After everyone she's ever known was killed in an alien invasion, Lynn Gellert (Jenny Slate) might be the last person left on Earth. Her constant and only companion is the voice recorder she managed to salvage from her mother's house. As symptoms of a strange illness seem to set in, Lynn comes to terms with her mortality, only to realize that she's not sick, she's pregnant. Lynn is not a survivalist, or even good at camping, but somehow she has to find what it takes to confront a dangerous an ...
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BBC Countryfile Magazine brings you The Plodcast - a weekly escape to the British countryside with fascinating guests and the wonders of the great outdoors. Enjoy a new escape into the countryside every Tuesday and wind down with our Sound Escapes on a Friday. Find out more about us at www.countryfile.com/podcast Subscribe to the print version of BBC Countryfile Magazine at https://www.buysubscriptions.com/print/bbc-countryfile-magazine-subscription
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Sound Escape 183. Delight in the last birdsong of the summer woodland
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It’s early evening as you follow a long path that disappears into the woods. The trees create a green tunnel high above you. A recent downpour has left the air fresh and the leaves shining. A song thrush celebrates a break in the weather with a song. Invisible at the top of a tall pine, it’s accompanied by the gentle purr of a wood pigeon and the w…
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260. We're on stage at the Global Birdfair with naturalist and geese fanatic Nick Acheson
1:08:55
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This week, we look back at the amazing Global Birdfair in Rutland, which took place in July. Plodcast host Fergus was on stage to record some plodchats – and in this episode he meets birder and naturalist Nick Acheson to talk about Nick's passion for geese in his native Norfolk. And what's the best way to raise attention about the state of the natu…
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Sound Escape 182. Be mesmerised by the songs of yellowhammers
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It's a hot summer's day and you're heading from the open slopes of a small mountain to the welcome cool of woodland in the valley below. But before you reach sanctuary, the mesmerising songs of yellowhammers rise with the heat haze from the gorse and bracken. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside …
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259. Find lost artefacts on the River Thames with mudlarker Lara Maiklem
56:35
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Join Plodcast host Fergus on the Thames foreshore with legendary mudlarker Lara Maiklem searching for historical artefacts and oddities among the sand, shingle and mud. What will they find? Listen on for a thrilling treasure hunt... Read Lara's latest book: A Year of Mudlarking, published by Bloomsbury. The Plodcast is the Publishers Podcast Awards…
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Sound Escape 181. Take a moorland stroll among pipits and skylarks
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This week we're striding out across a wider moorland ridge with bilberry, bracken and heather flanking the path. It's a rare calm day in the uplands and the meadow pipits and skylarks sing their wild songs. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax and transport you somewhere beautif…
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258. Spend the day in a summer meadow at glorious Wakehurst in Sussex
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This week we're exploring the Royal Botanical Gardens of Wakehurst in Sussex exploring why meadows filled with grasses, herbs and flowers are so vital for wildlife and for our own wellbeing. Annabel Ross is your host, exploring these all-too-rare delights with Wakehurst expert Iain Parkinson. Later, join the Plodcast team for a 'studio' chat in the…
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Sound Escape 180. Be calmed by gentle rain on summer leaves
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You're walking an ancient tree-line lane up a hillside when a brief summer rain shower takes you by surprise. Sheltering under a kindly horse chestnut, you are lulled by the gentle patter of raindrops on the broad leaves. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax and transport you so…
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257. A quest for beauty - and yellowhammer song - on a midsummer mountain
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This week the Plodcast heads into the uplands of the Bannau Brycheinog to explore the summer wildlife that abounds there. Plodcast host Fergus is hoping to find and record the songs of yellowhammers, which dwell on the lower slopes. Or so it's said. These once-common bright yellow birds have suffered a steep decline in recent decades. Do they still…
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Sound Escape 179. Chill to a lazy symphony of birdsong in a lakeside woodland
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The anglers have departed, the dog-walkers have gone home. The lake is still. You are alone by a strip of woodland on the edge of the water, listening to a gentle melodies of song thrush, blackcap and chiffchaff. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax and transport you somewhere b…
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256. One man's quest to drive back the dark woods with music
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Head into the deep dark wood with composer and pianist Alexander Chapman Campbell to hear about his quest to raise awareness of the perils of conifer plantations – and their impact on wildlife, landscape and the human spirit. Plodcast host Fergus Collins meets Alexander in one of Wales' larger conifer plantations, Hafren Forest in Powys, to talk ab…
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Sound Escape 178. Relax in an overgrown churchyard on the mellowest of summer evenings
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It's evening, just after midsummer's day, and a walk has taken you down a winding lane to a tiny medieval church. In the churchyard, lichen-crusted gravestones emerge from what has been left to become a flower-filled meadow. Only a few goldfinches break the mellow stillness. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from …
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255. A quest to explore the magic of flight with Lev Parikian
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The Plodcast heads to the dreamy surrounds of Richmond Park in south-west London to discuss the wonders of flights with author and conductor Lev Parikian. Along the way, Lev and Plodcast host Fergus Collins encounter a host of examples of strange and exotic winged creatures. Lev's book Taking Flight: How Animals Learned to Fly and Transformed Life …
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Sound Escape 177. Sunlight and birdsong stream through a summer woodland
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Morning has broken. A wood pigeon coos its lazy welcome to summer, surrounded by a chorus of chaffinches, blackbirds, wrens and chiffchaffs. The new green leaves of June filter the sunlight into watery pools on the forest floor and the tall tree trunks create an acoustic effect of ancient columns and buttresses. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Esc…
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254. Discover the magic of weeds with artist Anna Chapman Parker
1:02:45
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Join an unusual Plodcast adventure in an urban car park with artist and author Anna Chapman Parker. Anna spent a year watching and drawing the wildflowers in her local town – plants normally dismissed as weeds. And she created an astonishing diary of overlooked beauty. Here she take Plodcast host Fergus Collins an urban journey of discovery to open…
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Sound Escape 176. Enjoy perky parakeets on a walk in Richmond Park
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This week we're walking across the open grassland of Richmond Park in south-west London. While jets grumble overhead, rose-ringed parakeets can't resist a bit of back-chat from the fringing woodland. And in the brambly scrub, we hear the gentle mutterings of chaffinches and whitethroats. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio p…
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253. Who is the Orchid Outlaw? And what is he up to in the wilds of Britain?
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Take an adventure with the Orchid Outlaw – a man braving danger and risking his freedom to rescue Britain's endangered orchids. Plodcast host Fergus meets Ben Jacob in the glorious meadows of the Stroud Commons to look for these incredible flowers – with a special quest to find the bizarre bee orchid. Read Ben's book: The Orchid Outlaw, On a Missio…
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Sound Escape 175. Spend dusk among the beechwoods of Hampshire
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We're walking in a summertime Narnia of dappled pathways, whispering leaves and the tall, smooth-skinned trunks of beech trees. This is the Blackwood Forest in Hampshire and as dusk falls on an evening in early June, a woodland choir marks the passing of the day. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countrys…
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252. What can you find to eat on an urban foraging adventure in Bristol?
1:11:11
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Savour the joys of foraging – this time in an urban green haven in the middle of Bristol. Plodcast host Fergus joins foraging expert Andy Hamilton for a journey into unusual flavours – and learns how to use wild plants to enhance everyday meals – and drinks. Andy's latest book is The First-Time Forager, published by The National Trust. Later, join …
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Sound Escape 174. Spend midsummer beside a chuckling river teeming with life
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11:19
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It's a hot midsummer day and sunlight sparkles along a stretch of gentle rapids on the River Usk. On the riverbank, floods have carved small cliffs enticing a colony of sand martins to create a stronghold. The birds sally forth to hunt insects – chattering as they go. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the cou…
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251. Should we cull some animals to save others - asks Hugh Warwick?
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Should some animals be killed in order to protect rarer species or precious habitats? Everything from hedgehogs and mink to crows and deers has been targeted in recent years in order to 'save' something else and it's a controversial issue that has troubled conservationists and land managers in the UK for many years. Naturalist and hedgehog champion…
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Sound Escape 173. Enjoy the sultry song of a blackbird at dusk
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9:30
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Dusk is falling after a busy bank holiday and a welcome peace is settling over the neighbourhood. The flowering clematis and roses seem to breathe a sigh of relief, exhaling a calming perfume. As you sit down on a garden bench, a blackbird sings his sultry love song from the gable of next door's house. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a…
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250. Hear migrant birds as they arrive in the UK at Portland Bill in Dorset - with one very special visitor
1:07:27
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Portland Bill in Dorset is famous as a first landing site for thousands of migrant birds as they arrive to breed in the UK this spring and summer. Join Kevin Parr as he wanders this peninsular meeting these avian travellers – and he makes some extraordinary finds along the way. How many bird species can you hear in this recording? Produced by Jack …
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Sound Escape 172. Let the waves of Luskentyre Beach wash all stress away
12:22
12:22
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We're walking on the white sands of Luskentyre on the Isle of Harris. A gentle line of surf teases the beach. Above, a common tern bobs by on its strangely buoyant flight before suddenly plunging like a downed paper aeroplane to catch small fish in the shallows. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countrysi…
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249. Welsh language and landscape with Julie Brominicks
47:50
47:50
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Enter Rivendell – or what might as well be – a hidden valley on the edge of Eryri (Snowdonia) in North Wales. Plodcast host Fergus takes a nature ramble with the writer Julie Brominicks who lives off-grid with her partner here in a caravan beside a magical stream. Julie is a passionate advocate for the Welsh language and explains how it is interwov…
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Sound Escape 171. Relax to the gorgeous melody of a willow warbler
8:42
8:42
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We're on the edge of a settlement on the Isle of Harris - lochs and mountains flow from where the houses end. In the quiet of the morning, a willow warbler sings his descant; turning the music of a mountain stream into birdsong. BBC Countryfile Magazine's Sound Escapes are a weekly audio postcard from the countryside to help you relax and transport…
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