Nature Tripping

It’s always a pleasure to hear from our listeners and on occasion people have asked for an episode dedicated purely to nature sounds. This is one such episode. It’s a compilation of ambient field recordings made around the coastline of the Hebridean island of Tiree. Slow radio indeed, and we recommend listening on headphones. This is an energetic and vibrant landscape. You can

A stone’s throw from the river in Hebden Bridge town centre Jill and Kathryn make a discovery under their eaves: House Martins have arrived. A summer of ups and downs follows and we track events over the year to learn more about the lives of these ‘epic’ little migrant birds, and how to love a ‘pile of poop’. We also find out more about Britain’s other Spring arrivals s

What does rewilding in the British Isles mean, how do you start it off, and what happens when you do? In this episode we visit the 3000 acre Broughton Hall estate in Yorkshire with Rewilding Britain’s Alastair Driver to see how nature is bouncing back. A wide range of interventions and actions are now underway on land that was conventionally farmed for sheep and crops until very

In an episode centred on climate change and community resilience, Jo and Cathy stay in their local town - Todmorden - to chat with Barbara Jones, a pioneer of natural building methods. Sustainable materials including clay, lime, wool, wood fibre and straw as well as stone and timber come into their own. We find out practical steps we can all take in our homes, whether they are old

In this episode we visit Gronant and Talacre dunes with Mandy Cartwright from the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust to investigate the only Welsh population of Natterjack Toads, re-introduced after the Second World War. The shallow pools (scrapes) and sandy burrows provide a perfect habitat, but development pressures, predation, human activity and climate change mean life fo

What does the future hold for the ancient trees of the New Forest? Join us inside the Forest, at Denny Wood, for an in-depth discussion with ecologist Adrian Newton and naturalist Lynn Davy. Long term ecological monitoring of the woodlands is revealing the rapid and dynamic transformation of much-loved habitats that have existed for thousands of years. Why is this happening? Who ar

Cathy and Jo join wildlife biologist and hare expert Carlos Bedson on location in the Dark Peak to find out more about the only mountain hares in England. Their ancestors arrived on a train from Scotland! 500 metres up on the moor looking out for ‘white fluffy blobs’ Carlos explains more about the likes and dislikes of this amazing creature, his long-term survey work to map the

Join Jo and Cathy for a Gaelic adventure to find out more about one of Britain’s rarest bumblebees – the Great Yellow Bumblebee (Bombus distinguendus). We meet ecologist Janet Bowler on the dunes to discover more about what one small island has done to keep its special bee buzzing. Charlotte Vale and Molly Knowles contribute readings in Gaelic from Beataidh Banrigh Super-Bee, a

“Come, summer visitant, attach to my reed roof your nest of clay”. In this episode Jo and Cathy look back to the Victorian era with poetry scholar Clara Dawson. Clara introduces us to poems by Charlotte Smith, William Wordsworth, Christina Rosetti, Edward Thomas and Thomas Hardy, and the interweaving of human and bird worlds. What is revealed about the poets’ relationships wi

This episode takes Cathy and Jo to Shropshire to explore a church graveyard. Harriet Carty, from the charity Caring for God’s Acre, explains all about these oases of species-rich grassland, and how to manage them. As well as meeting some of the plants and other creatures that make the graveyard their home - bats, rooks, butterflies, bees - they have a close encounter with an anci