The Podcast for nature nuts from wildlife cameraman Jack Perks. Jack interviews presenters, artists, scientists and conservationists giving a light hearted look into their specialisms, stories and backgrounds seeing what drives people to become so utterly fascinated by the natural world.
This week I speak to wildlife tv researcher Sophie Pierce as we talk about what kind of ideas are best to pitch, what a researcher does and the frustrating aspects of the job.
Many of you will know I’m a keen wildlife gardener and love me a pond so I’ve wanted to do a podcast on wildlife ponds for a while. Probably the best book on the market about the subject is written by todays guest Jules Howard, titles the wildlife pond book. Its well worth a read if you haven’t got a copy.
We are going to do something slightly different today and rather then straight questions I’m going to be putting all the biggest pond myths to Jules to get to the bottom of them like do plastic herons really keep real ones away and does barley straw really get rid of blanket weed? Lets find out here’s our chat.
In todays episode I’m speaking with Ellie & Ben from The Wildlife Garden Podcast and also Ellies Wellies which are a Nottingham-based garden maintenance company and consultancy that specialises in wildlife gardens using organic methods.
Ellie and Ben set up one of the first totally organic garden maintenance companies in the UK, Ellie’s Wellies Organic Gardening. No matter what size the garden, Ellie and Ben help to bring nature in with the three key things for wildlife; shelter, water and food. Once a fortnight they release an episode of their podcast – The Wildlife Garden Podcast – where they give planting advice, interview guests and discuss the up to date science behind things we can all do for wildlife at home.
What these to don’t know about plants ain't worth knowing and I’ve set the them challenge to pick 5 plants you should have in your wildlife garden and I’ve also picked five, not that I particularly know what I’m talking about but pretty flowers.
This week I’m joined by wildlife photographer dan Ruston. Dan is based in Dorset and quite frankly is a master at fieldcraft getting closer to species like roe deer, peregrine and red fox which he has a special affinity for.
We talk about what fieldcraft really means in wildlife photography, the use of commercial hides and how starting off in a gamekeeping background helped his photography. Here’s are chat.
This week I’m talking to Sheena Cruickshank about parasites that love nothing more then living in the human body. She’s a professor at the university of Manchester and specialities in immunity & infection.
We talk about 50ft worms in your gut, how pubic lice are declining and how some parasites might actually make you healthier.
In todays episode I’m having a chin wag with Chris Yates, Chris is an angler preferring to use more traditional techniques and is well known for being part of Hugh miles passion for angling as well as catching the bishop a former uk record carp. Chris is also a brilliant writer and naturalist and we spoke for hours about bird watching after the podcast. I have to thank Hugh miles for setting this up as it was part of a fundraiser for Britains hidden fishes and all and in all was a fabulous day.
We talk about what british record fish Chris would want to beat now, the mysterious burbot and put some listeners questions to him.
Today I’m talking to singer - song writer kitty Macfarlane who mashes up folk tunes with natural sounds to make some incredible pieces of music. She’s guest presented radio shows on BBC Radio 3 & 4 was nominated for a horizon award. Her debut album namer of clouds is out now.
We chat about why she uses nature as a theme for her music, how she incorporates the sounds of nature into her songs and why she wrote a song about eels!
https://www.kittymacfarlane.com/
This week I’m joined by Bertie Gregory who is a British wildlife filmmaker. He’s been named a National Geographic Young Explorer and The Youth Outdoor Photographer of the year, Bertie's goal is to find stories that get people to fall in love with the natural world.Bertie currently splits his time between shooting behind the camera as a cinematographer for the BBC's landmark series and hosting shows for National Geographic. Bertie recently won a BAFTA for his cinematography in the latest BBC David Attenborough series, ‘Seven Worlds, One Planet’.
In this Bonus episode I talk about the topic of wildlife photography going into decline as a career choice. Is it still a viable career and what have been the changes in it over the years?
This week I’m with wildlife camerawomen Jessica Mitchell who is well known for her variety of work including time-lapse, topside and especially underwater. She’s filmed for groups such as Natural World, BBC & Oxford scientific films to name a few.
Today we cover the pressures of being a wildlife camera op, whether it should even be called cameraman or camera operator and the distant lack of women in that role plus much more. Here’s our chat.
This week I’m joined by fellow countryfile presenter Joe Crowley, Joe has presented a host of television programmes from holiday hit squad to police 5 but is best known for his regular slots on both the one show and country file. It's here he embraces his passion for the outdoors and in particular rivers and recently made a film for panorama about the disgusting amounts of raw sewage entering British rivers which is the main topic of todays chat.
In todays show I’m chatting to springwatch presenter Gillian Burke. Gillian finds herself living in Cornwall now and over the years has done lots of narration and voicework before making the leap to the big screen and presenting for many BBC wildlife programmes most notably the watches. She’s also a biologist, public speaker and writer.
Today we talk about how voice work is different to presenting , if she was nervous joining the watches team and why we see so few people from BAME communities on nature reserves.
In this weeks show I’m chatting to hamza yassan who many will know him from his CBeebies programme Let’s Go For a walk as well as appearing on the one show, country file and the recent channel four series Scotland: My life in the wild. He has a passion for birds, is a skilled ornithologist and bird nest recorder with excellent field craft and habitat knowledge. Hamza is also a published wildlife photographer as well as a wildlife tour guide.
We chat about the main challenges of wildlife filmmaking, what it's like presenting to kids and making the switch from camera op to presenter.
In todays show I’m nattering to the aptly named Helen scales who is a marine biologist and prolific nature writer having recently released the brilliant abyss which covers deep sea creatures. Helen also teaches at Cambridge University and delivers talks to groups and people of all ages.
We talk about why people should care about fish, why write about the deep sea and the curious habits of the pearl fish.
This week I’m joined by the celebrated street artist Mark Anthony aka ATM who’s work has featured rare birds all over Britain and further afield. You can see his fantastic work in places like Camden, Walthamstow, Turnpike and and Acton. Being interested in art and birdlife from a young age it was a natural progression to combine the two.
We cover he started street art, the reaction from the public to these large bird pieces and what if any permissions Mark needs to do his art.
ATM's Website - https://atmstreetart.com/
In this weeks episode I’m talking to Francesca trotman who is the founder of love the oceans a non-profit marine conservation organisation working in Jangamo Bay, Mozambique. Their mission is to protect the marine environment in Jangamo, Mozambique, by conducting education projects and scientific research that will support the establishment of a Marine Protected Area.
One of the main ways of setting up these marine protected areas is working with the community so we talk about what made fran set up this charity, if the locals were sceptical and if something like this could work in the UK?
When you think of Wales three things come to mind, rugby, rolling green hills and iolo Williams in worryingly short shorts. For those that don’t know iolo he is currently one of the main presenters for the hit BBC nature show spring watch and has also appeared in many other programmes including rugged Wales, great welsh parks and welsh language programmes for S4C.
Iolo also isn’t shy to stand for nature from raptor persecution to egg collectors he’s a vocal activist for the natural world.
Today we talk about what wildlife encapsulates Wales, starting out with the watches and how surprisingly egg collecting still goes on today. One of the obvious things with iolo is how much of a all rounder he is whether its birds, mammals, plants whatever they’ll be something he’s deeply interested in.
This week I’m talking to prolific nature writer & biologist Amy Jane-beer who is based in Yorkshire and writes columns for the Guardian, BBC Wildlife and Countryfile Magazine. She currently has two books coming out with A Tree A Day in September and The Flow: a return to the river going to take a little bit about those and nature writing in general.
We discuss how she picks stories to write about, wild swimming and planting tree to offset carbon.
All to often I focus on the living things on this podcast but thought it was be great to delve into the past and what many animals leave behind, bones and there’s one person who sprung straight to mind to speak about them and that’s Ben Garrod. Ben is a professor of Evolutionary Biology and Science Engagement at the University of East Anglia and also a primatologist. You may of seen him on one of the many tv programmes he’s featured on like secrets of bones, Attenborough and the giant dinosaur and baby chimp rescue. He’s also got a book coming out.
Today we talk about how closely related we are to chimps, the science of bones and dispelling some myths from dinosaur films like jurassic park.
Today I’m joined by Sally Le Page who is a biologist and full-time science YouTuber you may of seen some of her content including shed science, nature dates and the secrets of sex but there’s loads of content to explore on her channel which if you want to check it out is her name. PhD from the University of Oxford and specialises in breaking science to appeal to wider audience.
We talk about what prompted her to start making science films for YouTube, the downsides of being a YouTuber and touch upon diversity in nature programmes like spring watch.
