The North Channel is the stretch of water which lies between Scotland and Northern Ireland. At its narrowest, it's just 13 miles wide. In this programme, Helen Mark explores the stories surrounding the journeys which are made from one side to the other. She meets one of the crew working on the passenger ferries which plough back and forth and learns what life is like for those whose working lives centre around this journey. She hears about the sad story of the Princess Victoria - a ferry which sank making the crossing in 1953, with the loss of more than 130 lives. There have been suggestions for a fixed crossing, either a bridge or a tunnel, for more than a century - an idea recently revived by Boris Johnson. Helen asks an architect whether it could ever really happen. She also meets a woman preparing to try and make the crossing under her own steam, by swimming between the two coasts - braving the cold, the currents and the jellyfish. Helen reflects on her own personal relationship with the North Channel - having been born on one side, but lived most of her life on the other - and asks whether this narrow strip of sea serves to connect or divide the people on either side. Produced by Emma Campbell.

North Channel

Countryside magazine featuring the people and wildlife that shape the landscape of the British Isles

Science

Martha Kearney is in Cambridge to explore wildlife at night. She takes an evening trip on a punt to see and hear the creatures which come out after the tourists have gone to home bed. She learns about the bats which at this time of year are just emerging from hibernation - hungry and on the hunt for insects. They swoop low over the waters of the Cam, their echo-location picked up and relayed for human ears by the clicking of a bat detector. A bat enthusiast from the Wildlife Trust tells Martha about bats' habits and identifies the species flitting through the trees around them. Punts have not always been used in this benign way around wildlife. At the Museum of Cambridge, Martha is shown a punt gun - a huge weapon which was widely used in the 19th and early 20th century. It would have been mounted on a punt, with the huntsman paddling into a flock of wildfowl in order to shoot them in large numbers for food. Martha also visits Cambridge University Botanic Garden, where a long-running moth research project is in progress. She watches as a moth trap is set out in the evening, and then returns early the next morning as a team of volunteers checks which moths have turned up in the trap, before releasing them back into the wild. She learns about the importance of these nocturnal species, and asks why night-time creatures like bats and moths always seem to get such a bad press. Produced by Emma Campbell

Bats on Punts

Martha Kearney explores the shifting sands of Gibraltar Point on the Lincolnshire coast, to witness the effects of beach erosion on both birds and people. At Gibraltar Point National Nature Reserve, wardens go to extraordinary lengths to protect shore-nesting birds from habitat loss caused by beach erosion.  They build wooden platforms for the nests of little terns and cages to protect the nests of ringed plover, as well as mounting overnight patrols to keep predators away.  In 2023 they tried the platform technique with oystercatchers for the first time, meticulously moving the nests in stages so as not to spook the birds.  The shingle where these striking birds prefer to nest is threatened with inundation from high tides, as well as from foxes, sparrowhawks and curious humans with dogs.  The birds raised a successful brood and now the wardens are preparing for another season, hoping for more fledgling oystercatchers. Reserve wardens aren't the only people to take extraordinary measures to deal with beach erosion.  The sand on Lincolnshire's beaches has to be replenished every year to protect the coastal population from flooding.  Like sandcastles on an enormous scale, 400,000 cubic metres of sand are pumped onto the beaches from offshore dredgers and a sand profile created, in what's known as 'beach nourishment'.  It's become a tourist attraction in its own right.  The sand works its way a few miles down the coast to Gibraltar Point with the tides, literally shoring up the sea defences.  And then there are the inland pumping stations at every seaside town, which 'evacuate' water from low-lying areas, of which there are many in Lincolnshire: one third of the county is below sea level. Without them, this landscape would be marshland.  Martha compares the historic diesel pumps (made in Lincoln) with the automated electric pumps (from Holland). Producer: Mary Ward-Lowery

Gibraltar Point

Helen Mark is in Dorset to investigate the county's ancient sunken roads, known as holloways.  They're deep, steep-sided tracks formed when soft rock erodes and are often overtopped by a canopy of trees.   The erosion over centuries creates remarkable, often otherworldly spaces, that come with their own unique flora and fauna.   On her trip to the Symondsbury estate near Bridport Helen hears about how the cave spider and goblin's gold moss can thrive in the cracks of these unlikely rockfaces.  She is joined by Andy Jefferies and Rosie Cummings from Natural England who are behind a project to map Britain's extensive network of holloways.  The holloways often come with their own folklore too.   Local storyteller Martin Maudsley recounts the legend of the Dorset colpexie - mischievous sprites that can taunt the unwary traveller! Producer: Robin Markwell
Presenter: Helen Mark

Mapping Britain's Holloways

Jude Piesse moved to Shrewsbury in Shropshire when her job changed, but it was only when she went for a walk alongside the river near her new house that she discovered she was living beside what had once been the garden where Charles Darwin spent his childhood. Much of the original 7 acres of the garden has been built on, but the original house, The Mount, still exists. It has been used as offices for many decades and has only recently been bought and is being renovated with a view to opening it up to the public with a museum and café.  Whilst some local people know about the existence of the house and garden, most people associate Charles Darwin with Down House in Kent where he brought up his own family. Inspired by her discovery, Jude researched the story of the house and garden, learning about the women and the gardeners who were also a part of Darwin's upbrigning.   What becomes clear in this revealing journey is the enormous influence the garden had on a young boy in inspiring his curiosity and fascination with the natural world, which ultimately led to the publication of The Origin of Species.   Featuring Bibbs Cameron, researcher at Shrewsbury Civic Society; John Hughes, Darwin House Museum Project Manager and Dr Cath Price, Engagement Officer at Shropshire Wildlife Trust.  Producers: Eliza Lomas and Sarah Blunt. For BBC Audio in Bristol.

Darwin's Childhood Garden

Martha Kearney hears stories of recovery from the Firth of Forth. First, she takes to the water with guide Maggie Sheddan and skipper John McCarter to explore the iconic Bass Rock, a volcanic island just beyond the shores of North Berwick in East Lothian. A decade ago, Bass Rock became the world’s largest colony of Northern gannets, home to over 75,000 breeding sites. Then, in 2022, Avian Flu hit the colony at the height of the breeding season. By 2023, the total population was estimated at just under 52,000 breeding sites, a decrease of over 30% from the count in 2014. But now, at the beginning of a new breeding season, hope is in the air as the gannets return to the rock.  Meanwhile, back on dry land, another story of recovery unfolds. Over the winter months, North Berwick was hit by huge storms. Four-metre waves, in combination with spring tides, left behind a huge hole in the harbour wall. Martha speaks to Andrew Duns from the North Berwick Harbour Trust and harbour master Ricky Martin about the repairs that are now underway. The storms also shifted the sand dunes on the beaches around North Berwick. Emma Marriott, Conservation Assistant at the Scottish Seabird Centre, tells Martha about the post-storm beach cleans which unearthed ancient litter from the 1960s.  Presented by Martha Kearney 
Produced by Becky Ripley

North Channel

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