Out of Doors

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Factual: Science & Nature

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Out of Doors: Cranes, Glen Finglas and the Cuween Hill Cairn

Cranes, Glen Finglas and the Cuween Hill Cairn

BBC Radio Scotland - Out of Doors, Cranes, Glen Finglas and the Cuween Hill Cairn

Mark Stephen and Euan McIlwraith with stories from the great outdoors.

Mark speaks to Tom Ovenden who is studying for his PhD in forest ecology at the University of Stirling.  The focus of his research is the resilience of forest ecosystems to climate change which as he tells Mark, can involve both drought and flooding.

Euan recalls the return of cranes to north east Scotland.  Cranes became extinct in the UK nearly 400 years ago and only began breeding in Scotland again in 2012.

A couple of weeks ago Mark was at the 2021 Ranger Rendezvous conference in Aviemore.  Organised by the Scottish Countryside Rangers Association, the conference was a chance for those working in the sector to get together and talk about the issues they face.  Mark chats to some of the delegates as well as organiser, George Potts.

Alex Orchin is driving from John O'Groats to Land's End in the world's smallest car to raise money for Children in Need.  We catch up with him live to find out how the first week of his journey has gone. 

While Euan was in Orkney, he visited the Cuween chambered cairn located on the hillside above the Bay of Firth, just outside the village of Finstown.  He ventures inside what is one of Orkneys finest archaeological sites. 

In this week’s Scotland Outdoors podcast, Mark visits the Woodland Trust’s Glen Finglas Estate.  The Trust has been marking the 25th anniversary of the estate, once described as Europe’s biggest sheep farm, it’s now a transformed landscape.  We hear an excerpt of him chatting to ranger Gwen Raes.

Maud Start visits a labyrinth that has been created by Grahame Gardner at the Beechbrae Woodland Centre in West Lothian.  She finds out about the significance of labyrinths and what attracts people to them. 

Euan teases us with another mystery bird. Can you identify it from our clips?

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