The Highland Folk Museum, Get On A Bike in Elgin and Fern Restoration in the Highlands

Stephen Rutt is a writer and naturalist based in Dumfries and Galloway and his latest book, The Waterlands, follows a raindrop as it falls to the ground in the Lowther Hills and travels through the landscape to the Firth of Clyde. Mark met him on a suitably wet day at Threave to record a Scotland Outdoors podcast and we hear an excerpt of their chat.

Rachel visits a charity in Moray that offers guided rides for adults who want to start or get back into cycling. Stu Dick and Diane Maciver from Get on a Bike meet her at Elgin’s Cooper Park, where a group are just heading out on a cycle.

On a stony slope in Glen Affric, hopes are high that one of Britain’s rarest ferns can regain a foothold and recover. Mark went to hear about the work of staff from Forestry and Land Scotland and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, who have translocated and planted 250 oblong woodsia (Woodsia ilvensis) on a hillside in the glen.

Mark is at the Highland Folk Museum near Kingussie. He hears about the history of the site which was founded by Dr Isabel F. Grant in 1936 and has grown into one of the area’s most popular tourist attractions. He takes a look around the open-air museum which shows how life changed in the Highlands from the 1700s to the 1900s.

This Sunday, 3rd May, is International Dawn Chorus Day, and next weekend in Sweden, our Swedish radio friends at Sveriges Radio P1, will broadcast their Fågelsångsnatten or Bird song night. Presenter Jenny Berntson Djurvall joins us live to tell us all about the broadcast and what they are expecting to hear.

Mark visits the only dairy farm in Banffshire, Lower Mill of Tynet Farm, which has a 24-hour farm shop, making it the only place between Aberdeen and Inverness that you can get a coffee, a pint of milk and an ice cream out of hours!

A special event is being held later this month to celebrate the life and work of the Bard of Lochwinnoch. Now in her nineties, Betty McKellar has written extensively about nature and the environment in the Muirshiel Glen. Recently Rachel went to have a chat and hear some of her poems.