Scotland Outdoors

Mark Stephen meets Tim Simons of the Scottish Rights of Way and Access Society

ScotWays (Scottish Rights of Way and Access Society) have published the sixth edition of Scottish Hill Tracks in around 100 years. The book launches on Saturday 28th September. Over the last five years hundreds of volunteers have helped to compile the book. Mark meets with ScotWays Director Tim Simons to discuss the book and its importance.The importance of seed saving is increasingly being recognised across the world as a way of establishing resilience in the natural environment. It is also the principle behind the tree nursery at Corrary Farm near Glenelg where there is a big push to expand native woodland cover in the area using trees grown from locally collected seed. Rachel went there recently and met Manager Rowan Doff who explained their approach.Last year, Mark visited Loch Katrine in the Trossachs to hear about an ambitious plan to build a look-out tower to give splendid views over the loch and hills beyond. The build was completed a couple of months ago and has already attracted many visitors to the site which back in the early 1800s was a regular stomping ground for Sir Walter Scott, William and Dorothy Wordsworth and John Keats. The project was co-ordinated by the Sir Walter Scott Steamship Trust and James Fraser from the Trust gave Mark a guided tour.The turntable ferry operating on Kyle Rhea between Glenelg and Skye is the very last of its kind still in operation in Scotland, and maybe even, the world. It’s now run as a social enterprise, and Rachel stepped aboard to hear all about it from General Manager, Jo Crawford.In the latest edition of Scotland Outdoors, Helen Needham joins Aberdeenshire based writer Ian Grosz on the walk described in his essay Sacred Mountain; a dawn walk up Bennachie at the time of the Autumn equinox.The national Tegelwippen (tile whipping) contest is underway in Netherlands, as cities compete to remove the most paving slabs to greenify gardens and rewild urban spaces. This year marks the fourth annual contest, and Remco Moen Marcar, co-founder of the creative agency Frank Lee, who is behind the contest, joins Mark and Rachel live to tell us more.In recent years – since their re-introduction – white tailed sea eagles have been on many people’s ‘must see’ list. One of the finest places to spot them is around Glenelg in the West Highlands. They are regularly seen near Kylerhea which is a real magnet for all sorts of wildlife. Rachel meets Cammy McMurdo, who explains why so many creatures are attracted to the place.A listener got in touch last week about how much they enjoyed an archive piece from Mark’s trip along the West Highland Way. We hear a snippet from this special trip.

A weaving of Ian's essay 'The Sacred Mountain' with a walk up Aberdeenshire's most prominent hill, Bennachie. As we pass through the Autumn Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere, we offer an invitation to reflect on the changing of the seasons by visiting a special place.

With many parts of Scotland finally getting harvest underway, and planting for 2025 harvest being undertaken, NFU Scotland is asking growers to now complete its 31st consecutive annual harvest survey. Mark meets with Scott Campbell, North East representative on the NFUS Crops Committee, to chat about how the harvest has been so far and what the implications are further down the line.Helen Needham meets Gretchen Daily of the Natural Capital Project at Stanford University.A special festival gets underway this weekend in the north east giving people the chance to go “behind the scenes” with a number of food and drink producers. One of the businesses taking part is the Tullynessle Deer Farm near Alford which is offering guided tours to visitors. Rachel speaks to Janet and Willie Keith say it’s a challenging time for the farmed deer industry in Scotland which is why they want more people to at least consider giving venison a try.Mark meets with Harold Hastie at the harbour in Port Ellen to discuss the many shipwrecks around Islay’s coastline.Over the past couple of years, Mark has been following the story of the Ash Rise project, a collaborative project between the Scottish Furniture Makers Association, Scottish Forestry and the Association of Scottish Hardwood Sawmillers to highlight the effect of ash dieback on Scotland. It has now reached the point where the diseased trees Mark witnessed being felled in 2022 have been turned into an array of exquisite objects as part of an exhibition at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh. He went along to have a look and met up with Tom Addy, Furniture Maker and Director of Ash Rise who pointed out a rather wonderful creation.Recently, Rachel visited the Tarland Bee Group in Aberdeenshire to hear what the season has been like for them and to find out a bit more about how they entice younger people to take an interest. After getting kitted out in a bee suit, she joined Yvonne Davidson and her young helper Imogen as they prepared to smoke the bees prior to entering the hives.The new ImMerse festival takes place on the 22nd of September at Annan Harbour and in the surrounding merse (saltmarshes) and river. It will be a fun-filled chance to discover and celebrate the amazing saltmarshes – and the wider natural environment – across the south of Scotland focusing particularly on the Solway. Jan Hogarth from SCAMP (Solway Coastal and Marine Project) joins Mark and Rachel live to tell us more about the festival and how listeners can get involved.

Helen Needham meets Gretchen Daily of the Natural Capital Project at Stanford University

Phil Sime visits an RSPB reserve on North Uist where local crofters work alongside the charity to improve the habitat for birds including corncrake and Golden Eagle.Rachel is in Milton near Invergordon hearing about a rather impressive beech tree that has an important place in local history. She hears about efforts of the community woodland to help preserve it for future generations.The Forth Bridge is a railway bridge and a UNESCO world heritage site, and it never fails to impress Mark when he’s travelling down to Edinburgh. This week, he stopped to record and wonder at this engineering marvel.Botanist Dr Sally Gouldstone spent her career passionately caring about nature. An epiphany in a supermarket aisle one day led her to develop her own skincare products made entirely from ingredients she grows in her wildflower meadow just outside Edinburgh. Rachel went to visit her and hear more about Sally and how her business has grown along with the meadow.Last year, musician and sound artist Jenny Sturgeon completed the 864km Scottish National Trail from Kirk Yetholm in the Borders to Cape Wrath in the North West Highlands. She recorded the sounds of her journey over 37 days, and you can hear them in the latest Scotland Outdoors podcast. We hear an excerpt of a rather noisy section of her route.Mark is in Newburgh in Aberdeenshire, where a new section of boardwalk has recently opened improving the accessibility to the beach for all users.And we chat live to Ben Dolphin, a ranger with the National Trust at Mar Lodge, about this year’s midge numbers - there seems to have been a lot of them! And the signs of the changing seasons on Deeside, including the first dusting of snow.

In 2023, Musician and Sound Artist Jenny Sturgeon spent 37 days walking the 864 km trail from Kirk Yetholm in the Borders to Cape Wrath in the North West Highlands. Along the way, she recorded sounds and wrote about her journey which have been mixed together for this podcast to produce an immersive and inspiring piece.

There was much celebration in Caithness a few weeks ago when it was announced that, after decades of planning and preparation, The Flow Country has been awarded UNESCO World Heritage Status. It’s the first in Scotland to be granted this status on purely natural criteria and is also the only peatbog in the world with World Heritage status. At one time, scything would have been common practice in Scotland, for making hay or harvesting crops. But, with the advent of machinery, land managers were no longer reliant in this ancient bit of kit. But it would appear that this traditional practice is undergoing a bit of a revival, not least for conservation purposes where a low impact approach to the land is being encouraged. Last week, Crown Estate Scotland organised an event offering people the chance to have a go at a wildflower meadow in Tomintoul. Alarming news this week that five more seabirds have been added to the red list which puts them at greater risk of extinction. The state of the oceans is behind a lot of this, and this is being recognised by one group of very active young people in Ullapool who are doing their bit to improve the marine environment. They are the Ullapool Sea Savers. Back in October Mark visited the Huntly TOADS after school club as they were about to embark on a project to build a garden shelter out of traditional materials. Mark visited a session recently involving water, mud, straw and a paddling pool. This week’s callout is about the World Stovies Championships at the annual Huntly Hairst Festival.We hear an extract from the Scotland Outdoors podcast as Helen Needham discusses the republishing of pioneering climber Dorothy Pilley’s book ‘Climbing Days’ with her great great nephew Dan Richards.Rachel has a mindful moment at the Falls of Clyde.

Dorothy Pilley was a pioneering climber who wrote of her adventures in the high peaks in her book 'Climbing Days' which was published in 1935. Thanks to the efforts of her great great nephew, Dan Richards, it has been republished. It contains vivid descriptions of her adventures around the globe and is testament to her personal strength and bravery as a woman breaking new ground in this domain.

It's time for the second Big River Watch of the year. It’s a chance to spend time observing the health of your local river between the 6th and 12th of September. The River Dee trust are taking part in the forthcoming survey and Keilidh Ewan, education and outreach officer for the trust gave Mark some more information.A new trial is underway in Scotland which could cut the harmful emissions associated with manure on farms. Two farmers are trying out a system called Bokashi which the Soil Association hopes may lead to improvements in the soil while also being a little kinder to the environment. Rachel spoke to farmer Andrew Barbour at Glen Fincastle and Field Lab Co-ordinator Audrey Litterick who explained what this process actually involves.Producer Phil met up with Ada Campbell, chair of Langass Community Woodland Trust to have a walk round one of the few forested areas on north Uist and hear the story of Hercules the bear.Rachel recently bumped into an artist in Aberdeenshire who was on her way to a farm to collect a fleece for one of her new collections. Lucy MacDonald who is also a weaver likes to use local materials including wool and plants to make her work sustainable, traceable and authentic. Rachel joined her as she visited Diana Milligan and Cobweb – one of Diana’s rather interesting looking Ryeland Sheep.The Isle of Rum has been designated as Scotland’s first International Dark Sky Sanctuary by DarkSky International. The designation recognises the efforts of the community to protect and promote the island’s starry skies and nocturnal environment. Isle of Rum Community Trust Director Fliss Fraser joins Mark and Rachel live to tell them more about Rum’s dark skies and the benefits the nocturnal environment brings to us and to the natural world.The forest trails near Aberfoyle in the Trossachs have become increasingly popular in recent years for mountain bikers and gravel riders keen to get away from busy roads. The waymarked trails, in the shadow of Ben Lomond, have been named Gravelfoyle. Now, in a bid to attract more people to them a pilot called Parkride has been taking place; a bit like Parkrun but replacing running with biking. Alongside it parents can drop off their kids at ‘Bairns On Bikes’ where professional coaches teach youngsters basic and more advanced bike skills. Linda Sinclair went along to find out more.Claudia Zeiske is a long distance walker and she has been walking from mountain to sea across Aberdeenshire. Mark met up with Claudia at the end of her journey at a place called Gadle Braes in Peterhead in what was a very blustery day to find out why exactly she had undertaken the walk Lucy MacDonald's an artist who uses local fleeces and plants in her work. After she’s sorted through the fleece and given it a wash, she will put it through a carding machine before spinning it and weaving it. Rachel watched her in action at her studio in Aberdeen.