Podcasts: the top 10 nature podcasts from BBC Countryfile Magazine

From brushing with barn owls to the heartbreaking songs of rare nightingales, we’ve chronicled some memorable wildlife encounters for the BBC Countryfile Magazine plodcast over the past three years. So enjoy a mixture of exciting encounters and wonderfully relaxing, mindful walks in audibly beautiful landscapes. Image by Getty.

Top 10 nature plodcasts

While each episode of the plodcast features wonderful sounds from nature in the UK, these 10 episodes – handpicked by plodcast host Fergus Collins – offer truly unforgettable audio adventures set in nature.

Episode 1 20. Glorious Warblers in Search of the Llangorse Sea Monster

In the footsteps of old tales about a monster in one of Wales’s largest lochs, Fergus records some fabulous songs from wetland and woodland birds in the spring.

Episode 2 23. A barn owl in the magical unspoilt downlands of Martin Down

One of the most unspoilt areas of downland in Britain. Take an evening walk with cuckoos, skylarks and an incredibly close encounter with a barn owl.

3. Episode 53. An incredible morning of unusual birdsong in a Welsh rainforest in the Brecon Beacons

All the delights of a Welsh rainforest – with dozens of different bird songs to learn on a fine spring morning.

4. Episode 60. The heartbreakingly beautiful song of the nightingales in the Dorset bush country

The incredibly moving song of the nightingales – rare, precious and extraordinarily powerful. Taken by wildlife journalist and angler Kevin Parr.

5. Episode 67. The Eerie Whisper of Courting Nightjars on a Secret Welsh Hill

Is this the strangest bird song in Britain? Take a twilight walk up a Welsh hilltop to get up close and personal with a nocturnal migrant with an eerie reputation.

6. Episode 72. Meet the Honey Buzzards in a forest in South Wales

A rare and mysterious visitor to the UK, Honey Buzzards are incredibly difficult to find. Fergus was allowed to attend a ringing operation in South Wales and recorded the calls – and some lovely courtship displays from this elusive bird of prey.

7. Episode 101. Booming bitterns in the Avalon swamps

Perhaps the most bird-song plodcast of them all. We go in search of bitterns but find a multitude of other warblers and wetland birds in full cry. We even catch the calls of frogs and the slithering of grass snakes.

8. Episode 132. The Wild Cries of the Winter Meadows

An atmospheric walk through the coastal marshes of West Somerset, where huge flocks of wildfowl, waders and wetland birds congregate in winter. Gorgeous soundscapes accompanied by writer Ben Hoare.

Episode 9, 147. Folk singer Sam Lee sings with nightingales deep in a Sussex woodland

More nightingales, but this time in a wooded area in the far south of England and accompanied by the wise words and beautiful singing of folklorist Sam Lee. An incredibly moving, atmospheric encounter.

Episode 10 165. Strolling through a wildflower meadow with the botanist Leif Bersweden

Roam the wildflower meadows of Oxfordshire in the entertaining company of one of Britain’s leading young botanists.