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by BBC Radio 4
Countryside magazine featuring the people and wildlife that shape the landscape of the British Isles
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- 3 days ago25 min
Kate Stables and Winchester
Musician Kate Stables visits her favourite spots in Winchester to find out more about the area that she used to call home. From St Catherine's Hill you can see across the whole city. It's where Kate flew kites, and celebrated her wedding - and with the help of archaeologist David Ashby she finds out about the iron-age settlement and medieval chapel that once adorned the landscape. Dropping down to the River Itchen, Kate and conservationist Rachel Remnant dip their toes into chalk streams, before heading to Cowslip Field to find out how the ancient skill of scything can feel like dancing. She was still at school when the protests against the building of a section of the M3 motorway took place, but campaigner Chris Gillham joins Kate on Twyford Down to share his memories of the camps that sprang up in an attempt to prevent the road being built. Chris describes the personal cost of being involved in that action. Kate's day finishes atop Winchester Cathedral, gazing back across the city.Producer: Toby FieldSpecial thanks to Ross Lovett, Winchester Cathedral and Rozi Plain.
- 1 weeks ago23 min
Saving the Rare Plants of Eryri
Martha Kearney meets the people protecting and restoring rare arctic-alpine plants in Eryri, also know as Snowdonia. Robbie Blackhall-Miles is a conservation horticulturist working for the charity Plantlife. He shows Martha his secret nursery for rare plants where he's been propagating species such as the previously extinct rosy saxifrage, in preparation for reintroducing them to the mountains.Martha and Robbie travel to the valley of Nant Ffrancon where work has been happening in collaboration with farmers to change grazing practices, in order to help the arctic-alpine plants survive. This work has been happening as a part of the Tlysau Mynydd Eryri / Mountain Jewels of Eryri project, which is part of the wider National Heritage Lottery funded Natur am Byth (meaning Nature Forever) partnership project. We hear how the National Trust will be expanding Robbie's work in reconnecting habitats in their new Natur i Bobl Nant Ffrancon project (meaning ‘Nature for the people of Nant Ffrancon’). Martha then goes to meet the naturalist Twm Elias who has spent his life educating people about the nature and stories of Eryri. He explains how plants and other elements of the landscape get their names in Welsh, and why it's so important for people to connect with these stories.Producer: Sophie Anton
- 2 weeks ago23 min
Bramble Bank Cricket Match
Between the mainland and the Isle of Wight, when the tides are low enough and the days long enough, a sandbank emerges from the Solent. At some point each summer, in most summers since 1984, this exposed bank becomes the venue for an extraordinary event: a cricket match between two sailing club teams from opposite sides of the Solent.Test Match Special commentator Alison Mitchell joins the team setting off from Hamble, near Southampton, to witness this remarkable contest, which can only take place on a low-water spring tide. She talks to players including former England cricketer Norman Cowans and his teammate Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the first person to sail single handed and non-stop around the worldArriving at Bramble Bank by boat at dawn, she follows and commentates on the action as it unfolds, before departing as the tide returns and the pitch disappears beneath the water once again.Producer: Eliza Lomas for BBC Audio Bristol
- 3 weeks ago24 min
River Pilgrimage
Pilgrimages are usually associated with the Middle Ages, when they were at their peak. Banned by Henry VIII in the 16th century, they are now regaining popularity. In this programme, Martha Kearney joins a group of people on a river pilgrimage in Kent. They're spending ten days walking the entire route of the River Medway, from its source in the High Weald in Sussex to the point where it empties into the Thames estuary - seventy miles in all. The aim is partly to highlight the current plight of the river, and to spend time monitoring pollution levels, clearing away litter and learning about its importance in the landscape. Martha meets the Director of the Friends of the River Medway who explains about the river's environmental state and its cultural significance. She also talks to the founder of the British Pilgrimage Trust and finds out why people are being drawn to pilgrimages in the 21st century, learning that they are not necessarily religious, but more a case of "bring your own beliefs". Producer: Emma CampbellPhoto courtesy of the Friends of the River Medway: www.formedway.org
- Aug 20, 202623 min
Ancient Technology Centre
Martha Kearney learns ancient skills like forging a knife, flint knapping and making a fire with flint and steel, alongside local schoolchildren at the Ancient Technology Centre in the Dorset countryside. The centre is a unique collection of archaeologically accurate reconstructions of ancient buildings, used for hands-on outdoor history education. Each building represents a different time period: there’s an Earthouse, a Roman forge, an Iron Age Roundhouse, a Saxon workshop and a Viking Longhouse. Producer: Beth O'Dea
- May 14, 202624 min
Bluebird returns to Coniston
When Donald Campbell died on Coniston Water in Cumbria in January 1967, attempting to break his own water speed record it was, to many people, the end of an era. Many would always remember where they were when the images of Bluebird K7, the jet hydroplane he was piloting, crashing and disintegrating on the lake appeared on TV screens and the story broke across the world.In March 2001, after 34 years underwater, Donald Campbell’s ill-fated craft was raised from the deep by wreck-finder and engineer, Bill Smith. Later that year, at the request of Donald’s daughter Gina, his remains were also recovered - and in September 2001 he was finally laid to rest in the churchyard at Coniston. A painstaking restoration project began and in 2026, over 20 years after she was raised from the depths, Bluebird is set to finally return to Coniston Water.Caz Graham visits Coniston Water to discover what Bluebird means to the Lake District as she returns to the water 70 years after Donald Campbell set the water speed record in 1956.Producer: Helen Lennard
- May 7, 202623 min
Wildlife Artists on Massingham Heath
Martha Kearney is in Norfolk to walk the heathland that is being returned to its ancient grassland habitat by Olly Birkbeck. The Society of Wildlife Artists is holding a year-long residency documenting the recovery of the land and the flora and fauna. Martha meets sculptor Harriet Mead, field painter of birds Darren Woodhead and painter Kim Atkinson to see how they observe and reflect the natural world.The Society of Wildlife Artists: https://swla.co.uk/Producer: Beth O'Dea
- Apr 30, 202624 min
Roadside Verges
Britain's roadside verges rarely get much attention, but can play host to a whole range of plant and animal species. In this programme Martha Kearney finds out about this overlooked habitat. She meets a community group in East Sussex whose members grow plants at home specially to plant in the verges of their village, and talks to the charity Plantlife about the importance of verges as an environmental habitat. She goes out exploring with artist Nessie Ramm, who focuses on painting the tiny details of roadside verges, and who last year won the New English Art Club Climate Emergency prize for her work entitled 'Reduce Speed Now'. Producer: Emma Campbell
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