Trees A Crowd

In this episode, David speaks to award-winning folk musician Bella Hardy. A fiddle-singer and songwriter from Edale in the Peak District, she has performed at festivals worldwide and on the UK folk circuit since she was 13. In 2007, she released her debut solo album Night Visiting, for which she was nominated for the Horizon award at the BBC Folk Awards. She has since won at the Folk Awards for original song, for ‘The Herring Girl’ in 2012, and was named BBC Folk Singer of the year in 2014 – but most importantly, earlier this year, she composed the theme tune for this very podcast! David and Bella discuss how folk music has been redefined over the years, deviating from its once rural beginnings, and Bella reflects on her musical influences and inspirations from nature – from hiding in dens with fox cubs, to using “the joy of folk music” as merely a hyper-convoluted way to become branded as “Patron of the Bog”!Support the show

In this episode, David speaks to members of the Maldives Underwater Initiative based at the Six Senses resort in Laamu Atoll. The initiative includes members of The Manta Trust, Blue Marine Foundation, The Olive Ridley Project and other marine specialists. The team have a shared vision for preserving the marine environment in the Maldives and beyond, and have been monitoring the health of the reefs there since 2012. Their research and conservation work includes nurturing seagrass, turtles, manta rays, dolphins and sharks, as well as various education and community outreach initiatives, all whilst working in close proximity with the local tourism industry. In these often humourous exchanges, they discuss changing public perception towards swimming in the ocean, the impact of fisheries, argue that biodegradable plastics are merely a “step in the right direction”, and David witnesses first hand the devastating impact of ghost nets on the olive ridley turtles.

Dr Guy Stevens is the CEO and co-founder of The Manta Trust. An experienced marine biologist and expert in conservation, he set up the Maldivian Manta Ray Project in 2005. Working closely with the Maldivian government to establish protective measures and educate against targeted fishing, his project eventually grew and now stretches across the oceans. In this episode, Guy explains how his hobby turned into a reality; from breeding tropical fish in his sister’s fish tank to swimming alongside dolphins and sharks in the Maldives. He shares his thoughts on the intelligence of fish, the multiple mysteries of the Manta and highlights his concerns about sustainable tourism driving the Maldivian economy.Support the show

Dr Fay Clark is an animal welfare scientist. A self-confessed “zoo geek”, she specialises in the assessment and enhancement of captive animal welfare in traditional zoos, safari parks, sanctuaries and aquariums. She is currently based at Bristol Zoo where she examines how the welfare of large-brained mammals can be enhanced through cognitively challenging activities. In this in-depth conversation, she reflects on how zoos have transformed from a victorian spectacle with “poking sticks” to educational conservations, describes how ring-tailed lemurs can adapt to habitats that differ from their Madagascan roots, and explains how technology is revealing how animals solve puzzles, including when they are playing us at our own game!

Dr Ellinor Michel is a molluscan systemetist and ecologist at the Natural History Museum and chair of the Friends of Crystal Palace Dinosaurs. Her work focuses on malacology (the study of molluscs), taxonomy and nomenclature, and the ecology of the Great Rift Lakes of Africa. In this in-depth conversation, she describes how a snail’s spiral shell is a “magical world” etched with secrets of our past, discusses the “important yet painful” process of the human appetite for knowledge, and explains how fossils have helped her cope with her slug phobia. Support the show

Dr Steve Etches MBE is a renowned fossil expert. His collection of over 2,000 pieces from the Kimmeridge Clay include remains of ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, pterosaurs and a whole host of Jurassic marine life. Once housed in his garage, the collection is now on display at the Etches Collection in Dorset. In this in-depth conversation, he describes how he stumbled across the world's first ammonite eggs, shares how his discoveries still give him “that same childhood thrill” that he first experienced as a five-year-old, and explains how the centre, with 25,000 visitors a year, is as much about educating people about the past as it is preserving it.

Dr Katherine Brent from Wotton-Under-Edge has danced the Morris since she was 18 years old for sides including Red Stags, Winterbourne Down, Rag Morris and Madcap Morris. She also teaches beekeeping for Rory’s Well, a charity dedicated to regenerating the local economy of an area in Sierra Leone. In this conversation, she describes the history and traditions behind morris dancing and the origin of the colourful rag coat. She explains why she is passionate about the introduction of Inga alley farming in Sierra Leone, which regenerates the soil removing the need for the traditional “slash and burn” cultivation, and argues the badger cull is neither “scientific nor successful” in reducing TB, which is why she remains opposed to it.

Astrid Goldsmith is an award-winning stop-motion animator. After tuition from Great Uncle Bulgaria and 12 years of hand-making models for other people - including Garth Jennings (for “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”), the boy band Blue and the unrelenting Duracell Bunny - she made her debut solo film, “Squirrel Island”. Astrid’s animations question the impact of human policy on the natural world, and her latest commissioned film, “Quarantine”, was nominated for the Debut Director Award at the Edinburgh TV Festival’s New Voice Awards. In this in-depth conversation, we talk grey squirrels vs. red squirrels, badgers as a focus for nationalism, how “good and bad” animals are an unfair human construct, and how anthropomorphic animation lends itself perfectly to deeper reflection about us and about our diverse ecosystem.

David Fettes is technically a wildlife photographer but is far better described as a force – and primarily a part – of nature. Growing up in India and in England, surrounded by snakes, langur monkeys and even more baleful creatures, he has stretched the definition of “self-taught”. An initial career in curiosity led to a mandatory career in management and insurance, before he landed, feet-firm, in what proved to be his destined vocation. His work has featured in the Natural History Museum’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition and in magazines worldwide. In this in-depth conversation, he explains why he’s dedicated to educating children on where we fit into the ecosystem, argues that relying on technology has encouraged photographers to be “lazy”, and pleads for listeners to immerse themselves within other cultures, other species, and a more tolerant world to break down our woeful human misconceptions.

Polly Morgan is a modern artist known for her sculptural taxidermy. Growing up in pastoral Oxfordshire, she’s been surrounded by animals from an early age. After moving to London to read English literature at university, she took a one-day course in avian taxidermy in a bid to decorate her new home. Polly’s interest accelerated from hobby to career when one of her pieces - “Rest a Little on the Lap of Life”, a white rat curled up inside a champagne glass - was sold to Vanessa Branson. Since then, her work has featured in an abundance of galleries including Banksy’s Santa Ghetto exhibition. In this in-depth interview, Polly talks us through her artistic techniques from observing and washing animal skins to forming casts, describes the feeling of creative loneliness that inspired her latest collaborative exhibition, and explains how her work is reinventing traditional victorian taxidermy - by creating abstract art that focuses on “form and colour rather than life and death.” N.B. We apologise for the reduced so

Mark Frith is an artist and film-maker. His documentaries include “The War on Love”, “Hotel Splendide”, and BAFTA award-winning documentary “The Lie of the Land”. In 2011, he began a project which was commissioned by the late publisher and poet Felix Dennis to draw 20 large scale, intricate portraits of Britain’s ancient oak trees. His series of graphite drawings, which took the best part of a decade to complete, were gifted to the Royal Botanical Society’s permanent collection at Kew and to Felix Dennis’ Heart of England Forest charity. In this in-depth conversation, Mark shares his childhood memories of growing up in Gloucestershire, explains how his spiritual empathy with the natural world helped to create the detail in his drawings which “appeared to draw themselves”, and shares his concerns about the human activities that continue to destroy the natural world.