Description
Helen Mark visits the Cairngorms in Scotland to find out why this landscape was an inspiration and a refuge for writer Nan Shepherd. Shepherd's neglected book 'The Living Mountain' has found new audiences with a resurgence in the popularity of nature writing in recent years and recognition of her importance has resulted in her image featuring on the new Scottish five pound note.
Helen meets Nan's long-time friend and 'adopted family member' Erlend Clouston, as well as local people who share her passion for the wilderness of the mountains here. Ospreys became extinct and were reintroduced to the Cairngorms during Nan Shepherd's lifetime: Helen discusses this and some of the more glamorous jobs of RSPB warden Fraser Cormack, including ditch-blocking. She'll talk about winter climbing with Helen Geddes and rare plants and how to protect them with Gwenda Diack to build up a picture of what Shepherd loved about this wild and remote area of Scotland.
Produced by Mary Ward-Lowery.
First broadcast on Thursday 28 December, 2017.
Hayden Lorimer explores the double life of Walter Poucher: mountain photographer and perfumer. Poucher invented the perfume 'Bond Street' and also wrote upland guidebooks. He was a pioneer of mountain photography from the 1930s onwards and devised guidebooks that used photos to help hillwalkers...
Published 07/28/20
Trai Anfield visits a wintry Bovisand Bay in South Devon in the company of Keith Hiscock, Associate Fellow of the Marine Biological Association.
They rummage amongst the storm strewn seaweed making up the strand line at the top of the beach. It is here that insects and crustaceans flourish in...
Published 01/24/20