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Life on Mars, Boatbuilding and River Detectives

Mark Stephen and Rachel Stewart with stories from the great outdoors.

Plans are underway to try and save the historic Blair Atholl stationhouse building in Highland Perthshire. Rachel meets with Mike Shanto and Viv Cree from the Friends of Blair Atholl Station to find out about the oral history project that they’re putting together with funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

For their first project in Scotland, Durrell Conservation Charity has leased Dalnacardoch Estate in the Cairngorms National Park. Mark meets with Programme Director for Scotland Deirdre Stewart to discuss the background to the project and their plans going forward.

A few weeks ago, Mountaineering Scotland appointed two women as President and Chair of their organisation – the first time females have held the roles. In this week’s Scotland Outdoors podcast, Rachel joins the pair – Anne Butler and Jo Dytch – for a walk up Glen Tilt.

The Scottish Boatbuilding School in Irvine was established in 2014 to provide education and qualification in both traditional and modern boat building, as well as vessel conservation and restoration. Mark meets with Technical Assistance, Connor Campbell, to chat about the school and about their involvement in providing support and creating demonstration models for the work that’s to be done in the restoration of the RSS Discovery.

Climate Week North East starts this week, with events beginning on the 15th of March and running through to the 24th in locations across Aberdeen City and Shire. Having started in 2014, this is the 10th anniversary of the event. Mark and Rachel are joined live by a member of the North East Scotland Climate Action Network (NESCAN) team to tell us about the events taking place throughout the week.

Hannah Moneagle, a wildlife campaigner in the Highlands has put together a first response kit which can be carried in the boot of your car to give poorly animals the best chance of survival before they’re taken to a rescue centre. Hannah joins Rachel to show her what is included in the kit.

The River Detectives project started in August 2023 and is due to end in 2024. The project covers four groundbreaking projects in the Cateran Ecomuseum that investigates how we managed our rivers, bogs and lochans in the past and how this knowledge might help us take better care of them in the future. Mark meets project leaders Richard Tipping and Christopher Dingwall as well as a volunteer, Gordan, in Stanley, to chat about what they have learned from the project so far.

'Welcome to Mars' is a new project set up by the Cromar Future Group in Aberdeenshire. The project contemplates what life would be like on Mars, where getting outside is simply not an option. Rachel visits the group and the children involved with the project to experience the model colony depicting what life could be like on Mars one hundred years from now for herself.

1 hour, 31 minutes

Last on

Sat 16 Mar 2024 06:30

Broadcast

  • Sat 16 Mar 2024 06:30

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Landward

Scotland's farming and countryside programme