Waterlands

Series 1 > Episode 1: Water on our doorstep

60% of us are predicted to be living in cities in 2050. But what happens when creatures once so wild become so far removed from nature? The answer is, it doesn’t have to be this way. In this episode we travel to London Wetland Centre to find out just how wild urban nature can be, and why it’s important that we fight back against urbanisation with pockets of mini wetlands connecting our cities into true watery metropolises.

Series 1 > Episode 2: Feeling blue

‘65% of people say spending time by water improves their wellbeing’. We know this intrinsically, but why does being by water make us feel better, and can we harness its power? We travel to some of our most tranquil wetlands to explore the topic further. We meet those whose lives have been changed for the better by these places, hear practical tips for improving your wellbeing from experts in nature prescribing, and the emerging science that reveals just how it works.

We also speak to a former city-dwelling fashion designer who created a wildlife pond from scratch, and what they learned.

Series 1 > Episode 3: The mermaid and the quest for cleaner water

To start this story, we meet a mermaid swimmer at Conham River Park in Bristol. She swam as a mermaid down the Avon to raise awareness of plastic pollution, but soon ran afoul – literally – of another issue when she suddenly fell very ill. We also discuss exactly why our waterways are in this mess, and how we might be able to fix it. We then head up to Gloucestershire to find a very special man-made wetland on the banks of the Severn, and explore how they can protect us from some of the truly horrifying nasties that make their way into our water.

Series 1 > Episode 4: Mangroves, marshes and the climate emergency

This episode takes us first to the wild coastline of Somerset and Steart Marshes, where the threatened land has been dramatically shaped by water in quite a marvellous way, thanks to some brave locals and pioneering landscape realignment. From the vast to the tiny, we then visit a wildlife pond with a sound recordist to discover a mini-underwater jungle and how these ‘insect chimneys’ can bring back all sorts of wildlife. We then take a trip to the mangroves of Madagascar to explore this little explored yet hard-working blue carbon store.

Series 1 > Episode 5: Fighting water with water

What would you do if the unthinkable happened and you suddenly found your home underwater? This is a situation experienced by a growing number of people, as storms tear across the UK, but some people turn this experience into an unexpectedly positive lesson. We look at why we need to be more beaver to help steward the water across our lands, and why flooding isn’t black and white – in fact, nature needs floods in unexpected ways, and we meet a flood historian to explore why we do too.

Series 1 > Episode 6: A watery future

You might be forgiven for thinking after visiting all these wonderful wetlands that our lands are still covered in water. Unfortunately, we’ve lost over 90% since Roman times. It’s hard to imagine what that might have been like, so take a time travel to a world when pelicans swooped from the skies, aurochs roamed carefree and wild pigs acted as ecosystem engineers to create wetlands themselves. We also discuss what can be done to rewild our wetlands, or even better, go one step further and actively restore them to what could once only be dreamed of.

Series 2 > Episode 1: The remarkable garden pond

When you think of ponds, do you think of the dizzying array of creatures that live within them? More than tadpoles and dragonflies, the humble pond is vital to entire ecosystems, and a small garden pond often supports more biodiversity than even a lake or river. And the best thing is – we’re never far from one.

Whether it’s a bucket on an urban balcony or a mighty farm pond filled with amphibians and insects, these mini-wetlands can offer huge benefits to wildlife as well as our own wellbeing. In this episode we travel to Henry Slator’s garden pond in Devon to learn how it’s tranquillity and creatures helped Henry recover during his cancer treatment, and was the inspiration for his book, Conversations at the Pond. We also take a peek inside the world of the dragonfly at London Wetland Centre.

Series 2 > Episode 2: Ponds and potatoes

In years gone by a walk through farmland wouldn’t be complete without passing a pond or two. But sadly they’re increasingly rare on farms, but why?

In this episode we head down to the farm to find out more about why rather than filling them in, farmers are now understanding the benefits that ponds can have in creating biodiversity. in Devon is one of the UK’s most well known organic farms and they’re bringing new life to the land, such as helping to provide homes for hungry toads, who are keeping the slugs off your lettuces. Riverford founder Guy Singh-Watson tells us all about it and how his perceptions of ponds have changed throughout his life. We also head to in London to meet vet and conservationist Sean McCormack who’s work there is helping to preserve the great crested newt in ponds which were once farmland ponds.

Megan also learns about insect chimneys and ghost ponds from WWT’s Principal Research Officer, Dr Sarah Davies.

Series 2 > Episode 3: Ripple effect: people and ponds

Water has a way of calming us “it just does something to us” says Nadeem Perera...but it can also bring us together.

In this episode Megan McCubbin explores the abundant pond life of Cody Dock in East London, which not only attracts the likes of Reed Warblers and Sticklebacks but members of the local community who have all helped transform and shape the area into a rich haven. We also join co-founder and nature activist Nadeem Perera next to one of his favourite slices of nature, right in the heart of Bristol. He tells us how an encounter with a crow near a pond in the heart of his community sparked an interest in birds that would help shape his future and his whole outlook on nature.

To face and help solve the climate crisis we need to work together, and community conservation is one of the most important things we can do. Ponds and mini-wetlands, however small and wherever we may live, need to be looked after because the ripple effects can be huge.

Series 2 > Episode 4: Watching (and waiting) for watervoles

They’re one of our most precious but sadly most threatened species in the UK. So, how can ponds help sustain this wonderful species and why do we need to help them thrive?

We’ve donned our binoculars for this episode as we celebrate the wonder of watching wildlife and go in search of the illusive watervole. Some of Megan McCubbin’s earliest memories were down at a local pond, waiting to catch a glimpse of it’s wildlife and remembers hearing a watervole’s distinctive ‘plop’ for the very first time.

We meet Jo Cartmell in a favourite spot next to her village pond to hear about how she’s dedicated years to monitoring, and blogging about a group of voles who live there (even giving them names). She knows them more than anybody else, will we get to to spot one? And Dr Daniel Foreman of Swansea University explains why such such a quintessentially British pond and wetland species have become so threatened and how we can protect them.

Also find out why ponds are such amazing places for sustaining the life of not just watervoles, but an abundance of species as we take a journey from the bottom of the pond to the surface with Ellie Jones from WWT.

Series 2 > Episode 5: Puddles of wonder

When is a pond not a pond? Well, when it’s a puddle!

When you think of a puddle, children jumping around in their wellies may be one of the first things that come to mind. But there are some types of pond which really have more in common with a puddle, they come and go, they’re wet, then they dry up. They’re known as ephemeral ponds, and in this episode Megan McCubbin heads back to where she grew up, the New Forest to hear their magical story.

The mysterious temporary ponds we’re visiting are even more important because they’re one of the only places in the UK that are home to some very special creatures (and one of the oldest surviving animal species in the world) the tadpole shrimp. Like the ponds they live in they also come and go, get wet and dry up, they lay dormant until the rain comes and then spring back into life.

Megan meets expect Dr Naomi Ewald in the excited hope of seeing one up close. A real and very rare treat for anyone to experience!

Series 2 > Episode 6: What lurks beneath - a Halloween special

Have you ever peered into the blackness of a pond at night and wondered what lurks beneath? Come with us and find out in this special, spooky, episode!

From creatures with unimaginably strange bodies that could be straight out of a sci-fi movie, to the bizarre upside-down swimming water boatmen - life in a pond can be brutal. It really is the world of eat, or be eaten.

Like lots of other habitats, as dark falls, ponds turn other-worldy, yet often we don’t get to experience them. In this episode we’ll show you that there’s lots for us to see, and hear, that we can only experience at nighttime.

Host Megan McCubbin peers into her own pond on a stormy wet night to see what she can see, from the pond creatures around on the surface to the bats overhead.

Hear the spooky and strange sounds underwater with ecologist and underwater sounds expert Jack Greenhalgh. Discover why nature is the source of many of good horror story, with author Lucy Christoper. And previous guests Ellie Jones from WWT and writer Henry Slator share their favourite spooky pond creatures.

You’ll never have a nocturnal nosy at pond in the same way again!