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Out of Doors

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Out of Doors: 29/10/2016

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29/10/2016

BBC Radio Scotland - Out of Doors, 29/10/2016

Mark Stephen and Euan McIlwraith present a Halloween-themed programme.

Join Mark Stephen and Euan McIlwraith for a spooky edition of Out of Doors with stories from across Scotland.

The programme has a distinct Halloween feel as Mark and Euan explore Culross Palace on a hunt for ghosts. Culross has a rich history and senior assistant Linda Whiteford has apparently seen many spooky goings on that can't be explained. 

Mark visits the SRUC Oatridge Campus and speaks to horticulture lecturer George Gilchrist about the history of the humble neep and how we've actually been carving swede lanterns all along.

There are around ten species of bat in Scotland. Mark meets Anne Youngman from the Bat Conservation Trust to find out more about them and their connection to Halloween.

For one iconic Scottish species the term ghost is appropriate. Kevin Bell spends most of his free time volunteering for a charity called Wildcat Haven looking for the ultimate ghost cat in Scotland, the wild cat and he's captured what is thought to be one of the very few pure wild cats left in Scotland on film. Euan heads out into the woods with him.

When you think about witches, you probably think pointy hats and broomsticks. But three hundred years ago people had very different opinions. East Lothian was a hotbed for witch trials and executions. In the little village of Spott, south of Dunbar they have a permanent reminder of this in the form of the Witches Stone. Mark meets Carey Douglas from the Spott Community Association who tells him more.

While the Out of Doors team favour a neep lantern, pumpkins have become the vegetable of choice for carving. Mark meets farmers Duncan and Rebecca McEwen who have started a Pick Your Own Pumpkin experience at their farm near Stirling.

Wolves have a long connection with Halloween and folklore but where does their bad reputation come from? Euan visits the Highland Wildlife Park to meet their six wolf pups that arrived earlier this year and talks to head of living collections at the park, Douglas Richardson.

And Emily Esson meets modern day witch, Pamela Norrie to find out what her experience of being a witch in 2016 is and what she thinks about Halloween.

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