Episodes
| Episode | Title | First Broadcast | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Water Beetle | 20121112 | All naturalists have personal obsessions with particular species or activities which may, to non-naturalists, seem ridiculous . In this five-part series Matthew Oates, naturalist and ecologist with the National Trust, meets the people for whom nothing in the natural world is out of bounds. His colleague Andy Foster, known in entomological circles as Foz has spent thirty years in search of a rare water-beetle called Agabus brunneus. It lives in fast-flowing gravelly streams in just a handful of places in Southern England and Foz has only found it twice in three decades. Will it appear on their joint trip to the New Forest and is it all worth it anyway? Presenter: Matthew Oates Producer: Brett Westwood Editor: Julian Hector. Matthew Oates meets Andy Foster, a man obsessed by a rare and elusive water beetle. Matthew Oates presents a series about naturalists and their pursuits |
| 02 | Twitching | 20121113 | All naturalists have personal obsessions with particular species or activities which may, to non-naturalists, seem ridiculous . In this five-part series Matthew Oates, naturalist and ecologist with the National Trust, meets the people for whom nothing in the natural world is out of bounds. Today he explores the world of twitching rare birds with Rob Lambert, from the University of Nottingham. Rob has travelled around the UK amassing a huge list of over 450 species of birds and he's keen to show Matthew a rare long-billed dowitcher at Slimbridge in Gloucestershire. But Matthew wants to know if this is just trainspotting or are there other benefits to be gained from twitching. According to Rob Lambert, it's all about tribes, memories and experience. and birds too. Presenter: Matthew Oates Producer: Brett Westwood Editor: Julian Hector. Ecologist Matthew Oates meets Rob Lambert to find out more about the benefits of twitching Matthew Oates presents a series about naturalists and their pursuits |
| 03 | Rare Orchids | 20121114 | All naturalists have personal obsessions with particular species or activities which may, to non-naturalists, seem ridiculous. In this five-part series Matthew Oates, naturalist and ecologist with the National Trust, meets the people for whom nothing in the natural world is out of bounds. Nowadays conservationists tend to conserve species and many ignore or dismiss hybrids between species. But at Hartslock near Goring , Matthew meets Chris Raper from the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust and Andy Byfield from the wild flower conservation charity Plantlife, to view a hybrid swarm of extremely rare orchids. The reserve is one of only two sites in the UK for the Monkey Orchid and management is carefully tailored to nurturing this beautiful flower. Recently another rare orchid, the Lady Orchid has arrived , and the two plants have cross-bred to produce many hybrids. These have the potential to breed with either of the pure species, so creating a dilemma: are they to be treasured as unique entities, or discouraged as they may undo decades of conservation work? Matthew and his guests discuss the importance of recognising hybrids and of giving plants and other animals room to hybridise naturally, and they conclude by offering a vision of a wider conservation landscape in which this hybridisation can take place. Presenter: Matthew Oates. Matthew Oates discovers some spectacular hybrid orchids with very rare parents. Matthew Oates presents a series about naturalists and their pursuits |
| 04 | Slugs And Snails | 20121115 | For most people, naturalists or not, some creatures are definitely minority interests. In a UK summer noted for its wet weather, slugs and snails have been very obvious in our gardens and, coupled with reports in the media about Spanish killer slugs, maybe their time has come. Matthew Oates of the National Trust meets Mary Seddon, a malacologist(studier of slugs and snails) of international renown to hear about her fascination for the creatures and to find out why our slug fauna is increasing . He learns the truth about the boom in numbers this summer and about the discovery in Wales of the ghost slug new not just to the UK but to science. Presenter: Matthew Oates Producer: Brett Westwood Editor: Julian Hector. Biologist Mary Seddon explains why she finds the study of molluscs so compelling. Matthew Oates presents a series about naturalists and their pursuits |
| 05 | The Purple Emperor | 20121116 | Matthew Oates has long been obsessed with the elusive and beautiful purple emperor, a butterfly of the high tops which is aggressive to other butterflies and yet often lands on people. But in this programme he's out-obsessed by Neil Hume, a self-confessed addict of the emperor .Together they watch the butterflies chasing off rivals high in the tree-tops and discuss its anti-social feeding habits which include sipping human sweat and animal dung - this is a butterfly which avoids flowers. As they enthuse over emperors, Neil explains what the experience of seeing this butterfly means and how it takes him to special places at the height of summer. Presenter: Matthew Oates Producer: Brett Westwood Editor: Julian Hector. Matthew Oates meets a man for whom the purple emperor butterfly is a lifetime obsession. Matthew Oates presents a series about naturalists and their pursuits |