the reason that these once Mediterranean birds have travelled further north. Rachel meets the fourth finalist in the environmental cat...

Helen Needham discusses The Book of Birds with illustrator and artist Jackie Morris

Mark catches up with another of the finalists in BBC Scotland’s Make a Difference Award environmental category. Midlothian Wildflowers started as a small group of people from the Bonnyrigg and Rosewell community carrying out some guerilla gardening. Julia Pennycuik from the group tells Mark how it grew from there and why it’s been nominated for the award. This weekend Grantown on Spey in the Cairn...

Mark Stephen climbs inside the Tay Road Bridge to mark its 60th Birthday

Mark visits Greenhead Moss Community Nature Park in Wishaw. The 100-hectare site contains many different habitats including ponds, wildflower meadows and woodlands. He takes a tour with countryside ranger Derek. Deveron Wildland is a newly established rewilding estate in Aberdeenshire. Rachel went for a visit to hear about what the plans are for the site as well as to try her hand at nature journa...

Helen Needham digs into the BBC Archive to share some audio gems from the past

Mark visits Glasgow’s Queen’s Park Glasshouse which was threatened with closure earlier this summer. He speaks to some of those involved in the campaign to secure its future which seems to have been successful. Rachel tries her hand at Nordic Walking which may look gentle but actually involves a full body workout! She went along to a group in Blair Atholl run by Eilidh Paterson who explained what’...

Mark Stephen meets naturalist and author Polly Pullar in the sheep shed of her farm in Perthshire. Polly's latest book In The Company of Sheep describes her fascination with them

Mark Stephen and Rachel Stewart with a special programme from the Scottish Crannog Centre

Helen Needham visits the spectacular seabird colony on a skiff

A few weeks ago, Mark went along to a conference at the James Hutton Institute in Aberdeen. Under the banner of Living Labs, the institute brought together folk living in rural or island communities, and Mark chatted to Phyl Meyer from Tiree and Euan Maclachlan from Assynt to find out what sort of challenges they face in everyday life. The island of Fetlar is known as The Garden of Shetland due it...

Mark Stephen takes a Land Rover tour of the Inner Hebridean island of Lismore to explore its history, wildlife and nature

In this week’s Scotland Outdoors podcast Mark meets author Cal Flyn, whose latest book is called The Savage Landscape – How we Made the Wilderness. We hear an excerpt of Cal explaining where her interest in exploring the meaning of wilderness came from. Rachel is on the North East coast on a seabird spotting safari run by the Aberdeen Countryside Ranger Service. The trips have become popular with...

Mark Stephen meets Cal Flyn, author of The Savage Landscape - How We Made The Wilderness in which she explores the meaning of wilderness in a journey into the forests, deserts and ocean floor

Mark is in Forres to meet up with naturalist and educator Dan Puplett. Dan’s been running bird language courses, helping people understand what birds are really saying and how to interpret their different calls. Ardersier Common has officially become the Highlands' newest Local Nature Reserve after more than two decades of conservation work. Home to the rare small blue butterfly and one of the UK'...