From brushes with barn owls to the heart-breaking songs of rare nightingales, we've recorded some memorable encounters with wildlife over the past three years for the BBC Countryfile Magazine Plodcast. So enjoy a blend of exciting encounters and wonderfully relaxing mindful walks in audibly beautiful landscapes. Image by Getty.
Top 10 nature plodcasts
While every episode of the Plodcast contains wonderful sounds of nature in Britain, these 10 episodes – selected by Plodcast host Fergus Collins – offer truly memorable audio adventures in nature.
1. Episode 20. Glorious warblers while searching for the Lake Monster of Llangorse
On the trail of old stories of a monster in one of Wales’ largest lakes, Fergus records some fabulous songs of wetland and woodland birds in spring.
2. Episode 23. A barn owl on the magical unspoilt downland of Martin Down
One of the most unspoiled areas of downland in Britain. Join an evening walk with cuckoos, skylarks and an incredibly close encounter with a barn owl.
3. Episode 53. An incredible morning of unusual birdsong in a Welsh rainforest in the Brecon Beacons
All the delights of a Welsh rainforest – with dozens of different birdsongs to learn on a beautiful spring morning.
4. Episode 60. The heart-breakingly beautiful song of nightingales in a Dorset scrubland
The incredibly moving song of nightingales – rare, precious and extraordinarily powerful. Captured by nature writer and angler Kevin Parr.
5. Episode 67. The eerie churring of courting nightjars on a secret Welsh hillside
Is this the strangest birdsong in Britain? Take a dusk walk onto a Welsh hillside to get close to a nocturnal migrant with an eerie call.
6. Episode 72. Meet the honey buzzards in a South Wales forest
A rare and secretive visitor to the UK, honey buzzards are incredibly hard to find. Fergus was allowed to join a ringing operation in South Wales and recorded the calls – and some lovely courtship displays of this elusive raptor.
7. Episode 101. Booming bitterns in the Avalon Marshes
Perhaps the most birdsong rich Plodcast of all. We head out in search of bitterns but find a host of other warblers and wetland birds in full cry. We even capture the calls of frogs and the slithering of grass snakes.
8. Episode 132. The wild cries of the winter marshes
A deeply atmospheric wander on coastal marshes of west Somerset where huge flocks of wildfowl, waders and wetland birds gather in winter. Glorious soundscapes in the company of writer Ben Hoare.
9. Episode 147. Folk singer Sam Lee sings with nightingales deep in a Sussex woodland
More nightingales but this time in a woodland in the very south of England and accompanied by the wise words and beautiful singing of folklorist Sam Lee. An incredibly moving, atmospheric encounter.
10. Episode 165. Wandering in a wildflower meadow with botanist Leif Bersweden
Roam and Oxfordshire wildflower meadow in the entertaining company of one of Britain’s leading young botanists.
