White Hens, Bere Barley and Migrating Toads

Scotland Outdoors

BBC

Nature, Society & Culture, Science

4.7 • 756 Ratings

🗓️ 21 March 2026

⏱️ 84 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Mark meets Gordon Whiteford at his farm in Buckie and finds out why white eggs are making a comeback.

Bere barley is an ancient crop once grown all over the country, but today it’s mostly found in the Highlands and Islands. Scientists are now exploring whether it could thrive more widely again and if different varieties suit different areas. Rachel speaks with Tim George, Director of the International Barley Hub at the James Hutton Institute, to find out more.

Mark visits the Castle Gallery in Inverness to speak to artist Jonathan Shearer about his current exhibition ‘A Life with Trees’ which features a collection of works that reflect Jonathan’s long-standing connection to the natural world.

Mark and Rachel are joined by Keli Tomlin to discuss the Seasonal Wheel of the Year and the joy of Spring.

Every spring, toads migrate to their breeding ponds, often crossing busy roads along the way. Volunteers and park rangers from Historic Environment Scotland, head out early each morning to help them stay safe. Ranger, Matt McCabe and Rachel are on the look out for any toads on the move at Holyrood Park, Edinburgh.

Marcus Cordock chats to head miller Ali Harcus of Barony Mill, the last working watermill in Orkney and the only place on Earth still grinding bere.

Dan Snowdon from RSPB Scotland and Rachel take a walk around the Lochwinnoch Reserve to enjoy the sounds and sights of Spring.

In this week’s podcast excerpt, Helen Needham meets artist Ilana Halperin in Newlands Park, Glasgow and hears all about a very special volcano.

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts.
0:07.0	An early start here. It's time to kick off.
0:10.0	Your day. Morning!
0:11.9	What a line-up.
0:13.3	Oh, thanks very much. We do get some great guests on the show.
0:16.1	The crowd is loving this.
0:18.3	Thanks, guys. Thank you. Too kind.
0:20.2	From morning chaos to match day commentary.
0:23.6	And everything in between.
0:25.0	BBC sounds packed with personality.
0:29.9	This Scotland Outdoors podcast from BBC Radio Scotland.
0:41.3	Hello, thanks very much for choosing to listen to this.
0:44.9	As you know, we build a couple of Scotland outdoors podcasts every week,
0:51.4	one of which is lovingly, brilliantly, beautifully crafted out of the life programme we do for BBC Radio Scotland,
0:52.6	which is called Outdoors.
0:56.6	And this week, a whole host of springtastic delights.
1:04.6	Yesterday I stood in our garden, deafened by birdsong,
1:07.5	watching the butterflies, listening to the drone of the bees,
1:09.0	feeling the warmth of the sun of my back.
2:01.5	Mark my words, I'll be two feet of snow tomorrow. We up to our knees and guaranteed. Good morning, I'm Mark Stephen, sit on the other side of the fire, sniggering. Because she knows it's true, Rachel Stewart. No, please no. I'm just celebrating the fact that spring has sprung and the weather has been amazing. This morning on my drive to work, you claim up a hill in the car, the tire bagger, if you're local. And I was rewarded with the most beautiful red sky. And I thought, this is going to be a lovely day. And yesterday was amazing. Yesterday was summer. Yes, it was. 20 degrees. 20 degrees. 20 degrees, butterflies, bees, just lovely. Yeah, yeah. Trementing the neighbor's neighbour's cat was thinking, like this. What was taming the neighbour's guy? The butterfly. Really? It's desperate to chase after that butterfly. It would be a very short-lived butterfly that tmented our cat. Whap, that would be it, it'd be gone. That would be the end of it, yeah. No, it's been amazing. The weather has been fabulous. Long may it continue.
2:12.1	If you want to get in touch with this and tell us what you're up to this weekend, please do so. We like to hear your stories. You can email us out of doors at BBC.co.uk. And have a wee listen to this. Somebody or something kicking the bucket.
2:21.3	Oh, it's a good one.
	...

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