We talk to Tony Whitehead who is one of the communications managers for RSPB England, and we discuss the Attack on Nature. Tony explains the concerns about the threat to the Habitats Directive (and what this directive does) from the Retained EU Law Bill, the harm that could come from ‘Investment Zones’ and the uncertainty…
Continuing our celebration of #Arachtober we speak to Meg Skinner all about Harvestmen. How they differ from spiders, how they feed, what they eat and how you can identify and help record these wonderful arachnids.
An arachnid species special for #Arachtober on a creature you may be surprised to here is found in the UK, the Yellow Tailed Scorpion. Covering where they live, how they feed, courtship and their lifecycle.
We talk to Vicki Hird about the topic of her book Rebugging the Planet. We discuss the subjects covered in her book, what we can do to help bugs and Vicki also explains the current situation with ELMs, the scheme to help farmers farm in an more wildlife and environmental friendly way which seemed to…
We catch up on the news we missed on our break and some current news as well covering legalising the dumping of sewage in our rivers, the environmental credentials of the new government, plans to rip up the regulations that protect our wildlife and bird flu sweeping the country. We also talk about the recent…
We talk to Bafta Award winning wildlife cameraman Doug Allan about how he started his career in natural history videography, what its like filming polar bears and leopards seals, filming in a pub garden, his favourite wildlife sites and his upcoming talks. We have also included an automated transcription of the episode below, you can…
We talk to Dr George McGavin about the insects and arthropods that are the topic of his new audiobook All Creatures Small and Great. How he decided what to write and talk about, his guests and who else he would have liked to have included and generally chat about the wonderful world of invertebrates. We…
In part 2 of our chat with Chantelle Lindsay and Rory Crawford, we talk about the Albatross Task Force, the Great North Wood Project and breaking down barriers to nature for Black people. We finish with a more light hearted question of what their best ever wildlife encounter was. Links:Great North Wood ProjectAlbatross Task ForceChantelle’s…
We talk to the hosts of the Cbeebies show Teeny Tiny Creatures, Chantelle Lindsay and Rory Crawford, about how they got to be presenting the show, getting a job in conservation (and how hard it is!) and their dream creature to do a Teeny Tiny episode on. We also chat about how Dr Amir Khan’s…
Our guest this episode is Paul Williams from the BBC Natural History Unit, and director and producer on the latest BBC Nature Doc, The Green Planet.We talk about the Green Planet series, seeing the world’s biggest flower, the difficulties filming a cactus parasite, stories from working with Sir David Attenborough and how he got to…
We look at an invertebrate commonly found in ponds and ditches, the water lice. We cover the 3 native UK species Asellus aquaticus, Proasellus meridianus, Asellus cavaticus and the non native Caecidotea communis, their life cycle, feeding, breeding and predators. We also read out our listeners 2021 wildlife highlights and discuss our own too.
It is 2 years since the 1st episode of this podcast was released so we decided to do something a bit different, and interview each other! As we asked all the questions that were sent in, it lasted a bit longer than intended so here is part 1 of 2…
We talk to Eleanor Colver, Conservation Officer at the British Dragonfly Society, who gives us an update on the State of Dragonflies report, talking about the results and future plans informed by the results, while we chat about dragonflies in general
We talk to Lee Davies, mycologist and Fungarium Curator at the Royal Botanical Gardens Kew, all about Fungi! We finally talk about this whole kingdom of life so far largely ignored by this podcast, discussing what fungi are, their different ecologies, the mycorrhiza fungi and their symbiotic relationships with trees, and how many are poisonous…
We talk to 2 young naturalists Mya Bambrick and Ben Rumsby abut their experiences being a young naturalist in the UK today. We discuss what got them into wildlife, the upsides of social media from a young naturalist’s perspective, bird camps and Mya’s work with the Cameron Bespolka Trust, Vlogging and what Noc-Mig is.
We talk Craneflies with Pete Boardman, national organiser for the UK Cranefly Recording Scheme. We talk about what craneflies are, the confusion when using the name daddy long legs, the diversity and lifecycle of the craneflies, and why there are so many about at this time of year.
We talk to Dr Isla Hodgson about the sharks found in UK waters, including Basking Sharks. We answer your questions on sharks and talk how little we do know about these often misunderstood and unfairly maligned creatures. We also discuss Isla’s work with Basking Shark Scotland and the Save Our Seas Foundation which includes their…