Oli Steadman from folk band Stornoway talks about his upcoming charity hike of the Great North Wood in south-east London.

In mid-September 2025 I went for a fungi walk in an area of ancient woodland in the western reaches of the High Weald National Landscape.

A short fungi walk to see if anything had popped up in the woods of West Sussex

On Good Friday 2025 I went for an evening walk in the Weald of West Sussex, an area of ancient woodland 30 miles to the south of London. I saw some ivy growing on a tree and wanted to share some of my thoughts on our relationship with the ’controversial’ climber.

What to expect from Unlocking Landscapes in 2025

Walking through the woods of Enniscoe House in Co. Mayo, Ireland, to the shore of Lough Conn with poet and author Seán Lysaght

It's January 2023 and my podcast, Unlocking Landscapes, is 2 years old! Thanks to everyone who has contributed and supported so far. I do this podcast at my own costs so if you want to support it (it costs a basic £100 annually to host my Podbean account) you can 'buy me a coffee/camomile' here: https://ko-fi.com/djgwild I haven't posted for a while, mainly for professional and technical reasons. The biggest issue is that I needed to upgrade my ailing desktop PC, which I have now done. It's in much better shape now, so no more IT excuses but hopefully more podcasts. In September I spent a week in Mayo in Ireland and recorded two podcasts. One is an early evening walk in the Ox Mountains, encountering rickety gates and performing ravens. The second one (still to come) is a walk with Seán Lysaght, which I can't wait to share with you. I've been a big fan of Seán's writing for over a decade, so it was a massive honour to spend an afternoon walking with him. More on that one soon! In the Ox Mountains I go for a walk, describing the surrounding landscape, capturing two ravens (acoustically) as they fly close by from where the breed in the hills. I also talk a bit about issues with cottages which aren't connected to mains water, amongst many other things. Here are the reference points: The Ox Mountains Mayo Dark Skies Park The Irish famine Irish History Podcast American mink Fires in Mayo Ravens Nephin Ash dieback disease Sphagnum moss Croagh Patrick Thanks for listening!

An hour in conversation with author Zoe Gilbert, taking in the sights and sounds of Ham Street Woods, a National Nature Reserve on the Kent/Sussex border

In May 2021 I walked 8 miles into the Sussex Weald to see if I could hear a cuckoo. The weather was fine and there were loads of birds out, many of them in full song.

In August I met up with Dr. Beth Nicholls at Bedelands Local Nature Reserve in West Sussex. Beth is a researcher on the subject of pollinating insects, with a key focus on bees. She works at the University of Sussex.

A light-hearted account of travelling to Hungary by trains, with insights into Hungarian culture, food, landscape and wildlife.

Chantelle Lindsay and Sam Bentley-Toon discuss the conservation of south London's ancient woodlands

This is the second part of two episodes with author Julian Hoffman. The first episode was about living with pelicans and bears in northern Greece, where Julian lives. Here we discuss the poverty of language around ‘brownfields’, convincing politicians to pretend they’re jumping spiders, and life-altering experiences in the North Kent Marshes.

Julian Hoffman's life as a writer in northern Greece with bears and pelicans for neighbours

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.

In this episode of Unlocking Landscapes I speak to photographer Raki Nikahetiya. Raki's 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!

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!