Halfway between Orkney and Shetland, Fair Isle is one of Britain’s most isolated inhabited islands. It's famous for knitting and birds, and those still form the basis of the island's economy, as Martha Kearney discovers.

As an inviting rock in the North Atlantic it’s a magnet for migratory birds, with exhausted individuals blown off course regularly adding to a long list of unusual species recorded by the local bird observatory. Martha joins the island’s Head of Ornithology, Alex Penn, to ring some visitors and sit for a while with Britain’s friendliest colonies of puffin.

French knitwear designer, Marie Brahat introduces Martha to her flock of sheep and gives her a lesson in turning their wool into the unique designs of Fair Isle knitwear. School teacher Jonathan Pye is the newest arrival on the island, currently dealing with a school roll of just two pupils - brothers Luca and Anders.

Producer: Alasdair Cross

Martha Kearney visits the Menai Strait - the stretch of water which separates Ynys Môn or Anglesey from mainland Wales. She learns about its treacherous tides and hears about the history of its two bridges, both built in the 19th century to improve travel between London and Ireland. The Menai Suspension Bridge was designed by Thomas Telford and will celebrate its 200th anniversary at the start of 2026. The newer Britannia Bridge had to be completely rebuilt after a disastrous fire in 1970.

Martha meets an academic from Bangor University who explains how ocean physics make the waters of the Strait so dangerous. At low tide she braves the pouring rain to go rock-pooling with a wildlife expert, who explains why the Strait is such a special habitat for marine life. She also visits Church Island - a tiny island in the middle of the Strait which is home to an ancient church - and meets the people who look after it.

Producer: Emma Campbell

Martha Kearney discovers the Ice Age ponds in Norfolk, called pingos, which are being brought back to life, and provide a home for the Northern Pool Frog. It's the UK's rarest amphibian and had become extinct in this country, but it's now breeding there again and Martha is keen to see one. With 400 pingos, Thompson Common is the most important site for pond wildlife in the country and also holds a precious store of seeds.

Norfolk Wildlife Trust:

Find out more about The Pingo Trail Walk:

Work supported by Natural England’s Species Recovery Programme.

Producer: Beth O'Dea

Caz Graham tries out Miles without Stiles, a scheme which helps disabled people access the Lake District. She joins a group of people in a fleet of mobility vehicles on a route from Sizergh Castle near Kendal, and visits the Keswick to Threlkeld path which was rebuilt after Storm Desmond but attracted controversy when it was surfaced with tarmac.

Produced for BBC Audio Bristol by Sally Heaven

Wicken Fen in Cambridgeshire is one of the few remaining fragments of England’s original fenland. A place loved by naturalists for generations, it was Victorian botanists and entomologists who led the efforts to ensure the land was entrusted to the National Trust, which has protected it for 125 years.

Today, Wicken Fen is a thriving mosaic of flowering meadows, sedge and reedbeds. It is one of the most species-rich areas in Britain, home to endangered species such as the crane, bittern, marsh harrier and great crested newt.

Martha Kearney explores the unique history and ecology of this remarkable landscape alongside sound artist Kathy Hinde. Together, they craft a handheld aeolian harp – a stringed instrument played solely by the wind. Kathy Hinde has created sound sculptures across Wicken Fen to celebrate 125 years of this special place, called 'Listen to the Voices of the Fen'.

Martha also meets local volunteer Gerard Smallwood, who demonstrates how the last surviving wooden windpump in the Fens, an iconic piece of machinery, is now used to re-wet the land. Ajay Tegala, a National Trust warden, shares recent wildlife sightings, offering a glimpse into the lives that flourish in this delicate ecosystem.

Producer: Eliza Lomas

Tucked in behind Dorset's famous Chesil Beach is a unique and beautiful place - the Fleet Lagoon. Martha Kearney explores a thousand year history of human guardianship of birds on the lagoon. On the way she gets a close-up view of little tern dating platforms on the Fleet itself, learns why the swans of the ancient Abbotsbury Swannery are much safer now and who they hate the most, and - of course - learns to build a nest.

Contributors include:

Angela Thomas - Assistant Warden, Chesil and Fleet Nature Reserve

With thanks to Dorset Wildlife Trust.

Presenter: Martha Kearney

Helen Mark visits the port of Bristol – finding out how it changed the local landscape, and how the landscape in turn shaped it. She learns how and why Bristol became a port city in the first place and finds out about the creation of the floating harbour in 1809. She uncovers a tale of mud, the enemy of shipping, which scuppered the port’s ability to take on larger ships, resulting eventually in its move down to the mouth of the river in 1873. Helen visits the historic Underfall boat yard, which was badly damaged in an arson attack two years ago, but is now gradually returning to its former glory. She finds out how the modern port has managed to carve out spaces for wildlife, learns how it still continues to change the landscape today, and hears about plans to build a “compensatory” nature reserve further down the coast.

Contributors include:

Tiggy Latcham - Bristol Ferry Company

The Fylde peninsula stands between Morecombe Bay, the Bowland Hills and the Irish Sea. Its position means that it's a very windy spot. Windmills have been a feature of the area for hundreds of years, built to grind grain and drain marshy areas in order to turn them into agricultural land. At one point there were over thirty-five windmills on the Fylde coast. Rendered obsolete by the arrival of new technologies – first steam, then electricity - only a few are still standing today. In this programme, Martha Kearney visits one of the last remaining windmills, Little Marton in Blackpool. Built in 1838, it inspired the author Charles Allen Clarke to write 'Windmill Land', documenting the windmills of rural Lancashire. Martha is shown around the mill by the author's grand-daughter, who explains its significance.

Martha travels inland to discover how some of the impacts of the previous generations' decisions about landscape management are being reversed. Where land was once drained, in some places it is now being "re-wetted". She visits Winmarleigh carbon farm where Lancashire Wildlife Trust is running a project to restore peatland which was damaged in the past by drainage, involving planting 150,000 plugs of sphagnum moss. She learns how that's done, and meets the scientist who's monitoring the effect this has on greenhouse gas emissions.

Back on the coast again at Lytham St Annes, Martha finds out about the role the wind has to play in 21st century activities in the area, where sports like kite-surfing and land-yachting are growing in popularity. She meets a man whose father set up the local land-yachting club, and who - now in his 80s - is still going strong in the sport.

Producer: Emma Campbell

Helen Mark hears the story of how the ancient Epping Forest was fought for, and saved by, the people of East London.

In the late 19th century, Epping Forest was threatened with enclosures. As elsewhere in Britain, local landowners were selling off common land for farming or building developments. But local people fought back. Beginning with a Loughton man, Thomas Willingale, who continued to assert his commoner rights to lop trees for firewood, the groundswell of protest later became thousands of working class East Enders gathering on Wanstead Flats - the area closest to the city of London.

The land of Epping Forest was eventually bought by the City of London Corporation, and with the Epping Forest Act of 1878, was forever saved from more enclosures. As Queen Victoria declared in 1882, "It gives me great satisfaction to dedicate this beautiful forest for the use and enjoyment of my people for all time”.

Part of the responsibility of the new conservators of the forest, the City of London, was to look after and protect the forest for both people and wildlife. Helen Mark hears from those who job it is to carry that out, including Senior Epping Forest Keeper Martin Whitfield and Head of Conservation Tanith Cook. She also speaks to local historian, Georgina Green - author of 'Keepers, Cockneys and Kitchen Maids: Memories of Epping Forest, 1900-25', a book about the forests' eventful past, who also talks about her own memories of the place. And finally Luke Turner, author of 'Out of The Woods', who lives on the forest border talks about the myriad ways humans and Epping Forest are entwined.

Produced by Eliza Lomas, BBC Audio Bristol.

Rose Ferraby visits Orkney to discover the rich history of a stretch of coastline on the small Island of Rousay. She joins archaeologists from the University of the Highlands and Islands as they travel through the rugged landscape and varied timescales of Rousay's coastline, from prehistory to clearances. They chart the legacy of ancient islanders and uncover stories hidden within the island's brochs, tombs, churches and farmsteads.

Producer: Ruth Sanderson