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Shropshire

Matt Baker immerses himself in Shropshire Wildlife Trust's Love Your Rivers project. It's a huge conservation operation, involving 12 organisations.

As the birthplace of the industrial revolution, this is a landscape rich in coal and iron. But the legacy of one of the ancient coal shafts is a river that is colourful for all the wrong reasons - it runs bright orange with iron-rich ochre from the rocks below. Matt Baker immerses himself in Shropshire Wildlife Trust's Love Your Rivers project. It's a huge conservation operation, involving 12 organisations and an army of volunteers inspired to give their landscape some TLC.

Ellie Harrison accompanies sniffer-dog Lunar in a search for pine martens. She also meets James Sherwin - a man who set himself a 12-month mission - to cook for a whole year only using ingredients farmed and grown in Shropshire. What started as a small idea, in a pop-up restaurant, has now grown into a countywide venture.

Steve Brown spends the day with Becky Haywood, an artist who combines her love of nature with molten glass.

Adam Henson has a round-up of life on the farm as spring sets in.

55 minutes

Last on

Mon 2 Apr 2018 01:00

Love your river

Love your river

Matt’s getting well and truly stuck in with the Shropshire Wildlife Trust as it attempts to clean up a stream that runs bright orange thanks to iron-rich ochre in the water. 

The award-winning Love Your River Telford project is a huge conservation operation involving an army of volunteers inspired to improve the water quality in eight brooks and streams that flow through the town. 

With Matt's help, they hope to slow the flow of the vivid orange water by creating new meanders and building 'leaky dams'.


Pine marten sniffer dog

Pine marten sniffer dog

Ellie’s taking a woodland walk to track down the elusive pine marten – with the help of a sniffer dog that can smell their poo!

By pawing at suspected pine marten scat (or poo), black Labrador Luna helps expert Stuart Edmunds map their territory while any scat samples found are also DNA-tested to help determine the population’s genetic make-up.

And Stuart’s also got some exciting news for Ellie: his woodland cameras have recently captured footage of pine marten kit – the first evidence of breeding in the woodland!  

Marvellous mud snails

Marvellous mud snails

Steve’s on the trail of a sought-after Scottish celebrity: the Pond Mud Snail!

They may not be one of nature’s glamour species but these tiny molluscs play an important role in our eco-system.

With many of the ponds where they live in-filled or damaged by pollution, there are only a few suitable sites left in Scotland. As a result, the marvellous mud snail is now under threat.

Steve enlists the help of local primary school children to save the mud snail. But will he net one…?

Adam's farm

Adam's farm

This week, Adam’s back on the farm. 

Lambing’s in full swing and, despite the poor weather, many of the first batch are already out in the fields. 

The goat kids are also starting to be born but they - and the lambs - are not the only new arrivals: Adam’s recently taken delivery of a very rare breed of cattle called Albions.

They were once thought to be extinct and, although there’s a long way to go to secure their future, Adams hoping to give them a helping hand.   

Wild cooking

Wild cooking

Ellie’s meeting James Sherwin – a chef who set himself a challenge: to cook only using ingredients sourced, farmed and grown in Shropshire.

James takes Ellie into the countryside to gather ingredients to make a special Shropshire ‘terroir’ dish.

With birch syrup and oak leaf vinegar on the shopping list this is no ordinary meal - and, with some ingredients only being available for four weeks a year, this really is seasonal food!

Best in glass

Best in glass

Steve’s spending the day with Becky Haywood, an artist who looks to the wild for inspiration, combining her love of nature with molten glass.

Becky crafts extraordinarily delicate pieces of art using a skill that first captivated her when visiting a glass-blowing studio as a child.

It’s a technique called ‘flameworking’, melting glass into a hot ‘blob’ before cajoling and coaxing it into shapes – and Becky has agreed to let Steve put her talents to the test.

They’re both fascinated by birds of prey - and Steve wants to see if Becky can immortalise one in glass.

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Matt Baker
Presenter Ellie Harrison
Presenter Steve Brown
Presenter Adam Henson
Presenter Tom Heap
Executive Producer William Lyons
Series Producer Joanna Brame

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