Windswept and Interesting

NatureScot woodland champion Kate Holl and I head for an extraordinary lost world on an island, off an island, off the west coast of Scotland. A little extra for the faithful followers of the podcast... and great fun to make. Windy though!

We took this trip a while back but Kate is still at it with NatureScot flying the flag for woodland restoration.

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This week I have had the pleasure of a half an hour or so in the company of Nick Kempe. He's a blogger, campaigner - and one of the nicest obsessives you could hope to meet! He helped create our access laws, was on the board of SNH and now holds our national parks to account.

Fine out if he believes:

• The access laws need revision
• "King" Charles should change his behaviour
• Social work helps your campaigning
• We need to invest in tourism
• Rogue landowners should be taken to task
• His large dossier on the Loch Lomond park needs attention...!

Can you guess which answer is no!? I'll almost certainly come back to Nick in the next podcast series. Meanwhile sign up, follow, subscribe and give me feedback - it is a pleasure to do this work and to know that it's valued by so many people. Find me on Facebook, Linkedin, X (@ScotNatureCorr), Instagram...

Music created for this podcast by Nottingham's own Rob Baynes https://www.facebook.com/Beeeaaanz/ - hit him up if you want your own specially created music!

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We're taking a different tack this week with a senior representative of an organisation that has its roots in the world of hunting, shooting and fishing. Rory Kennedy was a lad with a fly rod and a ferret, and now he's the head of the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust in Scotland. His views on some issues might surprise you... he tells me:

• How lynx might be a gateway to restoring the wolf
• Why recovering pine marten might have to be culled to save another species
• Why nature recovery needs to be on a landscape scale, not just nature reserves

And he tells me that grouse moors, so hated by conventional conservationists, are actually bastions of biodiversity. Is he right?

I'd love to hear your views, get me on Twitter/X where I'm @ScotNatureCorr, and on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. Give it a follow, subscribe... give it a share... Even if you don't agree with Rory, his are views that have been given a lot of thought.

Music created for this podcast by Nottingham's own Rob Baynes https://www.facebook.com/Beeeaaanz/ - hit him up if you want your own specially created music!

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With Chris Packham declaring Glen Coe to be an ecological desert, many people will be interested in how National Trust for Scotland manages the glen. Last year I made this programme for BBC Radio Four about the battle over deer management, which is at the heart of the problem of tree cover that Chris wants to see.

Hear about:

• The NTS side of things
• What deer managers think
• What has been done to revive the landscape in another area which was similarly treeless landscape.

Note - this programme is almost a year old, so some of the situations and views may have changed - but it's a good view of the debate from Scottish stakeholders

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How do you go from wannabe truck magnate to campaigner for rewilding in Scotland, with a brief to bring back the lynx? That's what Peter Cairns has done, and for this episode he talks about the evolution that has made Scotland: The Big Picture a major part of the conservation landscape in Scotland.

Find out what he thinks about:

• Whether rewilding is a useful term
• What gang small landowners with a conservation bent can join
• His neighbours in the giant Cairngorms Connect nature restoration project
• Why this small organisation is going big on bringing back the lynx
• How you monetise nature recovery - is it just vulgar?!

... and get some clues about a major new interconnected landscape-scale renaturing project in the west Highlands after Peter lets slip a wee secret.

If you like what you hear give us a follow or subscribe, and tell your friends that it's good. There is a decent archive built up of nine other episodes and they're all a good listen. Get me on Facebook, Twitter/X - @ScotNatureCorr - Linked and Instagram, I'd love any feedback.

Music created for this podcast by Nottingham's own Rob Baynes https://www.facebook.com/Beeeaaanz/ - hit him up if you want your own specially created music!

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It's common sense, but is anyone listening? Nick Underdown of the Open Seas marine charity is the straightest-talking man in conservation, and his sense of disbelief at the way our seas are being managed is palpable in this interview. Listen to his inimitable, resonant tones as he explains:

• Why Scotland's much-vaunted marine protected areas are just paper parks
• Why proposals for much greater protections were fundamentially flawed
• How the fishermen who make their livings from the sea can't be ignored
• Just why he has to skim stones!

Nick is ready with the facts and figures and is a master of fine detail but he's got the broad brushstroke to give us a clear picture of why marine conservation matters.

If you like this podcast, give it a like, a follow, a subscribe or whatever, and please share... the more hits we get, the better we can do it next time, and the more you can here about our conservation and outdoors champs. You can get me on Twitter/X as @ScotNatureCorr and find me on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram (where there's a neat video clip of Nick in action). All feedback gratefully received.

Music created for this podcast by Nottingham's own Rob Baynes https://www.facebook.com/Beeeaaanz/ - hit him up if you want your own specially created music!

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Polly Pullar is well-known as a writer and conservationist, but her remarkable collection of rescued animals, and her views on how farmers should be helped to live with rewilding, need more attention. She's a farmer herself and has robust opinions. She also has a crazy squirrel named Alistair, a fecund one-eyed hedgehog named Reggie, and some very funny stories - including one about a kid with a head full of dolphins.

So this week we learn about:

• Animal rescue and why it's worthwhile
• Saving a paralysed, tick-infested red deer hind
• How gardeners can help rewild
• Just how frightened I am of getting a squirrel down my trousers
• Why kids might be the answer to nature's decline

Join in, contact me - @ScotNatureCorr - on X/Twitter with ideas/crits, if you're liking this, sign up and spread the word. And if you're new here there are seven other fun-packed episodes, all putting the Great into Outdoors, that you can take a listen to.

Music created for this podcast by Nottingham's own Rob Baynes https://www.facebook.com/Beeeaaanz/ - hit him up if you want your own specially created music!

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We all use footpaths but do we think for a moment about who builds and maintains them? In this episode we talk to footpaths ace and outdoorswoman Shona Irvine, who organises volunteering and more for mountain paths charity the Outdoor Access Trust for Scotland.

We're finding out about:

• How paths get worn and battered
• What you can do to help put things right
• Sandwich fillings, pink trousers and the patriarchy!

Warning: Shona is one of the brightest and keenest people working in the outdoors, and just listening to her will make you want to get out and devote your time to fixing paths! But don't let that put you off too much - the more listeners the better and if you can subscribe, share, stick it on X/Twitter that's great too.

Music created for this podcast by Nottingham's own Rob Baynes https://www.facebook.com/Beeeaaanz/ - hit him up if you want your own specially created music!

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It's not set in stone, but I reckon Dr Eileen Tisdall is the most enthusiastic scientist you're ever going to meet. She's been mad about rocks from an early age, and now preaches the importance of geology - how it shapes our lives as well as the landscape around us. In this episode she tells me

• How the glaciers helped build the second Forth road bridge
• What a real rock festival is about
• How Scotland could get a whole lot colder thanks to global warming
• Why geology is the perfect career for a woman
• How we need to look after our rocks better

On the way we have a few laughs and learn exactly why there's a magnificent piece of geology behind a row of council houses in Callander. If you're enjoying this podcast, give it a follow or subscribe, and share it with anyone you can think of. The more listens we get the better we're able to keep it going!

Music created for this podcast by Nottingham's own Rob Baynes https://www.facebook.com/Beeeaaanz/ - hit him up if you want your own specially created music!

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This time we're talking to Steve Micklewright, the chief executive of up-and-coming nature charity Trees for Life. In his time in the job he has doubled the charity's staff, established the UK's first rewilding centre, and tackled the Scottish Government in court over beaver shootings. That's despite working WITH the government on many issues....

So

Do too many NGOs back off from such confrontation when they should have nothing to fear?

Should lynx, absent from Scotland for more than a millennium, come back in the next decade - and what will sheep farmers make of that?

Just how scary is it working for a bird charity in Malta?

Listen in, subscribe, share - Steve is an important figure in conservation in Scotland, and his views should be heard.

Music created for this podcast by Nottingham's own Rob Baynes https://www.facebook.com/Beeeaaanz/ - hit him up if you want your own specially created music!

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