Scotland Outdoors

Rachel tries her hand at angling with the Dee Damsels. The group was set up by Tara Spiers to support women who were keen to learn more about fly fishing.Mark returns to the Greenmyres Eco Bothy run by the Huntly Development Trust. He gets an update on the work they’ve done on the site so far including walking and cycling trails plus hears about their plans for the future.Stretching nearly 80 miles from Fort William to Inverness, the Great Glen Way is one of Scotland’s most popular walking routes. However, part of the route is currently closed due to forestry operations as producer Phil Sime found out.We chat live to forecaster Judith Ralston about a new BBC Scotland documentary- Scotland's Weather- Our Changing Seasons.Poaching is seen by some as a victimless crime but as Rachel finds out, that is far from the case. She meets Police Wildlife Crime Liaison Officer for the North East, Hannah Corbett who explains the issues caused by poachers. And she also chats to two of the people who look after the River Findhorn, known as Bailiffs, about the type of people they catch poaching and the impact it can have on fish stocks.Helen Needham meets up with one of the Paperboats collective, Environmental Scientist and writer Sandy Winterbottom. The group are made up of Scotland based writers, artists and activists focussed on nature and environment and they are preparing to campaign outside the Scottish Parliament with a flotilla of paperboats.Mark is in Birnam as the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s first folio is celebrated. He chats to Dr Toria Johnson from Birmingham University about the true connections between Macbeth and the Birnam Oak.And Mark visits a community garden in Huntly where Deveron Projects have brought together artist Susie Dalton and the Huntly TOADS outdoor education group to build a shelter for the garden.

Rachel Stewart meets some of those trying to encourage more women to take up angling on the River Dee in Aberdeenshire.

On this week’s Scotland Outdoors podcast Mark finds out about a project called Light is a Right – How to Winter Well. Glasgow University researchers have been looking into different things that might help us cope with the long, dark winter days. They explain to Mark what’s been involved in their research.Rachel is in Ayrshire meeting the Wednesday Weekday Volunteers who are always happy to roll their sleeves up and get to work at the Gailes Marsh Nature Reserve near Irvine.Wildlife photographer John Speirs shows Mark that you don’t have to venture far away from the busy streets of Oban to spot some interesting bird and wildlife.Kayaker Nick Ray hit the headlines earlier this year when he completed his yearlong paddle around the coast of Scotland. Nick’s appeared on Out of Doors quite a few times in the past to tell us about his kayaking adventures as well as his struggles with his mental health. Mark caught up with him on Mull, where he lives, to find out what he’s been up to since he finished his challenge and what’s on the cards for the future.A few weeks ago, a team of volunteers, including staff from the British Trust for Ornithology, headed up Schiehallion under the cover of darkness to try and ring ptarmigan. We’re joined live by Anthony Wetherhill who was part of the team to tell us more about these elusive birds.In 2021, Alex Moran and Mike Coppock completed the first ever non-stop Island Munros Triathlon. Rachel met up with Alex to find out what was involved in the challenge and how long it took them to complete.Rachels meets the Wobbly Cyclist, Karen Cox, who has been able to once again enjoy cycling after getting an e-bike. She tells Rachel about the importance of e-bikes in making the outdoors accessible to those with mobility issues.And following on from the recent storms, Mark heads to the coast to investigate the strange phenomenon of sea foam.

Academics discuss Seasonal Affective Disorder and ways to improve winter depression. Personal experiences in navigating winter's impact on mental health. Observations and experiences in a workshop. Coping strategies for the winter season. Exploring ideas for architecture adapted to the weather.

Mark visits Deeside Willow to hear all about how to grow this versatile plant and its many uses. He also tries his hand at some willow sculpting.The Future Forest Company has transformed a former sheep farm in Ayrshire with the help of some rather interesting pigs. Rachel went to visit the Brodoclea site to hear about the organisation’s aims and what role their Mangalica pigs have played.Dr Kat Jones is director of the charity Action to Protect Rural Scotland. For the last few months she’s been walking the Glasgow Greenbelt to raise awareness of these often forgotten areas. Mark joined her for a wander along part of the greenbelt near Airdrie.Phil is in Cromarty to see the impact Storm Babet has had on a popular coastal path in the village. He hears how the community council plan to repair and future proof the route.Helen Needham meets Professor Roger Crofts at a climate conference at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen. They chat about the much anticipated Agriculture and Rural Communities Bill which is being considered by the Scottish Parliament just nowJoining Mark and Dr Kat Jones on their greenbelt walk was Ann Glen who tells Mark a bit about the history of the Monkland Canal and the importance of looking after these areas.And Rachel is in North Berwick where she hears the tragic story of a young artist, Catherine Watson who drowned after rescuing three children from the sea. Her story was almost forgotten until some of her artwork popped up in an unusual place.

Mark hears about how Atlantic salmon will soon be able to access parts of the River Dee for the first time in a century following the removal of Garlogie Dam.Linda visits the Clyde Valley to hear about how a group of enthusiasts are reviving the orchards that once dominated the area.Rachel heads into the hills of the Inshriach National Nature Reserve in the Cairngorms to hear about a major new study which has recently been published looking at the relationship between controlling deer numbers and woodland restoration.Mark hears about the fascinating history of the oldest beam engine in Scotland that was once responsible for powering Garlogie Mill.Producer Phil goes pumpkin picking in the Highlands to hear about how climate change has affected this year’s harvest.We chat live to Vivian Bisset, a National Trust for Scotland Ranger about post-storm clean up and the impact that Storm Babet has had on nature in the North East.Rachel hears all about a Pictish-inspired Millennial stone in Fife.Linda climbs aboard the world’s largest seagoing paddle steamer, The Waverley, to hear about how this summer has seen record breaking passenger numbers in its almost 50 years of sailing.

Rachel Stewart presents Scotland Outdoors

Helen visits a mobile laboratory in St Andrews as it travels around various European coastlines to explore coastal habitats and collect samples from the soil, water and air to assess things like pollution.Mark chats to John Fletcher, the first person to set up a commercial deer farm in Scotland back in the 1970s. As well as being a farmer, John is a vet and an author and he tells Mark what it was that first interested him in red deer.Helen heads to Glen Dee to meet a group of archaeologists. For the past couple of years, Graham Warren, Professor of Archaeology at University College Dublin has spent a fortnight each summer carefully scraping away and sieving the soil in search of evidence of prehistoric hunter gatherers.There has been a Mill of Benholm in some form on the site in Aberdeenshire for hundreds of years. The current Mill was open to the public until 2014 and now a group has applied for a community asset transfer to take over the site from Aberdeenshire Council. Mark went for a visit to find out about the work they are doing and what their plans are for the future.We chat live to Linsay Chalmers from Community Land Scotland as they celebrate Community Land Week. There are now more than 700 projects and over half a million acres under community control in Scotland. We hear about some of the successes and events that are happening to mark them.Last year we heard from walking artist, Claudia Zeiske, as she travelled through Aberdeenshire collecting memories of the Covid lockdown and stitching them onto a pink tablecloth. A few weeks ago Maud Start caught up with her and a new tablecloth on a new journey called the Slow Coast 500.The Scottish Coastal Rowing Project was started in 2010, the idea behind it is for communities to build their own skiffs and get people out onto the water. There are now over 70 clubs across the county and Helen went to meet members of one of the newest based at Forfar Loch.

Helen Needham meets Graeme Warren and others during a dig in Glen Dee

Out of Doors celebrates 100 years of BBC Aberdeen. This week we have a special programme looking back at what life was like in rural communities in 1923, how people enjoyed the outdoors and the early forms of conservation.We’re joined by author and broadcaster Graham Stewart who tells us about the origins of broadcasting in Aberdeen.Paula Williams from the National Library of Scotland tells us about how people used the outdoors for recreation in the 1920s and the growth of mountaineering.Stuart Brooks, director of conservation and policy at the National Trust for Scotland explains the origins of the Trust and the conservation movement.And Dr Tom McKean from the Elphinstone Institute at Aberdeen University tells us about who was listening to the radio from across rural Scotland and the North East in particular, and what their lives were like.We also delve into the Aberdeen archives to get a flavour of what things sounded like in the 1930s and hear what conditions were like working in the early studios.Rachel visits the Highland Folk Museum to see what life was like in the 1920s bothy and how people lived and worked in a ‘farm toun’.And we hear from Professor Marjory Harper about the wave of emigration from the North East to places like Canada in the 1920s and the impact that made on rural communities.