In todays episode I’m speaking with Ellie & Ben from The Wildlife Garden Podcast and also Ellies Wellies which are a  Nottingham-based garden maintenance company and consultancy that specialises in wildlife gardens using organic methods.

Ellie and Ben set up one of the first totally organic garden maintenance companies in the UK, Ellie’s Wellies Organic Gardening. No matter what size the garden, Ellie and Ben help to bring nature in with the three key things for wildlife; shelter, water and food. Once a fortnight they release an episode of their podcast – The Wildlife Garden Podcast – where they give planting advice, interview guests and discuss the up to date science behind things we can all do for wildlife at home.

What these to don’t know about plants ain't worth knowing and I’ve set the them challenge to pick 5 plants you should have in your wildlife garden and I’ve also picked five, not that I particularly know what I’m talking about but pretty flowers.

The Wildlife Garden Podcast

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This week I’m joined by wildlife photographer dan Ruston. Dan is based in Dorset and quite frankly is a master at fieldcraft getting closer to species like roe deer, peregrine and red fox which he has a special affinity for. 

We talk about what fieldcraft really means in wildlife photography, the use of commercial hides and how starting off in a gamekeeping background helped his photography. Here’s are chat.

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This week I’m talking to Sheena Cruickshank about parasites that love nothing more then living in the human body. She’s a professor at the university of Manchester and specialities in immunity & infection.

We talk about 50ft worms in your gut, how pubic lice are declining and how some parasites might actually make you healthier. 

Sheena Cruickshank

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In todays episode I’m having a chin wag with Chris Yates, Chris is an angler preferring to use more traditional techniques and is well known for being part of Hugh miles passion for angling as well as catching the bishop a former uk record carp. Chris is also a brilliant writer and naturalist and we spoke for hours about bird watching after the podcast. I have to thank Hugh miles for setting this up as it was part of a fundraiser for Britains hidden fishes and all and in all was a fabulous day.

We talk about what british record fish  Chris would want to beat now, the mysterious burbot and put some listeners questions to him. 

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Today I’m talking to singer - song writer kitty Macfarlane who mashes up folk tunes with natural sounds to make some incredible pieces of music. She’s guest presented radio shows on BBC Radio 3 & 4 was nominated for a horizon award. Her debut album namer of clouds is out now.

We chat about why she uses nature as a theme for her music, how she incorporates the sounds of nature into her songs and why she wrote a song about eels!

https://www.kittymacfarlane.com/

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This week I’m joined by Bertie Gregory who is a British wildlife filmmaker. He’s been named a National Geographic Young Explorer and The Youth Outdoor Photographer of the year, Bertie's goal is to find stories that get people to fall in love with the natural world.Bertie currently splits his time between shooting behind the camera as a cinematographer for the BBC's landmark series and hosting shows for National Geographic. Bertie recently won a BAFTA for his cinematography in the latest BBC David Attenborough series, ‘Seven Worlds, One Planet’.

http://www.bertiegregory.com/ 

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In this Bonus episode I talk about the topic of wildlife photography going into decline as a career choice. Is it still a viable career and what have been the changes in it over the years?

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This week I’m with wildlife camerawomen Jessica Mitchell who is well known for her variety of work including time-lapse, topside and especially underwater. She’s filmed for groups such as Natural World, BBC & Oxford scientific films to name a few. 

Today we cover the pressures of being a wildlife camera op, whether it should even be called cameraman or camera operator and the distant lack of women in that role plus much more. Here’s our chat.

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This week I’m joined by fellow countryfile presenter Joe Crowley,  Joe has presented a host of television programmes from holiday hit squad to police 5 but is best known for his regular slots on both the one show and country file. It's here he embraces his passion for the outdoors and in particular rivers and recently made a film for panorama about the disgusting amounts of raw sewage entering British rivers which is the main topic of todays chat.

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In todays show I’m chatting to springwatch presenter Gillian Burke. Gillian finds herself living in Cornwall now and over the years has done lots of narration and voicework before making the leap to the big screen and presenting for many BBC wildlife programmes most notably the watches. She’s also a biologist, public speaker and writer.

Today we talk about how voice work is different to presenting , if she was nervous joining the watches team and why we see so few people from BAME communities on nature reserves.

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