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Scotland Outdoors

Counting Butterflies, Carriage Driving and Nature Writing

Scotland Outdoors

BBC

Nature, Society & Culture, Science

4.7709 Ratings

🗓️ 13 September 2025

⏱️ 82 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The North East Open Studios allows people to meet artists and makers, often in their own workspaces. Rachel is welcomed by Marguerite Fleming from Westfield Croft in Aberdeenshire who has a rare breed fibre flock which she uses to create hand woven rugs and yarns.

Around this time last year, Mark visited Scott Campbell on his farm at Kinellar in Aberdeenshire when the rain that had played havoc with his crops. Mark catches up with Scott to find out how the barley has fared this year.

The results of this year’s Big Butterfly Count are out and Rachel and Mark are joined by Apithanny Bourne, Species-rich Grassland Project Officer at Butterfly Conservation Scotland, to find out why butterfly numbers are average despite our sunny summer.

In this week’s midweek podcast extract, Mark heads to RSPB Insh Marshes near Aviemore to meet moth experts Mick Acourt and Pete Moore and to discover the contents of the moth trap they set the night before.

This year marks 50 years of Carriage Driving for the Riding for the Disabled Association. Phil Sime takes a trip to Castle Fraser, near Inverurie to hear from the coaches, volunteers and participants involved in their 50th anniversary event.

A 12-week public consultation on Edinburgh's proposed North-South tramline has begun. One proposed route would see one of the city’s green spaces, the Roseburn Path, turned into a tramway. Mark takes a walk with Save The Roseburn Path’s Euan Baxter to learn about the campaign to protect the path.

Set in a spectacular location in the Highlands, Moniack Mhor is Scotland’s Creative Writing Centre. Rachel joins the Centre’s nature writing course and chats to two published authors Mark Cocker and Karen Lloyd and some of those on the course hoping to learn more about the genre.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

You're dead to me.

0:05.0

No, no, that's the name of our podcast. Sorry.

0:08.7

And we're back for a brand new series.

0:11.1

Not only is it British history, it was a quill drop.

0:15.1

With more fun and facts from history without taking it too seriously.

0:19.8

Empress Matilda, what is she going to do now?

0:21.7

She decides to take back some of the jewels with her.

0:25.0

I'm taking these as well!

0:26.7

I'm going to come back for Tuscany one day as well.

0:29.2

You're dead to me.

0:30.6

Again, not you.

0:32.0

Name of the show.

0:32.8

Listen first on BBC Sounds.

0:35.6

This Scotland Outdoors podcast from BBC Radio Scotland.

0:45.2

Hello and thank you very much for choosing to listen to this.

0:48.1

As you probably know, we do a couple of Scotland Outdoors podcasts every week,

0:51.5

one of which is built from the live programme we do for BBC Radio Scotland Scotland which is called Out of Doors. And this week a real mix we talk the weather, horses and a lovely woolly rug. I had a bit of a wobble last week. I don't mind confessing the fact. I did have a bit of a wobble because there was a terrible night of wind on Wednesday night.

1:13.2

Thursday morning I got up and I thought, oh no, the swallows have gone. They've gone. But they hadn't. I was out last night and the sky was full of them. They're close, though. They're close. He can just tell. And I'll tell you something else. that fire pit is very much becoming a thing again now.

1:29.0

We've kept it on throughout the summer without really needing it. tell. And I'll tell you something else. That fire pit is very much becoming a thing again now.

1:29.1

We've kept it on throughout the summer without really needing it, but we're beginning to need it again now.

1:34.1

I'm Mark Stephen, sitting the other side of said fire pit. Rachel Stewart.

1:37.6

Yeah, it's just a little bit chilly, but actually quite a pleasant morning, so we shouldn't complain.

...

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