01/04/2017
Mark Stephen talks to Professor Alan Werritty about planning for the future with floods in mind, plus designer Luise Janniche talks about making apparently indestructible dog beds.
This week on Out of Doors...
The Royal Society of Edinburgh recently held a conference on flooding. They brought together leading UK experts on how best to manage flood risk and how this relates to Scotland. One of those taking part was Emeritus Professor of Physical Geography from Dundee University, Alan Werritty. He speaks to Mark about how we should plan for the future with flooding in mind.
Euan was getting fed up of his dog's constant destruction of her bed when he stumbled across an apparently indestructible one on the internet. He was then surprised to discover that they were being made just ten miles away in rural Aberdeenshire. He met designer, Luise Janniche.
Earlier this year, the citizen science project BeeWatch launched a new interactive website called Planting for Pollinators, offering advice on pollinator friendly plants that are vital for bumblebee survival. We sent Frankie Vaughan to the Cruickshank Botanical Gardens at the University of Aberdeen to hear more about this project from co-ordinators Professor Ren茅 van der Wal and Dr Annie Robinson.
Mark visits the Rosyth boating pond and finds out about its recent transformation into a haven for wildlife.
The Bass Rock which lies just over a mile offshore is home to the world's largest colony of Northern gannets and they have just returned there after wintering as far afield as the west coast of Africa. Alex Turnball, Discovery Centre Manager at the Scottish Seabird Centre in North Berwick tells Mark more about them.
Helen visits the Annual Integrated Land Use Conference run by the University of the Highlands and Islands at Carrbridge. She speaks to Lucy Ford who's a Recreation Ranger at possibly one of the country's top tourism spots, Glenmore Forest Park.
There are 137 miles of canal in Scotland and they have provided inspiration to artist Lesley Banks who is well into her tenure as Scottish Canals Artist in Residence. Mark chats to her about the project and her time spent on the many miles of towpath.
How do you fit in visiting all the places in Scotland you want to see in a week? A team of students at Edinburgh Napier University's Institute of Informatics and Digital Innovation may have come up with a solution. Mark finds out what it is from Professor David Benyon at the Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh.
Since 2013 the Coastal Communities Museum in North Berwick has been run by a team of volunteers after being mothballed by the council. It has a new exhibition for 2017 entitled 'Treasured Memories' which Mark finds out has a link to Robert Louis Stevenson.