Description
Thousands of years ago, large parts of Britain were covered with temperate rainforest - also known as "Atlantic woodland" or "Celtic rainforest". It's a habitat which needs high rainfall and low annual variation in temperature, so the western fringes of the British Isles provide perfect conditions. But temperate rainforest has been largely destroyed over the centuries and there are now only fragments of it left. One of the few surviving areas is in the Isle of Man, where work now is underway to expand and restore this unique habitat, thanks to a £38 million grant. At Creg y Cowin over 70 acres will be planted with native tree species, with around 20 acres left to regenerate naturally. Helen Mark visits the island to learn about this project and meets the Wildlife Trust volunteers involved in the early stages of getting the work underway. She also finds out about "tholtans" - abandoned agricultural dwellings which are a feature of the landscape of the Isle of Man. She meets a couple who are trying to document as many of these ruined buildings as possible, and finds out about links between the landscape and the Manx language.
Produced by Emma Campbell for BBC Audio Bristol
Helen Mark visits 50 square miles that were neither England nor Scotland. The Debatable Lands, between Carlisle and Gretna, were home to untameable crime families that petrified the most powerful of Lords and Kings. For hundreds of years governments in London and Edinburgh left the region to its...
Published 10/03/24
Martha Kearney follows the River Ouse, from the High Weald to the Sussex coast and - finally - into the sea itself. Along the way, she discovers how one of the UK's largest nature recovery projects is taking root.
The project is called 'Weald to Waves' - it's a wildlife corridor that has been...
Published 09/26/24