Scotland Outdoors

Helen Needham speaks with Rosie Steer about her book 'Gloaming'

In this week’s Scotland’s Outdoors podcast Mark meets loch bagger Claire Young. Claire came up with the idea of loch bagging after vertigo put a halt to her Munro bagging. We hear an excerpt where Mark chats to her about how the idea developed.
A new podcast series recorded in Aberdeen explores how nature has been shaping and changing people’s lives. Rachel meets producer Dave Black and some of those who feature in the series at Seaton Park which was recently designated as a Local Nature Conservation site.
We couldn’t let the fact that it’s Halloween slip by un-mentioned. Mark is in Rothiemurchus near Aviemore visiting the cursed grave of Seath Mor Sgorfhiaclach. Lift the stones that protect him at your peril…
Rachel visits the historic clock tower in Dufftown in Moray which is now owned by the community who have plans to revamp it. She hears about the history of the site and what the community hope to use it for.
Mark explores the impressive sandstone cliffs around Arbroath with geologist Morag Smith. Morag tells him about the striking red colour of sandstone that is common in that area and what we can tell about the cliffs and caves from their geology.
Calum Mackenzie runs seal watching boat trips from Plockton on Loch Carron and is something of a local character. His trips are hugely popular, and he even promises your money back if you don’t spot any seals! Rachel went along to test his promise and see what other wildlife they could spot.
We delve into the archives to hear some of the Halloween traditions of years gone by. And author Rosie Steer tells us about the connection of the festival to the changing seasons.
And to prepare you for a spooky Halloween evening of TV viewing, we chat live to Zara Gladman, one of the hosts of the new BBC Scotland series Mythland. Accompanied by parapsychologist Evelyn Hollow, Zara explores some of Scotland’s myths and spooky tales in the series. She tells us what it was like to investigate with Evelyn and what she learnt during the series.

Mark Stephen learns about the pursuit of Loch Bagging with its inventor, Clare Young

Mark is in Aberdeen where hair from a grey squirrel has been in found in feeder boxes. That might not sound very unusual, but the city was close to eradicating the non-native species which spread disease which kills the native red squirrels. James Kennedy from Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels shows Mark the area the greys are thought to be.
Anne McAlpine is in the village of Tomatin in the Highlands to find out about a development which is aiming to tackle issues around rural housing. She hears how local groups have worked together with the Scottish Government to make the project happen.
In this week’s Scotland Outdoors podcast, Mark visits Stobs Military Camp near Hawick to discover its history from a training camp in the early 1900s to a resettlement camp after the second world war. Andrew Jepson of Archaeology Scotland is his guide, and we hear an excerpt of Andrew showing him around.
Hopetoun House near South Queensferry is closed to visitors at the moment however, there is one annual event which always goes ahead in autumn, a fungi walk. Mark meets ranger Emma Parker who shows him the rather spectacular array of waxcaps on the lawn and tells him more about what makes Hopetoun such a great place for them to grow.
At this time of year boat owners are busying themselves to ready their boats for winter. Making sure everything is ship shape for potential bad weather ahead. Anne McAlpine is at Dunstaffnage marina near Oban and hears about the different jobs that owners and the marina carry out.
It’s the season for pumpkin patches and they seem to have grown massively in popularity over the last few years. Laura Guthrie visits Ethiebeaton farm in South Angus where the McDonald family enjoy opening up their field to the public once a year to show them how pumpkins grow.

Mark Stephen visits Stobs Military Camp near Hawick to discover the importance of this site from a training camp in the early 1900s to a resettlement camp after the second world war. Andrew Jepson of Archaeology Scotland is his guide