Unlocking Landscapes – Details, episodes & analysis

In September 2022 I had the privilege of walking through the woods of Enniscoe House in Co. Mayo, Ireland, to the shore of Lough Conn with Seán Lysaght. Seán is a poet and author who has taught me a great deal (through his books and poems) about the nature, landscape and heritage of County Mayo.

We cover a lot of ground and experience all the weathers, with Seán reading one of his poems at the close of the episode. It ends in dramatic fashion, with the rain sweeping in off Lough Conn and making further recording impossible.

You can see more of Seán's work here and see the outline of the episode below. I hope you enjoy!

Recorded on 7th September 2022 at Enniscoe House and Lough Conn

• Woodpeckers arriving in Ireland
• Identify wych elm’s bristly leaves
• Elm trees in Mayo
• 2022 a good year for beech mast
• How vital ivy can be in woodlands
• Ivy is not a parasite
• Beech trees in Ireland, a planted tree of demesnes
• ‘The Big House’ landscape and differences with England
• Definitions of rainforest
• Tutsan and hypericums
• Personal memories of chiffchaff in Kerry, other warblers
• Moving from eradication to control with rhododendron
• Coniferous plantations in Mayo
• The appearance of ‘bog scrub’
• Wild Nephin - Seán’s 2020 book about National Park formerly known as Ballycroy
• New Leaf - Sean’s latest poetry book
• Wild Nephin
• Ballina bookshop: Pangur Bán 
• Lough Conn and views of Nephin
• Flowers found on the shores of Lough Conn
• Bog myrtle’s use as bath oil and its folklore in Ireland
• How wildlife is faring in Nephin’s conifer plantation
• Future management of lodgepole pine and sitka spruce
• Mayo’s dry summer of 2022
• Irish views of natural landscapes
• The role of bogs in preventing climate breakdown
• Bogs as ‘wastelands’
• Cutting turf in peatlands - sustainable practices versus mechanised extraction
• Herons crossing Lough Conn
• Seán’s hopes of seeing a newly-introduced sea eagle on Lough Conn
• Reintroduction of sea eagles, progress in Kerry, West Cork and Co. Clare, and the Shannon

Links:

• Seán's author profile: https://gallerypress.com/authors/g-to-l/sean-lysaght/ 
• Buying Seán's books in the UK: https://www.waterstones.com/books/search/term/sean+lysaght
• Wild Nephin: https://www.mayobooks.ie/Wild-Nephin-Lysaght
• Enniscoe House: https://www.northmayogenealogy.com/enniscoe-house

It's January 2023 and my podcast, Unlocking Landscapes, is 2 years old! Thanks to everyone who has contributed and supported so far.

I do this podcast at my own costs so if you want to support it (it costs a basic £100 annually to host my Podbean account) you can 'buy me a coffee/camomile' here: https://ko-fi.com/djgwild

I haven't posted for a while, mainly for professional and technical reasons. The biggest issue is that I needed to upgrade my ailing desktop PC, which I have now done. It's in much better shape now, so no more IT excuses but hopefully more podcasts.

In September I spent a week in Mayo in Ireland and recorded two podcasts. One is an early evening walk in the Ox Mountains, encountering rickety gates and performing ravens. The second one (still to come) is a walk with Seán Lysaght, which I can't wait to share with you. I've been a big fan of Seán's writing for over a decade, so it was a massive honour to spend an afternoon walking with him. More on that one soon!

In the Ox Mountains I go for a walk, describing the surrounding landscape, capturing two ravens (acoustically) as they fly close by from where the breed in the hills. I also talk a bit about issues with cottages which aren't connected to mains water, amongst many other things.

Here are the reference points:

• The Ox Mountains
• Mayo Dark Skies Park
• The Irish famine
• Irish History Podcast
• American mink
• Fires in Mayo
• Ravens
• Nephin
• Ash dieback disease
• Sphagnum moss
• Croagh Patrick

Thanks for listening!

In this episode of Unlocking Landscapes I speak to photographer Raki Nikahetiya. Raki lives in New Delhi and practices what he terms 'interdisciplinary photography'. His photographic work focuses on documentary, landscape, wildlife and other digital art forms. He is currently working on a project with the University of Barcelona on the subject of... cave paintings and petri dishes!

Raki talks about life in India where agrarian protests are raging and people are coming to terms with the Covid-19 pandemic. He also describes his upbringing in rural Sri Lanka and how that has inspired his work as a photographer and a community conservationist working with indigenous communities in Sri Lanka and Mozambique.

You can follow Raki's work through the links below:

Website: https://www.rakiography.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rakiography/

This is the introduction to the Unlocking Landscapes podcast. This short recording introduces your host for the pod and outlines some of the themes and ideas you should be expect to hear about with the podcast going forward. Thanks for listening!

Unlocking Landscapes is back! In May 2022 I met with author Zoe Gilbert in Ham Street Woods National Nature Reserve on the Kent/Sussex border. Zoe is an award winning writer and she sounds very much at home in the woods. It was a real pleasure to spend the day with her and I'm very grateful for her time.

In March 2022 Zoe published her latest book, Mischief Acts (you can buy it here). The book is inspired by an historic wooded landscape in south London known as the Great North Wood. It's been covered in a couple of other podcasts for Unlocking Landscape so please see the links below. I love the book and as someone who knows parts of the landscape she has focused on, I can say for sure that she has nailed it!

In this episode we cover a lot of ground:

• What inspires Zoe to visit woods and write fiction inspired by them
• Public access to woodlands in the pandemic
• The complications around public perceptions of woodlands
• Mischief in the woods and National Parks
• 'Pics or it didn't happen': The importance not being observed all the time (social media)
• Contiguousness of woodland
• Bison being reintroduced to English woods
• The future of woodlands
• Prioritising the conservation of woodlands in a time of extremes
• The importance of local landscapes

Links to things we mentioned for more info:

• Mischief Acts by Zoe Gilbert
• Folk (Zoe's first book)
• Zoe's website
• Chris Schuler: The Wood that Built London (based on GNW)
• Dulwich Society
• Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• Angela Carter
• Ham Street Woods NNR
• Song thrush
• Blackcap
• Sweet chestnut coppice
• Hornbeam
• Epping Forest
• Dungeness
• Kings Wood
• The Overstory - Richard Powers
• Antisocial behaviour in lockdown
• Reintroduction of bison to England

In May 2021 I walked 8 miles into the Sussex Weald to see if I could hear a cuckoo. The weather was fine and there were loads of birds out, many of them in full song. This is an episode best listened to through headphones so you can hear the birdsong, the wind through the trees and the buzzing of bees in the woodland landscape of the High Weald. It's an immersive episode with a guided walk feel, focusing on listening to the surrounding landscape.

Birds identified here include:

• Goldcrest
• Chiffchaff
• Blackcap
• Willow warbler
• Garden warbler
• Blackbird
• Crow
• Buzzard
• Blue tit
• Coal tit
• Great tit

Please support this podcast by 'buying me a coffee' on Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/djgwild

Thanks for listening and I hope you enjoy the episode.

Relevant podcasts: octopus beech in the Sussex Weald

After a month off this summer, Unlocking Landscapes is back and this time it's outside, with a guest!

In August I met up with Dr. Beth Nicholls at Bedelands Local Nature Reserve in West Sussex. Beth is a researcher on the subject of pollinating insects, with a key focus on bees. She works at the University of Sussex.

We talk about:

• what inspired Beth to become a "bee doctor"
• the hairiness of bees (but not wasps)
• educating people about the importance of all pollinators
• issues around honeybees (and Asian hornets) in the UK
• why wasps are important, how bee-washing is employed by the corporate world
• and the need to change how pesticides are used in the UK

Thanks for tuning in and I hope you enjoy the episode.

Links:

Beth on Twitter: https://twitter.com/BethBees

Beth's research at the University of Sussex (SE England): https://www.sussex.ac.uk/research/labs/nicholls-lab/research

HUNGARY AND ROMANIA BY TRAIN: PART ONE

In this episode I’m joined by someone you’ve never heard of, my good friend Eddie Chapman. 

Eddie is a devoted rambler and part-time rapper who lives in Glasgow, Scotland.

Eddie grew up in the Derbyshire town of Chesterfield and developed a love for the landscape through hiking in the nearby Peak District. 

He now spends his walking time bagging munros in the Scottish Highlands.

This is part one of two episodes covering a trip Eddie and I undertook across Hungary and Romania in 2015. In part one we recount our travels through the Great Hungarian Plain, en route to the Romanian Carpathians. 

It’s a light-hearted episode with recollections of unusual experiences, including owl-headed body-builders, fire water and rural sports bars. 

All this was experienced as we walked the Great Plain and fumbled our way through Europe by train.

We saw some incredible wildlife in one of Europe’s most important landscapes - the Great Hungarian Plain - and would definitely recommend it if you’re into birds. But do listen to what we did wrong!

On that note, the episode contains an important safety message: don’t take risks out on the water and always bring safety equipment with you. Don’t make the same stupid mistakes that we did if you visit the River Tisza!

Thanks for tuning in and we hope you enjoy the episode as much as we did.

Links:

Eddie's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spagheddielegs/

Blog post about this trip (2015): https://danieljamesgreenwood.com/2015/07/13/photography-the-great-hungarian-plain/

Hortobagy National Park: http://national-park.hungaryguide.info/hortobagy-puszta.html

Unlocking Landscapes Twitter: https://twitter.com/UnlockLand

Advice on European train travel: https://www.seat61.com/

In this episode, I am delighted to welcome Chantelle Lindsay and Sam Bentley-Toon. Chantelle and Sam are environmental professionals who worked together on London Wildlife Trust’s Great North Wood project.

Chantelle and Sam share their experiences of protecting and managing south London’s ancient woodlands. They talk about their passion for volunteering and some of the challenges that woodland conservation in London involves.

We also discuss rewilding in a London context and whether beavers could possibly be returning to London.

Since recording this podcast, Sam has moved on to work on London’s rivers and Chantelle has become a minor-celebrity with her brilliant appearances on Blue Peter and a Great North Wood-focused segment on BBC’s Springwatch.

People like Sam and Chantelle are lesser known in the conservation world, but they are having big impacts at a community level. Their contribution to our understanding and enjoyment of landscapes is really special and should not be underestimated. Of course, you can say the same for many people the world over, and just it’s such a pleasure to be able to feature people like Chantelle and Sam on this podcast.

Thanks for tuning in and I hope you enjoy the episode.

Links:

Chantelle on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Chan_Naturelle

London Wildlife Trust's Great North Wood Project: https://www.wildlondon.org.uk/great-north-wood

London Wildlife Trust's Keeping It Wild Project: https://www.wildlondon.org.uk/keeping-it-wild

Chris Schuler's Great North Wood episode: https://unlockinglandscapes.podbean.com/e/the-wood-that-built-london-londons-historic-great-north-wood-with-chris-schuler/

This is the second part of two episodes with author Julian Hoffman. The first episode was about living with pelicans and bears in northern Greece, where Julian lives. 

Julian has published two books of non-fiction with a strong focus on landscapes, wildlife and heritage. In 2012 Julian’s debut book The Small Heart of Things was published, and in 2019 it was followed by Irreplaceable: The Fight to Save Our Wild Places. 

We pick up right where we left off in episode one, with a question to Julian about his experiences of getting to know local people and telling their stories through his writing.

We get into some pretty deep topics in this episode including:

• How the mathematics of life mean you can only connect with a handful of places in a meaningful way
• The poverty of language around ‘brownfields’
• Convincing politicians to pretend they’re jumping spiders!
• Life-altering experiences in the North Kent Marshes
• Oliver Rackham and the loss of meaning in the landscape
• The importance of local green spaces in the pandemic and beyond

Massive thank you to Julian for his time and consideration in putting these two episodes together. Please support Julian by purchasing his book and following him on social media. Hope you enjoy!

Links

Julian Hoffman: https://julian-hoffman.com/

Irreplaceable: https://julian-hoffman.com/irreplaceable/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JulianHoffman

Save Swanscombe Marshes: https://www.buglife.org.uk/campaigns/save-swanscombe-marshes/

Unlocking Landscapes Twitter: https://twitter.com/UnlockLand

Homepage: https://www.unlockinglandscapes.com/ 

Daniel's Twitter: https://twitter.com/djgwild

Intro music by Daniel Greenwood: https://danieljamesgreenwood.bandcamp.com/track/eva