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Trees A Crowd

Arts & Culture Podcasts

Ever wondered what happens when you fill a cello with bees? Or how robins have successfully colonised the outer-reaches of our universe? Or why the world is destined to be populated purely by female turtles? This podcast celebrates nature and the stories of those who care deeply for it. Join artist, actor and Woodland Trust & Wildlife Trusts ambassador David Oakes, for a series of informal, relaxed conversations with artists, scientists, creatives and environmentalists as they celebrate the beauty of the natural world and how it inspires us as human beings. All episodes available at: https://www.treesacrowd.fm/ Why not become a "Subscription Squirrel" on our Patreon, and help support the production of this podcast? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Location:

United Kingdom

Description:

Ever wondered what happens when you fill a cello with bees? Or how robins have successfully colonised the outer-reaches of our universe? Or why the world is destined to be populated purely by female turtles? This podcast celebrates nature and the stories of those who care deeply for it. Join artist, actor and Woodland Trust & Wildlife Trusts ambassador David Oakes, for a series of informal, relaxed conversations with artists, scientists, creatives and environmentalists as they celebrate the beauty of the natural world and how it inspires us as human beings. All episodes available at: https://www.treesacrowd.fm/ Why not become a "Subscription Squirrel" on our Patreon, and help support the production of this podcast? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Language:

English

Episodes

Chris Packham (Part Two): Through sand and snow with Rothko and Rimbaud... (No, that's not what Chris calls his dogs!)

3/7/2023
In the second half of David's interview with Chris Packham, we hear how Chris originally wished to pursue a career as a wildlife cameraman, but a twist of fate thrust him into the arms of the Really Wild Show (or perhaps it was Chris who twisted their arms to let him in!) And from there, his TV career exploded! Chris clarifies exactly how his co-star, Terry Nutkins, lost his fingers, and how Chris himself was partially eaten by a vulture – you know, all the important stuff – and you’ll learn...

Duration:00:37:41

Chris Packham (Part One): Deep in the New Forest with the Really Wild Showman

3/7/2023
Chris Packham is undoubtedly one of the most recognisable faces on British Television. He’s been a mainstay of the BBC’s Natural History programming for nearly 40 years. Alongside this commitment he also currently serves as President for the Bat Conservation Trust and Vice President for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, The Wildfowl and Wetland Trust, Butterfly Conservation, and the RSPCA. In this two-part discussion, David and Chris walk through the New Forest (the site of both...

Duration:00:41:26

Bison Whisperers: The Return of the Native

2/7/2023
To celebrate one of the scarily rare “Good Environmental News Stories” of this and last year, David heads out to Kent Wildlife Trust and the Wildwood Trust’s “Wilder Blean” project just outside of Canterbury. He is there to mark the return of the European Bison to Britain, and the birth of the first bison born in the UK in a free roaming herd since the species went extinct in the wild. In the safe hands of Britain’s first “Bison Rangers”, Donovan Wright and Tom Gibbs, David hears about the...

Duration:00:55:18

Dr Trevor Dines (Part Two): Mapping “The Trevor Dines Effect” with North Wales’ Meadow Maker

1/17/2023
In this, the second part of David Oakes’ interview with botanist Dr Trevor Dines, Trevor goes into detail about the sheer power of community science when documenting our nation’s flowers. Our understanding of British Flora - and indeed that of the BSBI (Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland) - would be nowhere without keen amateur volunteers. Spotlights are shone upon plants like the “Meadow Maker”, Yellow Rattle; upon different “wild” habitats like Knepp and the New Forest; and also upon...

Duration:00:45:44

Dr Trevor Dines (Part One): Nobody ties themselves to buttercups (unless you’re born a botanist!)

1/10/2023
Despite being raised in the fields of England and having slept upon the Rainforest Canopies of Cameroon, Dr Trevor Dines’ heart is intertwined with the flora of Wales. Recorded in his own personal Wildflower Meadow in North Wales’ Conwy Valley, this interview charts Trevor’s journey from the youngest member of the Wessex Orchid Society (when still only aged in single digits) to one of the inspirational forces behind the UK’s largest botanical charity, Plantlife. Trevor has written books,...

Duration:00:44:47

Sarah Gillespie: Of Moths and Mezzotints - an Artist’s Metamorphosis

12/6/2022
Working from her Devonshire studio and the surrounding natural habitats, artist and printmaker Sarah Gillespie, in looking carefully at our wild world, can’t help but sense the sentience of nature looking right back at her. Raised by two artist parents, and having been blessed with at least one truly inspirational teacher, it’s perhaps not surprising that Sarah is now an acclaimed Royal West of England Academician, and most recently was asked to collaborate with Cambridge University’s...

Duration:01:05:51

Dan "Swampy" Hooper: The power of protest and learning to live with it (and pooing in tunnels with friends)

11/1/2022
In 1996, having spent 7 days living underground, Dan Hooper was forcibly evicted from a protest tunnel and thrust into the spotlight of the waiting media. From that day forward, Dan Hooper was known by most of the British population simply as “Swampy”. 26 years on from that high-profile eviction, Dan remains a committed environmental activist. In this month’s episode, David Oakes travels to South Wales to meet Dan to hear how his environmental protests have changed over 30 years, and to...

Duration:01:02:54

Leigh Morris: Sexy carrots & feral wallabies - the adventures and curiosities hidden behind Manannan’s cloak

10/4/2022
Midway through the Isle of Man’s Manx TT motor-racing festival lies a day (terrifyingly aptly) branded as “Mad Sunday”. David Oakes chose this bacchanalian festival, one filled with inebriated petrol-heads and super-charged exhaust eruptions, to talk with the Manx Wildlife Trust’s CEO, Leigh Morris. Recorded in perhaps the only two quiet enclaves the island possessed that Mad Sunday, Leigh expands upon a journey that took him from horticultural nurseryman to the head of a Wildlife Trust that...

Duration:01:14:26

Dr Amy-Jane Beer: The 3 R’s of Nature Writing - Reading, Roaming and the Radial symmetry of Sea Urchin larvae

9/6/2022
Upon Salisbury Plain - nestled amongst exploding ordnance and dim-witted Tawny Owl fledgelings - the child that would become Dr Amy-Jane Beer found both a love for nature and a love for adventure. Training originally as a biologist, Amy grew into one of Britain’s best loved nature writers. Whether articles in British Wildlife, diary entires for the Guardian’s ‘Country Diary’, or her latest book “The Flow” (which explores our relationships with Britain’s numerous wild water ways), Amy’s...

Duration:00:53:36

Dr Gavin Broad: Broadening horizons with Darwin's wasps and other tales of cannibalism, incest and zombies

8/2/2022
Dr Gavin Broad’s love of nature was initially inspired by the birdlife of the Wirral. However, the summer lull in avian activity lead the 15-year-old Broad towards an interest in moths, and from there it was only a zombie caterpillar away from the creatures that were to inspire his professional identity and take him as far afield as Chile; Parasitoid wasps! “Darwin Wasps” account for 10% of all British insects - that’s over 7000 distinct wasps - and Broad insists that everyone can easily...

Duration:00:57:15

Lost on Lundy: The hidden treasures of a wildlife landmark; aka, “David adventures to Puffin Island!”

7/5/2022
Since the late 1960s, Lundy Island - just off the north coast of Devon and measuring only half a mile wide at its widest point - has been owned and operated by two British charities; the National Trust and the Landmark Trust. Prior to this, Lundy was owned by wealthy megalomaniacs, pirates, gamblers, revolutionaries, neolithic fisher-people, and a whole array of wildlife. In this week's episode, David Oakes visits Lundy to speak with the island's current wildlife wardens, Rosie Ellis and...

Duration:00:42:48

Bonus Beatrice: Bearded Seals & Ice Flowers - further stories from the ice sheets

6/14/2022
A little bonus Bea that we couldn't quite squeeze into this month's main episode. Enjoy! Why not become a "Subscription Squirrel" on our Patreon, and help support the production of this podcast? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Duration:00:04:24

Beatrice von Preussen: All the little things that inspired an artist to travel from pole to pole

6/7/2022
In her Brighton studio, the artist, explorer, science communicator and self-professed 'child', Beatrice von Preussen, explores her obsession with "little things". Whether tadpole, snail shell, wax-worm or fossilised prehistoric crustacean, Bea explains how it is the small things that have made her dream big. Here she discusses her journey to the arctic - where she spent weeks alone during the sun-drenched midsummer, armed with pencils, paper, (an emergency rifle for polar bear repellant),...

Duration:00:46:52

George Monbiot: Feeding our future with heaven-sent bacteria and home-brewed scrumpy!

5/24/2022
George Monbiot is a prolific writer and journalist, known particularly for his environmental and political activism. But, this episode - not simply about his being beaten or arrested for his political views, or indeed about the time he was stung into a coma by hornets or when he actually died (according to a Brazilian newspaper) - is about fixing our follies and feeding our future. Over a glass of George’s home-brewed cider, David and George discuss the possibility of a 'regenesis' - a...

Duration:01:12:50

Norwegian Spruce: Our Viking Christmas Tree; aka ‘The Return of the Native’

12/24/2021
BONUS EPISODE: For Christmas, David Oakes explores the cultural importance of the non-native Christmas Tree, the Norwegian Spruce (Picea abies). Although native to our shores before the most recent Ice Age, it took Vikings from Scandanavia, Princes from Saxe-Coburg, Violinists from Italy and Horses from Aintree to truly root the Norwegian Spruce into our National identity - and that's not to mention any British Christmas rituals. Why not become a "Subscription Squirrel" on our Patreon, and...

Duration:00:08:31

Holly: Merry berries & mistle thrushes deck our true native Christmas tree

12/21/2021
Our fifty-sixth (and final!) tree, Holly (Ilex aquifolium). Released to coincide with the Winter Solstice, aka the end of the rule of the Holly King, this episode celebrates a tree that is rooted in the winter celebrations of Celts, Romans, Christians, and even Cretaceous Dinosaurs! For centuries it has also fed the cattle that feeds us, it has supported generations of over-wintering birds (such as the greedy Mistle Thrush) and it has kept Goblins, Witches and arson-obsessed Cumbrian...

Duration:00:32:20

The Viburnums: Ways fared to Guelderland via chalk paths and waterlogged fens

12/14/2021
Our fifty-fourth and fifty-fifth trees, the Wayfaring Tree (Viburnum lantana) and the Guelder Rose (Viburnum opulus) - aka the Viburnums. It’s all about names this week. Not only do these trees have two of the strangest common names, but they also have a rich array of traditional folk names too. But whether you’re discussing Crampbark, the Snowball Tree, the Water Elder, or the Hoarwithy, its fair to say that these two trees aren’t the most palatable plants for our nation’s wildlife, but...

Duration:00:11:22

Elder: The people’s purple medicine chest lined with pariahs, period pop-guns & poo

12/7/2021
Our fifty-third tree, Elder (Sambucus nigra). The “medicine chest of the common people” has probably helped keep more people healthy than any other native British tree, and yet it is derided for its smell, associated with Christ’s betrayal, and when burnt is said to provide a mouthpiece for the devil and/or a malign tree spirit. The Elder is a symbol of Summer, has one of the most cherished berries out there (cherished by both man and beast), and has inspired our greatest playwrights,...

Duration:00:20:28

Wild Privet: Your country needs Spitfires, stick-insects and an untrimmed bush!

11/30/2021
Our fifty-second tree, Privet or Wild Privet (Ligustrum vulgare). It's NATIONAL TREE WEEK! To celebrate; the tree our host was dreading writing an episode about - a tree he has sadly often cast aside as dull and uninteresting. Far from it (ish). Here grow stories of Spitfires and school Biology labs, as well as the pretty special manner in which Privet creates its foliage (which is fantastic for nesting birds, hungry insects, and even draws in bats!) (Special thanks to Al Petrie and Louise...

Duration:00:09:17

Ash: Unlocking dieback with firelight, hurley sticks & Heiðrún the Viking goat

11/23/2021
Our fifty-first tree, Ash (Fraxinus excelsior). One of the British Isles’ most plentiful trees… for now. This week’s episode explores the Ash’s struggle against “Ash Dieback” and what you can do to help halt its spread; a refreshed look at the Viking’s obsession with the Ash Tree in their mythology, and; an exploration of the oh-so-many things this magnificent tree has offered up to society. That, and a good old sing-song courtesy of Lady Celia Congreve and music maestro Gary Hickeson. More...

Duration:00:21:18

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