Wildlife podcast on iconic Sussex forest has proved to be a huge hit

Recorded outdoors, in the woodland and on the heath, the podcast takes the Forest as a springboard for national and global conversations about wildlife and biodiversity.

Each episode takes listeners on a dawn and dusk walk, with wildlife guide and astonishing bird mimic Tom Forward describing the wildlife encounters along the way.

In between, presenter Eka Morgan talks to well-known writers, musicians and wildlife specialists and explores the stories which connect them to nature. Among the guests are BBC Radio 4 Ramblings presenter Clare Balding, Chair of Natural England Tony Juniper and rewilding pioneer and author Isabella Tree.

From Pooh to pets – key podcast highlights are:

• The Ashdown Forest is the ‘100 Acre Wood’ where Pooh’s adventures with Christopher Robin and their friends take place. 91-year old Ann Thwaite, who has written the definitive biography of Pooh’s creator, author A. A. Milne, talks about the real Christopher Robin, who she knew.

• Musician Sam Lee rhapsodises about the song of the Nightingale and describes the unique bond musicians and Nightingales forge through their night-time duets. He sings on the Forest to lure the Nightingales back.

• The podcast sensitively discusses how to reduce the impact of pets on wildlife – a matter of urgency now that there are more than eleven million pet dogs and the same number of pet cats in the UK. Listeners have said that advice from experts has motivated them to make changes.

Presenter Eka Morgan comments: “The Forest is an unsung national treasure. In the podcast, we focus on the positive - what we have, not what we’re losing – and also what we can bring back.”

Ashdown Forest is ten square miles of open access land close to Forest Row in mid-Sussex,

The podcast is available from the Ashdown Forest Centre website, www.ashdownforest.org/podcast/ and on podcast platforms or click here

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