Sea Shanties, Beachcombing and Beavers
Join Mark Stephen and Euan McIlwraith for the latest outdoor activities from Shetland to the Borders, plus the key stories for those who live and work in the countryside.
Our midweek podcast this week features Gaelic poet, musician and crofter Griogair Labhruidh. We have an excerpt of him chatting to Mark.
Our lockdown walk this week comes from Aberdeen and our Radio Scotland colleague Emily Esson who takes us on a tour of a couple of her favourite places.
And as Perth becomes the first UK city to see resident urban beavers for hundreds of years, we find out more about the beaver population in Tayside.
After the snowfall much of the country experienced last week, Mark looks back at some of the other notable winters we’ve had over the decades and how communities coped with them.
It’s easy to think that the land around us has always looked as it does today. But as Euan finds out, drainage and land reclamation has changed many parts of the country.
One area which has been altered over the years by a drainage system is the RSPB’s Loch of Strathbeg reserve. Recently a 230-year-old wind pump on the site was restored. We are joined live by the RSPB’s archaeologist for Scotland and Northern Ireland Jill Harden who tells us more about that project as well as her role more widely.
Sea shanties have become something of phenomenon over the past few weeks after the surprise success of Nathan Evans, postie turned tik tok star. Euan delves into the history of these traditional working songs.
Mark goes for a wander along the shore to have a go at beachcombing. Something he discovers can be quite relaxing.
Mystery bird is back, and this week’s choice is the star of a Czech nursery rhyme.
And with sea shanties in mind Euan had a go at writing his own ‘land shanty’. We turned to bothy ballad singer Scott Gardiner to turn Euan’s vision into reality.