Alongside the BBC ONE series British Isles: A Natural History,
the BBC is celebrating the diversity and evolution of our landscape
with a Walk Through Time in an area near you.
Presented by Alan Titchmarsh, British Isles: A Natural History provides
the first complete picture of the extraordinary geographical, natural
and human history of the British Isles.
Unique regional opt-out segments of the programme encourage viewers
to get outdoors and turn 'landscape detective' in their own areas.
The first two programmes in the eight-part series - produced by the
BBC Natural History Unit - were watched by over six million people.
Now the BBC, alongside partner organisations including the Open University,
is promoting a series of innovative walks at locations across the country
- each offering a local snapshot of the British Isles' three billion
year evolution.
These Walks Through Time – each created with the help of Open University
experts - are accessible online for each region of the country, through
an interactive map available at bbc.co.uk/nature.
By clicking on any area of the map, users are directed to a detailed,
downloadable guide for a walk near to them – each of which highlight
the local features and surprising clues that unravel the natural history
of the British Isles.
Through the weekend of 16 to 17 October, every BBC local radio station
will be celebrating a Walk Through Time in their respective areas, with
presenters and experts tracing the route along a local walk and revealing
the remarkable history of the landscape on-air.
Through bbc.co.uk/nature, others can enjoy following the same routes.
Roaming through urban and semi-urban areas, each Walk Through Time
is designed to be family-friendly and accessible to people in wheelchairs
or pushing buggies.
Alan Titchmarsh says: "Life is too much of a spectator sport nowadays.
"We hope that these Walks Through Time will encourage people to
get out there, learn about their landscape and feel a part of it."
In Birmingham
the Walk Through Time takes walkers through the heart of the city, where
they find out about Birmingham's past as a forest, a swamp and underneath
an ice sheet hundreds of metres thick.
The walk continues up to the present day, through Birmingham's history
as a settlement and a thriving hub for industry.
If walkers keep their eyes peeled they might just see some rare birds!
The Walk Through Time in the Black
Country emcompasses Wren's Nest, Priory Park and Castle Woods,
taking walkers back in time to come face to face with ancient creatures
and to see ripples on a 420 million year old seabed.
Walking back to the present day, participants find out about the first
settlers in Dudley, the rare bats who live in the old mines and why
this area is so important in Britain's history.
Walkers will see birds, wild flowers and evidence of Dudley's industrial
past.
The Walk Through Time in Coventry
and Warwickshire goes to Bubbenhall where the hidden secrets
of the heart of Warwickshire can be discovered with a walk over a Martian
landscape and through the ancient homes of an extinct elephant, early
man and more.
The walk takes in ancient woodland and many sites of prehistoric and
Triassic life, as well as getting walkers up close to the recent and
future use of the land, with farms, a quarry and even an airport.
In Bristol,
walkers can join the walk starting at Brunel's historic Suspension Bridge,
spanning the Avon gorge.
A site of Special Scientific Interest, the area surrounding the bridge
is home to many rare plants and a host of other flora and fauna.
In Gloucestershire,
a Walk Through Time takes walkers on a natural history journey through
geological time in Gloucester; or on a visit to Alney Island and the
Severn Estuary, with its amazing wildlife, wetlands and birds.
In Somerset,
walkers can take a tour around Glastonbury to discover some of the history
of the buildings in the town and to learn how the erosion of different
types of rock caused Glastonbury Tor to be shaped.
In Wiltshire,
take a stroll through Jurassic Swindon at a time when huge meat-eating
dinosaurs roamed the earth, the seas were teeming with life and Swindon's
Old Town was a warm, tropical paradise.
There are many more walks organised. More information is available
via the the relevant Where I Live websites.
British Isles: A Natural History continues on BBC ONE, Wednesdays at
9.00pm.
The executive producer is Mike Gunton.
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