Cranes, Mast Climbing and Skunk Cabbage
Scotland Outdoors
BBC
4.7 • 756 Ratings
🗓️ 9 May 2026
⏱️ 85 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Mark heads to the New Pitsligo area of Aberdeenshire with Hywel Maggs from RSPB Scotland, on the trail of cranes. For a bird that can reach over a metre tall and with a wingspan of double that, they can be rather tricky to spot.
The ranger service in Aberdeen is busy tackling an invasive plant which seems to be a growing problem. Rachel heads to Walker Dam in the city with countryside officer Simon Whitworth to hear all about American Skunk Cabbage.
Claudia Zeiske is a walking artist. Her latest project has involved walking the Ayrshire Coast as a dedication to the geologist Elizabeth Anderson Gray. Mark met her at Girvan beach to hear more about Elizabeth and Claudia’s project.
Every Tuesday, rangers in Moray lead what is known as a health walk in and around Dufftown. Rachel went along to join the group and chat to some of those who were taking part.
Forager Mark Williams shows Mark more of the Galloway coastline and what can be found at this time of year, especially in rock pools.
On Friday 8 May Sir David Attenborough celebrated his 100th birthday. To mark the occasion on Out of Doors, Rachel spoke to producer and director Alastair Fothergill, who has made some of Sir David’s most memorable series with him, including The Blue Planet and Planet Earth. He tells Rachel about the enormous impact Sir David has had on his life and career and some of the memorable moments they’ve shared together.
In this week’s Scotland Outdoors podcast, Helen meets up with listener Marian Burrows-Smith, who got in touch to tell us about a project she works on in Nepal building toilets for remote communities. We hear how Marian, who lives in Nethybridge, got involved.
Rachel is on Calton Hill in Edinburgh to hear about the 50th anniversary of the Architectural Heritage Fund. Trustee Audrey Carlin tells her about what the fund does and the kind of buildings it has supported.
The RRS Discovery has been a popular tourist attraction in Dundee for over 30 years. And now visitors have a chance to experience a part of life onboard that they haven’t before. Never one to shy away from a challenge, Mark went to give it a go - climbing over 80 feet up the historic ship’s foremast, before ziplining back to the Dundee waterfront.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.6 | Your time starts now. |
| 0:07.2 | You're about to listen to a BBC podcast. |
| 0:09.4 | Absolutely right. |
| 0:11.5 | So, you might like to know that the BBC makes loads of other podcasts. |
| 0:15.6 | Really? |
| 0:16.4 | Wow. |
| 0:17.2 | Many of them are very funny. |
| 0:19.1 | Which I think means... |
| 0:20.3 | A hatful of ha-hars. And energy. Even if we do very funny. Which I think means... A hatful of ha haas. |
| 0:21.7 | And energy! |
| 0:22.9 | Even if you do say so ourselves. |
| 0:24.3 | I agree 100% to that. |
| 0:26.7 | Find them all on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:28.6 | Just tell us a joke. Come on. Tell us a joke. |
| 0:30.5 | Tell us a joke. Come on. Tell us a joke. Come on. |
| 0:32.6 | I'm really looking forward to getting stuck in. |
| 0:36.8 | This Scotland Outdoors podcast from BBC Radio Scotland. |
| 0:45.8 | Hello and thanks very much for choosing to listen to this. |
| 0:48.3 | Every week we produce a couple of Scotland outdoors podcasts, |
| 0:51.0 | one of which is lovingly handcrafted from the live program we do for BBC Radio in Scotland, which is called Out of Doors. |
| 0:58.3 | And this week, you must listen to the very end because we feature a dope on a rope. |
... |
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