Country Focus BBC Radio Wales
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- News
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Programme serving everyone living in the countryside and tackling the issues affecting them. With rural, farming and environmental news
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A Rare Beetle and Mystery Seeds
Air Ambulance - campaigners threaten legal action over plans to close air ambulances bases in Wales
We visit a heronry in Carmarthenshire to hear how their fairing after the British Trust for Ornithology reveals the latest findings from its long-running Heronries Census.
Mystery beans - volunteers at the Seed Library in the Hive Community Space in Llandrindod investigate a donation of some seeds. “Glenys’ Runner Beans" have been passed down through a number of generations - but how old are they and how can they help local growers?
The Snowdon beetle is believed to be down to the last thousand on the slopes of the mountain where it lives. But we hear about plans to help save it from possible extinction. -
Preventing Extinction and Woolly Socks
River Restoration - why the Church in Wales is involving itself in tackling the crisis facing Wales’ rivers and waterways
To celebrate World Curlew Day (21st April) we meet a visual artist in Montgomeryshire who compares the plight of the Curlew to that of the now extinct Great Auk and fears for the eventual extinction of both the curlew and the village hall!
Birds of Conservation Concern in Wales - the Curlew is on the Red List of Species as is our bird of the month this April - the Bittern. We hear how the reed beds at Newport Wetlands are contributing to something of a success story as their fortunes are slowly, but surely, being turned around.
Cockles - how two boys are getting out in nature and keeping the tradition of cockle picking alive on the Burry inlet
and the Great Glamorgan Sock Project showcasing the different sheep breeds with woolly socks! -
Tiny forests and Tortoise
The right tree in the right place and how it could save lives in the city. We speak to an Urban Green Infrastructure Advisor for Natural Resources Wales on the need to plant more trees in in our towns and cities for people and the planet.
Tiny forests - the Welsh Government is offering grants of between ten and forty thousand pounds to plant trees in a small space under a concept of forest creation developed by a Japanese ecologist. We hear how it works at a tiny forest in Cardiff Bay.
We talk pond creation in LLanwrtyd Wells - the Freshwater Habitats Trust says ponds are a critically important but undervalued part of the freshwater network.
and our reporter Mariclare Carey-Jones takes her tortoise for a check up at the International Tortoise Association in the Vale of Glamorgan -
An Experience of Falcons
From falcons and hawks to eagles and owls - Falconry Experience Wales is home to around 30 different birds of prey. It's a popular Powys wildlife tourist attraction but for owners Barry MacDonald and Luce Green their endeavours are with the conservation work and raising public awareness of the plight of raptors in the UK and abroad.