Scotland Outdoors

Helen Needham meets seed librarian Rowan Lear

Auchnerran Farm is run by the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust as a demonstration farm to test and trial conservation and land management strategies. Mark visits the farm to hear about their projects and how they manage these alongside a profitable enterprise of sheep farming.

It is the 20th anniversary of the opening of Five Sister’s Zoo this year, and the facility has grown from very small beginnings to now housing over 160 species on site in West Calder. Rachel chats to Brian and Gary Curran about their growth over the last two decades and their recent attempts to rescue zoo animals from Ukraine.

2025 marks 20 years since the Scottish Outdoor Access Code came into force, and Mark is joined by journalist and broadcaster Lesley Riddoch to look at exactly how this has impacted Scotland’s relationship with the outdoors.

Rachel is on the banks of Loch Lomond visiting a project attempting to combat erosion on one of Scotland’s most popular hills. Conic Hill has undergone a £900,000 path restoration, and access officer Dave Robinson meets her to explain why such a project is so necessary.

Mark is at Dunnottar Castle, one of the locations featured in Lewis Grassic Gibbon’s novel Sunset Song. Speaking to Emily Cruickshank, Mark finds out the history of the castle and spots some of the wildlife that surrounds it.

Mark and Rachel are joined by a lifelong scholar of Lewis Grassic Gibbon’s work, Bill Malcolm, to find out more about the author’s background and the incredible impact he has made on Scottish literature, even 90 years on from his death.

It is the height of Snowdrop season, with many gardens across Scotland opening their gates for visitors to enjoy the carpet of white flowers. Mark visits Bruckhills Croft in Rothienorman and meets Helen Rushton, whose garden boasts nearly 600 different varieties of the plant.

Back at Five Sister’s Zoo, Rachel finds out about the important work the zoo does in partnership with the Beavers Trust, managing populations across Scotland.

Mark heads to Charlesfield Farm and meets Trevor and Lorna Jackson, the couple behind Border’s Bubbly, who are hoping to be the first sparkling wine producers in Scotland

The 7th February 2025 marks 90 years since the death of Scottish writer Lewis Grassic Gibbon, author of Sunset Song. In 2016, it was voted Scotland's favourite novel. In this archive programme, Mark Stephen explores the area it was set in, the Mearns.

The National Farmers Union of Scotland Conference has been underway this week, and Kevin Keane is there, joined by Professor Colin Campbell from the James Hutton Institute, to hear his advice on how farms can become more resilient in the face of climate change.

Muiravonside, Falkirk’s only country park, features several attractions, from a sculpture and poetry trail to the Avon aqueduct. Rachel catches up with the park’s ranger, Claire Martin, to hear about the history and appeal of the estate.

Otters have been making a comeback along the Water of Leith, deep in the heart of Edinburgh. Rachel meets with Helen Brown from the Water of Leith Conservation Trust to hear about the lives of these metropolitan mammals.

Sunset Song was written by Lewis Grassic Gibbon in 1932, and in 1971 was brought to TV screens across the UK by the BBC, in what is still claimed as one of the finest BBC dramas ever made. Mark learns about the history of the novel, and how the landscape of East Coast of Scotland, ahead of the re-release of the drama for the 90th Anniversary of the author’s death.

Phil heads out with the Highland VIP group in Inverness, who work to increase the mobility of visually impaired people by bringing them together with sighted volunteers to take part in walks and other outdoor activities.

And the Turra Coo, the infamous symbol of a dispute between Turriff townspeople and the government over national insurance and rising taxes, received a shout out from the newly crowned BBC Radio Scotland’s Young Traditional Musician of the Year, Ellie Beaton, at the competition’s final last Sunday. Rachel heads to Turriff to hear all about the cow and her role in the protests.

The River Tweed’s salmon fishing has begun once again, and Mark heads down to see how the fish are faring at the beginning of this year’s season.

We also hear from Anne Woodcock about how important fishing is for the local communities on the banks of the Tweed, and the positive impact it can have on your mental and physical health.

The 7th February 2025 marks 90 years since the death of Scottish writer Lewis Grassic Gibbon, author of Sunset Song. In 2016, it was voted Scotland's favourite novel. In this archive programme, Mark and Euan explore the area it was set in, the Mearns.

Parts of the country are still recovering after last week’s Storm Eowyn including Jupiter Artland. The 100-acre sculpture garden on the outskirts of Edinburgh suffered quite a bit of storm damage as Mark saw when he visited earlier this week.

Rachel meets a group of volunteers from a whole variety of backgrounds who have come together to help restore the HMS Unicorn, a 200-year-old ship which is docked in Dundee.

Next Friday sees the start of the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust’s annual Big Farmland Bird Count. Mark headed to their demonstration Farm on Deeside to find out why the Trust wants farmers and land managers to take part in the count, and what they do with the data that’s gathered.

We celebrate World Wetlands Day on Out of Doors as Mark visits Frankfield Loch on the outskirts of Glasgow. The site is part of the Seven Lochs Wetland Park and Mark explores an area he hadn’t visited before.

At 11am on 31st January people in Stranraer gather to mark the sinking of the car ferry, The Princess Victoria. This year marks 72 years since the disaster and Rachel heard the story from historian Elaine Barton as they met up at the site of the memorial to the sinking.

This weekend is also Imbolc or Saint Brigid's Day, the Gaelic traditional festival which marks the beginning of spring. We chat live to author and celebrant Keri Tomlin about the origins of Imbolc and its significance.

And Rachel also recently spent time with Anna Neubert-Wood of Edinburgh based Wander Women to find out what Imbolc means to her and how she’ll be marking it this weekend.

Earlier this week a film celebrating the globally vital landscape of The Flow Country being recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site was shown in Scotland for the first time. When Fish Begin to Crawl features specially shot footage with archive and new film by Flow Country residents. It also features an award-winning musical score. We’re joined live by its co-creators, composer Jim Sutherland and film maker Morag McKinnon.

We celebrate Burns Day on Out of Doors on the 265th anniversary of his birth. Mark chats to Professor Fiona Stafford from University of Oxford who writes about Burns ‘the bard of nature’. They chat about his understanding of ecology and how that comes through in his poetry.

Rachel hears the good news story about Goldeneye Ducks in the Cairngorms. Goldeneyes are a protected species that have suffered severe population declines, with only around 200 pairs in the UK. But recent work has seen their numbers increase. She finds out what’s behind the success.

In our Scotland Outdoors podcast this week Helen Needham headed up Morven, a Corbett in Aberdeenshire with artist and adventurer Morven Stewart. We hear an excerpt where they chat about where her passion from sketching came from.

No Burns Day would be complete without a haggis. Rachel heads to Glenesk where every year the locals make their own for the Tarfside Rural Burns supper. Anne Littlejohn lets Rachel into her kitchen to see the process- guts and all!

We get a live update from the team at Ellisland Farm. Ellisland near Dumfries was built by Robert Burns in 1788 for his young wife Jean Armour and their family and it’s where he penned some of his most famous work. The team at the Robert Burns Ellisland Trust was awarded funding last year which has allowed them to make plans to secure the property’s future. We hear about what they’ve got in store.

There are ambitious plans to completely transform a former opencast mine site at St Ninians in Fife. The land was purchased by community interest company National Pride over three years ago. Mark met chair of the company, Irene Bisset, at the site to hear about their hopes to create a facility that enables visitors to enjoy being close to the natural world.

And we delve into the archive to hear a piece from 2020 where Mark and Euan visited the famous Globe Inn in Dumfries, a pub frequented by Burns after his move to Ellisland in 1788.

Helen Needham walks up Morven in Aberdeenshire with Morven Stewart

Rachel is in Lochaber where one of the biggest nature restoration projects in the country is underway. The Nevis Nature Network Project covers 22 thousand acres which includes fragments of Scottish rainforest and rare montane scrub. She met project manager Ellie Corsie for a walk to hear about their restoration vision.

Mark is on Calton Hill in Edinburgh hearing about the challenges of repairing our historical buildings. Many of our famous landmarks were built using stone that is no longer quarried in Scotland. Imogen Shaw from the British Geological Survey tells him about their desire for more buildings to be built using Scottish stone to allow quarries to open here.

Rachel delves into the history of the Newburgh on Ythan lifeboat, the oldest lifeboat station in Scotland. Charlie Catto has written a book about its history, and she met him at the station to hear about his research. She also hears about the plans of the Newburgh and Ythan Community Trust to take on the building and hopefully restore it to the condition it was in when it was first built in 1877.

In the week where competitors took part in the 268-mile Montane Spine Race between Derbyshire and the Scottish Borders, we chat live to world record endurance cyclist Jenny Graham about why people want to take part in these kind of events and how she prepares for them.

Mark is on Royal Deeside where a recent collaboration between Aberdeenshire Council and the Cairngorms National Park Authority has resulted in a new stretch of path being built. The Charter Chest Path links up the existing path network and keeps cyclists and pedestrians off the busy road. He went for a wander with Colin Simpson, Head of Visitor Services and Active Travel with the National Park.

Back to the Nevis Nature Network Project where Rachel continues her walk with Ellie Corsie to one of the areas of montane scrub they want to protect.

Phil Sime takes a walk around Ness Islands in Inverness in the company of historian Norman Newton. Norman tells him about the areas interesting past including being home to a very popular outdoor arena and a dog cemetery.

Mark Stephen chooses some Burns favourites including his rendition of Tam O' Shanter