The Stubborn Light of Things

Join Melissa, two years on from the original broadcasts, for a bonus episode recorded live at Green Man Festival in Wales. She’ll be on stage talking to Marchelle Farrell about nature writing, the Stubborn Light podcast, and her new nature app, Encounter. Listen →

Making a nature podcast is harder than you think... Note: Contains bad words and loud noises! Listen →

Join Melissa for the last time on a longer walk than usual, taking in some familiar landmarks from earlier in the series. It’s a damp and misty autumn afternoon and the air smells of wet leaves and woodsmoke. Listen →

Join Melissa in her cosy cottage as wind and rain lash down outside. The autumn migration is underway, and billions of birds are on the move; indoors, it’s time to light the fire. Listen →

Join Melissa as she cycles to an abandoned World War II airbase and explores the old runways. A sharp breeze is plucking acorns from the trees, and skylarks are feeding in the brown stubble fields. Listen →

Join Melissa and Scout as they walk down towards the village at sunset. The shadows of oaks stretch long over the stubble fields, the evening star comes out and pheasants fuss and cluck themselves to bed. Listen →

Join Melissa as the sun rises on a crisp, cool autumn day; there are deer and hares in the dawn fields, and robins sing wistfully from the hedgerows. Listen →

Join Melissa as she walks Scout through the grounds of a stately home. The weather’s wet and it’s starting to feel like autumn; there are sloes in the hedgerows, and the first horse chestnut leaves are on the ground. Listen →

Join Melissa as she gets lost in a tangled wood on the edge of the village. It’s windy, and a robin sings from the understorey, while toadstools are sprouting underfoot. Listen →

Join Melissa as she scrambles down from her perch in an ancient oak and walks to a five-acre meadow managed for wildlife. Potatoes are being harvested, and buzzards wheel on thermals high overhead. Listen →