Unlocking Landscapes

Living with pelicans and bears in northern Greece with Julian Hoffman

This is part one of two episodes with author Julian Hoffman. This episode focuses on Julian's life in northern Greece where he encounters European brown bears in his day to day life. We also discuss the local accents of wrens(!), particularly Liverpudlian wrens.

Julian has published two books. In 2012 The Small Heart of Things was published and in 2019 it was followed by Irreplaceable: The Fight to Save Our Wild Places. 

I’m a big fan of both of these books. Julian does that rare thing for a nature writer and centres communities within the landscape. Irreplaceable is a great example of this, with Julian writing about local people the world over battling to save special places, habitats and species. 

Irreplaceable was the Highly Commended Finalist for the 2020 Wainwright Prize for Writing on Global Conservation

Julian details how he came to live in Prespa, how he became a writer there after working with his wife as a market gardener, toiling away in the open fields growing fruit and vegetables, and getting to know the locals.

Thanks so much for bearing with us and I hope you enjoy the episode.

 

Links

Julian Hoffman: https://julian-hoffman.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JulianHoffman

The Wren Boys: https://www.ouririshheritage.org/content/archive/topics/miscellaneous/the-wren-boys

Unlocking Landscapes Twitter: https://twitter.com/UnlockLand

Homepage: https://www.unlockinglandscapes.com/ 

 

The Sussex Weald: the octopus beech tree

In this shorter episode I recorded a circular walk from home, checking up on an old beech tree in an area of woodland known as the Sussex Weald.

This is the first outdoor pod for Unlocking Landscapes, with lots of natural soundscapes to enjoy: mud, ice, streams, bog and birdsong.

The areas of interest here are:

• Woodland streams, known in this area as 'gills'
• Heathlands and plantations
• Wood ants
• Sphagnum moss bogs
• Ancient and veteran trees, especially beech (Fagus sylvatica)

I'd love to know what you think  of this type of episode and if you'd like to hear more in future.

Thanks so much for listening and I hope you enjoy.

Daniel

 

Episode recorded and edited by Daniel Greenwood in the West Sussex High Weald

High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty: http://www.highweald.org/

Unlocking Landscapes website

Unlocking Landscapes Twitter

Photographing India and Sri Lanka with Raki Nikahetiya

In this episode of Unlocking Landscapes I speak to photographer Raki Nikahetiya. Raki lives in New Delhi and practices what he terms 'interdisciplinary photography'. His photographic work focuses on documentary, landscape, wildlife and other digital art forms. He is currently working on a project with the University of Barcelona on the subject of... cave paintings and petri dishes!

Raki talks about life in India where agrarian protests are raging and people are coming to terms with the Covid-19 pandemic. He also describes his upbringing in rural Sri Lanka and how that has inspired his work as a photographer and a community conservationist working with indigenous communities in Sri Lanka and Mozambique.

You can follow Raki's work through the links below:

Website: https://www.rakiography.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rakiography/

 

Unlocking Landscapes podcast - introductory episode

This is the introduction to the Unlocking Landscapes podcast. This short recording introduces your host for the pod and outlines some of the themes and ideas you should be expect to hear about with the podcast going forward. Thanks for listening!