Kites, Rivers and Maps

Mark visits the Royal Scottish Geographical Society’s visitor centre, the Fair Maid’s House in Perth. The society has recently received hundreds of photographic slides from nature photographer Lorne Gill which are on display in the centre.

In this week’s Scotland Outdoors podcast, Rachel has been out foraging in the company of expert Janice Clyne. Janice strongly believes that foraging and fermenting can have a really positive impact on our health, and that there’s an amazing amount that plants we usually consider weeds, which could be beneficial.

Mark meets Eliza Coulson at Queen’s Park in Glasgow, a place that really helped her recovery from Lyme Disease. Her experience has encouraged her to campaign for fair access to green spaces in Scotland.

Earlier this week Mark and Rachel were lucky enough to spend a bit of time at Argaty Red Kites near Doune. They spent some time in the hide watching the birds getting fed and chatted to Tom Bowser and ranger Ollie about the magnificent display of kites.

Back at the Royal Scottish Geographical Society in Perth, Mark goes exploring in the aptly named Explorers’ Room. It’s a room where visitors are encouraged to get their hands on the artefacts and even sit at Sir Ernest Shackleton’s desk.

Helen Needham spends some time with Perth based poet Jim C. Mackintosh as they chat about his latest project Long Water Soft Shadows appearing at Perth Festival of the Arts soon.

And as we gear up to cheer on the Scotland men’s team at the World Cup, Mark visits the site of the original Hampden Park as it is awarded protected status from Historic Environment Scotland.