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Wild Tales | Nature Podcast

National Trust
Wild Tales | Nature Podcast
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187 episodes

  • Wild Tales | Nature Podcast

    The Man, The Book and The Mountains

    07/1/2026 | 19 mins.
    Just outside Belfast, lie the Mourne Mountains - a land of granite peaks and wide skies, but also a place of witches, fawns and lions.  Protected as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, an Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and a UNESCO Global Geopark, this remarkable landscape is also a doorway to imagination. 

    Join National Trust ranger Kate Martin as she journeys from the streets of Belfast to the Mourne Mountains, exploring the places that shaped C.S. Lewis’s childhood and inspired his creation of Narnia. Discover how city, story and landscape came together to form one of the most beloved worlds in children’s literature. 
    (AD) Wild Tales is sponsored by Cotswold Outdoor, your outside retailer and epic guides to adventure.
    Quick breathers, calming walks or heart-pounding hikes. We feel better when we get out more.
    Find quality kit and 50 years of outdoor wisdom. Plus, supporters save 15% in-store and online. Feel in your element in the elements, at Cotswold Outdoor. www.cotswoldoutdoor.com

    Watch a video of this podcast on the National Trust’s YouTube channel:
    https://youtu.be/_Smzdtsh_tM
    Production
    Presenter: Kate Martin
    Producer: Pippa Tilbury-Harris
    Sound Designer: Jesus Gomez
    Contributors: Dr Sarah Waters, Director of the Sterling College C.S. Lewis Center
    Lolly Spence, Blue Badge Tourist Guide and historian
    James Fisher, Lead Ranger NI Castle Ward
    Actor: Ethan Hughes courtesy of Prime Theatre

    Thank you to The CS Lewis Company Ltd for permissions to use quotes from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis © copyright CS Lewis Pte Ltd 1950, in this episode.

    Discover More
    If you’d like to know more about visiting The Mournes, please visit  https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/northern-ireland/the-mournes

    You can listen to more of Kate’s Northern Ireland adventures here: Northern Ireland Adventure | Beyond the Bridge - Wild Tales | Nature Podcast | Podcast on Spotify  Northern Ireland Adventure | Sea Safari at Rathlin Island - Wild Tales | Nature Podcast | Podcast on Spotify 
    If you’d like to read Dr Sarah Waters’ work on C.S. Lewis, you can do so here: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9681-3361
    And you can learn more about the Sterling College C.S. Lewis Center here: https://www.sterling.edu/academics/cs-lewis-center 
    If you’d like to get in touch with feedback, or have a story connected with the National Trust, you can contact us at [email protected]
  • Wild Tales | Nature Podcast

    The Climbers of Eryri | A Story of Ice and Flowers

    24/12/2025 | 20 mins.
    The rock faces of Cwm Idwal are cold, dark and uninhabitable; unless what you love is to dangle off the frozen cliffs. Ice climbing takes you into a winter playground, but as the climate crisis thins the ice, how can climbers and conservationists work together to save one of the UK’s rarest flowers?   

    Join ecologist and botanist Barbara Jones and ice climber Tom Carrick to scale one of Wales' most dramatic mountains and discover how the precious Lili'r Wyddfa (Snowdon Lily) can survive in this isolated location. 

    For the Welsh transcript of this episode please click here



    Or copy this link: https://audioboom.com/posts/8820822-dringwyr-eryri-stori-am-ia-a-blodau/transcript

     

    [Ad] Wild Tales is sponsored by Cotswold Outdoor, your outside retailer and epic guides to adventure. 

    Quick breathers, calming walks or heart-pounding hikes. We feel better when we get out more. 

    Find quality kit and 50 years of outdoor wisdom. Plus, supporters save 15% in-store and online. Feel in your element, in the elements, at Cotswold Outdoor. 

    www.cotswoldoutdoor.com/ 

     

    Production 

    Presenter: Rosie Holdsworth 

    Producer: Marnie Woodmeade 

    Sound Designer: Jesus Gomez 

    Contributors 

    Barbara Jones 

    Tom Carrick 

    Image credit: ©National Trust Images/John Millar 

     

    Discover more

    If you want to visit Cwm Idwal you can find out more at the National Trusts website: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/wales/carneddau-and-glyderau/cwm-idwal-walk 

    To see the temperature sensors, you can find them at the BMC website https://www.thebmc.co.uk/en/cwm-idwal-welsh-winter-monitoring-system-live-and-upgraded 

    You can also find the white guide and more winter mountaineering information here: https://www.thebmc.co.uk/en/mountaineering-resources

    For more on arctic alpines, here are some resources:

    Plants on the Edge: Arctic Alpines in Wales / Ar y dibyn: Planhigion Arctig Alpaidd yng Ngymru

     https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/features/mountain_plants_in_the_uk__undervalued_and_under_threat-13605

    Follow us @wildtalesnt Instagram account 

    If you'd like to get in touch with feedback, or have a story connected with the National Trust, you can contact us at [email protected]
  • Wild Tales | Nature Podcast

    A Robin is not just for Christmas

    10/12/2025 | 13 mins.
    As the festive season unfolds, one familiar face keeps appearing – the little robin. But behind its cheerful presence, is there more to this charming bird’s story? 

    National Trust ranger Rosie Holdsworth chats to garden wildlife specialist Sean McMenemy about the remarkable life of robins, revealing their fascinating year-round behaviour and why this beloved bird deserves to be celebrated all year long. 
     

    (AD) Wild Tales is sponsored by Cotswold Outdoor, your outside retailer and epic guides to adventure.
    Quick breathers, calming walks or heart-pounding hikes. We feel better when we get out more.
    Find quality kit and 50 years of outdoor wisdom. Plus, supporters save 15% in-store and online. Feel in your element in the elements, at Cotswold Outdoor. www.cotswoldoutdoor.com

    Watch a video of this podcast on the National Trust’s YouTube channel:
    https://www.youtube.com/@nationaltrustcharity/podcasts

    Production
    Presenter: Rosie Holdsworth
    Producer: Pippa Tilbury-Harris
    Sound Designer: Jesus Gomez
    Contributor: Sean McMenemy 

    Discover more
    You can read Sean’s garden wildlife blog here: Sean McMenemy Wildlife Blog 

    Follow us on our @wildtalesnt Instagram account

    If you’d like to get in touch with feedback, or have a story connected with the National Trust, you can contact us at [email protected]
  • Wild Tales | Nature Podcast

    Golf Course to Nature Reserve | Just Add Water?

    26/11/2025 | 25 mins.
    How can a golf course become a place for nature and people to thrive? Ajay Tegala visits Sandilands in Lincolnshire over its first year as the once manicured lawns transform into a wetland habitat. But with one of the driest springs on record, can Sandilands go from one birdie to another? Will there be enough water for wading birds return?  

    [Ad] Wild Tales is sponsored by Cotswold Outdoor, your outside retailer and epic guides to adventure.

    Quick breathers, calming walks or heart-pounding hikes. We feel better when we get out more.

    Find quality kit and 50 years of outdoor wisdom. Plus, supporters save 15% in-store and online. Feel in your element, in the elements, at Cotswold Outdoor.

    www.cotswoldoutdoor.com/  

      

    Watch a video of this podcast on the National Trust’s YouTube channel:  

    https://www.youtube.com/@nationaltrustcharity/podcasts   

     

     

    Production 

    Presenter: Ajay Tegala 

    Producer: Marnie Woodmeade 

    Sound designer: Jesus Gomez

     

    Contributors 

    Carl Hawke 

    Kirsty James 

    Dave Miller

    Special Credit: A big thanks to Jannis Bonner, composer student at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, for their collaboration to this episode with the track "Breath of the Canopy".



    Eurasian booming bittern sfx:

    Author: Niels Krable 

    Link: https://xeno-canto.org/100296 

    Discover more



    If you want to visit Sandilands or keep up to date with their progress you can find them here: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/nottinghamshire-lincolnshire/sandilands 

    Follow us @wildtalesnt Instagram account 

    Image credit: ©National Trust Images/Rob Coleman

    If you'd like to get in touch with feedback, or have a story connected with the National Trust, you can contact us at [email protected]
  • Wild Tales | Nature Podcast

    Warrior the War Horse | Survival Against the Odds

    11/11/2025 | 21 mins.
    What happened to the animals who served in the First World War? 

    Uncover the extraordinary story of Warrior the war horse who survived the Western Front. General Jack Seely's horse, Warrior, was anything but ordinary. He carried his master through some of World War One's most brutal battles, including the Somme, Ypres and Passchendaele. Despite more than eight million horses, donkeys and mules losing their lives during the war, Warrior somehow survived. Join General Jack Seely's grandson and broadcaster, Brough Scott and historian, James Grasby, to retrace Warrior's incredible journey.

     

     [Ad] Wild Tales is sponsored by Cotswold Outdoor, your outside retailer and epic guides to adventure. Quick breathers, calming walks or heart-pounding hikes. We feel better when we get out more.Find quality kit and 50 years of outdoor wisdom. Plus, supporters save 15% in-store and online. Feel in your element, in the elements, at Cotswold Outdoor.  www.cotswoldoutdoor.com/



    Watch a video of this podcast on the National Trust’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@nationaltrustcharity/podcasts



    Production



    Host : James Grasby

    Producer and sound designer: Nikki Ruck



    Contributors

    Brough Scott



     Discover more

     

    To visit Mottistone

    Mottistone

    To find out more about Warrior



    Warrior The War Horse



    If you would like to follow in the footsteps of warrior check out the 

     Warrior Trail

     

     

    Follow us @wildtales Instagram account 

    If you’d like to get in touch with feedback or a story idea you can contact us at [email protected]

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About Wild Tales | Nature Podcast

Delve into intriguing stories from our weird, wonderful and utterly wild world.  You'll experience nature in a whole new way, from untangling the strange world of spider sex and digging up the greatest fossil finds, to meeting mysterious ocean giants and finding out why there’s no such thing as a seagull. Join experts Rosie Holdsworth, Ajay Tegala and Heather Birkett on adventures in the UK’s diverse habitats and uncover fascinating tales that connect us with wildlife. New Wild Tales are released twice a month.  Follow us on your favourite podcast app and never miss an episode.    Get in touch with feedback and your favourite topics on instagram www.instagram.com/wildtalesnt or by emailing [email protected]  Discover more from National Trust podcasts This podcast is made by the National Trust, Europe’s biggest conservation charity. Looking after history, nature and beauty for everyone to enjoy. Listen to Back When history podcast, taking you inside stories of our past: podfollow.com/back-when  Discover Ranger Rae and the Wildlifers, perfect for kids aged 5-8: podfollow.com/national-trust-kids-podcast Follow National Trust podcasts on Youtube: www.youtube.com/@nationaltrustcharity/podcasts  
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Wild Tales | Nature Podcast: Podcasts in Family

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