Bryophyte curious? Join Jo and Cathy in this episode of Nature Tripping for a walk through Hardcastle Crags in Calderdale with bryologist Johnny Turner. It might just look like green stuff but get close-up and the trees, rocks and streams are home to specialist species of mosses and liverworts indicative of Atlantic rainforest, as well as more common species once lost from the woods but now back in abundance.

We learn what makes an Atlantic rainforest and how to tell if you’re in one. We find out about a long lineage of local bryologists from 1700s onwards and how their records reveal the impact of human activity on Calderdale’s temperate woodland across the centuries. It’s not all bad news! Johnny also shares his thoughts on his life-long relationship with these very ancient plants.

Jo and Cathy meet Bailey for an introduction to Regenerative Farming and a discussion about the experimental field work he has been doing with the University of Oxford on the impact of different types of grazing management on biodiversity.

Three different scenarios - conventionally grazed pasture, mob-grazed pasture, and passive restoration (where land is left untouched) - have been monitored for all sorts of biodiversity, with Bailey’s focus on the life beneath our feet. Soil might look pretty dull, but in fact it’s alive with invertebrates, and is a vital component of ecosystems. Can listening to it provide important information on soil health? If so, what does a robust experimental method for doing that even look like? Bailey has some of the answers… and the sounds.

In this episode Cathy and Jo travel east to Poland. Join them along the way as they cross borders and head into the primaeval forests of Bialowieza and the vast marshlands of Biebrza - both complex ecosystems, alive with the sounds of mammals, birds and amphibians. The variety and abundance of species they encounter are astounding but also give them pause to reflect on what Britain has lost and why.

With thanks to Tomasz Jezierczuk of www.wildpoland.com