Indholdsfortegnelse for January 2026 i BBC Countryfile Magazine

“You don’t have to be in the wilderness to see wildlife spectacles. Our cover photo this issue shows one of our most captivating wildlife events – a murmuration of thousands of starlings – in Brighton, a city with a human population in the hundreds of thousands. I recently had the pleasure of interviewing David Lindo, who will be familiar to some of you as the Urban Birder. David is a huge advocate of wildlife watching wherever you are, be that in the city or the wilds. I’m with David on this. Some of my best wildlife encounters recently have been in urban settings – watching a badger strolling across the road in Bath late one night, for example. And I’ve seen a peregrine falcon take a pigeon mid-air just five…

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6 January Enjoy a New Year Plodcast walk along a beautiful stretch of the Welsh coast looking for seals, curlews and other midwinter wildlife encounters. 13 January Head to the Norfolk-Suffolk border to meet Lord Somerleyton of WildKingdom, who is rewilding his own estate and encouraging everyone to leave more land and space for nature. 20 January Enjoy a walk and sing with songwriter Merlyn Driver, whose work is inspired by the natural world and includes extraordinary soundscapes that capture the music of some of our rarest wildlife. 27 January Take a walk with Devon-based writer Lucy Brazier in her homeland, where she discusses her heart-wrenching rural memoir The Honesty Box. Our nature and countryside Plodcast is available on all podcast providers. countryfile.com/podcast…

The start of a new year is the perfect time to look ahead and think about our hopes and ambitions for the coming 12 months. I’m not a great fan of New Year’s resolutions – they’re far too easily broken – so consider this a personal wish-list for 2026. The first one is out of the control of you and me, but it’s something that dictates every aspect of British food and farming: the weather. We certainly don’t need a repeat of last year, when we had to endure an unusually dry spring, autumn floods in Wales and the West Country, and the hottest summer on record with a succession of heatwaves that devastated the harvest for many of us. The Met Office has been warning us for several years…

GETTING THERE Given the nearest train station to Braemar is 50 miles away and with limited bus connections, car hire is recommended for visiting the Cairngorms. The closest airports to Braemar are Aberdeen or Dundee, which are both around 90 minutes drive away and are both served by Loganair (loganair.co.uk). The Braemar Gathering takes place at The Princess Royal and Duke of Fife Memorial Park in Braemar. ACCOMMODATION MACDONALD PITTODRIE HOUSE, INVERURIE I stayed at the historic, four-star Macdonald Pittodrie House hotel in Inverurie, 52 miles north-east of Braemar and set within scenic grounds with mountain views. Choose between standard, deluxe and super deluxe rooms, with hearty breakfasts served in the Orangery and à la carte dinners in the Mither Tap restaurant. macdonaldhotels.co.uk BRAEMAR LODGE, BRAEMAR Choose from a selection…

When out walking my rescue dog Lyra, the question I get asked most is: “Ooh, nice dog – what is it?” My standard reply is: “Oh, we’re not sure. Her mum is a Malinois – do you know them? They’re like next-level German shepherds. But we’ve no idea what her dad is. We think there’s some Staffy in her because she’s got that smile, and her colouring is very Rottweiler or Dobermann… but who knows?” After the 379th time of hearing the breed question, I caved and started looking into dog DNA kits. I was surprised to find very few reliable reviews to guide my purchase. They’re expensive – at-home dog DNA tests start at around £60 and go up to £150 – and, after hours of research, I still…

ACROSS 1 A natural fly trap? (6) 5 Covers with earth, we hear, hawthorn fruits? (7)  9 Apple tree flowers… and prospers (8) 10 Cornish fishing port and art centre (6) 11 Command to stop a horse (4) 13 ___ whale, largest of the toothed whales (5) 15 Male deer activities making furrows in ground (4) 16 Religious residences on Cumbria’s Cistercian Way (6) 18 Fleshy coastal plant, ‘glasswort’ – produces marsh pie (8) 19 Agricultural vehicles (8) 22 In inkcaps I discovered this sap-sucking bug (6) 24 Swift, timid, long-eared animal (4) 25/27 Woolly-leaved plant found on young sheep’s head? (5, 4)  28 Shaped like bowed horns of White Park cattle (6) 30 Main town on Isle of Bute – unusual hay store (8) 32/33 Neolithic longbarrow on the…

4 January At the heart of Glen Affric lies one of Scotland’s most spectacular lochs – Loch Affric. Hamza Yassin explores this wild and beautiful Highland landscape and uncovers the hidden web of life beneath the surface, where every creature has a role to play. 11 January While January often sees us reaching for the blankets and settling into cosy hibernation, Countryfile heads to the towering woods and rugged hills of Northumberland to explore how outdoor pursuits can keep you active through the colder months. 18 January The Exe Estuary in Devon is an important winter refuge for wading birds that feeds into a marine protected area, with the water, mudflats and fields surrounding the estuary providing a home for winter life. 25 January As Countryfile marks the approaching 200th…

Towering waves wow the judges in weather photography awards Raging walls of water loom over the breakwater, dwarfing a walker during a fierce storm at Newhaven, East Sussex. Photographer Jadwiga Piasecka won a runner-up prize in the international competition Standard Chartered Weather Photographer of the Year 2025 for this remarkable image, taken during a storm when winds were gusting at over 80mph. “From my vantage point, I watched enormous waves battling against the sea wall, sending dramatic sprays of water high into the air… highlighting just how immense the storm’s fury truly was,” says Piasecka.…

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HOW BIG IS A COMMON OCTOPUS? An adult can reach 1m long and up to 9kg. IS IT DANGEROUS TO HUMANS? The common octopus is venomous but rarely attacks people. A bite would be painful, but a greater threat would be subsequent infection. HOW LONG DO OCTOPUSES LIVE? Typically, one to two years; longer if kept in captivity without mating. Octopuses are semelparous: each breeds once, then dies. HOW MANY HEARTS DOES AN OCTOPUS HAVE? Three. Two peripheral hearts are positioned by the gills to pump oxygenated blood, while a central, two-chambered heart distributes it all around the body. WHAT DO OCTOPUSES EAT? Octopus larvae eat plankton before they move to the seabed, when their diet changes to include crustaceans and molluscs. Crabs are the favourite prey of adults. WHICH…

Up through the dappled oak grove, across a tinkling stream and out into open fields. It’s a lunchtime walk I do a lot, living here in West Yorkshire’s lush Upper Calder Valley. Recently, I’d been skirting around a sad-looking boardwalk on the verge of collapse. This time, however, I was pleasantly surprised to find it had been replaced with a new one. Not only that, but two freshly painted waymarks had been reinstated along the ambling footpath. But I hadn’t seen anyone up there with tools and materials. In fact, other than the newly improved features, there was no trace of work having been done at all. No boot prints or scuffed earth. No trampled plants. It was as if by magic. So, if not faeries, who was looking after…

1 What is triathlon? Although there’s evidence of triathlon taking place in 1920s France, the modern-day swim, bike and run sport as we know it began in 1974 in California. Ironman – triathlon’s most iconic race organiser – followed in Hawaii in 1978, before tri reached British shores in 1983. Its Olympic Games journey began at Sydney 2000 and Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee (right) became household names after winning medals at London 2012. 2 Broad appeal My Sunday football career, if that’s the right word, left me with “the knees of a 70-year-old” by the age of 30. Enter triathlon. I’ve since trundled (see above) through 40 multisport events of every distance, all with less than five hours of exercise a week, an adversity to gyms, a love of pies…

USES FOR BRITISH WOOL Following Adam Henson’s excellent article on British wool (November issue), I would like to mention that British wool is used in the compost I purchase from Cumbria. It is brilliant for tomatoes, growing huge fruit in my greenhouse and it also improves soil condition. Local support for agriculture is important; we must continue to support British farmers and manufacturers. I think vertical farming is the next development that needs to be highlighted, as it offers great benefits of maximising land use, no use of pesticides, reduced water use and has a process that is gaining export orders. All backed by universities, showing that good research is fundamental to the development of world-leading food security. Joan Stableford, via email CARING FOR SHEEP IN WINTER This is the…

1 CRICKHOWELL WALKING FESTIVAL The picturesque town of Crickhowell, nestled in the beautiful Usk Valley, Wales, plays host to one of the year’s earliest walking festivals, from 7–15 March 2026. Enjoy over 80 walks of various distances. For the competitive amongst you, there’s the Table Mountain Challenge, where you walk or run up and down the 380m-high Table Mountain as many times as you can. There are prizes for the female and male winners. Just remember to pack a waterproof – this is Bannau Brycheiniog in springtime, after all. crickhowellfestival.com 2 RIDE2STRIDE WALKING AND MUSIC FESTIVAL, NORTH YORKSHIRE This week-long bonanza runs from Tuesday 28 April to Monday 4 May 2026 and takes in the delights of the western Dales and Eden Valley. To add a thematic edge, the varied…

Livestock and poultry farming generates huge quantities of greenhouse gas emissions that fuel climate change. However, new research shows that companies operating UK ‘megafarms’ are routinely failing to disclose in planning applications the amount of pollution they will create, masking their real impacts. Carbon and other emissions assessments are not being included in many planning applications for new large-scale livestock farms, according to research by the food and farming advocacy organisation Sustain. Moreover, local councils, which either approve or reject applications, are not demanding them. Sustain analysed all applications for livestock units over specified thresholds (more than 85,000 broiler chickens or 3,000 pigs) in seven regions of the UK, including East Anglia, Yorkshire, Wales and Northern Ireland. Under rules established in 2017 – confirmed by a court judgement in 2024…

An event that takes place during the depths of winter in the very northernmost reach of the British Isles, Up Helly Aa is a fiery festival that celebrates some of the customs brought to the Shetland Islands by the Scandinavian culture that colonised the Scottish archipelago over 1,000 years ago. Versions of the event are held across Shetland between January and March each year, but the biggest happens on the last Tuesday in January, in the main town of Lerwick. The exact origin of the name is opaque, but it appears to have been concocted from the Old Norse word for weekend or holiday, Helly, with the other elements signifying the climax of the occasion, which in Lerwick is marked by the dramatic burning of a replica Viking ship. RAUCOUS…

The Braemar hills are alive with the sound of bagpipes as Kyle Randalls, a 6-foot 5” (196cm), 22-stone (139kg) strongman from Falkirk, prepares to throw a 22lb (9.9kg) hammer across the arena. Stood at the back of a horseshoe of nets to protect the hushed crowds on either side, he heaves it over his shoulders, pirouettes like a ballerina and launches it like a missile, high and far across the field, where it thuds, 115 metres away, to rapturous applause. To me, a Highland Games first-timer, this looks an impressive feat. For Kyle, it’s how he’s spent countless summer weekends since the age of 15. “I sort of fell into it,” he explains. “I used to do your track and field events and was originally a sprinter and then a…

It’s a cold, clear February evening on Brighton beach. The sun has not yet dipped below the horizon and the last of the light is that strange, luminescent blue that presages dusk. Hundreds of pairs of eyes are turned skyward, waiting not for sunset to spill its colours into the ocean – a spectacle in itself – but for something even more wondrous to unfold. There’s no guarantee what we’re waiting for will even happen. Then I notice individual starlings dotting the sky. A small squadron flies in from the east, arcing above the neon red Brighton Pier sign. Lone birds are drawn to the flock like iron filings to a magnet, and what was a nothing magics itself into a something: a swarm, a wave, a flying carpet. Peppercorns…

COUNTRYSIDE QUIZ 1. Sir David Attenborough celebrates his 100th birthday this year, on which date? ☐ a. 29 January ☐ b. 8 May ☐ c. 15 June ☐ d. 9 September 2. Scottish poet Robert Burns is celebrated on 25 January. Which US city is home to a life-sized replica of Robert Burns Cottage? ☐ a. Los Angeles, California ☐ b. Boston, Massachusetts ☐ c. Chicago, Illinois ☐ d. Atlanta, Georgia 3. Which famous 19th-century novel begins on New Year’s Day? ☐ a. Moby Dick ☐ b. Sense and Sensibility ☐ c. Middlemarch ☐ d. Great Expectations 4. When will the Quadrantids meteor shower appear in our night skies this year? ☐ a. 3–4 January ☐ b. 27–28 January ☐ c. 9–10 March ☐ d. 12–13 July 5. Where did…

I’ve always loved a ‘permissive path’ – a route across private land that the owner, manager or tenant has decided voluntarily to open to all. It’s always seemed like the nicest of invitations. A surprise, a welcome, a generous act, as well as an implied pact between walker and landowner: here is a safe route to use, responsibly. The direct opposite of “get off my land”, it is the action of a farmer or land manager interested in and part of their wider community. Many permissive paths work well and have done for a significant amount of time, enhancing or connecting our network of public footpaths, byways and bridleways, however unevenly distributed. And there is much to gain in mutual benefit, too. For walkers, perhaps a route that ‘makes sense’…