Spring Birds, Granny Pines and an Electric Boat

We hear more from Mark’s time with forager Mark Williams. They met up at Wigtown Bay on a rather wet and blustery day and headed along the coast to look for sea radish. Rachel meets up with Rosie Beetschen from Cairngorms Connect and Ross Watson from Forestry Land Scotland to hear all about some of the oldest and most interesting trees, Granny Pines. They take a wander in Glenmore to find a rather impressive specimen. About four years ago, fisherman Hans Unkles took the engine out of his boat, Lorna Jane, and replaced it with an electric motor and batteries. Mark caught up with Hans in Fraserburgh to hear how successful his electric boat has been and whether any other fisherman have been persuaded to copy him. Every week, poet and musician Bobby Motherwell visits RSPB Lochwinnoch to volunteer. He was also poet in residence at the reserve and has written a book all about his time there. Rachel met up with him in one of the hides and heard some of his tales and poems. The Ledge in Inverness is the Highland's largest climbing gym and a National Bouldering and Performance Centre which has been built on the foundations of community, inclusivity and positivity. Phil Sime headed along to hear all about the different activities on offer and push himself out of his comfort zone with a shot at climbing. Recently the RSPB issued new advice around feeding wild birds. The charity wants people to: Feed seasonally. Feed safely. We’re joined live by Ross Hunter from RSPB Scotland to hear what that means practically. Plus a tribute to the late George Skinner, Aberdeenshire Farmer and font of agricultural knowledge. We dip into the archive to share his knowledge on neeps. And in this week’s Scotland Outdoors podcast, Rachel hears the story of Ioana Ticu, an experienced mountaineer who found herself in a situation where she had to call Mountain Rescue at the summit of Ben More. We hear an excerpt of her story.

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Spring Birds, Granny Pines and an Electric Boat is an episode from Scotland Outdoors by BBC.

This episode is 83:46 long.

This episode was published on Apr 25, 2026.

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