In the northern hemisphere, spring is truly sprung, and there’s something really delightful about seeing the changes in the nature around us. Where everything seemed dead and bare just a few months ago, flowers and birds and insects and trees are changing almost daily. There’s something so satisfying about truly noticing these changes – actually looking – whether we’re in a beautiful botanical garden or just paying attention to what’s growing in the cracks in the pavement by our homes.
Learning more about the world around us can also help us to appreciate it even more, and podcasts are a wonderful way of starting to understand what might be happening, and why, when we see a tree lose its blossom or a bumblebee flitting from flower to flower.
So here are five individual podcast episodes you can listen to – perhaps as you walk through some woodland or start to really appreciate the dandelions or mosses that are fighting for space on your street – to learn a bit about the natural world. They are all from my ‘recent listens’ list on Pocket Casts.
In Our Time: Pollination
In Our Time is a BBC Radio 4 programme, which is also a podcast, where experts discuss a different topic every week.
This episode about pollination (what it is, how it happens, and – unexpectedly – that bees can be optimistic or pessimistic) is fascinating and, despite listening as very much a non-expert, I found it accessible and understandable.
As The Season Turns: May
As The Season Turns is a podcast with a very different pace to In Our Time. This almost meditative podcast looks at nature, month by month, to encourage us to pay attention to the seasons and the changes around us.
I find it absolutely beautiful, and it’s one of my favourite listens as each new month comes.
The Nature Of with Willow Defebaugh: Giuliana Furci Is Your Guide to the Enchanting World of Fungi
The Nature Of with Willow Defebaugh is what happens when somebody is very personable and very curious and asks great questions to experts who speak effectively to non-scientific audiences. It is a joy to listen to.
This particular episode introduced me to Giuliana Furci, whose perspective on fungi helped to shift the way I see and understand fungi, and also posed some frankly existential questions that I’ve been pondering ever since listening. Well worth a listen.
Tweet of the Day: Hannah Stitfall on the Long-Tailed Tit
We’re all busy people. But even we can spare 90 seconds to listen to somebody talk passionately about a bird they love.
This BBC podcast focuses on a different bird every day, and I always learn fascinating things. This episode is about the long-tailed tit, a favourite at my bird feeder.
Ologies with Alie Ward: Malacology (SNAILS & SLUGS) with Jann Vendetti
Look, I got a bit obsessed with slugs after this Abi Palmer exhibition, and needed to know more and more and more.
Ologies with Alie Ward makes specialisms accessible to generalists, and this episode is full of remarkable slug facts you didn’t know you didn’t know.