大象传媒

Glenmore Lodge, the Scottish National Outdoor Training Centre, has recently established Scotland鈥檚 first hill navigation training course to be delivered in British Sign Language. One of those involved in setting it up was deaf climber and mountaineer Morag Skelton. Mark chatted to Morag for the Scotland Outdoors podcast, and we hear an excerpt where they speak about her childhood outdoors and the practicalities involved in climbing when you can鈥檛 hear.

For our latest Scotland Outdoors podcast, Rachel went to meet M.T O鈥橠onnell in her garden near Glasgow. M.T is the founder of Scotland Grows magazine and the host of the Scotland Grows Show podcast. She鈥檚 keen on looking after her garden in a way that鈥檚 nature friendly and as she tells Rachel, that even extends to dealing with slugs.

On the shores of Loch Awe near Dalmally lies the very striking St Conan鈥檚 Church. Mark went for a visit to explore its remarkable architecture, both inside and out.

A few weeks ago, Mark and Rachel headed across to the island of Easdale, which lies 15 miles south of Oban. They got the ferry from Seil and chatted to the boatman, Alan, about who lives on Easdale and who visits. Mark also chats to Bethan Smith who owns a soap-making business on the island. And Rachel catches up with Mike Mackenzie who has lived there for decades. He tells her what the community is like and how he came to live on the wee island.

If you looked up to the sky earlier this week you might have been lucky to catch a glimpse of the Perseid Meteor Shower. The Perseids are one of the most dramatic things to see in the night sky and the shower will be active for another week or so. We chat live to the Astronomer Royal for Scotland, Catherine Heymans, to get her hints and tips on how to spot the meteors and what else to look out for in the night sky at this time of year.

The Countryside Rangers at Mugdock Country Park in East Dunbartonshire have been taking groups out to help them learn how to identify bird species by their sound. Linda Sinclair joined a group led by Ranger Alan MacBride at Clachan of Campsie at dusk to listen out for our birdsong and try to identify what they could hear.

Poet Matt Kinghorn decided to walk more than 200 miles from his home in Aberdeenshire to North Berwick just to offer a listening ear to anyone who needed it. Rachel met up with him at the start of his challenge to hear more about why he鈥檇 decided to do it.

And to round off their trip to Easdale, the home of the world stone skimming championships, Mark and Rachel try their hands at skimming despite the rather inclement weather.