Podcast appearances and mentions of Bristol Channel

  GB2RS News Sunday, the 6th of April 2025   The news headlines: Last chance to submit your question ahead of Saturday's RSGB AGM Tom Wardill, 2E0JJI has been appointed as RSGB Maker Champion Reduced exam slots over Easter weekend The RSGB 2025 AGM is taking place at 10 am next Saturday, the 12th of April. The Society is encouraging RSGB members to take the time to vote for the two resolutions that need your approval. During the AGM, Board members will be answering your questions. Whether your question is about the RSGB, the Board, any of the RSGB services or even the future of amateur radio, your contribution to the discussion is important. Priority is given to questions submitted live by Zoom or by the Society's web form, so get in touch now rather than waiting for the live chat option on the day. The Zoom question deadline is 9 am on Monday, the 7th of April, and the deadline for submitting a written question is when voting ends at 0900 on Thursday, the 10th of April. Following the formal business of the AGM, the RSGB is delighted that RSGB President John McCullagh, GI4BWM will be sharing his review of 2024. There will also be announcements of trophies and awards, the construction competition results, as well as a presentation about the Society's strategy, which will be led by Board Director Mark Jones, G0MGX. There will be contributions from Board Director Ben Lloyd, GW4BML; Spectrum Forum Chair Murray Niman, G6JYB; and Bob Beebe, GU4YOX who at that point will be the new RSGB President. Make sure you don't miss out by putting the date in your diary now. Go to rsgb.org/agm  to find further information. The RSGB is pleased to announce that Tom Wardill, 2E0JJI has been appointed as the RSGB Maker Champion. In his role, Tom will assist the RSGB to take amateur radio to new audiences in the hackspace and makerspace communities. Tom will also investigate opportunities to encourage crossover in both directions, offering new areas of experimentation to more traditional license holders. If you have any ideas you'd like to discuss with Tom or would like to congratulate him on his appointment, please email him via maker.champion@rsgb.org.uk A reminder that the RSGB remote invigilation team will be taking a break over the Easter weekend. You will be able to book to take an exam on Friday, the 18th and Saturday, the 19th of April; however, no exam slots will be available on Sunday, the 20th or Monda,y the 21st of April. Exam bookings will resume as normal after that. The next webinar in the RSGB's Tonight@8 series will be live tomorrow, Monday the 7th of April. Nick Wood, M0NTV will show you how to use a regular glue stick housing in a rather novel way to form the basis of a variable tuning inductor in a homemade 40m receiver. Nick has a lifelong fascination with radio and electronics, and an insatiable curiosity to discover how things work. His passion is for designing and building his own radio equipment, particularly SSB transceivers, and he has just completed his sixth. Visit rsgb.org/webinars  to find out more. Join the presentation live on the RSGB YouTube channel or special BATC channel and ask questions via the live chat. The GB3WR VHF Repeater, located on the Mendip Hills in Somerset, was switched back on at 12:30 pm on the 16th of March 2025. The Group is delighted to report that it is working as well as before. It covers a wide area of the South West, and the Bristol Channel area. Amateur stations are regularly heard from the south of the Midlands, South Wales and as far south as Swanage and Basingstoke to the east. The Mendip Repeater Group would like to express its thanks for the generosity of all who have made it possible to put GB3WR back on the air. Find out more via gb3wr.uk One of the GB2RS newsreaders is retiring from reading the news ahead of his upcoming 101st birthday this Saturday, the 12th of April. Peter Valentine, G0NQZ from Eastbourne, remains an active radio amateur and operates daily, as well as taking part in regular nets such as ISWL and RAOTA. The Society would like to thank Peter for his dedication to GB2RS and wishes him a very happy 101st birthday! Please send details of all your news and events to radcom@rsgb.org.uk. The deadline for submissions is 10 am on Thursdays before the Sunday broadcast each week. And now for details of rallies and events The Yeovil Amateur Radio Club QRP Convention is taking place on Saturday, the 12th of April at Digby Hall in Sherborne. Doors open at 9.30 am. The convention will include traders, bring and buy, club stalls and a café. For more information, please visit the club's website via yeovil-arc.com The Holsworthy ARC Spring Radio Rally is taking place on Sunday, the 13th of April at the Holsworthy Livestock Market, New Market Road, Holsworthy, Devon, EX22 7FA. There will be traders and a bring-and-buy. Catering will be available. Doors open to traders from 8 am and to the public from 10 am. Entry costs £3 per person. The venue has disabled access. Also taking place on Sunday, the 13th of April, is the Northern Amateur Radio Societies Association Exhibition, or NARSA for short. It is also known as the Blackpool Rally. The event will take place at Norbreck Castle Exhibition Centre, Blackpool, FY2 9AA. For further details, please go to narsa.org.uk  or contact Dave, M0OBW, on 07720 656542, or via email using dwilson@btinternet.com Now the Special Event news The Royal Air Force Amateur Radio Society, also known as RAFARS, has started its popular Airfields On The Air event. RAF Stations are active this weekend as well as on the 12th and 13th of April. More information can be found via rafars.org/rafaota The Polish Amateur Radio Union is celebrating 95 years since its founding, as well as the centenary of the International Amateur Radio Union. To mark the occasion, ten special event stations will be active between the 11th and the 25th of April. Full details of the event, as well as available awards, can be found via Hamaward.cloud Now the DX news The Toshiba Fuchu Amateur Radio Club, JA1YVT, is celebrating its 60th anniversary and, as part of the celebration, team members are staging a DXpedition to the Ogasawara Islands. They will be QRV as JA1YVT/JD1 until Thursday, the 10th of April. The operating schedule, frequencies and QSL information are available via QRZ.com DA1DX, DK9IP, DM6EE and DL8LAS will be active from Anegada Island in the British Virgin Islands as VP2VI from the 10th to the 27th of April. Full details via QRZ.com Now the contest news The FT4 International Activity Day started at 12:00 UTC on Saturday, the 5th of April and ends at 12:00 UTC today, Sunday, the 6th of April. Using FT4 on the 160 to 10m bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is your report. The SP DX Contest started at 1500 UTC on Saturday, the 5th of April and ends at 1500 UTC today, Sunday, the 6th of April. Using CW and SSB on the 160 to 10m bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report and serial number. SP stations also send their province code. Today, Sunday the 6th of April, the UK Microwave Group Low Band Contest runs from 1000 to 1600 UTC. Using all modes on 1.3 to 3.4GHz frequencies, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Also today, Sunday the 6th of April, the Worked All Britain Data Contest runs from 1000UTC to 1400UTC and from 1700 to 2100UTC. Using FT8, FT4, JS8, RTTY and PSK on the 80, 40 and 20m bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number, and your Worked All Britain square. Club and multi-operator stations can only score points in one of the two operating periods. Entries need to be with the contest manager by the 17th of April. The full rules are available on the Worked All Britain website. On Monday, the 7th of April, the IRTS 70cm Counties Contest runs from 1300 to 13:30 UTC. Using FM and SSB on the 70cm band, the exchange is signal report and serial number. EI and GI stations also send their country. Also on Monday, the 7th of April, the IRTS 2m Counties Contest runs from 1330 to 1500 UTC. Using FM and SSB on the 2m band, the exchange is signal report and serial number. EI and GI stations also send their country. On Monday, the 7th of April, the 80m Club Championship runs from 1900 to 2030 UTC. Using CW on the 80m band, the exchange is signal report and serial number. On Tuesday, the 8th of April, the 432MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1800 to 1855 UTC. Using FM on the 70cm band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Also on Tuesday, the 8th of April, the 432MHz UK Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2130 UTC. Using all modes on the 70cm band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Wednesday, the 9th of April, the 432MHz FT8 Activity four-hour Contest runs from 1700 to 2100 UTC. Using FT8 on the 70m band, the exchange is a report and four-character locator. Also on Wednesday, the 9th of April, the 432MHz FT8 Activity two-hour Contest runs from 1900 to 2100 UTC. Using FT8 on the 70cm band, the exchange is a report and a four-character locator. Stations entering the four-hour contest may also enter the two-hour contest. On Thursday, the 10th of April, the 50MHz UK Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2130 UTC. Using all modes on the 6m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.   Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Thursday the 3rd of April 2025 We had a week of mixed solar conditions, but it ended with an SFI of 182 and a Kp of 3.67 on Thursday, the 3rd of April.   The geomagnetic field declined to quieter levels following a prolonged period of active, Kp4 conditions earlier on Wednesday due to solar wind enhancements. This impacted propagation, with the critical frequency struggling to get much above 7 MHz on Wednesday. Compare this with the following day, when the critical frequency hit 10.4MHz by 0830 UTC. Nevertheless, there was DX to be worked on Wednesday with FT8 allowing signals from Australia, Japan, Indonesia, China, and Surinam to get into the UK on 21MHz. The solar proton flux was also high on Tuesday, the 1st of April, affecting signals passing through the polar regions, but this had declined by Thursday and was heading back to normal levels. This was due to a large CME observed off the east limb of the Sun on Frida,y the 28th of March. If it had been Earth-directed, we may have seen a massive aurora. Next week, NOAA predicts that the solar flux index will stay in the 175-185 region. A Kp of six was forecast for yesterday, Saturday the 5th of April, followed by a further period of unsettled geomagnetic conditions due to an enhanced solar wind. If this is the case, we may not get more settled conditions until the 14th to the 16th of April. Nevertheless, this remains a good time for North-South HF paths, such as the UK to South Africa, and UK to South America. And now the VHF and up propagation news from G3YLA and G4BAO The old forecasting maxim that the ‘longer a high lasts, the longer it will last' is built upon the presence of blocked upper air weather patterns. When the jet stream gets so distorted into a high-amplitude north/south wave, its lateral movement, from west to east, becomes very slow. On the upper air charts, this takes the shape of the Greek letter omega, and this is the current set-up. It means that the weather associated with it also lasts a long time. In this case, it's the high pressure and its spell of fine weather that is likely to last for the whole of the coming week. The position of the high will change, though, starting over the North Sea and ending over the UK and the nearby Atlantic. This means that Tropo will be the mode of choice for the coming period, which includes the 70cm UK Activity Contest on Tuesday and the 6m UK Activity Contest on Thursday. Rain scatter is unlikely during this extended period of dry weather. The meteor scatter options are still mainly driven by random meteors for the coming period into next week, but the next important shower, the Lyrids, peaks on the 22nd of April. The auroral alerts continue to come through, raising interest. As usual, the clue will be fluttery-sounding signals on the bands, particularly noticeable on CW, but they can also be pronounced on speech transmissions. Monitor the Kp index for values above Kp5. There have been a few trans-equatorial openings to Southern Africa on 50MHz digital modes for the fortunate few who live in the extreme south and southwest of the UK, but it did extend up to Cambridgeshire and Suffolk briefly on some days last week. The long drought of Sporadic-E will soon be over, but we're still in the realms of very isolated events for 10m and 6m, which will be short-lasting. The jet stream, which can be a good clue as to potential locations, suggests looking to Scandinavia, the Baltic and northern Europe. EME path losses are falling again, but Moon declination has been at its highest this weekend, so we have long Moon windows. 144MHz sky noise is low throughout the coming week. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

Felicity Beckett talks to director Charlotte Sawyer about Rave On For The Avon, a new film coming to Picturehouse Green Screen. Rave On For The Avon is a feature-length documentary film that follows campaigners and river lovers across a year and a half, charting their highs, their lows, their love and loss.   The film features a bunch of eclectic characters including, Lindsey a mermaid who is the first to cross the Bristol Channel towing a giant poo, Meg who marries the river and the Conham Bathing group, who have taken testing the river water into their own hands.   All set to a Bristol sound featuring artists such as Elder Island, Ngaio and Maz McNamara Rave On For The Avon is an unforgettable look at the spark that makes our region tick. If you'd like to send us a voice memo for use in a future episode, please email podcast@picturehouses.co.uk. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts. Follow us on Spotify. Find us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram with @picturehouses. Find our latest cinema listings at picturehouses.com.  Produced by Stripped Media. Thank you for listening. If you enjoy the show, please subscribe, rate, review and share with your friends. Vive le Cinema.

There's a row about a new Land Management Group for Dartmoor. There's been a lot of controversy about the state of the environment and grazing sheep there. The new group's been set up to bring together farmers, commoners and environmental groups to sort out the problems. The government's appointed Phil Stocker as the independent chair, but conservationists say he shouldn't have been given the job as he's also CEO of the National Sheep Association. We speak to Dartmoor Nature Alliance about their concerns. We ask Phil Stocker about his new role, and also about the state of sheep farming in the UK. Farmers in North Somerset say plans to create saltmarshes to offset the environmental impact of a new power station would be disastrous for their homes and livelihoods. Energy giant EDF is building a nuclear power plant - Hinkley Point C - on the Bristol Channel. To offset the number of fish that'll be killed when it's up and running, EDF is looking to create saltmarshes along the River Severn. It needs more than 800 acres and is considering the compulsory purchase of agricultural land.Presenter = Caz Graham Producer = Rebecca Rooney

fWotD Episode 2710: River Parrett Welcome to Featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia’s finest articles.The featured article for Saturday, 5 October 2024 is River Parrett.The River Parrett flows through the counties of Dorset and Somerset in South West England, from its source in the Thorney Mills springs in the hills around Chedington in Dorset. Flowing northwest through Somerset and the Somerset Levels to its mouth at Burnham-on-Sea, into the Bridgwater Bay nature reserve on the Bristol Channel, the Parrett and its tributaries drain an area of 660 square miles (1,700 km2) – about 50 per cent of Somerset's land area, with a population of 300,000.The Parrett's main tributaries include the Rivers Tone, Isle, and Yeo, and the River Cary via the King's Sedgemoor Drain. The 37-mile (60 km) long river is tidal for 19 miles (31 km) up to Oath. The fall of the river between Langport and Bridgwater is only 1 foot per mile (0.2 m/km), so it is prone to frequent flooding in winter and during high tides. Many approaches have been tried since at least the medieval period to reduce the incidence and effect of floods and to drain the surrounding fields.In Anglo-Saxon times the river formed a boundary between Wessex and Dumnonia. It later served the Port of Bridgwater, and enabled cargoes to be transported inland. The arrival of the railways led to a decline in commercial shipping, and the only working docks are at Dunball. Human influence on the river has left a legacy of bridges and industrial artefacts. The Parrett along with its connected waterways and network of drains supports an ecosystem that includes several rare species of flora and fauna. The River Parrett Trail has been established along the banks of the river.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:30 UTC on Saturday, 5 October 2024.For the full current version of the article, see River Parrett on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm neural Ivy.

Ben Errington is joined by Jim Wheale and Sophie Shaw, the creative minds behind Stormjar Studio's immersive horror story, The Static Sea!The Static Sea is a twisted ghost story that combines forgotten World War One history, the birth of radio and the ghosts of Flat Holm Island. The horror-mystery experience focuses on a fictional radio engineer from the 1920s who served as a trench radio operator during WW1.The live show will take place on Flat Holm Island in the Bristol Channel on Saturday 14th September!https://campsite.bio/stormjarstudioPodcast - https://fanlink.tv/horrorhangoutPatreon - https://www.patreon.com/horrorhangoutFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/horrorhangoutpodcastX - https://x.com/horror_hangout_TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@horrorhangoutpodcastInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/horrorhangoutpodcastWebsite - http://www.hawkandcleaver.com​​​Ben - https://x.com/ben_errington​​​Jim - https://www.instagram.com/thewhealejamesSophie - https://www.instagram.com/sophie.aliciaAudio credit - Taj Eastonhttp://tajeaston.comSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/thehorrorhangout. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A medieval countess swoons over tales of courtly love. Georgian families amuse themselves by playing ‘bullet pudding'. Victorian writers do their best to crack down on saucy party games. And on a windswept island in the Bristol Channel, radio is born… A Noiser production, written by Nicole Edmunds. For ad-free listening, exclusive content and early access to new episodes, join Noiser+. Click the Noiser+ banner to get started with a 7-day free trial. Or, if you're on Spotify or Android, go to noiser.com/subscriptions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the brightest and boldest of Saturday Lives as fashion-designer Dame Zandra Rhodes arrives. Perhaps as famous as the garments which have adorned the likes of Princess Diana and Freddie Mercury as she is for her neon-pink hair - She has now published her memoir through the prism of 50 of her most precious items.Matt Forde has, I think it's safe to say, had a tough year health-wise, he'll explain how he's still able to see the funny side of life – and take inspiration from Taylor Swift as he heads back out on tour for the first time since his cancer treatment. Anyone who dreams of living on a deserted island needs to hear the story of Simon Parker. His island is in the Bristol Channel, it's owned by the local council, and it used to be home to Vikings and cholera victims. Simon will tell us why he has chosen to call Flat Home “home”. All that, plus the Inheritance Tracks of the musical power couple, Carrie and David Grant. Presenters: Jon Kay and Kiri Pritchard-McLean Producer: Ben Mitchell

Ever wanted learn more about the dark arts of long-distance Channel swimming?  In Swim Roots Episode 3, we sit down with the Guinness world record holding, channel swimming legend that is Tom Chapman. Hosts Bryce and Nick dive into the secrets and mindset of a man who has multiple channel swims under his belt in both the English, North, and Bristol Channel, and discuss everything from success to failure, budgie smuggling, channel swimming politics, how to eat during 16hr swims, and 3D bum-propellors!

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the North African privateers who, until their demise in the nineteenth century, were a source of great pride and wealth in their home ports, where they sold the people and goods they'd seized from Christian European ships and coastal towns. Nominally, these corsairs were from Algiers, Tunis or Tripoli, outreaches of the Ottoman empire, or Salé in neighbouring Morocco, but often their Turkish or Arabic names concealed their European birth. Murad Reis the Younger, for example, who sacked Baltimore in 1631, was the Dutchman Jan Janszoon who also had a base on Lundy in the Bristol Channel. While the European crowns negotiated treaties to try to manage relations with the corsairs, they commonly viewed these sailors as pirates who were barely tolerated and, as soon as France, Britain, Spain and later America developed enough sea power, their ships and bases were destroyed. WithJoanna Nolan Research Associate at SOAS, University of LondonClaire Norton Former Associate Professor of History at St Mary's University, TwickenhamAnd Michael Talbot Associate Professor in the History of the Ottoman Empire and the Modern Middle East at the University of GreenwichProducer: Simon Tillotson Reading list:Robert C. Davis, Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters: White Slavery in the Mediterranean, the Barbary Coast and Italy, 1500-1800 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004)Peter Earle, Corsairs of Malta and Barbary (Sidgwick and Jackson, 1970) Des Ekin, The Stolen Village: Baltimore and the Barbary Pirates (O'Brien Press, 2008)Jacques Heers, The Barbary Corsairs: Warfare in the Mediterranean, 1450-1580 (Skyhorse Publishing, 2018)Colin Heywood, The Ottoman World: The Mediterranean and North Africa, 1660-1760 (Routledge, 2019)Alan Jamieson, Lords of the Sea: A History of the Barbary Corsairs (Reaktion Books, 2013)Julie Kalman, The Kings of Algiers: How Two Jewish Families Shaped the Mediterranean World during the Napoleonic Wars and Beyond (Princeton University Press, 2023)Stanley Lane-Poole, The Story of the Barbary Corsairs (T. Unwin, 1890)Sally Magnusson, The Sealwoman's Gift (A novel - Two Roads, 2018)Philip Mansel, Levant: Splendour and Catastrophe on the Mediterranean (John Murray, 2010)Nabil Matar, Turks, Moors and Englishmen in the Age of Discovery (Columbia University Press, 1999)Nabil Matar, Britain and Barbary, 1589-1689 (University Press of Florida, 2005)Giles Milton, White Gold: The Extraordinary Story of Thomas Pellow and North Africa's One Million European Slaves (Hodder and Stoughton, 2004)Claire Norton (ed.), Conversion and Islam in the Early Modern Mediterranean: The Lure of the Other (Routledge, 2017)Claire Norton, ‘Lust, Greed, Torture and Identity: Narrations of Conversion and the Creation of the Early Modern 'Renegade' (Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East 29/2, 2009) Daniel Panzac, The Barbary Corsairs: The End of a Legend, 1800-1820 (Brill, 2005)Rafael Sabatini, The Sea Hawk (a novel - Vintage Books, 2011)Adrian Tinniswood, Pirates of Barbary: Corsairs, Conquests and Captivity in the 17th century (Vintage Books, 2010)D. Vitkus (ed.), Piracy, Slavery and Redemption: Barbary Captivity Narratives from Early Modern England (Columbia University Press, 2001)J. M. White, Piracy and Law in the Ottoman Mediterranean (Stanford University Press, 2018)

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the North African privateers who, until their demise in the nineteenth century, were a source of great pride and wealth in their home ports, where they sold the people and goods they'd seized from Christian European ships and coastal towns. Nominally, these corsairs were from Algiers, Tunis or Tripoli, outreaches of the Ottoman empire, or Salé in neighbouring Morocco, but often their Turkish or Arabic names concealed their European birth. Murad Reis the Younger, for example, who sacked Baltimore in 1631, was the Dutchman Jan Janszoon who also had a base on Lundy in the Bristol Channel. While the European crowns negotiated treaties to try to manage relations with the corsairs, they commonly viewed these sailors as pirates who were barely tolerated and, as soon as France, Britain, Spain and later America developed enough sea power, their ships and bases were destroyed. WithJoanna Nolan Research Associate at SOAS, University of LondonClaire Norton Former Associate Professor of History at St Mary's University, TwickenhamAnd Michael Talbot Associate Professor in the History of the Ottoman Empire and the Modern Middle East at the University of GreenwichProducer: Simon Tillotson Reading list:Robert C. Davis, Christian Slaves, Muslim Masters: White Slavery in the Mediterranean, the Barbary Coast and Italy, 1500-1800 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004)Peter Earle, Corsairs of Malta and Barbary (Sidgwick and Jackson, 1970) Des Ekin, The Stolen Village: Baltimore and the Barbary Pirates (O'Brien Press, 2008)Jacques Heers, The Barbary Corsairs: Warfare in the Mediterranean, 1450-1580 (Skyhorse Publishing, 2018)Colin Heywood, The Ottoman World: The Mediterranean and North Africa, 1660-1760 (Routledge, 2019)Alan Jamieson, Lords of the Sea: A History of the Barbary Corsairs (Reaktion Books, 2013)Julie Kalman, The Kings of Algiers: How Two Jewish Families Shaped the Mediterranean World during the Napoleonic Wars and Beyond (Princeton University Press, 2023)Stanley Lane-Poole, The Story of the Barbary Corsairs (T. Unwin, 1890)Sally Magnusson, The Sealwoman's Gift (A novel - Two Roads, 2018)Philip Mansel, Levant: Splendour and Catastrophe on the Mediterranean (John Murray, 2010)Nabil Matar, Turks, Moors and Englishmen in the Age of Discovery (Columbia University Press, 1999)Nabil Matar, Britain and Barbary, 1589-1689 (University Press of Florida, 2005)Giles Milton, White Gold: The Extraordinary Story of Thomas Pellow and North Africa's One Million European Slaves (Hodder and Stoughton, 2004)Claire Norton (ed.), Conversion and Islam in the Early Modern Mediterranean: The Lure of the Other (Routledge, 2017)Claire Norton, ‘Lust, Greed, Torture and Identity: Narrations of Conversion and the Creation of the Early Modern 'Renegade' (Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East 29/2, 2009) Daniel Panzac, The Barbary Corsairs: The End of a Legend, 1800-1820 (Brill, 2005)Rafael Sabatini, The Sea Hawk (a novel - Vintage Books, 2011)Adrian Tinniswood, Pirates of Barbary: Corsairs, Conquests and Captivity in the 17th century (Vintage Books, 2010)D. Vitkus (ed.), Piracy, Slavery and Redemption: Barbary Captivity Narratives from Early Modern England (Columbia University Press, 2001)J. M. White, Piracy and Law in the Ottoman Mediterranean (Stanford University Press, 2018)

In this episode of Nature In A Nutshell, we discuss the importance of soils in light of World Soils Day on 5th December with guest speaker Bruce Lascelles, the launch of COP28 and the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy consultation.We also cover the positive news that seabird numbers are soaring in Lundy Island in the Bristol Channel.Nature In A Nutshell is brought to you by the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (CIEEM). We are the leading professional membership body representing and supporting ecologists and environmental managers in the UK, Ireland and abroad.Visit our website: https://cieem.net/Show notes:World Soil Day: https://www.un.org/en/observances/world-soil-dayCOP28: https://www.cop28.com/Seabird numbers on Lundy island: https://www.positive.news/society/good-news-stories-from-week-47-of-2023/ and https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/oct/11/number-of-nesting-seabirds-on-island-of-lundy-at-nine-decade-high Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A new report by Buglife has found that half of the UK's most special species are at risk of global extinction. The report brings together knowledge on twenty invertebrate species which are endemic to Great Britain. Endemic species are those which are only found in Britain, and nowhere else in the world - they are the crown jewels of our biodiversity. They are species that we have an international responsibility to look after, to ensure that future generations can enjoy them. The twenty special species include the Celtic Woodlouse (Metatrichoniscoides celticus) which is only found in Wales and the West of England, the Lundy Cabbage Flea Beetle (Psylliodes luridipennis) particular to Lundy Island in the Bristol Channel, and the Manx Shearwater Flea (Ceratophyllus fionnus) - which lives in the burrows of Manx Shearwater on the Island of Rum in Scotland. Worryingly, the review has found that over half of Britain's endemics are threatened with global extinction, and some may have already been lost forever. The Ivell's Sea Anemone (Edwardsia ivell) - an animal that inhabits coastal lagoons - has not been seen since 1983 and so may already be extinct. Across the country, planning developments threaten to destroy some of the last known habitats for species such as Fonseca's Seed Fly (Botanophila fonsecai), threatened by a golf course development in Scotland, or the Horrid Ground-weaver Spider (Nothophantes horridus), threatened by a housing development in Plymouth. Urgent action is required to prevent our endemic species from being lost forever. Further research and monitoring is needed to determine how and where these species survive. Many are so poorly known that we don't even have a photo of them. It is also vital that the important places for our threatened endemics are properly protected. The current protected area network doesn't sufficiently cover our most threatened species and many protected areas aren't managed with these special species in mind. Craig Macadam, Conservation Director at Buglife, and author of the report, said "Our report highlights some of Britain's lesser known wildlife. The high proportion of these special species at risk of extinction is really shocking. Extinction is forever, there is no turning back. The UK has an international responsibility to prevent the extinction of our endemic species. See more breaking stories here.

Welcome aboard to a captivating journey through time on today's episode. Join us as we delve into the annals of one of the most iconic railway networks – the Great Western Railway. Unravelling its rich history, we'll explore how this engineering marvel transformed communities and landscapes, forging connections that have stood the test of time. From the remarkable feats of engineering that birthed this railway titan to the tales of courage, determination and tragedies by individuals who made it all possible, our guest, author and historian Robin Wichard, takes us on an enthralling ride. But that's not all – brace yourselves for some accounts of the supernatural, as we venture into the mysteries that enshroud the Great Western Railway's past. So, whether you're a history enthusiast or simply seeking a nostalgic journey through picturesque landscapes, hop aboard our railway time machine as we uncover stories that have been preserved along this true country branch line of the old Great Western Railway. All aboard for a captivating expedition into the heart of railway heritage! My Special Guest is Robin Wichard Robin Wichard has worked as a teacher of history for over 30 years and now retired works in various capacities on the West Somerset Railway - Britain's longest preserved heritage railway. He has written a number of books from school resource books to texts on Victorian Photography and Re-living the 1940s. The West Somerset Railway Dating back to its construction, this railway behemoth carved its path through the picturesque countryside, connecting ten unique stations across a twenty-mile scenic journey. The legacy of historic steam locomotives, charming coaches, and steadfast wagons comes alive, echoing tales of an era long past. The intricate architecture of these stations, each a testament to a rich industrial heritage, traverse through the Quantock hills, Exmoor, and idyllic villages nestled in leafy lanes offering glimpses into unspoiled landscapes. Behold the breathtaking vistas of the Bristol Channel and distant South-Wales, with the confident spires of churches and the imposing presence of Dunster Castle. Isambard Brunel At the centre of the Great Western Railway's history is the visionary figure of Isambard Kingdom Brunel. A turning point came when a collective of West Somerset landowners sought Brunel's expertise to transform a concept into reality – the West Somerset Railway, a link connecting Watchet, a historic harbor town, to the region and beyond. The area's wealth of quarries necessitated a means of efficient transportation, and though a railway already existed in the form of the West Somerset Mineral Line, the connection to the Bristol and Exeter Railway was seen as vital. The railway eventually opened in 1862, three years after Brunel's passing. His indelible influence endures in the heritage line that stands today, the longest of its kind in England. In this episode, you will be able to:  1. Uncover some of the history, significance and social impact that the West Somerset Railway had. 2. Explore aspects of life on the railway and in the communities nearby. 3. Discover some of the paranormal reports and ghost lore attached to the line. 4. Examine the role the railway played during WWII and hear more about an upcoming immersive event. If you value this podcast and want to enjoy more episodes please come and find us on⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/Haunted_History_Chronicles⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to support the podcast, gain a wealth of additional exclusive podcasts, writing and other content. Links to all Haunted History Chronicles Social Media Pages, Published Materials and more:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://linktr.ee/hauntedhistorychronicles⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Guest Links: Website for WSR including upcoming events: ⁠ https://www.west-somerset-railway.co.uk/events ⁠⁠⁠ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/hauntedchronicles/message

GB2RS News Sunday the 20th of August 2023 The news headlines: National Coding Week G5RP Trophy nominations RSGB 2023 Convention   National Coding Week is taking place from the 14th of September, but the RSGB is dedicating the whole of September to amateur radio and coding activities. This is a great way to try something new, extend your skills or share your knowledge with your local club, school or community group. You can find out more on the RSGB's coding page at rsgb.org/coding  and, if you would like to get involved, please contact ESRG member John Hislop, G7OHO via g7oho@rsgb.org.uk  If you are taking part, whether on your own or in a group, the RSGB would love to share what you're doing so that you can inspire others. Please email details to comms@rsgb.org.uk The G5RP Trophy is an annual award designed to encourage newcomers to HF DXing. The award is not limited to youngsters or the newly licensed. It is open to anyone who has recently discovered and made significant progress in HF DXing. If you are an established HF DXer and want to recommend someone to be awarded the G5RP Trophy for 2023, now is the time to send in your nomination. Your nominee should be an up-and-coming HF DXer who has made rapid progress in the last year and has some real achievements to show, for example, a good total of new countries worked or some HF DXpedition activity. Please send your nominations to Ian Greenshields, G4FSU by email via hf.manager@rsgb.org.uk  Nominations should arrive no later than Friday the 15th of September 2023. The RSGB Convention is being held between the 13th and 15th of October. The programme is nearly finalised and contains some fantastic speakers on a range of amateur radio subjects. In addition, there will be a buildathon where you will also gain invaluable advice about how to run a similar event at your club, local school or community group. The early bird booking price has been extended to the 14th of September so don't miss out – book now! Full details of the programme will be published soon. For more information and to book, visit rsgb.org/convention Today, Sunday the 20th of August, John, GW3JVB is operating from Steep Holm Island in the Bristol Channel. The Worked All Britain square for the location is ST26 and the IOTA reference is EU-120. John hopes to be operational from approximately 1000UTC to 1930UTC. Using SSB, he is most likely to be working on 40 and 20m, but may also be available on other bands, depending on the weather and conditions. If you hear John on the air, please give him a call. You can read more about John's amateur activities on his blog via gw3jvb.uk International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend is taking place this weekend. There are lots of stations on the air waiting for your call. To see a list of registered stations, visit illw.net Neil Bauers, G4JUV has created ‘Camper Ham UK' on Facebook. It is for anyone who likes camping and operating their radios, both licensed and shortwave listeners. Motorhomes, vans, caravans, tents and bivvy bags are all OK. Just take a radio! As well as the usual technical discussions about radios and antennas, the group is interested in antenna-friendly camping sites and good spots for portable operation. In the future, there may be meetups organised by group members. For more information search for ‘Camper Ham UK' on Facebook. Please send details of all your news and events to radcom@rsgb.org.uk  The deadline for submissions is 10 am on Thursdays before the Sunday broadcast each week. And now for details of rallies and events The Rugby Amateur Transmitting Society Rally is taking place today, Sunday the 20th of August. The venue is Princethorpe College, Princethorpe, Rugby, Warwickshire, CV23 9PY. The event begins at 10 am. For more details contact Steve, G8LYB on 07956 855 816, email rally@rugbyats.co.uk or visit rugbyats.co.uk Lincoln Short Wave Club Summer Rally is also taking place today, Sunday the 20th of August. The venue is The Festival Hall, Caistor Road, Market Rasen, LN8 3HT. The doors are open from 9.30 am and admission is £2. Free car parking and refreshments are available. Tables cost £10. For more information, contact Steve via m5zzz@outlook.com or phone 07777 699 069. The Red Rose Summer Rally is taking place today, Sunday the 20th of August. The venue is St Joseph's Hall, Leigh, WN7 2PJ. The event features free parking, a café, traders, individual stands, club stands, low-cost bring and buy, and a raffle for a new digital radio. For more information visit wmrc.co.uk Torbay Annual Communications Fair will take place on Sunday the 27th of August. The venue will be Newton Abbot Racecourse, TQ12 3AF. This will be an indoor event with free parking. The doors will open at 10 am. A bring-and-buy area, on-site catering, and an RSGB bookstall will be available. For more information contact Pete, G4VTO on 01803 864 528, Mike, G1TUU on 01803 557 941 or email rally@tars.org.uk Milton Keynes Amateur Radio Society Rally will take place on Sunday the 27th of August. The rally will be held at a new venue this year – Heron's Lodge Guide Activity Centre, Bradwell Road, Loughton Lodge, Milton Keynes, MK8 9AA. The venue is opposite the National Badminton Centre and has excellent modern amenities together with free on-site parking, catering and disabled facilities. The entrance fee is £3 and doors will be open to the public from 9 am. Outdoor pitches and indoor tables are available. For trader and exhibitor enquiries please email rally@mkars.org.uk  For more information see mkars.org.uk Now the Special Event News Celebrating the centenary of the National Park of Abruzzo, Lazio, and Molise, special callsign II6PN is in use until the 31st of October. QSL via Club Log's OQRS, Logbook of the World, eQSL, or via IK6IHU. For details of a certificate that is available, see QRZ.com 8S80AA is the special callsign in use throughout 2023 by Vasteras Radio Klubb, SK5AA to celebrate its 80th anniversary. QSL via Club Log's OQRS is preferred but is also available via the bureau to SK5AA, or direct to SM5FUG. More information about the club can be found at sk5aa.se  LA100K is the special callsign in use by Akademisk Radioklubb, LA1K to celebrate the 100th anniversary of its foundation. Based in Trondheim, it is the oldest amateur radio club in Norway. The special callsign will be in use until the 31st of December. QSL via the bureau, or direct. Now the DX news Laurens, PF3X will be active as TF/PF3X while touring Iceland until the 25th of August. He will operate SSB and digital modes on the HF and 6m bands. QSL via Logbook of the World and eQSL, or direct to his home call. Chris, OE6CUD plans to visit the Lofoten Islands, EU-076, the Vesteralen Islands, EU-033, and Senja Island, EU-046, while touring Norway by car until late October. He will be QRV as LA/OE6CUD and will operate mainly CW on the HF bands. He might also give QO-100 a try. QSL via home call, direct or bureau, Logbook of the World and eQSL. Now the contest news On Tuesday the 22nd of August, the SHF UK Activity Contest runs from 1830 to 2130UTC. Using all modes on 2.3 to 10GHz frequencies, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Next weekend, the CQ RTTYops Worldwide RTTY Contest has two sessions between the 25th and 27th of August. The first session is between 2200UTC on the 25th and 1200UTC on the 26th. The second session is from 1200 to 2359UTC on Sunday the 27th. Using RTTY only on the 160 to 10m bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is a signal report and the four-digit year of your first licence. The Worldwide Digi DX contest runs from 1200UTC on the 26th to 1200UTC on the 27th of August. Using FT4 and FT8 on the 160 to 10m bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is your four-character locator. Next Sunday, the 27th, the UK Microwave Group 5.7 and 10GHz Contest runs from 0600 to 1800UTC. Using all modes on 5.7 and 10GHz frequencies, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA, and G4BAO on Thursday the 17th of August 2023 Sunspot activity continues as we head towards the solar maximum. We have had a reasonably settled Sun over the past week. The Kp index never exceeded 3.33 and was generally in the ones and twos all week. We also had no M- or X-class flares to worry about with only minor C-class events occurring. The solar flux index stayed in the 140s and 150s, only topping out at 160 on Wednesday and Thursday. So, it was not a bad week for HF propagation as we head towards the end of August. There are signs that propagation is improving due to the seasonal change in the chemistry of the F2 layer. With a move towards more monoatomic species and fewer diatomic ones, it means that it is becoming easier to ionise. Daytime critical frequencies are currently around 6 to 7MHz according to the Dourbes Digisonde, giving a maximum usable frequency over 3,000km of between 18 and 21MHz. 28MHz Sporadic-E contacts have all but finished, but don't write the 10m band off as you may get the odd surprise. 20m still seems to be the best DX band this week, according to the Chiltern DX Club, with 17 and 15m also contributing. FO/F4FJH in French Polynesia; E51JD in the South Cook Islands; and FH4VVK in Mayotte have all been heard on 20m SSB, while 3D2AG in Fiji has been worked on 15m CW.   And now the VHF and up propagation news The fine summer-like weather has returned, at least for this weekend and up to about mid-week before it becomes more unsettled again. So, Tropo will be worth exploring, especially this weekend and during the first part of next week. Note that, in these warmer summer months, Tropo is often better overnight and early morning, especially those misty ones, but tends to decay as the ground warms in the morning sunshine. However, coastal paths often remain good throughout the day so Tropo paths across the North Sea or English Channel could be worth a look from your holiday deck chair! The Sporadic-E season is slowly coming to a close, but it is still worth a check in the evening tea-time activity window to make sure nothing is missed, and even better if you can add a morning check-up at around 1030UTC. The recent Perseids meteor shower may have added some useful meteor debris as fuel, so it is certainly not time to give up checking just yet. However, you may have to manage your expectations on the higher VHF bands. Meteor scatter is still a good bet in the tail end of the Perseids shower and the usual random meteors increase around dawn. Rain scatter is always an option in the summer months so keep a watch on weather radar displays for the brighter thundery rainfall echoes, especially later next week. There have been some interesting propagation on 50MHz down to the equatorial belt in the late evenings with D2UY in Angola working FT8 stations in an arc from the Canaries around through Northern Scotland, and the whole of the UK to Turkey with ‘Trans-equatorial sounding' fading patterns, making decodes difficult sometimes. Moon declination goes negative again this Sunday, shortening Moon visibility windows and, as we are past apogee, path losses will fall all week. 144MHz sky noise is low to moderate until next Friday peaking at 2900 Kelvin on Saturday morning.    And that's all from the propagation team this week.

Join us as presenter, author and farmer Kate Humble guides us through magical ancient woodland near her remote Wales home in the Wye Valley. With infectious enthusiasm and occasional impressions, she tells us about the plants and animals along our route as well as the story of her accidental career, becoming host of nation's favourite Springwatch having never wanted to be a TV presenter! Kate also talks worldwide travels, access to nature and planting trees with the Woodland Trust on her smallholding. Don't forget to rate us and subscribe! Learn more about the Woodland Trust at woodlandtrust.org.uk Transcript You are listening to Woodland Walks, a podcast for the Woodland Trust presented by Adam Shaw. We protect and plant trees for people, for wildlife.  Adam: Well, in early spring I went on a woodland walk in Wales with presenter, author and farmer Kate Humble, who was taking me around what promised to be some amazing woodland with her dogs. But as is increasingly common in these podcasts we of course had to begin with me getting absolutely and entirely lost.   This is an absolute disaster. Although I am bad at directions, this is not my fault *laughs* So Kate sent me a pin, she said look this is going to be hard to find my place, she sent me a map pin. I followed the map pin. Look I'm here I don't know if you can hear this you probably can't hear this. This is the gate that's locked, which is across some woodland path. So I can't get there. And of course there is no phone signal, so I'm going to have to drive all the way back to some town to find a phone signal. And I'm already late.   OK. I have managed to find a village where there is a phone signal. I've managed to call Kate and Kate *laughs* Kate has clearly got the measure of me and told me to give up and she is now going to get in her car and find me in this village and I will follow her back. In the meantime, we have passed Google map pins back and forwards, which apparently tell her that I'm sitting outside her house. But I really am nowhere near her house, so I seem to have broken Google which well, that's a first. Anyway I've got a banana here, so if she's a long time, I have dinner and I'll just wait. This will never happen. This will actually never happen.   Well we've found Kate. We've found a whirly country drive lane. Feels a bit like rally driving. It's like, I mean, I don't understand why my map wouldn't find it, but this is certainly a bit of rally driving we're doing here getting to her house. My goodness. We found her house.   OK. Well, we're here. Which I never thought I I really thought it was really lovely. The idea was nice, and next time I'm in Wales, I'll give you a call so really, it's it's better than I thought better than I thought. Anyway, so you're leading me off with your two dogs.  Kate: I am. I am. I'm leading you off into one of the most beautiful I think I mean, obviously I'm a little bit biased but it is one of the most important areas of ancient woodland in Britain. This is the Wye Valley. We're the lower Wye valley, so we are the the the the bit really where the River Wye is in its sort of last bit of its journey. It's risen in mid Wales, about 136 miles from here. I know that cause I've walked the whole route.  Adam: Really, we're not doing that today, are we?  Kate: No we're not no I promise. I promise Adam. So yes and we are basically about 5 or 6 miles from where it flows into the River Severn and then out into the Bristol Channel and the woods around here are a lovely mix of broadleaf, so we're walking through broadleaf woodland now and this is literally this is what I walk out of my front door. Aren't I lucky?  Adam: You are lucky.  Kate: I'm so lucky. So we've got a lovely mix of broadleaf woodland now and we're just coming into that time of year. Which is the time of year that makes everybody's spirits lift, because we are coming into spring, and if we actually just stop just for a second. You can hear that's a blue tit calling *imitates sound* and I mean, this isn't the perfect day for birdsong, but the birdsong was really picking up. And that's the lovely thing about living alongside woodland. So even in the winter, even when you don't think there are any birds at all, what you hear in these words is *imitates sound* that's a very, very bad impression of a great spotted woodpecker.  Adam: OK, I'm glad you. I I was guessing it might be a woodpecker, but I didn't want to.  Kate: So they start to drum around about sort of late January, they'll be drumming. And and then as the and we also have tawny owls, lots of tawny owls in these woods. We've got an owl box and we used to have an owl that we called Percy who we have no idea whether it was a boy or girl.  Adam: I was gonna say it was, a reason it was called Percy?  Kate: Don't know, just it just it looked like a Percy.  Adam: Just fancied the name. Fair enough. Yeah. Yeah.  Kate: But we have lovely tawny owls here. So, you know, at dusk and and when when I take the dogs out sort of last thing at night round about 10 o'clock 11:00 o'clock at night we walk down this track and and you stand here and you hear this wonderful and everyone thinks you know, tawny owls go toowit toowoo. They're the classic toowit toowoo owls, but actually you've got 2 owls calling, so you've got the male going *imitates noise* and then you have the females going *imitates noise*. And they're calling each other, establishing territories or going ooh I like the sound of you, there's a bit of flirting going on. So these are, as I say really it's it's just the biggest treat to live with this on my doorstep.  Adam: Right, so fantastic. You you clearly I mean, you've launched into a sort of fantastic description and detailed knowledge, but you are not a country girl by birth are you?  Kate: No, I am a country girl by birth.   Adam: Oh you are? I though you were born in London?  Kate: I am. No. Well, I was you're right, I was I was  Adam: Sorry, do I know where you were born and you don't.  Kate: Well, being born and where you were brought up is different.   Adam: Yeah, OK. OK, fair enough.  Kate: So I was, you're absolutely right, I was born in London. I was born in well, I was born in Wimbledon in fact. This is my neighbour by the way.  Adam: Right. Right. Wow. I didn't, we're in the middle of nowhere I didn't know there'd be a neighbour.  Kate: I know, but I know. But there are other people mad enough to live in these woods, and he's particularly mad.  Adam: OK. Does he mind you saying that?   Kate: Not at all. Not at all. No. He's absolutely used to it. Hello. Come and say hello to the Woodland Trust podcast.   Adam: No. OK, I'm just checking. OK. Hi, I'm Adam. Hi. Nice to see you. Yeah, I hear you're her neighbour.  Kate: This is this is this is writer Mark Mccrum and his dog Jabba. Yes. So I'm just dragging Adam down to take a look at the ponds and talking about the ponds down there.  Mark: Oh lovely. Which ponds?  Kate: The ponds down there.  Mark: Oh those ones? Yeah, very good. I might see you on the reverse cause I'm gonna go all the way round.  Kate: Oh you're gonna go round. OK, fine. Lovely.  Mark: These are lovely woods cause you never see anybody here. *all laugh*  Adam: I'm sorry.  Kate: Apart from you   Adam: I was gonna say, and me, I've ruined it.  Kate: Yeah we're the only people who see each other aren't we.  Adam: So you were telling me you are you are born in Wimbledon, but you you grew up in the country then?   Kate: Yeah. So I was I was born in Wimbledon and yes. So after about, I think I was about six months old, my mother always says that she realised that London was clearly not the place for me and   Adam: From six months? Outward bound baby were you?  Kate: Yes! She said she said there basically wasn't enough space in London for me. So so yes, so I was brought up in Berkshire, right? And I was brought up next to a farm. So I was always a sort of vicariously farming kid. Even though my parents weren't farmers and and spent my childhood looking after various animals of various descriptions, and I think the wonderful thing about being the age I am, so everyone bemoans being old, but I think I just I I am so thankful that I was born in the sixties.  Adam: Why?  Kate: Because no one had invented health and safety, climbing trees, no one had climbing frames, you climbed trees. And I think the trees enjoyed it, and so did you. And if you hadn't fallen out of quite a lot of trees by the time you were 10 and had various, you know, scars or broken bits as proof of a proper childhood, it wasn't a proper childhood.   Adam: Right. OK.   Kate: So I had a lovely proper childhood of, you know, not being plonked in front of a screen of some description or another. We're going to cut off piste a little bit and head down here.  Adam: OK, I'm is this a precursor warning that I'm about to get bumps and scrapes and?  Kate: This is a precursor warning that you might yes, you might. It's quite a steep descent.  Adam: OK just as long as my, my face is my fortune though, as long as that's safeguarded throughout this, that'll be fine. OK. Well, that's good. Yeah. Lots of leaves around. Yeah.  Kate: Of course it will be a soft landing whatever you say. Lots of leaves. One of the nice things again about broadleaf woodland. And as you can see, I'm sure your leaf identification is brilliant, but we've got a lovely mix of oak here and beech, as well as the evergreen so the hollies and lovely, lovely mosses. But yes, what you're walking on is is a sort of glorious mulchy carpet, but we have a profusion of bluebells.  Adam: Already they've come up?  Kate: Well the bluebells, the the plants themselves have come up so the leaves are up and there are one or two I'm going to show you, is it, will it be your first bluebell of the year?  Adam: It, almost, almost we we can pretend it is for dramatic purposes. Let's let's go along.  Kate: OK, OK. They are, they're just, they're just starting to come here now and and you get that lovely moment. It'll be about probably about three weeks or a month's time, slightly depending on on what the weather does, where you get the, the unfurling of the beech trees. So that glorious kind of neon green which when the light goes through you get that sort of wonderful, almost disco light effect show.  Adam: And aren't they in Welsh, aren't they called cuckoos? The Welsh translation for bluebells is cuckoo clock. I think it's because it's like it's a harbinger of spring along with the cuckoo.  Kate: Oh, I didn't know that.  Adam: Oh my God, I found something you didn't know.  Kate: You know, you know, you'll know lots, I don't know, but  Adam: No, no, let's hope that's true that's that's I'll have to go check that. Do check that before you tell anybody.   Kate: Well, I'll just blame you.  Adam: But no, I do think in Welsh the translation for Bluebell is is cuckoo clock or something like that because it is this harbinger of spring and I think that's it's a really nice I I won't even try the Welsh but in Welsh it sounds very so I mean, I thought we were going to chat about your conversion to nature and everything, but actually that's a lot of nonsense. This is this has been a constant in your life?   Kate: Well, it's been, I mean, coming to Wales, so I did live in London, you know, after I left home.  Adam: Except, I mean, you didn't choose a a nature career, did you? I mean, you you're involved now we can talk about that. But first, what was your first career?  Kate: Well, I mean. Career always seems such a grand word and that you've planned it.  Adam: Yeah. OK, so your accidental career.  Kate: So my accidental career, well, I had this idea that that I that I wanted to work in television, although again I don't really know where that came from. We're going just down here. Part of me also wanted to be a a safari guide.  Adam: Good. I can see the appeal of that.  Kate: I went to I when I was 19 having never really been abroad at all, because again, our generation didn't really go abroad as a matter of course. So I went to Africa when I was 19 and.  Adam: Sorry we're not talking on a holiday?  Kate: No it was a well it was a it was probably a rebellion.   Adam: Right. You went as far away as your your parents as you could. I'm not going out for the evening I'm popping off to Africa?  Kate: Yes, yes. I'm popping off to Africa and I don't know when I'll be back. One of those.  Adam: Right. Yeah, good. Good exit line. So where, where, where in Africa were you and what were you doing there?  Kate: So I I started in South Africa. I ended up in Egypt.  Adam: Right, just bumming around doing sort of bar work or doing something more serious?  Kate: I did I did I was a waitress for a little bit, but I was very, very bad and was sacked. I I was a model for a little bit, also very bad, very bad at that too.   Adam: Why were you so bad at that?   Kate: Because because I really don't like having my photograph taken and I really like food.  Adam: Yes, OK well I would I would have guessed I could have advised you that wasn't the career for you.  Kate: So so the two things, yeah, didn't really weren't terribly compatible to that. But I then got a job as a cook and a driver on a safari, and I drove a truck aged 19, having never really been out of Berkshire, from Cape Town, through Botswana and into Zimbabwe. And and then I hitched back to Cape Town. So I had a a real adventure. But what I what it really did for me was, having had this very sort of unconsciously wild childhood, I don't mean you know lots of parties and taking drugs I mean, a natural wild childhood, I then went to a place where the natural world was was so extraordinary and so mindblowing, and on a scale, you know, everything was was was like technicolour. You know, the birds were amazing. The the you know the the the size of the animals, the proliferation of the wildlife, the size of the landscapes, the emptiness and I think it was that journey that turned my mind to really re-look and re-examine the natural world and think it's, you know, it's extraordinary, it's it's mind blowing in every way and so even though I then came back and thought I want to have this sort of career in telly what I really wanted to do in my career in telly was work for the natural history unit.  Adam: Right. And is that what you did?  Kate: No. Not initially anyway.  Adam: OK, but you have done, I mean you've done nature programmes, lots of nature programmes. What did you first start doing?  Kate: We're going down here. I have. So I first started sweeping streets in the East End.  Adam: In EastEnders?  Kate: No, in the East End, no. I was a runner so I basically got jobs wherever I could get jobs and I got a job on a commercial that happened to be shooting in the East End and they needed the streets swept and so that was one of my jobs. But had no plans to be on the telly that that really did happen by mistake.  Adam: I think you know my first job in telly. I don't know if you remember That's Life with Esther Rantzen. Do you remember they she always had rude, funny vegetables?   Kate: I do, yes  Adam: That was my job to find them, yeah so only only marginally above the street sweeping.   Kate: Oh my goodness!  Adam: So you got how did you get picked there? I mean, we gotta get back to the natural world. But you've had such such a fantastic life. So I mean, I think people will be fascinated to know you have not much of even a vague plan about what you're doing. You're fumbling about a bit.  Kate: None, yeah. Living in a squat. Eating crisps.  Adam: So yeah, right. So not many models will be will be living like that and eating crisps, I get that You're sweeping streets as your way into telly, all of a sudden you're on telly. How did that happen, was that more of a plan or did someone just turn around and go, hey, you, street sweeper, you'll do?  Kate: No, it wasn't. So I had I had graduated from street sweeper, so it took about probably four four or five years I have become by now a sort of senior researcher. And I got a job at the BBC. My first job at the BBC on a programme called Animal Hospital.  Adam: Right. Yes. And you were still a researcher there or presenter?  Kate: Yeah, as a researcher. And and I think the reason that I got the job was actually my childhood. Because I think it was the first series, in fact, I think the only series that they did of Animal Hospital in a rural practice. So we went to a practice that didn't just do small animals, pets type animals, but also bigger animals like farm animals and horses and I think the only reason I got the job was that I was the only person they interviewed who knew what to do with something bigger than a hamster.   Adam: Right ok great.  Kate: And I had my own wellies.  Adam: Oh good. Always important for a career in telly, your own wellies, see these are the secrets people wanna know. Good. So you've got your wellies?   Kate: Always really, really important. They are. So I got that job I got that researcher job. And at the end of it, the BBC do this appraisal thing. And they said we thought you were alright, you did OK, will you come back and do the next series and I said I'd absolutely love to. I'd really loved it, absolutely loved it. Can we just pause here a minute because this,  Adam: A sea of wild garlic?  Kate: No, these are bluebells.  Adam: These are bluebells? Oh, sorry. Look at the ignorance here.  Kate: These are bluebells. Well, those white flowers let me show you these because they're beautiful.  Adam: I thought like I I think that's what I thought was wild garlic shows you *unintelligible* OK, we've got a proper safari expert.  Kate: No. So look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, look, first bluebell starting to unfurl except my dog's just walked all over it. Come on you're not supposed to walk on there.  Adam: So this is, all of this is bluebells?  Kate: So all of this will be bluebells and in about 3 weeks time you get this absolutely, it's so blue it's like the colour actually detaches itself from the flowers and floats above it in this sort of glorious mist, it's beautiful. But this these flowers here I love. And these are these are one of the flowers along with celandines which are the kind of waxy yellow flowers that people will see in woodlands and even in their gardens at this time of year, these are wood anemones. And they are lovely, very delicate white flowers with these slightly sort of hand-like leaves and the lovely thing about these, they're not looking at their best at the moment because it's been quite a wet day. But when the sun's out, they open to the sun like these brilliant white stars. And sometimes there are areas around here where you'll see carpets of wood anemones and they're one of the first I've seen these as early as January, although not this year because we had lots of frosts.  Adam: It's funny you, you, you, you use the word magical I'm just looking at this tree with covered in moss and everything, there is something magical about these sorts of places, a sort of sense of, sense of, a Tolkien type moment isnt there?.  Kate: Absolutely. Absolutely. I've I I don't think it is a coincidence that lots of fairytales are set in woodlands because there is something otherworldly about them. We're going to head keep heading down just so that you have a really good climb on the way up.  Adam: Yeah, I was gonna say I'm fine going down, I'm assuming you're sending a car to pick me up? It's well a little, a little Uber will just I'm sure,   Kate: Nice try, Adam! Lots of Ubers around here. Look, look, look.   Adam: Oh look now that is OK that's a proper bluebell.  Kate: That is a, a, a bluebell that's a proper bluebell.  Adam: Yeah, that is my first proper bluebell of the year.  Kate: And you can see all the others are just starting to come.  Adam: And that's and it is lovely because clearly so few people come here that's the problem often with bluebells is when people trample all over them. And we've got just one clean path down here and it's completely undisturbed for as far as the eye can see. So yes, we OK, we we did a little pit stop for bluebells. We're back on and the what was the programme, animal?  Kate: Animal Animal Hospital.  Adam: Animal Hospital. So they wanted you back as a researcher. I'm interested in the jump from behind the screen to on screen.  Kate: So so they basically said lovely we'll see you in four months and I said oh well, I've got a landlord and rent to pay, I can't not work for four months. I'm going to have to get another job and it may mean that I'm not available. And they said ohh well, maybe we can find you something else within the BBC as a stopgap. And I had also at that point, so this is the mid 90s now, started writing. I was writing travel. And I'd spent at the the a end of a a, the second Africa trip that I did between 94 and 95, I'd spent the last two months of that in Madagascar.  Adam: Right.  Kate: Madagascar was a place that I was obsessed with because of its wildlife because it has unique flora and fauna. I came back and got an article commissioned to write about it, and it was the first,  Adam: Your first commission?  Kate: Yes, my first commission and my first article, and it was in a broad a broadsheet newspaper, and I was very excited and very proud about that. And so when I was asked by the series producer of the BBC Holiday programme, whether I would consider coming to work for them because I was a travel writer,  Adam: Right OK, yeah, you're now a travel writer because of your one article.  Kate: I am I am now a I am now a travel writer on the strength of one of one article.  Adam: Whoa oh Kate, I'm so glad you were the first person to sort of go over *Kate laughs* That was before me I just want that on record.   Kate: Yeah.   Adam: OK so I haven't gone over yet.   Kate: You haven't got over yet.   Adam: OK. Yeah. Sorry. Yeah.  Kate: Yes. So I got a job on the BBC Holiday programme. Anyway the next day I got called into the big boss's office. And I assumed that my short lived career at the BBC Holiday programme was about to be ended because I wasn't quite sure why, but perhaps because I hadn't been taking the producers guidelines as seriously as I might and that also I had smoked on a fire escape, which probably wasn't a good idea. And instead I was asked to do a screen test and I assumed that this was the sort of common test that the Holiday programme did and I tried to say I really don't want to be a presenter thank you, I love doing, I love making the programmes, I love the research, I love talking to people, I love putting things together. I'm quite, I like logistics. I'm quite, you know, I like all that stuff I don't want to be a presenter. And they went well do a do a screen test. So at this point I just thought I've just got to get out of this office because I feel very embarrassed by the whole situation. So I will just nod smile say yes, do it, it'll be a disaster, and then everything can go back to normal. So that's what I did. Three weeks later, the boss came into the office,  Adam: Sorry, we have to stop. This is a story that's gonna last all day, cause I keep stopping because your dog is posing or it was posing beautifully by this river.  Kate: Well, so this river is an important, one of the sort of parallel streams that run into the River Wye for this is the Angidy, we are in the Angidy Valley, surrounded by amazing woodland on both sides, it's a very steep sided valley. This river is particularly good for dippers, which are those lovely chocolate brown and white birds, they look like little waiters.  Adam: Right *laughs*  Kate: And they and they, they're called dippers because that's exactly what they do. So we'll keep an eye out because we might see some, but they'll sit on a stone like that exposed stone within the waterfall there and they will jump into the water and literally completely submerge. They'll disappear completely and they're looking for things like caddisfly larva, which is what they feed on, and then they'll bob up and come back up and they're they're just these wonderful, perky, very smart little birds.  Adam: Brilliant, OK.  Kate: They're the only British songbird that is also a water bird.  Adam: Wow, OK, good. All right.   Kate: There you are, little bit of, little bit of,  Adam: No, I like these these these sorts of diversions we take, it's it's almost like doing a stand up routine, so we're gonna go gonna go back to the story now. So you thought everybody in the world gets a screen test. So I'm just doing this and then they'll leave me alone.  Kate: Yes, yes. And and then the boss came into the office about 3 weeks later. And she said, can you go to France tomorrow? And I said yes, of course, assuming that they needed somebody to carry the heavy stuff. Bhcause carrying heavy stuff is the other thing that I am good at. I can whistle very loudly and I can carry very heavy things and those are really the only two things that I can offer the world.  Adam: OK, I I you, you have set yourself up for a big whistle at the end, so we'll we'll wait for that then let's hold out.  Kate: It it will blow your ears well, that's all I'm saying. So she said, we want you to present a film on a barge in Normandy, could you please do something about my hair, she said. My own hair.  Adam: I see she didn't ask you to be a hairdresser? Also could you cut my hair?  Kate: Yes could you cut my hair *laughs*. No, could you do something about your hair, she said. I thought she's been talking to my mum, who constantly despairs of my lack of my lack of grooming.  Adam: Right, also right at this point of hair hair disasters, we have to pause because we've come across as you may hear an extraordinary small waterfall, it's a weir, really, isn't it?   Kate: It is really.  Adam: I'm gonna take another photo of this before we get back to the life and misadventures of Kate Humble. So I'm just gonna take a photo. You'll find that, no doubt on one of our Twitter feeds. Oh, I know beautiful, oh no the dogs disappeared, the dog doesn't like posing for me. But all right, so now, you're off to France. You need a haircut and,  Kate: So I'm off to France. I need I need I need to basically smarten myself up. Off I went to France and presented my first film.  Adam: Right. And that was, I mean, we could talk about this forever, but that was the beginning of that was the beginning of this, the story. OK, well, amazing.  Kate: Yes. My first job for the natural history unit came in 2000. And I was asked to do a programme, which was a sort of, was made in response to Blue Planet. So the very first series of the Blue Planet, which I think everybody watched with their mouths open because we had never seen the oceans in that way before, particularly the deep ocean. And there was a phrase used which I have used many, many times since, which was that more people have been to the moon than there have been to the deep ocean. And people were fascinated by these, they were they were creatures that looked like they might have been designed for Star Wars. They were so extraordinary.  Adam: These sort of angler fish which have which have this light don't they.  Kate: That sort of thing, and these these, you know, these astonishing, you know, plankton with flashing lights, there were Dumbo octopus with, you know, little octopus with these sort of literally did look like Dumbo the elephant, you know, deep water sharks that people had never seen before that were really slow moving and and, you know astonishingly well-adapted to live at depths and in in at water pressure that no one thought anything could exist in and come on dogs we're gonna keep, do you wanna have a,  Adam: And so yours was a response, in what way?   Kate: So we did a live,  Adam: The dogs keep looking at me like they want me to throw something for them is that what's going on?  Kate: They do, and I'm going to just try and find a, here let's try let's try this, here we are.  Adam: Look, they're very, oh you've thrown it into the river?   Kate: Go on, in you go.  Adam: Oh, look at that go!  Kate: Come on Teg, do you wanna go in as well? Here you are. This one's going to sink, go on. Ready? Go. Good girl. Where's it gone? Teggy, it's just there. That's it. Well done, well done, dogs.  Adam: Oh they like that.  Kate: Well, I can't go and get it, you have to bring it here, that's the deal with sticks *laughs* So we did a live programme from a boat in Monterey Bay. I made some films to play into that live show. So I went to the Cayman Islands, which is a rotten thing to ask anybody to do, can you imagine?  Adam: Terrible, terrible. You wanted to be back in the East End really.  Kate: I did really, sweeping streets and instead there I was, doing films about coral reefs and this is the one of, this is the wonderful thing about the natural history unit or just about making films with animals is the lengths that you have to go to to be able to capture the natural world in all its wonder. And so I was asked to go and film a shark called a six gill shark that lives very deep and only about 10 people in the world had ever seen. And I was sent to go and find this creature. You know, I can't I can't even now I can't really believe that I was asked to do that.   Adam: And did you find it?  Kate: Eventually. We had to do two, we did one trip we failed to find it,   Adam: How how long was that?  Kate: So that was, we did 6 dives. It was an amazing trip. We didn't get the shark on the first trip. We went back for another trip. We didn't get it. We didn't get it. We finally got it and it was incredible. Incredible moment. And that was the first job that I did for the natural history unit and there was then somebody who came up with the idea of doing British wildlife life live at kind of springtime, like kind of now.   Adam: And this was Springwatch was it?  Kate: This was the precursor to Springwatch.   Adam: Oh I didn't know there was one.  Kate: There were two!  Adam: What were they called?  Kate: So the first one was called Wild In Your Garden. So I'm just going to put the dogs on a lead here. Hold on, poppet. Just hold on my poppet. That's it. We've got to take Adam up the hill now. So yes, so the first one was called Wild In Your Garden and it was Bill Oddie and Simon King and me. And we did two shows a night, from gardens in Bristol, and it sort of worked as an idea.  Adam: Right. OK.  Kate: It worked well enough or it wasn't so much of a disaster that there wasn't a thought of let's try it slightly differently, maybe on a farm instead of in the garden, and we went to this wonderful organic farm in Devon and basically made camp for three weeks. And made a series called Britain Goes Wild. And Britain went a tiny bit wild. And so the following year we thought, well, we'll do it again, but maybe we'll just call it something different.  Adam: Right.  Kate: And someone came up with the idea of calling it spring watch and everyone said, and it always went out at the same time as it does now, sort of end of May and people go, it's not really spring though is it? And we're like, well spring enough, still spring things happening and Springwatch seemed to capture everybody's imaginations and and I presented that for 10 years.  Adam: And you presented that for how many, how many years?  Kate: Ten.  Adam: Blimey! That's a long,  Kate: Yeah, I know. I've just grown old on telly and then Autumnwatch came into being and then Winterwatch and I did Seawatch. So I did a series about British Britain's seas and and marine life. Yeah. So I did eventually get my wish of working for the natural history unit.  Adam: Oh, that's very good. The fairy godmother in the form of the BBC descended and granted your wish. And now from all of those adventures abroad and on TV and everything you then said, I'm gonna move to this really quite, there's another car coming, quite quite remote parts of Wales. Why that?  Kate: We're going to head up here. Hold on, dogs. There we are.  Adam: Oh there's some steps. Hallelujah.  Kate: OK, only for this little bit.  Adam: Look, stop stop taking away the hope.  Kate: *laughs* So so I we moved,  Adam: Yes so you you picked up sticks and then moved to Wales. Perhaps it's not such a big move because the natural world has seemed to be always the centre of things for you. So but why Wales in particular?  Kate: Well, that is a curious question. I had no connection with Wales as far as I was aware. I honestly honestly can't tell you why I felt this extraordinary pull to live here. But it really was it was like a magnetic pull. There is actually a a Welsh word and I'm not sure I'm really allowed to use it in my context, but I can't think of a better word to use for the feeling that I had. And it's hiraeth and is a word that it's sort of more than home sickness. It's like a deep longing for the place that you belong. A yearning, a pit of the stomach emptiness for your home.  Adam: You felt this was a spiritual home, did you?   Kate: I don't know I really don't know, Adam. I, as I say I just had this extraordinary pull to live here. And yeah, I would look at the, there are these old fashioned things called maps, and I would look at the A to Z of Great Britain. And you know, there I was in the South East and if you look at a thing called a map,  Adam: Yes, sorry is this a point about me getting lost on the way to you.   Kate: No no not even remotely. No, it's the fact that no one uses them anymore, and yet, they're the greatest treasures we have. So if you look at a map, the South East of England is just this chaos of colour and roads and towns and names. And it's just, you know, there's not a square millimetre that hasn't got a name in it or something in. The further west you go, the browner the map becomes, and when you go over the border into Wales, it's mainly brown and green and it's got beautiful lyrical names like Abergavenny and and it's got mountains and mountains, when you've been brought up in Berkshire mountains are the height of exoticism. To live in a in a country that had mountains all of its own just struck me as being remarkable. I still, 15 years on, find it remarkable that I can I can get up at breakfast, not go terribly far, and climb a bona fide mountain. I love that. And that's what I love about Wales.  Adam: And and you've done more than, I mean, people might feel that and move to a beautiful part of the country and live there and more or less carry on with their ordinary life. But you've not done that. I mean, you're not just you don't just go for walks, the natural world is something you've created a a new career out of as well. Is that fair?  Kate: I wouldn't call it a career.  Adam: OK but you're very much well, but you make money from it and it fills your days.   Kate: Well, no, no, I don't think I don't know I don't I don't think that's I don't think that's true at all. I think you know I my working life is peculiar. I've I still am involved making television programmes, some of which involve the natural world. I still write, some of that's about the natural world, but not all of it. The natural world for me is nothing to do with making a living. Making a living. But it is about living. And it was one of the things that I was acutely aware of when I lived in London was I felt cut off from the seasons. This year you know, I know I can tell you that I didn't hear a skylark until the middle of March last year it was Valentine's Day. I can tell you that because that's what I'm experiencing. And I love feeling that instead of the natural world being something I watch on the television or I read about in a book that I am able to be part of it. And that's one of the big problems I think that we face now with trying to engage people with the importance of things like biodiversity, species loss, habitat loss. None of those things sound very sexy, and none of those things appear to matter to us because we as a species so weirdly and inexplicably view ourselves as a species separate from the natural world and the natural world has become something that we just watch for our entertainment. But we are just another mammal in this amazingly complex, beautiful, brilliant web that is the biodiversity web, where everything fits in and everything works together, and one thing feeds another thing and you know, until we feel properly part of that, immersed in it and and wrapped up in it, why are we ever going to worry about the fact that it is now a biodiversity net that's full of holes, and those holes mean that the net becomes less and less effective and the less effective that net becomes, the more it affects us, but we see ourselves as somehow immune from that process and we're not. And what I love about living here, what I love about walking in this area every day, twice a day, is the fact that I feel that I can, I'm I'm more in tune with our natural world and that is sadly, it shouldn't feel a it shouldn't be a privilege, but it is.  Adam: And do you feel, I mean, you're you feel passionate about it. Do you feel evangelical about it?  Kate: Yes.   Adam: So what do you, do you have a prescription to help to bring others on side?  Kate: I wish it didn't, I wish you didn't have to ask me that question. I wish it didn't have to be an on side.  Adam: Do you do you feel that's an unfair question? Or do you think there's?  Kate: No, I don't. I think it's a very fair question because lots of people don't feel or don't perhaps don't experience it experience the advantages of the natural world, or they haven't been they haven't been given the opportunities to properly understand the impact that it can have on us and all those impacts are positive. I mean, there's loads of science. And you know, it was talked about endlessly during the pandemic about how green spaces are good for our mental health, blue spaces are good for our mental health, being outdoors, being in nature, listening to birdsong, sing plants grow, all those things are good for us. But we've got to a place where we've been so divorced from it, where we look for our pleasures in shopping malls and online and and we forget that actually all we need is right here. And, you know, it's a hard sell for some to to somebody who's never experienced this, who hasn't had the privileges I've undoubtedly had, you know who have not grown up in the countryside, who find it fearful or boring or inexplicable, don't understand where they fit in.  Adam: And I think one of the perhaps growing debates, I think or interesting ones anyway for me is is the balance between trying to either scare people or make them aware of the environmental challenges and potential for disaster. And then so to sort of go engage with the subject it's really it's really newsworthy, it's it's it's imperative people do things and actually turning people off going well we're we're all going to literally burn, enjoy the party whilst it lasts. So what what do you feel about that?  Kate: Yeah, yeah. I mean, all all, all you have to do, all you have to do is watch Don't Look Up. Have you seen that film?   Adam: Yes.  Kate: And and and that, you know, absolutely embodies what you have just said.  Adam: So what do you think about that? Because I think there's a balance between going, offering hope, the power or audacity of hope is a phrase one hears as opposed to the sort of potential to frighten people into action. Actually the opposite, don't frighten them into action. Offer them hope of change. And I wonder where you feel that, if we've got that balance right, or whether,  Kate: No, we haven't got it right and I, but I don't know what the balance is because I think there's a real, I think that a lot of programmes that are made about natural history now have become so glossy and so beautiful and and so almost otherworldly that they don't actually reflect the reality of the natural world. And a lot of them again show the natural world without the context of people. And of course, that's sort of how we want to see it, we don't want people muddying those pictures. We don't want, as you say, the kind of the awful stories of the litter and the, you know, the the, the, the negative impact that human have humans have had on the natural environment. So we kind of don't want to see it, but equally if we don't see it, we don't engage with it and we kind of can watch one of those documentaries and even if David Attenborough is telling you that, you know, this is a habitat that's in peril or this is the last animal of its type that you will ever see, you don't really take that in because you're looking at these really stunning pictures and you think it's kind of OK. But I don't know what the answer is because I also know that as you say, if all you peddle is hopelessness and helplessness, no one's going to engage, they're going to stick their heads in the sand and just hope that it all goes away and pass it on to the next generation. So somehow we as communicators need to find a way that really does cut through. That really does make people feel, genuinely feel part of the natural world, that it isn't just another thing. I had the great joy of interviewing Tim Peake not that long ago, and I was interviewing him for a book that I'm writing about the concept of home. And I thought he would have, of anybody, a really unique idea of home having not just left home but left the planet. And he told me that he did a spacewalk, he was out in space for over four hours, and he said the blackness is like a blackness you cannot imagine. But he said, you know, you see Mars and Jupiter and Venus and you see Earth. And he said, when you're there, amongst the planets in that way you see that Earth is, as far as anyone's experience, and any telescope has been able to tell us, unique. You look at it and he said there it is, this colour, this blue and green planet, whereas everything else is, you know silver and and ghostly, ours is a living planet and he said he had this, he had this sort of feeling when he was there looking at Earth and imagining somebody, some other being coming up and tapping him on the shoulder and saying hey, hi,  who are you? I'm Tim. And he'd say oh hello so where are you from then? And Tim said I felt this enormous swell of pride to be able to point to our planet and say I'm from that planet there. I'm from Earth. I'm an earthling and I thought if all of us had that experience, could understand what it was like, how special our planet is in a universe that is infinite as far as we know and that we have, we have no idea what's out there, but what we do know at the moment is that our planet is unique and I think we would treasure it that much more and have moments like this of just standing amongst the trees and midges coming out, the drizzle, the mud and go, this is our home, this is where we live. It's really special. Aren't we lucky?  Adam: You're taking me uphill again aren't you.  Kate: I am taking uphill, but you've done the worst bit and you and and actually you marched. I was impressed!  Adam: Oh OK good. You know I'll fall apart after, I'm just doing it so I don't embarrass myself too badly.  Kate: *laughs* I'm afraid it is going to get very, very muddy, so you're going to have wet socks, mud up to your knees, you know, that's why I spend six months of the year in wellies.  Adam: Right OK. But you know, that is the privilege of being an earthling, isn't it?   Kate: It is it is.  Adam: So you've been you've got involved with the Woodland Trust.  Kate: I've been involved with the Woodland Trust for quite a long time, but it really started when we took on a farm near here.  Adam: What's this an arable farm?  Kate: No, it was a small council farm. It belonged to the council and people are not really aware that there are such a thing.   Adam: I've never heard this one.  Kate: No, but there used to be about 16,000 council farms throughout Britain and they were set up as part of the 1906 Smallholdings and Allotments Act and they were there, low rent, small areas, usually 30, 40 acres that sort of size and they would be available to rent for farmers who for whatever reason, didn't have a farm of their own. And over the years, as farming practices have changed as economic models have driven farmers to need to to produce things on a bigger scale, small farms have been basically relegated to either hobby farms or they've been broken up and sold to land that's been added to bigger farms. So we've lost an enormous number of these small farms and with them an enormous opportunity for people with farming skills to stay on the land and produce as food. And that's what was going to happen to this farm. And for whatever reason, I just felt this was not the thing to do and to cut a very, very, very long story short, we ended up taking over the farm and setting up a rural skills centre o prove that a small farm, ours is just over 100 acres, could still be viable. It supports itself and that's really important. But one of the things that we wanted to do, we were really interested to do when we took it over was to add more trees. It's it's got some wonderful ancient trees. There's an oak tree on the farm that we call Old Man Oak, as did the tenants before us. They introduced us to him and we think he's about 600 years old. And but we wanted to plant more trees. But we had this conundrum of how do we increase the tree cover on the farm without taking away the pasture because obviously we needed the pasture for the livestock and it was the Woodland Trust that helped us with that conundrum. So they looked, together we walked round the farm and we identified either areas where there were small copses or where there was a bit of a hedge. So what we did with the Woodland Trust's advice and input was to put in trees as shelter breaks, so not actually impinging on the pasture, just or very much, but adding a kind of a thicker bit of hedge if you like, or making a copse a little bit bigger and in that way we've planted over 1,000 trees on the farm in the last decade that we've had it. And then at home we have a four acre small holding and and so at the beginning of last year I started thinking maybe it's an age thing, you start thinking about legacy and when you when you take over a piece of land, what you start to understand actually very quickly is that you will never own it, that you are simply the caretaker of it for the time that you are around. And I think we've got cleverer now. Our knowledge has become greater. We understand that just planting trees isn't the answer. We need to think about we need to think of landscape as a mosaic and so what we wanted to do was to create a little mosaic. Plant trees, create water or make a space for water, make sure that there was going to be areas that had glade that was good for insects, that was good for wild flowers. And so I talked to the Woodland Trust and said, are you going to be into this idea, because it's not just planting trees and they went, that's exactly what we're into. That's exactly what we want to do. We want to create habitat. It's not about blanketing a landscape with trees. It's about planting the right trees in the right places at the right density to create something that you know, in a generation's time will have real lasting value, and that's what's been so wonderful about working with, you know, an organisation like that that sees big picture, sees longevity as as an advantage rather than as a disadvantage. And and that's what's been so lovely is that, you know, I can go to them and say so I've got this plan. I mean, I'm not even going to be alive to see it kind of come to fruition but do you care? And they went, we don't care, do you care? No. Let's do it. And that's wonderful.  Adam: Wonderful. OK sorry, this is a bit, this is the bit where I'm going ohh well, I'm swimming effectively swimming now.  Kate: Sorry. This is a very wet bit.  Adam: Hold on a second. OK. Right. That's a very Norman Wisdom walk I seem to have. OK. Yeah. OK, so ohh sorry, hold on.  Kate: It gets, that's the that's the wettest bit now, now we're now we're more or less home and dry.  Adam: Oh well you know what we we might be home, but we are not dry. That would be inaccurate at this point. So well, that's a neat story to bring us back to home with isn't it. So you know things are looking good. It's all hopeful. A a long journey and a long one ahead, you know, not just for you, but for that natural world you're creating.  Kate: Well, I hope that you know the the I I think going back to to what you said about how we can, we can help us all feel that we are actually, you know part and parcel of the natural world rather than observers of it or visitors of it and things like planting trees or being aware of the seasonal joys of the bluebells coming through, or, you know the leaf fall in the autumn and the colour, all those things if if i you know if we can build that awareness that brings with it huge joy and reward, then maybe we'll start to cut through again and people will start to feel more like the natural world is their world and not just another part of the planet that they live on.  Adam: Well having arrived back at Kate's home, let me just say there are lots more woodland walk podcasts for you to enjoy wherever you get your podcasts from. And indeed, if you want to find an actual wood near you well, you can go to the Woodland Trust website www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/findawood. Until next time, happy wandering.  Thank you for listening to the Woodland Trust Woodland Walks with Adam Shaw. Join us next month, when Adam will be taking another walk in the company of Woodland Trust staff, partners and volunteers. Don't forget to subscribe to the series on iTunes or wherever you're listening to us and do give us a review and a rating. And why not send us a recording of your favourite woodland walk to be included in a future podcast? Keep it to a maximum of five minutes and please tell us what makes your woodland walk special or send us an e-mail with details of your favourite walk and what makes it special to you. Send any audio files to podcast@woodlandtrust.org.uk. We look forward to hearing from you. 

Join us on this episode of Travel Royally Podcast as we dive into the captivating world of golf and embark on a virtual journey to Pennard Golf Club, one of Wales' hidden gems. Our special guest, Rhys Morgan, the esteemed club manager at Pennard Golf Club, takes us through the rich history, breathtaking landscapes, and unique challenges that define this remarkable golfing destination.Rhys Morgan, an avid golfer and an expert in his field, shares his insights into the captivating allure of Pennard Golf Club. Situated on the stunning Gower Peninsula in South Wales, Pennard Golf Club is often referred to as the "Links in the Sky" due to its elevated position and spectacular views of Three Cliffs Bay and the Bristol Channel. Rhys guides us through the breathtaking panoramic vistas and explains how the natural features of the landscape create an unforgettable golfing experience.During the interview, Rhys delves into the fascinating history of Pennard Golf Club, dating back to its establishment in 1896. He highlights the club's evolution over time, including notable moments and renovations that have contributed to its current standing as a cherished golfing destination. From the club's strategic layout to its world-renowned signature holes, Rhys paints a vivid picture of the challenges and rewards that await golfers at Pennard.As we explore Pennard Golf Club's unique characteristics, Rhys provides a glimpse into the club's commitment to preserving the natural beauty of the Gower Peninsula. He shares the club's sustainability initiatives and conservation efforts, which ensure the harmonious coexistence of golf and the stunning environment that surrounds it.Whether you're an avid golfer or simply a fan of captivating stories, this episode of the Travel Royally Podcast will transport you to the idyllic Pennard Golf Club. Join us as we discover the timeless charm, remarkable history, and natural wonders that make this golfing paradise a must-visit destination for golf enthusiasts around the world.So, grab a drink, tune in, and get ready to explore the wonders of Pennard Golf Club with the knowledgeable Rhys Morgan as our guide. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/travelroyally/support

The Severn is the longest river in the UK and from its source in the Cambrian mountains in mid Wales, it flows down through Shropshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire before eventually reaching the Bristol Channel. I met with Nicola Haasz, who has dedicated herself to exploring, collating and informing about the many facets of the Severn - including of course Sabrina - her associated goddess. We discussed the origin myths of Sabrina and the different cultural responses that the River Severn has elicited throughout its history.

Back on a freezing cold December day, David and Lucy met virtually with Liz Hurry - the Chair of Wivey Pool - a fabulous charitable organisation running this amazing community swimming pool in the thriving town of Wiveliscombe.If we can't tempt you into the Bristol Channel this Spring and Summer, then Wivey Pool could be perfect for you - and it's only around 30 minutes drive from each of our cottages.Their 27 metre outdoor heated pool is open to all. Whether you're looking for a fun filled family afternoon, or you're trying to get fit, there's a swimming session to suit our guests.This amazing pool opens from 8th April for morning lane swimming, but their website and social media pages have all the latest pool information and online booking facilities too!Whether you're reading this as a guest or a member of the local community, why not give Wivey Pool a follow and go visit - you'll love it!For bookings and reservation enquiries, click over to our website. You'll find the latest availability and very best prices for stays from two nights to two weeks!With regularly updated blogs, all the latest news from Exmoor and in-depth information about each of our cottages, there's only one place to click!

It was an honour to meet the Queen of the Seas, Elaine Burrows Dillane who holds the original Triple Crown '22 (English Channel, North Channel, Bristol Channel) and the Irish Triple Crown '21 (Fastnet, Galway Bay, North Channel) of open water swimming. Her incredible achievements were recognised when she was inducted as an Honour Swimmer in the Hall of Fame -Marathon Swimmming Ireland class of 2022. She was also awarded the 2022 Senior Female Swimmer of the year by the ILDSA (Irish Long Distance Swimming Association). She is a member of the Fenit Funky Femmes who completed a relay swim of the English Channel in 2022 and they received the ILDSA John Earls Award for the Most Arduous Swim crossing from Fenit Lighthouse to Loop Head in 2022. Elaine also won the World Cup Ireland Ice Swimming 1km Championships in 2018. It is mind blowing to think that Elaine achieved all this after only returning to swimming just seven years ago, having not swum much since she was a child. Getting back into her costume after having children was a huge challenge for Elaine but she overcame that and has gone on to conquer some of the most toughest swims in the world, showing what is possible if you can just step out of your comfort zone, follow your passion and never give up. We talked about: - How swimming brought a very shy Elaine out of herself - How Elaine got over being self-conscious in her togs (i.e. a swimming costume!) after children - What scares Elaine most about the sea (and it's not sharks!) - The training involved for a marathon swim - What happens when you hit the wall during a swim - Finding a new lease of life in your 50's - Girl power with the Fenit Funky Femmes Follow Elaine: @lainey3950 @fenit_funky_femmes Follow us: @whatawomanpodcast

It's my pleasure to welcome you to another edition in our series Explore with Imray. As I get to talk with more of the editors behind the wonderful pilot books Imray produce. I hope you'll enjoy hearing more about their passion for the water along with some of their favourite anchorages and of course discovering more about the cruising grounds they cover which hopefully will provide you with some inspiration for your next cruise. In this episode I met up with Jane Cumberlidge to talk about the pilot book she is now responsible for……..The Bristol Channel and River Severn Cruising Guide including Milford Haven to St Ives including the Navigable Severn to Worcester Yachting monthly said ‘This pilot book covers nearly every creek, pill, river and harbour from Milford Haven to St Ives via Lydney and Bristol. It's beautifully illustrated throughout, with inspiring photographs and a comprehensive set of harbour chartlets. Plenty of historical and cultural asides and a wealth of detail on shoreside attractions' . To find out more just visit; https://www.imray.com/Publications/Imray+Pilots/Imray+pilots+and+cruising+guides/North+West+Europe/IB0012/

The National Farmers Union is asking the government for an urgent investigation into the egg market, saying there should be support for egg farmers who are facing a huge rise in the cost of production which is not being met by the prices they're paid. Some supermarkets are now limiting how many eggs customers can buy, while others import eggs from the rest of Europe. According to the RSPB's annual bird crime report, there were 108 confirmed incidents of persecution of birds of prey recorded in 2021, and more than two thirds were connected to land managed for gamebirds. So what needs to change? And we join a small flock of sheep on a journey out into the Bristol Channel to Flat Holm island, where they will start a new life as conservation grazers. Presented by Anna Hill Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Heather Simons

“Daddy, where do sailors go to church?” asked the young son of curate Revd John Ashley, who consequently turned down a parish appointment to begin a ministry to seafarers in the Bristol Channel. The worldwide Mission to Seafarers (supported on Sea Sunday), owes its existence to Ashley, who doubtless would have found opposition to Ashley's idea of leaving conventional parish work at the start of his ministry to embark on a previously untried venture supporting outcast sailors. From family, peers and diocesan chiefs who would regard this a risky move at best, a scandalous waste of his time and energy at worst. But his is a Good Samaritan tale of our times, to celebrate. A talk for The Fourth Sunday after Trinity, Sea Sunday, 10 July 2022. Find the text to this and all my talks at bit.ly/johndavies-talks.

GB2RS News Sunday the 5th of June 2022 The news headlines: Amateur radio to be shown on television Thank you to all the Society's volunteers Platinum Jubilee activities underway The hobby of amateur radio, and portable operating in particular, will receive some television coverage today, Sunday the 5th of June. The long-running BBC Countryfile programme airs at 6 pm on the main BBC 1 channel. It will be based from Flat Holm Island in the Bristol Channel, the site of Marconi's first radio transmissions over the sea. Presenters Ellie Harrison and Matt Baker will be with leading Summits on the Air operator Ben Lloyd, GW4BML as he sets up a portable station on the island in order to contact SOTA activators on hill and mountain summits around the UK. Volunteers Week takes place between the 1st and the 7th of June every year. It's a chance for the RSGB to recognise the fantastic contribution volunteers make to the work of the Society. From news readers to the National Radio Centre, the regional teams to committees and everything in between, the RSGB would like to thank the hundreds of people who make a difference in amateur radio every week, not just during Volunteers Week. If you would like to join them, go to rsgb.org/volunteers to see what vacancies are available. The RSGB's Platinum Jubilee activities have started with the GB70 Special Event Stations up and running. The call signs to look for are GB70E in England, GB70M in Scotland, GB70W in Wales, GB70I in Northern Ireland, GB70J on Jersey, GB70U on Guernsey and GB70D on the Isle of Man. You can find out more about these special events at gb70.co.uk. Many amateurs are already using the Regional Secondary Locator, the letter Q. If you would like to join them, the free-of-charge Notice of Variation to your licence that is needed is available via the RSGB website, see rsgb.org/jubilee. If you would rather, you may use the suffix /70 to celebrate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. An NoV is not necessary for the /70 addition to your callsign. The RSGB's Tonight@8 will be live on Monday the 6th of June. Professor Ian Morison, G0DMU will give a review of the history of Jodrell Bank, one of the world's premier radio astronomy observatories. From its founding in 1945 through the completion of the Mk I radio telescope in 1957 to the building of the Merlin array in the 1980s and 1990s, Ian will discuss some of its most exciting discoveries. Due to recent poor propagation on the original 3727kHz frequency and increasing local background noise levels on the 80m band generally, the National Radio Centre net has moved to 7130kHz. The net is on air every weekday morning starting at 10.30 am on 7130kHz. The net is open to all licensed radio operators, whether to join in with the chat or just for a signal report.  Belgium's communications regulator has said 50.200MHz and 51.075MHz will be used until the 18th of June during a military exercise in Elzenborn. In Belgium, the amateur radio service has a secondary status in this band with the military services having primary status. Radio amateurs are asked to avoid the use of these frequencies if possible and to listen carefully to whether the frequency is in use if they still wish to use the frequencies concerned. And now for details of rallies and events  Please send your rally and event news as soon as possible to radcom@rsgb.org.uk. We'll publicise your event in RadCom, on GB2RS, and online.  Today, Sunday the 5th of June, the Spalding Radio Rally will be held at Holbeach United Youth FC, Pennyhill Road, Holbeach, Lincolnshire PE12 7PR. Doors open at 10 am, with disabled guests gaining access at 9.30 am. Entry is £3. There will be a car boot area, flea market and trade stands. Catering is available on site. A prize draw/raffle will take place. More from Graham, G8NWC on 0775 461 9701. Next Saturday, the 11th of June, the Rochdale & District ARS Summer Rally will be held at St Vincent de Paul's, Caldershaw Road, off Edenfield Road (A680), Norden, Rochdale OL12 7QR. Doors open at 10.15 am with disabled visitors gaining access at 10 am. Details from Robert, M0NVQ, m0nvq@outlook.com. Next Sunday, the 12th, two rallies are on the calendar. The Mendips Radio Rally is at Farrington Gurney Memorial Hall and Playing Fields, Church Lane, Farrington Gurney, Somerset BS39 6TY. There is free parking available, and doors will be open between 9.30 am and 1 pm. Admission is £3. There will be inside tables and a large field for car boot traders. Hot and cold refreshments will be available. For all enquiries call Luke on 07870 168 197. The Junction 28 Radio Rally will be in Alfreton Leisure Centre, Church St. DE55 7BD. Traders and clubs will be in the indoor hall alongside a bar and café. Admission is £3. More from Alan, M0OLT, secretary@snadarc.com. Now the DX news Harald, DF2WO will be active again as 9X2AW from Rwanda until the 22nd of June. He plans to operate on all bands and satellite QO-100, he will operate FT8, CW, SSB and RTTY. QSL via M0OXO's OQRS. Reiner, DL2AAZ will be active holiday style as TO2AZ from Guadeloupe, NA-102, until the 10th of June. He will operate CW and SSB on the 10 to 40m bands. QSL via home call, direct or bureau. Due to the postponement of the expedition to Rockall until June next year, five team members will conduct pre-expedition training from Goose Rock, EU-005, an uninhabited rocky islet off the coast of Newquay, between Monday the 6th and Thursday the 9th of June. Nobby, G0VJG will be testing his radio equipment and be on the air as G0VJG/P. Now the Special Event news IY4ELE will be on the air today, Sunday the 5th of June. The aim of this event is to highlight the historical value and meaning of the yacht Elettra, the floating laboratory of Marconi. The station will be set up close to the yacht. More information on the amateur activity can be found at arifidenza.it.  GB0LIZ will be on the air today, Sunday the 5th of June, to celebrate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. It will be operated by members of Guisborough & District ARC from the Lion Inn, Blakey Ridge, Kirkbymoorside YO627LQ. They will be using as many bands as possible and visitors are welcome. Wales Digital Radio group will be active using GB0JBL until Monday the 6th of June celebrating the Queen's Platinum Jubilee from the Refreshment Rooms in Cymmer, South Wales. GB2JCM will be operated by the James Clerk Maxwell Radio Society to commemorate the anniversary of the mathematician and scientist's birth on the 13th of June. They will operate from the Church at Parton in Dumfries & Galloway where Clerk Maxwell both worshipped and is buried. Should you be interested in joining with the society and taking part in the special event, please come along on the day between 9 am and 5 pm. They can be contacted via QRZ.com. Now the contest news This weekend is a busy one for contests. The ARRL International Digital Contest ends its 48-hour run at 2359UTC today, Sunday the 5th of June. Using digital modes, but no RTTY, on the 1.8 to 50MHz bands where contests are allowed, the exchange is your 4-character locator. The UK Six Metre Group's Summer Contest ends its 24-hour run at 1300UTC today, Sunday the 5th. Using all modes on the 50MHz band, the exchange is signal report, serial number, locator and membership number. Ending its 48-hour run at 2359UTC today, Sunday the 5th is the International Pride Contest. You can enter as a single operator, multi-operator or a single QRP operator. Check out the rules at prideradio.group/contest The RSGB National Field Day ends its 24-hour run at 1500UTC today, Sunday the 5th. Using CW only on the 1.8 to 28MHz bands where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report and serial number. Today, Sunday the 5th of June, the UK Microwave Group's Low Band Contest runs from 1000 to 1600UTC. Using all modes on the 1.3, 2.3 and 3.4GHz bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Monday, the 6th, the 80m Club Championships contest runs from 1900 to 2030UTC. Using RTTY and PSK63 only, the exchange is signal report and serial number. Tuesday the 7th sees the 144MHz FM Activity Contest run from 1800 to 1855UTC. It is followed by the all-mode 144MHz UK Activity Contest running from 1900 to 2130UTC. The exchange is the same for both contests, signal report, serial number and locator. The 432MHz FT8 Activity Contest takes place between 1900 and 2100UTC on Wednesday the 8th of June. The exchange is your report and 4-character locator. Thursday the 9th of June sees the 50MHz UK Activity Contest take place between 1900 and 2130UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The weekend of the 11th and 12th of June is another busy one for contests. Saturday the 11th is the day of the RSGB's Jubilee Tournaments. The first is the CW Jubilee Tournament which runs from 0900 to 1010UTC. Using the 3.5, 7 and 14MHz bands where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report and serial number.  This is followed by the Jubilee Tournament which runs between 1400 and 1510UTC on the 144MHz band. Using phone and CW, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.  Finally, the SSB Jubilee Tournament runs between 1900 and 2010UTC. Using the 3.5, 7 and 14MHz bands where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report and serial number.  Note that the three Jubilee Tournaments are 70 minutes in length in keeping with the Platinum Jubilee theme. The IARU ATV Contest runs from 1200UTC on Saturday the 11th of June to 1800UTC on the 12th. Using the 432MHz band and up, the exchange is the P number, serial number and locator.  On Sunday the 12th of June, the second 144MHz Backpackers contest runs from 0900 to 1300UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Also next Sunday, the 12th, the Practical Wireless 2m QRP contest runs from 0900 to 1600UTC. It is phone only and the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The maximum power allowed for this contest is 5W. The UK Six Metre Group's Summer Marathon runs until the 2nd of August, with contacts on the 50MHz band exchanging your 4-character locator. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA, and G4BAO on Wednesday the 1st of June 2022. What a difference a week makes! Last week we were looking at a solar flux index of 137 and a mass of sunspots. This week the SFI is standing at 101 with only three active regions visible, and one of those is about to rotate out of view. Geomagnetic conditions have been relatively stable, but a little unsettled with a maximum Kp index of three over the past few days as this report was being prepared. The solar wind stream remained elevated above 500km/s due to a coronal hole stream combined with possible weak Coronal Mass Ejections, or CME, effects. As a result, HF conditions have been a little lacklustre with the Chilton Ionosonde showing a critical frequency of between four and five Megahertz. This equates to a maximum usable frequency of around 18-21MHz over a 3,000km path. As we said, nothing to write home about. But all is not lost as the experts feel this will be a short-lived decline in solar activity and normal service will soon resume! NOAA thinks the SFI will decline a little more by the end of this week, before coming back with a roar from around Tuesday the 7th of June. It predicts the SFI could be 110 on Tuesday the 7th and then rise to 150 by the 14th. So next week could see the bands opening up again, at least for a while. Geomagnetic conditions are predicted to remain quiet with a maximum Kp index of two, at least until the 10th when it could rise to perhaps four or five.  It looks like the Jubilee weekend may offer fairly flat HF conditions, but this may improve as we head into next week. And now the VHF and up propagation news. There are no signs at the moment of really strong long-lasting areas of high pressure so any Tropo is likely to be temporary. On today's forecast charts, the only one that shows up develops over Scotland during the holiday weekend but declines as the weekend finishes. The rest of the weather story is focused upon showery activity and with the prospect of some being heavy and thundery, it bodes well for rain scatter, but could also play havoc with HF CW NFD static levels. The early days of June are regarded as prime time for Sporadic-E, and with this season getting off to a slow start, it's high time we saw some activity.  There are a few jet stream segments over Europe during the week to come, but nothing looks too strong. This may be compensated for by the increase in the background meteor input in this period and, hopefully, there will be plenty to celebrate. After the excitement of last week's “will they, won't they” Eta Aquarids meteor shower, this week is going to be something of a back to normal situation.  June is usually a slow month for meteors with no major showers. However, the daytime Arietids, which is a minor meteor shower, may provide some useful radio reflections on Tuesday and Wednesday, the 7th and 8th. Sky noise will be quite low this week with the Moon full next Tuesday, the 14th of June. Declination reduces throughout the week as the moon moves towards perigee. Path loss for Moonbounce will reduce as the week progresses. Once again, low declination will favour stations with little or no antenna elevation, potentially increasing operation time beyond that around moonrise and moonset. And that's all from the propagation team this week.  

The River Usk, or Afon Wysg in Welsh - is 100km or around 62 miles, rises on the slopes of the Black Mountain, in the Brecon Beacons, weaves it's way through Abergavenny before joining the Bristol Channel at Newport. But all is not well....agricultural pollution, sewage leaks, climate change - they're all adding up to loss of habitat for wildlife and depleted fish stocks on this iconic river and what's happening in this catchment, campaigners say, is reflected on waterways across Wales. Steffan Messenger travels along the banks of the river Usk to explore the issues, beginning his journey with Guy Mawle, the author of a report "A Dying River: The State of the River Usk" and continues on to find out what needs to be done to prevent further decline and restore it.

Jonny and Richard attempt to talk about the Volkswagen ID.Buzz but get slightly distracted by unexpected wetsuits, the Bristol Channel, Florence out of Florence + The Machine as a mermaid, meeting an etceterist, a weird homemade song about Boots Vouchers, walloping 909 beats, Federal-spec Peugeots, the film Blade (again), saying 'the thing is', being really into Marillion, having a terrible Ben Sherman Page 3 shirt, shouting swear words at a charging flap, low fat lard, and Richard's new car. patreon.com/smithandsniff Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Steffen, ich bin in der Mittel-Weser-Region geboren. Deshalb fahren wir im Urlaub oft an die Nordsee, vor allem nach Cuxhaven und Umgebung. Was ich mich schon als kleiner Junge gefragt habe: Wo bleibt das Wasser der Nordsee bei Ebbe? Das ist dann auf der anderen Seite des gleichen Meeres. Das Wasser schwappt praktisch hin und her wie in einem Eimer. Wenn in Cuxhaven Ebbe ist, dann ist zur gleichen Zeit an der US-Küste gerade Hochwasser. Warum aber ist die Ebbe an der Nordseeküste besonders ausgeprägt? Zum einen ist die deutsche Nordseeküste verhältnismäßig flach. Und zum anderen ist dieser sogenannte Tidenhub, also der Abstand zwischen dem Niedrigwasser und dem höchsten Wasserstand, dort am größten, wo es enge Buchten gibt. Zum Beispiel im Bristol Channel zwischen England und Wales oder am Rio de la Plata in Südamerika. Warum nicht auch in der Ostsee? In kleineren Randmeeren wie dem Mittelmeer, dem Schwarzen Meer oder der Ostsee ist, um das Bild vom schwappenden Eimer weiter zu bemühen, der Eimer zu klein, als dass das Schwappen sich richtig bemerkbar machen könnte. Warum aber läuft dann die Fahrrinne, wo die Elbe in die Nordsee führt, nicht leer? Dort können weiter die großen Schiffe aus Richtung Hamburg fahren. Die Rinne ist um einiges tiefer als das Watt vor Cuxhaven. Und es gibt den ständigen Zufluss der Elbe, wenn nicht gerade absolute Trockenheit weiter oben herrscht. Dass man da dauernd ausbaggert, hat den Grund, dass die Elbe nicht nur Wasser mit sich bringt, sondern in gewissem Umfang immer wieder verschiedene Sedimente ablagert. Meine Eltern meinten früher, der Mond wäre für Ebbe und Flut verantwortlich. Was ist da dran? In der Tat ist der Mond schuld. Er ist zwar viel kleiner als die Erde, aber doch groß genug, um durch seine Anziehungskraft auf unseren Planeten einzuwirken. Wasser ist beweglicher als die feste Erdoberfläche – und das folgt dem Mond gewissermaßen. Der italienische Philosoph Andrea Cesalpino hatte noch die Idee, Ebbe und Flut einzig mit der Erddrehung zu erklären. Er hat sich auch das Bild mit dem Eimer ausgedacht. Erst später konnte der Physiker Isaac Newton die Gezeiten so weit berechnen, dass man einigermaßen genaue Tidenkalender machen konnte. Bei der Gelegenheit hat er gleich noch nachgewiesen, dass die Gravitation universell zwischen Himmelskörpern ebenso wie Gegenständen auf der Erde wirkt. Machen sich Ebbe und Flut bei Fischen und Pflanzen in irgendeiner Form bemerkbar? Eine Landschaft, die durch den regelmäßigen Gezeitenwechsel wesentlich geformt ist, hat natürlich ein anderes Ökosystem als irgendein Stück Mittelmeer- oder Ostseeküste. Pflanzen- und Tierarten, die an das reine Unterwasserdasein gewöhnt sind, gibt es an der Nordseeküste nicht. Andersrum sucht man Wattwürmer im Mittelmeer vergebens.

This Week’s Featured Interview: A jaw-dropping interview with UK Marine Biologist Tim Deere-Jones on the true impact of nuclear industry dredge-and-drop of nuclear 600,000 cubic metres (approx 780,000 tons) of radioactive waste into the Bristol Channel off the coast of Wales.  He works as an independent Marine Pollution Researcher and Consultant with a client list...

In this our sixth episode of season two, an intrepid Lucy braved the squall and had a conversation with Liz, Vanessa (and others!) from Minehead Polar Bears.These hardy swimmers have overcome lockdown malaise and got fitter and healthier by swimming in the Bristol Channel. They certainly look all the better for it, and Lucy can't wait to join them in the briny soon!

Mountmellick Mermaid: Joan Fennelly learned to swim in Mountmeliick's Owenass River. She is now part of a relay team taking on the Bristol Channel swim this Wednesday 22nd. Now living in the UK find out why Joan is taking on the challenge of swimming the Bristol Channel (which is 40kms!!). If the Henley Mermaids complete the challenge they will make history. Listen back to Joan's chat with Ann Marie ahead of the challenge. Donate here https://www.idonate.ie/TeamHenleyMermaids

Splish, splash, we were… having a bath? Nah, swimming the Bristol Channel more like. Not Mick, Hannah and Jen – OBVS! – but the Henley Mermaids are undertaking this epic open-water challenge to raise cash for the Sunrise charity for brain conditions. Three fifths of them chat to Jen about the whats, whys and hows, as well as the many joys of being self-defined “middle-aged ladies”. Mick and Hannah have a bloody lovely time chatting with Georgia Pritchett, multi award-winning screenwriter of top-level telly – including Veep, Succession, and The Thick Of It – about why feelings are like pickled eggs, the wait and travelling involved in writing with other women, and why ‘Boss and Toss' was the TV romance we all needed. The team are all wearing corduroy suits and smoking like chimneys as 1976's All The President's Men gets Rated or Dated. And there's rumpy pumpy, grumpy Dutch veg sellers and way too much singing in the Bush Telegraph. If you fancy chucking the Henley Mermaids some bunce for their wet endeavours, you can do so here: https://www.henleymermaids.com/ Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/standardissuespodcast. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

A Laois woman swims the Bristol Channel for a great cause, we hear from the nurses who have been picketing at Mullingar Hospital and another insurance clamp down, what are they proposing and how will it work?

For Richie Norton, ex-professional rugby player turned yoga and mindfulness practitioner, good health is the ultimate success we should be striving for. To close out the first season of Walk To Wellbeing, Richie tells us the simple habits we can do every day to reconnect and raise our energy, and how not to miss an opportunity to work on our wellbeing.  Thanks so much for listening to the first season, and we'd love to know what your favourite moments from these ten episodes were – tag us on Instagram at #walktowellbeing @healthwellbeinguk!  Walk to Wellbeing is proudly sponsored by Skechers, where comfort and style meet innovative walking technology. Shop the latest ranges online at https://skechers.co.uk where you'll find thousands of shoes, boots and trainers to kick-start your own walk to wellbeing in ultimate cushioned comfort.  As a special treat for all our lovely Walk To Wellbeing listeners, you can receive three issues of Health & Wellbeing magazine for just £9.99 – straight to your door! That's a saving of over 25%! Just use the code APOD1 to redeem at https://giftstoyou.com/apod1 – where you'll also find the full terms and conditions.  Head to any of our social media pages to join our #WalkToWellbeing, and visit https://www.healthwellbeing.com to download the walking questions that our celebrity guests answer, so that you can record your own Walk to Wellbeing episode! (We'd love to hear it!)  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/healthwellbeinguk  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/healthwellbeinguk  Twitter: https://twitter.com/healthwell_uk  Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/healthwellbeinguk 

In 2020, Jo Jones took on the Bristol Channel, following in the footsteps of Kathleen Thomas, the first person to cross the channel almost 100 years earlier. But things didn't go to plan, and with the open water swimming season coming to a close, a broken boat and bad weather put the swim under threat. […]

I am joined by Laura Nesbitt and John Myatt who I have had some magic swim-ventures with. Together we are The River Otters and we have some INCREDIBLE things in the pipeline for the future. I keep pinching myself at what we have planned. Laura and John kept me sane through the whirlwind of 2020 and we spent many hours in rivers, and the Bristol Channel. They have become great friends of mine. Otters, thank you and I am super proud of you both. In this episode we discuss many different topics: mental health, eating disorders, abuse, loss of identity, guilt, not achieving our potential, longevity in swimming, being treated as a person (not a number), the beauty of swimming, sunrises, our epic swim from the Prince of Wales Bridge to Clevedon Pier, John's ice barrel challenge, ice miles, channel swims and the usual kit tips. As a group, we always swim within our abilities and we have a huge amount of experience between us. All decisions are made collectively and sensibly. The swims we discuss should not be attempted unless you are of high enough skill level, and have prepared fully. If you do want to attempt them, please do notify the coastguard of your intention (if in the Bristol Channel) and always prepare properly by researching your entry and exit points, as well as bail points along the way. We do discuss very personal matters and I do say sh!t once. Sorry mum. Big thank you as always to those people who supported us on our epic swim: Geoff, Dave and Brad - you are ace. "When life gets you down, you know what you gotta do? Just keep swimming." — Dory *please note that this was recorded in December 2020 when there were different covid restrictions*

'A dark and enthralling historical novel with a powerful narrative. The mysterious Daniel Pursglove has all the qualifications for a memorable series hero' ANDREW TAYLOR 'Skilfully interweaves the threads of natural catastrophe, murder, conspiracy and espionage that go right to the heart of the Jacobean court' TRACY BORMAN Gunpowder and treason changed England forever. But the tides are turning and revenge runs deep in this compelling historical thriller for fans of C.J. Sansom, Andrew Taylor's Ashes of London, Kate Mosse and Blood & Sugar. 1606. A year to the day that men were executed for conspiring to blow up Parliament, a towering wave devastates the Bristol Channel. Some proclaim God's vengeance. Others seek to take advantage. In London, Daniel Pursglove lies in prison waiting to die. But Charles FitzAlan, close adviser to King James I, has a job in mind that will free a man of Daniel's skill from the horrors of Newgate. If he succeeds. For Bristol is a hotbed of Catholic spies, and where better for the lone conspirator who evaded arrest, one Spero Pettingar, to gather allies than in the chaos of a drowned city? Daniel journeys there to investigate FitzAlan's lead, but soon finds himself at the heart of a dark Jesuit conspiracy - and in pursuit of a killer. 'Spies, thieves, murderers and King James I? Brilliant' CONN IGGULDEN 'There are few authors who can bring the past to life so compellingly - it was a genuine treat to follow Pursglove into the devastated streets of Bristol where shadows and menace lurk round almost every corner... Brilliant writing and more importantly, riveting reading' SIMON SCARROW 'Beautifully written with a dark heart, Maitland knows how to pull you deep into the early Jacobean period' RHIANNON WARD

'A dark and enthralling historical novel with a powerful narrative. The mysterious Daniel Pursglove has all the qualifications for a memorable series hero' ANDREW TAYLOR 'Skilfully interweaves the threads of natural catastrophe, murder, conspiracy and espionage that go right to the heart of the Jacobean court' TRACY BORMAN Gunpowder and treason changed England forever. But the tides are turning and revenge runs deep in this compelling historical thriller for fans of C.J. Sansom, Andrew Taylor's Ashes of London, Kate Mosse and Blood & Sugar. 1606. A year to the day that men were executed for conspiring to blow up Parliament, a towering wave devastates the Bristol Channel. Some proclaim God's vengeance. Others seek to take advantage. In London, Daniel Pursglove lies in prison waiting to die. But Charles FitzAlan, close adviser to King James I, has a job in mind that will free a man of Daniel's skill from the horrors of Newgate. If he succeeds. For Bristol is a hotbed of Catholic spies, and where better for the lone conspirator who evaded arrest, one Spero Pettingar, to gather allies than in the chaos of a drowned city? Daniel journeys there to investigate FitzAlan's lead, but soon finds himself at the heart of a dark Jesuit conspiracy - and in pursuit of a killer. 'Spies, thieves, murderers and King James I? Brilliant' CONN IGGULDEN 'There are few authors who can bring the past to life so compellingly - it was a genuine treat to follow Pursglove into the devastated streets of Bristol where shadows and menace lurk round almost every corner... Brilliant writing and more importantly, riveting reading' SIMON SCARROW 'Beautifully written with a dark heart, Maitland knows how to pull you deep into the early Jacobean period' RHIANNON WARD

'A dark and enthralling historical novel with a powerful narrative. The mysterious Daniel Pursglove has all the qualifications for a memorable series hero' ANDREW TAYLOR 'Skilfully interweaves the threads of natural catastrophe, murder, conspiracy and espionage that go right to the heart of the Jacobean court' TRACY BORMAN Gunpowder and treason changed England forever. But the tides are turning and revenge runs deep in this compelling historical thriller for fans of C.J. Sansom, Andrew Taylor's Ashes of London, Kate Mosse and Blood & Sugar. 1606. A year to the day that men were executed for conspiring to blow up Parliament, a towering wave devastates the Bristol Channel. Some proclaim God's vengeance. Others seek to take advantage. In London, Daniel Pursglove lies in prison waiting to die. But Charles FitzAlan, close adviser to King James I, has a job in mind that will free a man of Daniel's skill from the horrors of Newgate. If he succeeds. For Bristol is a hotbed of Catholic spies, and where better for the lone conspirator who evaded arrest, one Spero Pettingar, to gather allies than in the chaos of a drowned city? Daniel journeys there to investigate FitzAlan's lead, but soon finds himself at the heart of a dark Jesuit conspiracy - and in pursuit of a killer. 'Spies, thieves, murderers and King James I? Brilliant' CONN IGGULDEN 'There are few authors who can bring the past to life so compellingly - it was a genuine treat to follow Pursglove into the devastated streets of Bristol where shadows and menace lurk round almost every corner... Brilliant writing and more importantly, riveting reading' SIMON SCARROW 'Beautifully written with a dark heart, Maitland knows how to pull you deep into the early Jacobean period' RHIANNON WARD

Full Text of ReadingsFriday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time Lectionary: 321All podcast readings are produced by the USCCB and are from the Catholic Lectionary, based on the New American Bible and approved for use in the United States _______________________________________The Saint of the day is St. Gildas the WiseSt. Gildaswas probably born around 517 in the North of England or Wales. His father's name was Cau (or Nau) and, came from noble lineage, and he most likely had several brothers and sisters. There is writing which suggeststhat one of his brothers, Cuil (or Hueil), was killed by King Arthur (who died in 537 AD), and it also appears thatGildas may have forgiven Arthur for this.There are two accounts of the life of St. Gildas the Wise, neither of which tell the same story.He lived in a time when the glory of Romehad faded from Britain. The permanent legions had been withdrawn by Maximus, who used them to sack Rome and make himself Emperor.Gildaswas noted in particular for his pietyandgood education, and was not afraidto publicly rebuke contemporary monarchs at a time when libel was answered by a sword rather than a Court order.Gildas lived for many years as a very ascetic hermit on Flatholm Island in the Bristol Channel. There he established his reputation for that peculiar Celtic sort of holiness that consists of extreme self-denial and isolation. At around this time, according to the Welsh, he also preached to Nemata, the mother of St David, while she was pregnant with the Saint.In about 547 he wrote a book De Excidio Britanniae (The Destruction of Britain). In this he writes a brief tale of the island from pre-Roman times and criticizes the rulers of the island for their lax morals and blames their sins (and those that follow them) for the destruction of civilization in Britain. The book was avowedly written as a moral tale.He also wrote a longer work, the Epistle, whichis a series of sermons on the moral laxity of rulers and of the clergy. In these Gildas shows that hewas well readinthe Bible and some other classic works.He was also a very influential preacher. Because of his visits to Ireland and thegreat missionary work he did there, he was responsible for the conversion ofmany on the island, and may be the one who introduced anchorite customs to the monks of that land.From there he retired from Llancarfan to Rhuys, in Brittany, where he founded a monastery. Of his works on the running of a monastery (one of the earliest known in the Christian Church), only the so-called Penitential, a guide for Abbots in setting punishment, survives.He died around 571, at Rhuys.He is regarded as being one of the most influential figures of the early English Church. The influence of his writing was felt until well into the middle ages, particularly in the Celtic Church. He is also important to us today as the first British writer whose works have survived fairly intact. Saint of the Day Copyright CNA, Catholic News Agency

Caroline has a catch up with Jo Jones, a fellow open water coach, channel swimmer, current record holder for the fastest Bristol Channel crossing from Penarth to Clevedon and 500m ice swimming champion. We discuss where it all started for us both and getting into swimming as kids, how you never stop learning, safety, pushing yourself too far, learning what works for you, ice miles, Russia, wetsuits, ear plugs and not comparing yourself to others. Even after all the years we have been swimming, you never stop learning. This was the first podcast I recorded and I want to thank Jo for giving me the motivation to do it. Her enthusiasm encouraged me to take the plunge and have a go. So a huge thank you.

On a hot day, Clare and Alice Roberts walk from the village of Draycott in Somerset up through the Draycott Sleights Nature Reserve with views opening out across the Bristol Channel to Wales and across the Somerset Levels to Glastonbury Tor. Alice says she finds the ancient landscape fascinating and imagines the inhabitants of past centuries who would have lived on the small settlements on the Levels. Producer: Maggie Ayre

Season 2 Episode 39: Joan Hudson on the Artist’s Journey. Welcome to Tea Toast & Trivia. Thank you for listening in. I am heading over to England today to what has been called Somerset’s most charming town – Clevedon, situated on the Bristol Channel famous for its magnificent pier. The pier was completed in 1869 as a landing point for paddle steamers, carrying passengers along the Severn Estuary from Wales and Devon. I am meeting up with Clevedon’s famed artist, Joan Hudson, a dear friend who has invited me for afternoon tea in her summer garden. You are invited to join us and share in an extraordinary conversation about art, imagination, and embracing our creativity. Thank you, Joan for your invitation to tea. I have been looking forward to this discussion. Thank you for sharing this moment with Joan and me. Your visit and comments are very much appreciated. You can meet up with Joan on Instagram at Joan.hudson3 or her blog On the Bright Side. Until next time dear friends, take care and be safe. P.S. In our discussion, Joan mentioned Alice Strang’s initiative in response to the global lockdown, which can be viewed at this link: Digital art in a time of virus. "Senior Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Alice Strang, is a keen user of social media channels Twitter and Instagram, matching current affairs with works in the National Galleries of Scotland’s collection. With the closure of our Galleries following the outbreak of Coronavirus (COVID-19), not only is everyone joined in common concerns but the power of art to boost morale, in digital form, is becoming more apparent every day." National Galleries Scotland

It's the 20th of January, or the 30th of January 1606, or 1607. It's Bristol, England and the surfing along the Bristol Channel is much, much better than usual.  In what bawdy, wide ruff'd Stuart noblemen are already calling the 34th chapt'r of thine CB Wallop Podcast, thou artless Banbury cheese, join Phil Jerrod and Phil Lucas as they discuss The Bristol Channel Flood - the gigantic freak wave that drowned pretty much everything and everyone right up to the Cotswolds.  Was it a tsunami? Was it the spring tide? Was it God having a go at the Pope? We may never know.  Trigger Warning: I mean come on guys, this thing happened in 1607, or 1606 - that's a whopping 413 or 414 years ago! But even so, I suppose this one does involve lots of drowning and also the use of some very olde englishe which is offensive in its own way.  Written and Researched by Phil Lucas Edited by Phil Jerrod Music by Steve Adam Audio Clips: A Journey Down the River Severn - Course https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TwaEjAei4M [No Copyright Music] Retro 80's Funky Jazz-Hop Instrumental (Copyright Free) Music - Sundance Remix Music Credit: SUNDANCE Track Name: "Perséphone - Retro Funky (SUNDANCE remix)" Music By: SUNDANCE @ https://soundcloud.com/sundancemusic The SUNDANCE Official Website is HERE - http://lefthandmusic.fr/ Follow SUNDANCE on BandCamp: https://sundancemusic.bandcamp.com/ License for commercial use: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Music promoted by NCM https://goo.gl/fh3rEJ  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hbnMgHgZfs Samples From The British Renaissance Music - Shakespeare´s Time https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2TqNX-zaMM&t=863s Sources https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Channel_floods,_1607 https://www.volcanocafe.org/the-bristol-tsunami-of-1607/ https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/tsunami-blame-killer-flooding-bristol-26429 https://www.aforgottenlandscape.org.uk/projects/1607-the-great-severn-estuary-flood/ https://www.surgewatch.org/historic-events-the-british-channel-floods-of-1607-2/ https://www.burnham-on-sea.com/history/1607-flood/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/bristol/content/articles/2007/01/30/flood_feature.shtml https://nivo.co.uk/bristol-facts/ http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizabethan-life.htm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiCLE3_yyHk https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/stormsurge-stormtide.html https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/learn-about/weather/types-of-weather/storms/storm-surge

From an island in the Bristol Channel, a distress signal goes out over the airwaves.

On episode 8, we take you on our visit to Barry Island in Wales.  Travel Tips and Fun Facts We have more travel adventures on this episode with highlights on visiting Barry Island.  This destination is about 10 miles south of Cardiff on the Bristol Channel.  We also share a few fun facts and tips you'll want to consider on your visit to this city which is easily accessible from Cardiff.    Travel Resources As we made this visit with our base in Cardiff, you can also find our recommended itinerary for visiting Cardiff. Click here to access our Cardiff Itinerary in PDF format.  We consulted “DK Eyewitness Travel Guide Great Britain” for identifying specific attractions to include during our trip.  The book was helpful to identify walking tours, museums, as well as providing days and times that specific places are open to visit.  We recommend purchasing a book similar to this one when planning a longer trip.   Visit Cardiff Wales We hope these episodes inspire you to consider the Cardiff area in Wales. You'll find our blog posts on our Cardiff area visit at these links: https://www.theplaceswherewego.com/cardiff-day-1/ https://www.theplaceswherewego.com/cardiff-day-2-tracing-a-family-tree-in-raglan/ https://www.theplaceswherewego.com/cardiff-day-3-a-castle-and-the-sea/ https://www.theplaceswherewego.com/cardiff-day-4-national-history-day/   Which nearby cities will explore on a trip to Cardiff?    Write to us at comments@theplaceswherewego.com We'll see you at the places where we go. Julie & Art

Robin and I discuss living the Bootstrapper dream - and how the dream changes over time. We also go off topic and discuss surfing up the Bristol Channel. Links: Robin’s company, Corrello: Dashboards for Scrum and Kanban teams using Trello: https://getcorrello.com/ Robin on Twitter: https://twitter.com/robinwarren Robin's blog post "$0 to $1k MRR in 57 months": https://getcorrello.com/blog/2016/04/13/0-1k-mrr-57-months/ Britstrapped podcast interview with Robin, From 0 MRR to "Living the Dream": http://www.britstrapped.com/280d7224 Surfing up the Bristol channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKA39LQOIck

Robin and I discuss living the Bootstrapper dream – and how the dream changes over time. We also go off topic and discuss surfing up the Bristol Channel. Links: Robin’s company, Corrello: Dashboards for Scrum and Kanban teams using Trello: https://getcorrello.com/ Robin on Twitter: https://twitter.com/robinwarren Robin’s blog post “$0 to $1k MRR in 57 months”: […] The post #110: “Living the Bootstrapper dream” with Robin Warren, founder of Corrello appeared first on Bootstrapped.fm.

In today’s episode of Innovation: An Endless Pursuit, we look at customer service excellence and how companies can deliver social value to the communities that they serve. Social value goes beyond the normal corporate social responsibility activities of many corporations. It’s about how companies founded on the delivery of a service for a social good make a difference to their communities. In the case of Bristol Water, we were founded in 1846 with the purpose of providing clean drinking water to all, not just the wealthy few. Achieving this original goal had a dramatic effect on the city of Bristol, ridding the city of waterborne diseases and helping to dramatically increase our productive and economic growth. In this episode Chris is joined by two of our leaders here at Bristol Water, Ben Newby and Iain McGuffog, to look at how we’re continuing to build on our social mission and where the next innovations in customer service excellence and social responsibility are going to come from. We hope you enjoy listening to this episode and look forward to hearing what you think of it. We’re always looking for help and collaboration on our Quest and if you have any comments or thoughts we’d love to hear from you at innovation@Bristolwater.co.uk . Today's guests: Ben Newby Ben is the Chief Customer Officer here at Bristol Water and focuses on ensuring we continue to provide a leading customer experience to those we serve. He looks after all customer aspects of our activities, including our contact centers, our communications teams and our recreation business. Prior to his current role at Bristol Water, Ben was the Director of Business Improvement and IT, driving transformational change across Bristol Water. When he’s not working on how to deliver a better experience for our customers, he can be found making the most of the countryside around Bristol and taking to the Bristol Channel in his sailing boat. Iain McGuffog Iain is the Director of Strategy & Regulation at Bristol Water, and has worked in the water sector since 2002. As part of his role at Bristol Water, he is responsible for water quality, ensuring we provide the best possible product to our customers. He has been responsible for helping Bristol Water produce the “Bristol Water…Clearly” long-term ambition and the “Bristol Water For All” Social Contract. Being a veteran of four water industry price reviews, his track record covers working with others on a wide range of environmental, economics, customer and regulatory topics – often all in the same conversation. As someone whose role covers both big ideas and regulatory detail, he strongly believes in recycling, mostly ideas, and connecting seemingly random topics together. You can follow him on Twitter @mcguffog_iain.

Episode 2 Show Notes: Getting ready to visit Wales and England On this episode, we talk about planning our UK trip which included stops in England and Wales.  Our longer trips like this always begin with assessing the budget, so as to fit in trips that work with our financial situation. Julie has been active doing genealogy research on her family.  This sparked an interest to visit places from where her family emigrated to the United States.  As Sweden is one such place with still living relatives, this was our initial plan, and we considered Stockholm and Sodra Lian during our early planning However, having recently completing an Ancestry DNA kit, Julie was surprised to see a large percentage of ancestry from the United Kingdom.  This sparked new interest as she traced her lineage to the Ragland clan in the village of Raglan, Wales, where there is a present-day castle ruin.  She decided this would be a cool place to visit. Our planning shifted to the United Kingdom.  Julie's lineage came from Wales (Raglan, Llantwit Major, Penarth, Barry) and England (Watchet, Somerset) – places around in the general area of the Bristol Channel.  With Julie tracing her family tree in that part of the world to the 1400s, this started to give us an outline of places to consider for our visit. Our planning timeline for lengthy trips like this usually begins around 8 months in advance.  We discuss why advance planning is important when travelling to popular destinations. But then, our trip planning hit the pause button due to Brexit.  Not certain of how this political situation might impact travel, we watch the news and read the newspapers so as to avoid a situation that might result in social unrest.  Ultimately we decide to venture forward with our UK travel plans regardless as no Brexit solution was found by three months before our calendar was showing our tentative UK trip. Art's dad spent five years (1943-1948) in England during World War II upon leaving a Polish refugee camp in Palestine.  Adding the English footsteps of Art's dad to the itinerary would add stops in London (for Osterley Park and Richmond Palace, where Art's dad was invited by Lady Jersey, actress Virginia Cherrill, to spend holiday time), Halton and the Trenchard Museum, and Liverpool. An itinerary influenced with tracing family lineage would keep us from visiting Scotland, Ireland, and Poland – places that were on our radar at the early stages of planning this trip.  A trip that takes you to very specific places will likely cause you to leave out many otherwise popular tourist destinations. Art doesn't get to include his bucket list item of attending an English Premier League game on this trip. We used TripAdvisor to identify attractions to see once we had our short list of cities identified for this UK trip.  We selected Cardiff to be our hub in Wales.  That would make it easy to get to several places in Wales including Raglan, Barry Island as well as key attractions we selected in Cardiff. We leveraged “DK Eyewitness Travel Guide Great Britain” for identifying specific attractions to include during our trip.  The book was helpful to identify walking tours, museums, as well as providing days and times that specific places are open to visit.  We recommend purchasing a book similar to this one when planning a longer trip. The book, “Survivors of War: One Family's Struggle Through World War II” by Dan Dobrucki and Walerian Joseph Dobrucki proved to be another helpful resource for planning this personal family history journey. Because our UK trip included very specific places, planning the trip ourselves versus with a travel agent turned out to offer us the best approach. This episode sets the stage and context for the upcoming UK episodes where we'll talk specifically about the places we visited.  Our next episode will focus on Cardiff City Center. Where would a trip to trace your family history take you to?  Consider tracing your family history to develop a personally fulfilling travel itinerary.  We'll see you at the places where we go. Julie & Art

In June 1942 the 3rd fighter group of the 2nd fighter wing of the Luftwaffe was scrambled to intercept a force of six returning A-20 Havoc bombers. The bombers were escorted by the 310th, 312th and 313th squadron of the RAF, all manned by Czech pilots. The Luftwaffe was flying the brand new Focke-Wulf 190 and downed seven Spitfires, one in spectacular fashion when Oberleutnant Armin Faber, with only one cannon working, made an Immelmann turn in to the sun and shot down his pursuer head on. Faber however had become severely disoriented during the dogfight and separated from the rest of the squadron and mistook the Bristol Channel for the English Channel and ended up flying north instead of south, mistaking the south of Wales for France. Witnesses could hardly believe their eyes when seeing the German plane waggling its wings in a victory celebration and then landing on the training airfield at RAF Pembrey. This being a training airfield, not many weapons were available and duty pilot Sergeant Jeffreys had to jump up on the wing of the plane and take Faber prisoner with a flare gun. Adventure: The Island of the Dead, KULT: Divinity Lost Music from the official KULT soundtrack featuring tracks by: Atrium Carceri, Mechanoreceptor, Mind. Divided, Warfield, Howler, Second Escape, Michael Idehall, Precision Field, Zwaga, Occult Cow Demise, Pandoras Black Book and Tantrick Ape. Web: https://www.redmoonroleplaying.com iTunes: http://apple.co/2wTNqHx Android: http://bit.ly/2vSvwZi Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/RedMoonRoleplaying RSS: http://www.redmoonroleplaying.com/podcast?format=rss Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/RedMoonRoleplaying

Rob talks about his route to Global Golf Advisors and explains how they help golf clubs in the UK and all over the world.  Rob then moves on to give some fascinating insights into the current trends in the industry.  Find Rob on Twitter @RobHill_ Eddie talks to Karen Drake, General Manager at Burnham & Berrow Golf Club.  Burnham & Berrow is located in Somerset and is a traditional links course located right next to the Bristol Channel.  Karen talks about the club and some of the ways in which they're providing a great experience for their members and also some of their challenges, including a recent bushfire.  @BurnhamBerrow 

Lundy Island sits just off the North Devon Coast in the Bristol Channel. It has a fascinating history which dates back to the Bronze Age and has been home to pirates and outlaws. Previous owners have even had their own stamps and coinage produced but today it is managed by the Landmark Trust and the island and its surrounding waters are recognised for their rich wildlife and habitat. David Lindo visits the island as it holds the very first 'Lundy Marathon'. 250 trail runners will brave the rocky coastal paths over a distance of 14 miles and they hope the sport they love can work in harmony with this precious and remote habitat.

"I want to come home either well, or if I get killed, I would just as soon be planted in France..." In his tenth letter home from Camp Lee, Virginia, dated March 10, 1918, PFC Charles “Dutch” Riggle, a WWI soldier from Wheeling, WV, tells his brother James “Abe” Riggle that they are losing their captain, probably because he is being sent overseas. Just as Les Scott reported the day before (see podcast 37), Dutch believes they will keep the mules and not be motorized (with trucks). They'll be heading to the artillery range on the James River. Dutch is looking forward to it. His battery beat the rest in firing practice, shooting 5,000 yards. He has a little chat with Les almost every day. The weather is warm and "dandy," and more concrete roads are being built. Dutch thinks if the war isn't over by July, "we will go over and try the Germans a crack." He's going to send a shell home for "old Boss" [possibly his sister, Minnie Riggle] to keep as an ornament.   Elsewhere on the same day, Günther Rall, who would become a prolific fighter ace for Nazi Germany's Luftwaffe in WWII (credited with 275 wins), was born, and the British hospital ship "Guildford Castle" with 450 wounded soldiers on board, was torpedoed by a German submarine in Bristol Channel, but made it to port.   Charles “Dutch” Riggle was drafted into the US Army in 1917 and trained at Camp Lee, Virginia, where so many Wheeling draftees and volunteers—including his sister-in-law Minnie Riggle’s brother, Lester Scott—were trained. Dutch Riggle was a Private First Class in the 314th Field Artillery Supply Company, in France. Riggle was a farm boy with little formal education who grew up in the hills of Pennsylvania and West Virginia. He spelled many of his words phonetically. His letters have been transcribed exactly as they were written. This is his tenth letter from Camp Lee, dated 100 years ago today, March 10, 1918. Digital scans and a transcript of Charles Riggle's March 10, 1918 letter can be viewed at: http://www.archivingwheeling.org/blog/from-camp-lee-to-the-great-war-march-10-1918-podcast Credits: "From Camp Lee to the Great War: The letters of Lester Scott and Charles Riggle" is brought to you by archivingwheeling.org in partnership with the Ohio County Public Library (www.ohiocountylibrary.org) and the WALS Foundation (walswheeling.com). Vince Marshall is the voice of Charles Riggle. The letters of Lester Scott and Charles Riggle were transcribed by Jon-Erik Gilot. This podcast was edited and written by Sean Duffy, audio edited by Erin Rothenbuehler. Music: "Medley of Southern airs," Fred J. Bacon, banjo, 1920, courtesy Library of Congress: http://www.loc.gov/item/00694032/ Many thanks to Marjorie Richey for sharing family letters and the stories of her uncles, Lester Scott and Charles “Dutch” Riggle, WWI soldiers from West Virginia.

Environmentalist Tony Juniper recalls his first encounter on the island of Lundy in the Bristol Channel with an "elegant beauty"; a large wading bird with a long straight bill and tall slender neck which turned out to be a Black-tailed Godwit. This was a first not only for Tony but for Lundy as well! Producer: Sarah Blunt Photograph: Jeff Phillips.

Tom Holland and his guests showcase the stories that are making history. Helen Castor heads for Wales and new scientific research telling us much more about what the Romans ate and how far away they had to source their food to feed their armies. Helen's in Newport, not far from Caerleon which was one of only three permanent fortresses in Roman Britain. Here, archaeologists and scientists from Cardiff University are using dental palaeopathology to discover where the animals that were slaughtered for their meat came from. The results suggest that so-called supply chains were as long and involved as they are today. Also, we cross the Bristol Channel for more food history as reporter Hester Cant tastes the city's vibrant street food culture and discovers just how long its been established in the UK. Producer: Nick Patrick A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.

John Raymond-Barker runs RB Boatbuilding, one of the last boatyards on Bristol's Harbour. He builds Bristol Channel Pilot Cutters, and told me about these unique boats, and being a link back to Bristol's history. More information, and photos, on my website:https://avonstories.com/2017/07/15/avon-stories-podcast-6-rb-boatbuilding/

For this Avon Story, I travelled 20 miles outside of Bristol, to find out about the railway line that runs up the Avon Gorge to Pill and the Royal Portbury Dock, and used to continue on to Portishead, on the Bristol Channel. Dave Chillistone of the Portishead Railway Group took me for a walk and told me why the railway was built, the impact on the town, why it was closed, and why the PRG are campaigning for it to be re-opened. You can follow our walk, with photos and lots more information, on my website, http://www.avonstories.com

Neil Worley's of Worley's Cider makes cider in the area of Great Britain called Somerset. Climb the high hill at the farm and your can see the Bristol Channel. It is a remote location by UK standards and the soil at the farm is only 3 inches in depth before you hit limestone. Instead of growing apples at the farm, the apples are brought up the hill. When Neil traveled to Portland Oregon in February 2016 to speak at the United States Association of Cider Makers annual event called CiderCon, I caught up with him to chat about a very specific cider making technique called "keeving". What is Keeving? It is a process, whereby the nutrients of the sweet cider (before fermentation) are removed from the juice. During this process the nutrients float to the top of the juice forming a brown cap that Neil says looks like a "brown omelette". The brown cap is punctured and the juice is rack over into a new container to then be fermented into cider. As there are no nutrients in the juice that was keeved, the yeast will not digest all the sugars in the juice thus leaving a refreshing cider that has a dry yet slightly sweet flavor profile. Worley's Cider has won numerous awards and Neil is highly regarded for his cider making. The full transcript of this chat with Neil including all the details he shared on keeving is available for patrons of Cider Chat. Go to Cider Chat Patreon Page and find our how you can receive your copy of this informative chat with Neil discussing the technical aspect and tricks of keeving. Please share this podcast with your cider friends. Follow Cider Chat on Twitter @ciderchat On Facebook via https://www.facebook.com/ciderchat/       

Writer Iain Sinclair seeks the UK's oldest burial site in a cave along south Gower's windy clifftops. The 'Red Lady of Paviland' was interred in a cave 26,000 years ago, the bones decorated with red ochre. But, as he tells Helen Mark, "she" was in fact a he, buried with jewellery and alongside a mammoth's skull. This was at a time when the Bristol Channel was a tundra landscape. Best known for his psychogeographic journeyings through unloved modern landscapes and wastelands, such as the M25 perimeter, Sinclair explains to Helen why he's drawn back to the ancient past in this part of south Wales, a place of childhood holidays, and the subject of his latest book, 'Black Apples of Gower'. He's joined by archaeologist Ffion Reynolds, who's a specialist in prehistoric sites, and antiquarian bookseller Jeff Towns. Producer: Mark Smalley.

Day: Reconnaissance along the south coast and Bristol ChannelNight: Little activityWeather: Fair to fine early. Cloudy with bright intervals at midday, clearing in the eveningThis post details aircraft crashes, pilots, places, engagements, news and facts from the day's action.Follow us on Twitter @BofB1940 for real time tweets from the Battle of BritainAnd read our blog for more in depth analysis, revelations, descriptions and comment: http://bofb1940.blogspot.co.ukread by Kit Dunster

Day: Convoys of shipping at Dover attackedNight: Widespread minelaying from the Needles, Isle of Wight to Lands End; Bristol Channel and eastern coastal watersWeather: Occasional thunderstorms. Straits of Dover cloudy clearing to bright intervalsThis post details aircraft crashes, pilots, places, engagements, news and facts from the day's action.Follow us on Twitter @BofB1940 for real time tweets from the Battle of BritainAnd read our blog for more in depth analysis, revelations, descriptions and comment: http://bofb1940.blogspot.co.ukread by Kit Dunster

Jarvis Cocker stars in his own horror movie as he continues his nocturnal examination of the human condition, exploring the battle between the forces of darkness and light. He hears from horror movie goers at the Electric Cinema in Birmingham, keen to turn the lights off and let the scares begin; the National Grid control room which is charged from keeping the lights on; and Lundy Island in the Bristol Channel - where the electricity switches off at midnight. What is lurking in the basement as Jarvis approaches the darkest hour? Producer: Laurence Grissell.

Continuing his series of short walks for winter days that take in city skylines, Stuart Maconie walks the Garth outside of Cardiff with a group who call themselves Welsh Women Walking. As they admire spectacular views of the city and over the Bristol Channel to Somerset and Devon, Stuart hears from one woman who says these walks with her friends, saved her life and sanity after the death of her son.