Go Wild

With a two metre wingspan, strong hooked beak and four inch talons, harpy eagles are one of the most powerful birds of prey in the world and have been known to attack people who get too close to their nests, so when wildlife cameraman John Aitchison agreed to spend a month on a tiny platform high up in rainforest canopy in Venezuela to try and film a young eagle chick hunting for the first time, it was with some trepidation at what might lie ahead.

John abseiled down from his platform each night to grab a meal and a few hours of sleep, but before dawn he climbed back up onto his tiny platform, just big enough for him and his camera. High up in the rainforest canopy, his neighbours included bellowing howler monkeys, flocks of squawking parrots and colourful butterflies as well as highly venomous snakes and stinging ants.

He also had to endure some torrential storms and powerful winds. But his perseverance was rewarded with stunning views across the forest, magical misty mornings, very close encounters with the harpy chick and a most unexpected meeting between the young eagle and a very brave sloth!

Produced by Sarah Blunt.

First broadcast on Wednesday 6 July, 2016.

Winner of this 2018's prestigious BBC/RGS dream journey award is Paralympian Karen Darke who rides along the length of Australia's Murray River on hand-cycle

Fresh from competing in the para-triathlon at this year's Commonwealth Games, Rio gold medallist Karen Darke heads for Australia's Snowy Mountains and the source of the 'Mighty' River Murray. On hand-cycle she takes a very personal journey down along its 2000 miles from source to sea.

She reflects on the challenges facing the river as it flows through a drought stricken landscape and she also sees the river as a metaphor for her own fragility- Karen is paralysed from the chest downwards - as she contemplates the end of her athletic career.

Burnt out by the pressure she's experienced in pushing herself to achieve, this cycle journey alongside the powerful and vulnerable Murray River makes her more aware than ever of her own vulnerability. Can something be learned from the river and it’s people about how to maintain the ability to flow and flourish whilst still delivering?

Produced by Neil McCarthy.

First broadcast on 12 October, 2018.

The reef break at Thurso on the rugged North Coast of Scotland is one of the best waves in Europe. Helen Mark meets Thurso's surfing community, from the pioneers who began surfing in the 1970s on empty waves, to the up-and-coming young surfers hoping to make Scotland's national squad this year.

Presented by Helen Mark.

First broadcast on 4 April, 2019.

A journey through the seasons in the company of an oak tree. Beginning in winter with the sounds of melting ice and a lone robin singing its plaintive melody, we travel through the seasons, noting not only the changes in the oak tree, but the wildlife which relies on the tree for food and shelter.

In spring the young leaves break free of their bud scales and the number of young caterpillars in the foliage can be so great that on a fine day their droppings or frass can sound like rain. By late spring, oaks support huge populations of insects and this in turn attracts more birds; Great Tits, Pied Flycatchers, Redstarts and Tree creepers.

In early summer, the wood warblers, whose song has been likened to a small coin spinning on a marble slab return and on warm summer nights the air is filled with the sound of oak bush crickets; which sing by drumming their hind leg against a leaf. They are accompanied by bats. Autumn arrives and with it the storms. Undeterred a storm cock continues to sing from its high perch. Jays are a common sight now collecting large numbers of acorns. Wood pigeons too gorge themselves on acorns whilst squirrels chase after one another up and down the Oak branches prior to mating. As the days shorten and winter approaches, another year in the life of the oak comes to an end, accompanied by roe deer and foxes calling in the darkness of the shortening days.

Produced by Sarah Blunt.

First broadcast on 31 May, 2016.

What looks a sponge, smells like a volcano and is found in rock pools?

Well, the answer can be found in A Guide to Coastal Wildlife, a series of programmes in which Brett Westwood joins naturalist Phil Gates on the coast of Northumberland and with the help of recordings by wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson, they offer a practical and entertaining guide to the wildlife which you’re most likely to see and hear in different coastal habitats. In this first of five episodes they start with probably everyone’s favourite childhood haunt, the rock pool.

These are home to shore crabs and hermit crabs, as well as sea anemones, breadcrumb sponges and sea squirts. We learn how sea squirts which appear to be little more than bags of fluid clinging to the rocks might be our evolutionary ancestors, we hear how a school teacher invented glass shells to study the reproduction and subsequently house-moving antics of hermit crabs, and discover how when it comes to building, it’s the breadcrumb sponges which have mastered the art with some clever self-assembly scaffolding tricks!

Produced by Sarah Blunt.

First broadcast on 28 March, 2016.

Guest presenter Ian Marchant meets people who live off-grid in his part of the world, near Presteigne in mid-Wales.

There's Bob, who started his off-grid life on the hippy trail in the sixties, driving over-land to Afghanistan and bringing back the first Afghan coats to the London fashion scene. Now he lives in a wood, still making jewellery and living in his van. For him, there's adventure in every aspect of his life, even the washing up, especially if you have to do it in 'horizontal snow'.

Goffee-the-Clown has built himself an idyllic cottage, but somehow he can't bring himself to move in. He prefers the simplicity of his pale blue retro caravan with its wood-burner and collection of spider-webs, idyllically situated on the bank of the River Usk.

There are the Hoopers, a family of four who run an efficient small-holding as carbon-lightly and self sufficiently as is possible. They did have a brief spell in a house, but despite the fascinations of the washing machine, they were delighted to be back living off-grid up a mountain.

And there's Briar, who has just moved in to her new home, a yurt she has built herself, snugly insulated with duvets and brightly-coloured rugs and fabrics. Everything she needs is to hand, and there's water from the spring nearby. Knowing she can rely on her own strength and skill to live anywhere makes her happy and gives her confidence. And the cost? This luxurious construction cost her roughly twenty quid to build.

Produced by Mary Ward-Lowery.

First broadcast on Thursday 27 October, 2016.

Maggie Aderin-Pocock has been fascinated by space since she was a young child. When she was six years old she caught the bug when she saw a picture of an astronaut on the front of a book in her primary school library. As a teenager she built her own telescope.

After studying physics and mechanical engineering, Maggie worked in industrial research before returning to her first love, astronomy, when she managed the building of an instrument on a giant telescope in Chile. Now, she spends her time presenting TV programmes, in particular the BBC’s Sky at Night, and inspiring the next generation of schoolchildren to become scientists. Maggie’s come a long way since her own childhood. Her parents separated when she was four years old, and their prolonged custody battle meant she attended 13 schools in as many years. In addition, she was diagnosed as dyslexic and put in remedial classes where she wasn't ever expected to achieve academically.

Produced by Anna Buckley.

First broadcast on Tuesday 4 December, 2018.

Clare Balding goes rambling, near Machynlleth, with the writer and environmentalist, George Monbiot. The theme of this series of Ramblings is 'In Search Of.' and, together, George and Clare are walking in search of wildness.

George's new book, 'Feral', is partly a personal story about his attempt to stave off the monochrome nature of modern-day life: "I could not continue just sitting and writing, looking after my daughter and my house, running merely to stay fit, watching the seasons cycling past without ever quite belonging to them. I was, I believed, ecologically bored".

In this walk, George explains how he has attempted to 'rewild' his own life and describes what he believes needs to be done in order to reintroduce true wildness to our countryside through the large-scale restoration of ecosystems. He says "researching it felt like stepping through the back of the wardrobe".

Using OS Explorer OL23 - Cadair Idris and Llyn Tegid - George takes Clare to his favourite place in mid-Wales, a rare stand of ancient native woodland, which stirs him to his very soul.

Produced by Karen Gregor.

First broadcast on Thursday 6 June, 2013.

Does being in nature aid our mental health? Isabel Hardman, Assistant Editor of The Spectator, discusses with Dr Alan Kellas, a psychiatrist who advises the Royal College of Psychiatry on the subject. Isabel struggled with depression, and found that developing an interest in plants and working outside has helped her to recover.

Meeting Alan in the woods, they talk of exercising outdoors, of watching the seasons turn, and of having regular places to visit that take us outside ourselves, allowing us to move beyond our own preoccupations. Alan reveals the ways in which he himself learned to resolve difficult things in a particular woodland setting.

Produced by Mark Smalley.

First broadcast on Tuesday 19 September, 2017.

As the sun continues to blaze Sheila Dillon looks at the ups and downs of Outdoor Cooking. Do you remember when only slightly unusual people went camping? Not any more. It's dead fashionable, thanks partly to music festival culture. It's also reasonably cheap - or can be - and of course the warmer summers help, along with all the new gadgets and toys you can buy for life under canvas. But what to eat? Are you an empty-the-whole-kitchen-into-the-car camper? Or an I'll-make-my-own-fire-or-die-in-the-process type? And is it lamb, barley and rosemary hotpot, or instant noodles all the way? We hear top tips from campers at the 7th Cornbury Music Festival. Meanwhile Simon Parkes visits the Amateur BBQ World Cup, and Sheila and food journalist Richard Johnson hang out in the back garden of Annie Bell, author of The Camping Cookbook, and marvel and drool as she produces gourmet dish after gourmet dish from her camping cooker. Jelly baby kebab anyone?

Produced by Sukey Firth.

First broadcast on Sunday 11 July, 2010.