Scotland Outdoors

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.

Mark Stephen meets long distance walker Claudia Zeiske in Peterhead after the completion of her 220 km walk from the Cairngorns to the coast of Aberdeenshire. Along the way she has been collecting stories of the effect COVID had on the communities she passed through. In her rucksack has been a bright pink tablecloth which she has embroidered messages on and invited those she has met to sign

Andrew O'Donnell is a natural history film maker but he's also a musician who records under the moniker of Beluga Lagoon. Maud Starts meets up Andrew on a river bank where they watch dippers and talk about his latest album

In January 2015, Margaret and Angus Mackenzie’s son Neil died in a climbing accident in Canada. Neil loved the outdoors, and to continue his memory, the couple set up a trust in his name to provide funding for those wanting to access outdoor pursuits. This year they’re undertaking a bit of a walking challenge as Mark found out when he went to meet them.Across the country, a growing number of citizen scientists are monitoring the state of our rivers. Rachel heads to the Clyde Valley to catch up with a ranger who is testing her stretch of the river for signs of pollution.In this week’s Scotland Outdoors podcast, Mark meets poet and artist Kenneth Steven who lives on Seil Island. Kenneth’s recent book, Atoms of Delight, focuses on the idea of pilgrimages in nature. He explained the concept to Mark.Rachel is in Aberdeenshire meeting the only commercial grower of Saskatoons - a type of super berry. Grower Charlie explains more about the fruit, which is common in Canada, and why he started growing them.The shortlist for this year’s Woodland Trust Tree of the Year competition has been unveiled, and there are three oaks from Scotland in the running. We chat to George Anderson from the Woodland Trust about the competition and get an update on the Loch Arkaig Ospreys.Inverness Castle is currently undergoing a major transformation to turn it into a tourist attraction. Mark visited the site and spoke to the project manager about what they’re doing and also heard about the restoration of the impressive rose window.Fifty years ago this year, the MV Captayannis, a Greek-registered ship carrying a cargo of sugar, foundered in a storm in the Firth of Clyde, between Greenock and Helensburgh. The ship was never salvaged and became a bit of local landmark. Paul English went on one of the sightseeing trips run by Clyde Charters to get up close with the sugar ship wreck.If you’ve been in Perthshire over the last few weeks, you may have noticed some rather striking Highland Coos. Thirty giant sculptures painted by artists have been dotted around the region as part of a new art trail. Rachel met one of the artists, Charlotte Brayley, and her colourful coo creation in Perth.

Mark Stephen visits Kenneth Steven at his home on Seil Island in Argyll