By BBC Radio Scotland
A topical guide to life in the Scottish outdoors.
American Mink are an invasive non-native species which have become widespread in parts of Scotland after their release from fur farms. Rachel meets Karen Muller from the Scottish Invasive Species Initiative on the River Spey to hear why it’s important...
Stanley Robertson was from the Travelling People and in the 1980's he published a book called 'Exodus to Alford' featuring stories associated with a particular road his people used to take each Summer when he was a boy. Former...
Linda is in Pitlochry where a group of volunteers meet once a fortnight to help maintain the area’s much loved and well used path network. She hears why the group were founded and about the different kinds of work they...
In this week’s Scotland Outdoors podcast, Mark chats with Landward’s Cammy Wilson about his sheep-farming career. We hear an excerpt where Cammy is telling Mark the story of Fiona, the 'world’s loneliest sheep'. Killiechassie Burial Ground near Aberfeldy holds just...
Mark Stephen visits Youtuber and TV presenter Cammy Wilson on his farm in Ayrshire
Mark Stephen and Rachel Stewart with stories from the great outdoors
Mark revisits a series of programmes he made in the early 2000s called Mountain Tales. The programmes feature Scotland's iconic hills and mountains and what it means to those who live and work in the area nearby. ...
Rachel is in East Lothian where local residents are campaigning for better access across the busy A1 road. For a considerable stretch there’s no official pedestrian crossing linking the villages close to Dunbar with the coast. And as Rachel sees,...
Helen Needham wanders around Glasgow Green with Laura-Beth Salter and Ali Hutton who have created a new album called 'From the Ground' as a response to climate change
Rachel Stewart speaks to Anne Butler, the new President of Mountaineering Scotland and newly appointed Chair Jo Dytch. The pair are the first women to hold the roles. During a walk up Glen Tilt near Blair Atholl, Rachel asks...
In this week’s Scotland Outdoors podcast, Mark visits what is believed to be the UK’s largest urban farm. Lauriston Agroecology farm is on a hundred-acre site near Edinburgh Airport and is a hive of activity. Mark hears how the site...
Mark Stephen gets a tour of the UK's biggest urban farm from Lisa Houston
Rachel heads to Fort Augustus for a chat with Cieran Watson from Forestry Land Scotland and Morag Milne from NatureScot about how they can manage the growing number of feral pigs living wild in the Scottish countryside. Mark meets Niall...
Mark Stephen speaks with furniture makers who are turning wood that has been affected by the ash dieback fungal disease into furniture and other objects.
Mark Stephen visits Schiehallion in Perthshire. Known as the hill of the wee folk, Mark meets those who live nearby and finds out what the iconic hill means to them
Mark heads to Turriff to attend the 2024 opening of the River Deveron. He hears from Richie Miller of the Deveron District Salmon Fishery Board as well as John Beattie, who officially opens the salmon season. Rachel visits warden Jim...
Rachel Stewart meets Susi Briggs, the newly appointed Scots Scriever. The National Library of Scotland revealed that Susi would be the Galloway Scots Scriever in November 2023. Susi is a poet, author, storyteller, musician and podcaster with a passion for...
If you added up all the land currently forming playgrounds and playing fields around Scotland’s schools, it would be roughly the same size as Dundee. Most of that is tarmac or grass cut short for sports but as Helen Needham...
Mark visits Aviemore Bikes to hear about a scheme encouraging locals to take up the use of an e-bike free of charge. He hears who has been using them and why. This week’s Scotland’s Outdoors podcast features cellist Jessica Kerr...
Helen Needham hears about some special trees from musician Jessica Kerr
Rachel ventures into the sea caves at East Wemyss in Fife to hear about how coastal erosion is threatening the Pictish carvings on their walls. Last summer, the Saving Wildcats project released 19 cats in the Cairngorms as part of...
Rachel meets Dr Gino Jabbar from Simply Honey in Edinburgh. He is a honey producer and sommelier and runs classes introducing people to the art of honey tasting. He believes that honey is a "taste of the landscape" and...
Perthshire is known for its big trees and stunning countryside, and it is also home to a large number of artists. Rachel hears about the Perthshire Creative Trail which has been established to encourage people to explore the great outdoors...
Mark and Martin discuss the various issues facing farmers in Scotland including river management, beavers, new entrants, the future of agricultural support and why farming is the best job in the world.
Helen Needham visits the Physic Garden at the RBGE with Catherine Conway-Payne
Mark is in Hazlehead Park in Aberdeen hearing how the team from Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels is working to remove the grey squirrel population from the city. In June 2021 fire destroyed the replica Iron Age Crannog on Loch Tay....
Helen Needham with archive recordings from Charlie Allan
Mark Stephen hears tales of bothying including some very special cookery
Mark uncovers tales from the secret howff bothy in the Cairngorms. Mark and Rachel explore the dark skies in the hills above Braemar and Rachel finds out the lengths farmers go to to decorate their tractors for...
The twin brothers behind the music project Kinbrae were commissioned to make a soundscape of an unusual building at Crail Airfield in Fife as part of the East Neuk Festival in 2023. The building was called a cinasium -...
Mark visits Alex Brewster at his farm near Pitlochry. Ten years ago, Alex changed his approach to farming to a more regenerative one, conserving and rehabilitating the soil. He shows Mark the impact that change has made to his land...
Helen Needham speaks with writer Louise Kenward about the anthology 'Moving Mountains'
Mark Stephen meets Christian Stolte of the Wee Scottish Cider Company
Rachel is on Deeside where a rare and elusive ant which hadn’t been spotted in the area for over 70 years has been rediscovered in large numbers. She hears from the man who found it. And Rachel also chats to...
Mark Stephen visits the family hut of Peter and Graham MacQueen in Argyll
Earlier this week Mark went along to Agriscot, a farm business event held at Ingliston just outside Edinburgh. He spoke to Bob Carruth from NFU Scotland about who attends and what the topics were up for debate. Green woodworking involves...
Helen Needham visits James Reid of Tap O' Noth Farm to hear about his approach to farming
Rachel tries her hand at angling with the Dee Damsels. The group was set up by Tara Spiers to support women who were keen to learn more about fly fishing. Mark returns to the Greenmyres Eco Bothy run by the...
Rachel Stewart meets some of those trying to encourage more women to take up angling on the River Dee in Aberdeenshire.
On this week’s Scotland Outdoors podcast Mark finds out about a project called Light is a Right – How to Winter Well. Glasgow University researchers have been looking into different things that might help us cope with the long, dark...
Mark Stephen finds out how to winter well over the next few months. He meets a group of academics from Edinburgh and Glasgow Universities looking into the effects of Seasonal Affective Disorder and discovers what can be done to improve...
Mark visits Deeside Willow to hear all about how to grow this versatile plant and its many uses. He also tries his hand at some willow sculpting. The Future Forest Company has transformed a former sheep farm in Ayrshire with...
Mark hears about how Atlantic salmon will soon be able to access parts of the River Dee for the first time in a century following the removal of Garlogie Dam. Linda visits the Clyde Valley to hear about how a...
Rachel Stewart presents Scotland Outdoors
Helen visits a mobile laboratory in St Andrews as it travels around various European coastlines to explore coastal habitats and collect samples from the soil, water and air to assess things like pollution. Mark chats to John Fletcher, the first...
Helen Needham meets Graeme Warren and others during a dig in Glen Dee
