Nature Tripping

Jo and Cathy spend this episode with National Trust project officer and ecologist Steve Hindle on the slopes of Calderdale, in what looks like an ordinary field… but isn’t.  They discuss the fascinating lives of fungi and their vital but often overlooked role in the ecosystem, not only as decomposers or parasites, but also as symbiotic partners engaged in a range of very sophisticated relationships with plants.   Steve’s partner Sarah Flood scours the field for waxcaps, pinkgills, clubs, corals and earthtongues.  Each has their own ecological niche, and all are indicators of ‘ancient grassland’, a rare habitat which Calderdale, with its challenging farming conditions, has managed to hold on to.  Landowner Liz tells of the sometimes confusing journey her and her partner took to work out the best management options for the field, the steps they are taking to protect it, and of course, her new found passion for fungi! 

If you go up to Calderdale’s rough pasture and moorland during the spring and early summer you might encounter a variety of breeding birds – small ones like meadow pipits and skylarks and larger ones like oyster-catchers, golden plover, snipe and lapwings. There is perhaps none more distinctive though, both in its look and sound than the curlew – a large, elegant, brown wader with a very long curved beak and a strange, some say ghostly, bubbling song. Whilst numbers across Britain are going down and down, here in the South Pennines, we still experience their arrival every spring and seem to be holding on to our breeding curlew population. In this episode Cathy recounts her lifelong love for this iconic bird and discusses her British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) survey work, sharing insights on local population levels and how we might conserve them. We also visit a nearby beauty spot (the Bridestones) and speak to local expert Andrew Cockcroft about a community-led initiative to buy the 114-acre site and restore its peat bog and acid grassland ecosystems for the benefit of wading birds as well as other wildlife, and people.

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 immerse yourself in the elemental sounds of waves and wind, and experience a wide variety of birdlife.  We begin the episode with the faint cry of sea eagles high in the sky, then move back to the seashore, plunging down to listen to the underwater sounds of a limpet steadily munching its way across a rock, and the popping and crackling of a forest of sea kelp. Back on dry land and a little way inshore a fulmar colony prepares for the 2024 breeding season on a small cliff outcrop, in the close company of nearby starlings.  We also meet common gulls, oyster catchers and redshank going about daily life on the shore and as darkness falls pay a visit to a grassy shoreline field to hear the night-time activity of snipe and graylag geese, before finally returning to the waves.

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 swifts, swallows and sand martins, and how to tell them apart.

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 recently. Whether it’s tree planting, leaky dam construction, the introduction of ecosystem engineers (beavers), or just letting nature do its thing and embracing ‘scruffication’, the benefits for wildlife, the environment, the climate and people are compelling.

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 or new, to improve breathability (thus minimising unwanted condensation and mould), reduce heat-loss, and shield indoor spaces from increasing outside temperatures.  Barbara also tells the story of how the local college, condemned for demolition, was rescued by the community and is being transformed into a grassroots hub, sharing the skills and resources needed to take on the climate change challenge.

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 for these small, yellow-striped amphibians is precarious.  How exactly do Natterjack Toads live, and what are landowners and conservationists doing to ensure they keep croaking long into the night?

 With thanks also to Yvette Martin (ARC) and Darren Mason (National Trust).

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 are the winners and losers?  How should we assess the condition of an ecosystem that is changing so rapidly, and how do we go about making conservation management decisions in such an ecologically and culturally complex landscape?  Are processes of recovery - as well as collapse - in motion and if so, how can we promote these and ensure the future resilience of one of England’s most biodiverse places?

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 extent and size of the Peak District  population, how to go about seeing one, and what we can do to ensure their continued survival.

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 story book created by the children of Tiree.