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Scotland Outdoors

Cranes, Mast Climbing and Skunk Cabbage

5/9/20261 hr 24 min

Mark heads to the New Pitsligo area of Aberdeenshire with Hywel Maggs from RSPB Scotland, on the trail of cranes. For a bird that can reach over a metre tall and with a wingspan of double that, they can be rather tricky to spot.

The ranger service in Aberdeen is busy tackling an invasive plant which seems to be a growing problem. Rachel heads to Walker Dam in the city with countryside officer Simon Whitworth to hear all about American Skunk Cabbage.

Claudia Zeiske is a walking artist. Her latest project has involved walking the Ayrshire Coast as a dedication to the geologist Elizabeth Anderson Gray. Mark met her at Girvan beach to hear more about Elizabeth and Claudia’s project.

Every Tuesday, rangers in Moray lead what is known as a health walk in and around Dufftown. Rachel went along to join the group and chat to some of those who were taking part.

Forager Mark Williams shows Mark more of the Galloway coastline and what can be found at this time of year, especially in rock pools.

On Friday 8 May Sir David Attenborough celebrated his 100th birthday. To mark the occasion on Out of Doors, Rachel spoke to producer and director Alastair Fothergill, who has made some of Sir David’s most memorable series with him, including The Blue Planet and Planet Earth. He tells Rachel about the enormous impact Sir David has had on his life and career and some of the memorable moments they’ve shared together.

In this week’s Scotland Outdoors podcast, Helen meets up with listener Marian Burrows-Smith, who got in touch to tell us about a project she works on in Nepal building toilets for remote communities. We hear how Marian, who lives in Nethybridge, got involved.

Rachel is on Calton Hill in Edinburgh to hear about the 50th anniversary of the Architectural Heritage Fund. Trustee Audrey Carlin tells her about what the fund does and the kind of buildings it has supported.

The RRS Discovery has been a popular tourist attraction in Dundee for over 30 years. And now visitors have a chance to experience a part of life onboard that they haven’t before. Never one to shy away from a challenge, Mark went to give it a go - climbing over 80 feet up the historic ship’s foremast, before ziplining back to the Dundee waterfront.

Clips

Victorian Woman Hides Her Genius
From Fossils To Plastocene
Killing Skunk Cabbage, Carefully
Attenborough’s Most Shocking Scene
Why Foraging Feels So Right
Facing The Rigging’s First Test

Transcript preview

First 90 seconds

  1. Speaker 00:00

    [birds chirping] The Scotland Outdoors Podcast from BBC Radio Scotland.

  2. Mark Stephen· Host0:05

    [upbeat music] Hello, and thanks very much for choosing to listen to this. Every week we produce a couple of Scotland Outdoors podcasts, one of which is lovingly hand-crafted [laughs] from the live program we do for BBC Radio Scotland, which is called Out of Doors.

  3. Rachel Stewart· Host0:22

    And this week you must listen to the very end because we feature a dope on a rope.

  4. Mark Stephen· Host0:27

    [upbeat music] Week after week we open this program by describing the wonders in nature, how beautiful it is, the sunrise, the blossom, Uncle Com- Uncle Tom Cobley and all. This week we're playing a little game in the car park [laughs] here outside called Identify the Noxious Substance- [laughs] ... that somebody seems to have walked through, and we're not, we're genuinely not sure what it is. Good morning. [laughs] If you've got any idea [laughs] contact us. Now, I'm Mark Stephens. She's Rachel Stewart.

  5. Rachel Stewart· Host0:54

    I think it might be on my feet, unfortunately.

  6. Mark Stephen· Host0:56

    Oh, no.

  7. Rachel Stewart· Host0:56

    And I don't know what it is. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I'm gonna stop looking at it. It's distressing me.

  8. Mark Stephen· Host1:00

    I think it's, I think it's bird.

  9. Rachel Stewart· Host1:00

    Yeah, I think it might be.

  10. Mark Stephen· Host1:01

    Probably.

  11. Rachel Stewart· Host1:01

    Think it might be. That's maybe preferable- Big bird ... to what other things could be.

  12. Mark Stephen· Host1:04

    Yeah.

  13. Rachel Stewart· Host1:05

    Um [laughs] May is reminding us that it is not time to put away our winter coats. It's cold.

  14. Mark Stephen· Host1:10

    How many have you got on?

  15. Rachel Stewart· Host1:11

    [laughs] Well, I've just got my big- Just the seven ... winter jacket on. But it was two degrees on, on Tuesday.

  16. Mark Stephen· Host1:16

    Yeah.

  17. Rachel Stewart· Host1:16

    Chilly. Chilly.

  18. Mark Stephen· Host1:17

    Four degrees when I got in the car this morning.

  19. Rachel Stewart· Host1:19

    Was it? Yeah.

  20. Mark Stephen· Host1:19

    Yeah.

  21. Rachel Stewart· Host1:20

    Aye. Yeah. I'm really- I can't wait for winter to come back and get the heat. [laughs] [laughs] It feels like that, doesn't it?

  22. Mark Stephen· Host1:24

    Yeah.

  23. Rachel Stewart· Host1:24

    I was watching some house martins building their nest this week.

  24. Mark Stephen· Host1:27

    Ah.

  25. Rachel Stewart· Host1:27

    And that was really lovely. Um, and I was speaking to a birder

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