EP54 – The Blue Butterflies

Vic and Neil talk about our 9 resident Blue Butterfly species, looking at each species and their preferred habitats, larval food plants and their relationship that some have with ants, including how they trick the poor ant hosts into caring for their caterpillars.

EP53 – A threat to the Legal Protection for Wildlife

The Legal Protection for some of the UK’s most vulnerable Wildlife, including adder, pine martens and mountain hares, is under threat from new proposals by the JNCC to only allow those that are classified as Endangered or Critically Endangered, or a European Protected Species (EPS) to be protected by law. Neil and Steve Allain look…

EP52 – Making birding a safe place for women with Lucy McRobert

Just a heads up In this episode we talk about women being subject to harassment and worse. We talk to Lucy McRobert about the subject of her ‘Call it out’ article she wrote for Bird Guides (do have a read if you haven’t already), how birding or simply being out in nature alone can make…

EP51 – Freshwater Ecoacoustics with Jack Greenhalgh

We talk to Jack Greenhalgh, who is studying a PhD on the wonderful underwater acoustic world of ponds & rivers. We talk about his research and listen to some of the noises made by freshwater invertebrates underwater.

EP50 – 9 wildlife podcasters in 1 podcast

Something a bit different for episode 50, we invited 7 other wildlife podcasters onto the show: Susy Buttress from Casual Birder , Ryan Dalton from Into the Wild, Emma Bridson from For What is Earth, Jack perks from the Bearded Tit, Rachael Horowitz from Hidden Wings and Bloodlust and Ellie and Ben from the Wildlife…

Ep49 – Wood Ants with Dr. Jenni Stockan

In this episode we talk to Dr Jenni Stockan about Wood Ants, which are 3 of our largest and arguably most interesting species of ants. We discuss how they live, what effect they have on the habitats they live in and the somewhat bizarre stories of people relocating them, sometimes to some far off places!

Ep48 – Field Crickets with Back from the Brink

Our first ever in the field interview, and it is with Mike Coates, warden for RSPB Farnham, where we discuss the Back from the Brink backed Field Cricket reintroduction project and these wonderful insects. In news I cover dogs chasing deer, a bad few weeks for BOP persecution and a project to help the Twaite…

Ep47 – Bluebells and Wood Anemones

In the second of our spring flowers episodes we talk about the the Bluebell and the Wood Anemone; how and where they grow, why they spread so slowly and the neat trick bluebells use to get phosphorous. In news we talk about the Big Garden Birdwatch results, Large Marsh Grasshopper being reintroduced to Norfolk, the…

Ep46 – Pasque Flower and Snake’s-Head Fritillary

In the first of 2 spring flower episode we take an in depth look at the Pasque Flower and Snake’s-Head Fritillary, their ecology, native status and uses in history. In news we discuss Freddie the seal being attacked by a dog, Puffin numbers booming to 1940s-level high on Skokholm, Buglife’s investigation finding ‘I’m a Celebrity’…

Ep45 – Cuckoos with Professor Nick Davies

We discuss cuckoos with Professor Nick Davies, field naturalist and author of the book ‘Cuckoo: cheating by nature’. We talk about the cuckoos diet, migration and their extraordinary nest parasitism. Over many years of study Nick and his colleagues have answered many of the questions around how the cuckoo gets away with laying it eggs…