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 person to set up a commercial deer farm in Scotland back in the 1970s. As well as being a farmer, John is a vet and an author and he tells Mark what it was that first interested him in red deer.Helen heads to Glen Dee to meet a group of archaeologists. For the past couple of years, Graham Warren, Professor of Archaeology at University College Dublin has spent a fortnight each summer carefully scraping away and sieving the soil in search of evidence of prehistoric hunter gatherers.There has been a Mill of Benholm in some form on the site in Aberdeenshire for hundreds of years. The current Mill was open to the public until 2014 and now a group has applied for a community asset transfer to take over the site from Aberdeenshire Council. Mark went for a visit to find out abo

Helen Needham meets Graeme Warren and others during a dig in Glen Dee

Out of Doors celebrates 100 years of BBC Aberdeen. This week we have a special programme looking back at what life was like in rural communities in 1923, how people enjoyed the outdoors and the early forms of conservation.We’re joined by author and broadcaster Graham Stewart who tells us about the origins of broadcasting in Aberdeen.Paula Williams from the National Library of Scotland tells us about how people used the outdoors for recreation in the 1920s and the growth of mountaineering.Stuart Brooks, director of conservation and policy at the National Trust for Scotland explains the origins of the Trust and the conservation movement.And Dr Tom McKean from the Elphinstone Institute at Aberdeen University tells us about who was listening to the radio from across rural Scotland and the North East in particular, and what their lives were like.We also delve into the Aberdeen archives to get a flavour of what things sounded like in the 1930s and hear what conditions were like working in the early studios.Rachel v

Mark Stephen chats with deer farmer and author John Fletcher on his farm in Fife

Throughout the programme we hear from Dr Kevin Frediani, curator of Dundee Botanic Garden. Kevin is very much in favour of letting nature do its own thing and Mark hears how he has managed to put that into practice in the garden. He also tells Mark about his drive to find a net zero path for the upkeep of the gardens and grounds while looking after a huge array of plants from all around the world. Rachel visits the Ness of Brodgar in Orkney, one of the most significant neolithic settlements in the world. The site has been excavated for nearly 20 years but as Rachel finds out, next year will be the last dig for the foreseeable future. Archaeologists Anne Mitchell and Nick Card explain why.Renita Boyle is a storyteller who is fascinated by nature. As part of last week’s Wigtown Book Festival, she was holding poetry, story and art sessions which usually happen outside. However, as the weather put paid to that, Rachel found her indoors with a great view of the countryside.And with potatoes in our minds as schools

Rachel Stewart presents Scotland Outdoors

Helen heads to Inchgarth Reservoir on the outskirts of Aberdeen to meet Ian Broadbent, Local Bird Reporter for the North East, who tells her why recent bad weather in the USA has meant some new arrivals on our shores. He also tells her about the work that has been carried out at Inchgarth to improve the habitat for Snipe and Jack Snipe.Earlier this week Rachel visited the Wigtown Book Festival. Established in 1999, the festival has gone from strength to strength and now offers a ten day programme featuring hundreds of events and activities for all ages, including music, theatre, food and visual arts.Rachel chats to two women who have recently taken the plunge into writing books, endurance cyclist Jenny Graham and Helen Rebanks. Jenny tells her all about the different challenges writing brought compared to her round the world cycle. And Helen Rebanks explains how her and husband James manage their fell farm as well as a busy family life.In our midweek podcast Mark chats to mountaineer and former planner Bob Re

Mark Stephen chats with Planner and Mountaineer Bob Reid

Nurdles are tiny plastic pellets which are used to make many everyday items. However, tonnes of them end up being washed up on our beaches posing a threat to wildlife. Rachel finds out about the Great Nurdle Hunt, a campaign to highlight the issues microplastics cause.Mark visits Pitmedden Garden in Aberdeenshire and has a nosey around their orchards as they gear up to celebrate Apple Day this weekend.Avian Flu has caused the deaths of thousands of seabirds along our coastline. Last summer there was significant concern over the future of the world’s largest colony of northern gannets on the Bass Rock. Rachel visits the Scottish Seabird Centre which looks out at the Bass Rock, to find out what the picture is now.Rachel meets two sisters involved in a project which finally hopes to shed new light on Equine grass sickness and what causes it.To tie in with World Rivers Day, The Rivers Trust is asking the public to record observations of rivers in the first Big River Watch. We chat live to James Hunt from the Twee

Maud Start meets the Peterson Family onboard the Christiania, their retired rescue ship.

Founded by Jordan Grant after he was inspired as a teenager to turn his life around, Glasgow Garden Maintenance is now offering an apprenticeship scheme for aspiring tree surgeons. Mark meets Jordan and a former apprentice to hear about how the business has gone from strength to strength supporting young people into new careers along the way. Rachel visits the Scottish Fisheries Museum in Anstruther and takes a look at one of their exhibitions- The Long Haul: a generational study of fishing in the East Neuk. We hear an excerpt from Helen Needham’s upcoming Radio 4 programme, Crossing the Cuillin Mountains. In this two part series, the writer and mountaineer Robert Macfarlane attempts to complete the Cuillin Ridge. The expedition marks twenty years since his first book 'Mountains of the Mind'.Naturalist and environmental educator Dan Puplett has seen a big increase in the number of people keen to learn more about mammal tracks. Rachel heads out with him to see what she can identify through footprints and

Rachel looks for dolphins at Spey Bay with Alison Rose from the Scottish Dolphin Centre and hears about their Shorewatch programme.In this week’s Scotland Outdoors podcast, Mark explores Dr Neil’s Garden in Duddingston in Edinburgh. We hear from head gardener Claudia Pottier as she shows Mark this incredible secret space.The Flow Country stretches across Caithness and Sutherland and contains the most extensive blanket bog system in the world. In recognition of its global significance, a team has been bidding to make it the planet's first peatland with world heritage status. BBC Scotland’s environment correspondent Kevin Keane visits the Flows to find out more about what a UNESCO status would mean.Lapwings Community Mill near Stonehaven works with local farmers to grow quality cereals and mill nutritious, tasty flour. As Mark finds out, their aim is to produce local sustainable food that’s available to everyone.Next weekend Scotland’s first ever 'climate-themed' film festival is taking place in Montrose. We ch

Mark Stephen presents Scotland Outdoors

Mark Stephen and Rachel Stewart present Scotland Outdoors.

Rachel Stewart meets Stephen Corcoran of the British Dragonfly Society at Insh Marshes

Mark Stephen and Rachel Stewart with stories from the great outdoors.

Helen Needham climbs Schiehallion with Soil Scientist Andrea Britton

Mark Stephen and Rachel Stewart present Scotland Outdoors

Mark Stephen presents Scotland Outdoors

Mark Stephen and Rachel Stewart with an audience at the Edinburgh Festival