Books, Birds and Underwater Bugs

Helen heads to Inchgarth Reservoir on the outskirts of Aberdeen to meet Ian Broadbent, Local Bird Reporter for the North East, who tells her why recent bad weather in the USA has meant some new arrivals on our shores. He also tells her about the work that has been carried out at Inchgarth to improve the habitat for Snipe and Jack Snipe.

Earlier this week Rachel visited the Wigtown Book Festival. Established in 1999, the festival has gone from strength to strength and now offers a ten day programme featuring hundreds of events and activities for all ages, including music, theatre, food and visual arts.

Rachel chats to two women who have recently taken the plunge into writing books, endurance cyclist Jenny Graham and Helen Rebanks. Jenny tells her all about the different challenges writing brought compared to her round the world cycle. And Helen Rebanks explains how her and husband James manage their fell farm as well as a busy family life.

In our midweek podcast Mark chats to mountaineer and former planner Bob Reid. We hear an excerpt where he explains to Mark how National Scenic Areas came to be created and what they actually are.

Continuing our literary theme we chat live to Christina Riley, founder of the Nature Library. The pop up library tours the country and aims to connect people to the world around us.

Long before it was fashionable environmentalist Roger Deakin was at the forefront of wild swimming. Rachel hears about his fascinating life from author Patrick Barkham who has written a new biography of Roger.

Helen meets musician and composer Mhairi Hall at Loch Garten as she gathers sounds for the Underwater Cairngorm Project.

And Rachel explores a secret garden that has opened its doors as part of the Wigtown Book Festival.