Welcome to Walk on the Wild Side, an RSPCA podcast. We’ll meet people from this 200-year-old animal welfare charity, and learn about what they do. We’ll discover more about the amazing wildlife all around us, and how we can help it thrive, and be inspired to get outdoors and into nature.

In the final episode of the series, Holly spends the afternoon at RSPCA Mallydams Wood and meets its staff and volunteers. She gets to look inside the X-ray room and high-intensity care unit with vet surgeon Jo and student Emma, speaks to volunteer Debra in the bird holding area, and asks supervisor Jess about trainee animal rescue officer Poppy’s unusual headgear. During the summer the patients at Mallydams Wood are usually birds, but for most of the year the wildlife centre resounds with the barking of seals – listen to a clip from one of our archive films about how seals came into our care in the 1960s.

Host: Holly Cushen

Writers: Holly Cushen and Morwenna Kearns

Producer: Morwenna Kearns

Audio producer: Chris Attaway

Wildlife advisor: Rebecca Machin

Executive producer: Sarah Millerick

Recorded on location at RSPCA Mallydams Wood near Hastings

Wildlife advice: rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/wildlife [http://www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/wildlife]

Work for the RSPCA: jobs.rspca.org.uk/jobs/home [http://jobs.rspca.org.uk/jobs/home]

Volunteer for animals: rspca.org.uk/getinvolved/volunteer [http://www.rspca.org.uk/getinvolved/volunteer]

More information on how to get involved: rspca.org.uk/getinvolved/donate/audio [https://www.rspca.org.uk/getinvolved/donate/audio]

Episode 5 - Learning about RSPCA Mallydams Wood with staff and volunteers

Welcome to Walk on the Wild Side, an RSPCA podcast. We’ll meet people from this 200-year-old animal welfare charity, and learn about what they do. We’ll discover more about the amazing wildlife all around us, and how we can help it thrive, and be inspired to get outdoors and into nature.

This time, Holly Cushen meets Rob Moffat, Community Engagement Manager, for a stroll around RSPCA Newbrook Farm in Birmingham. The fields, home to an abundance of local wildlife, are used to walk dogs who are being cared for at the animal centre, while over in the education centre the RSPCA works to empower children and young people to treat animals with kindness and respect. Holly also asks special guest Jamie Smart about wildlife photography and her amazing success in the RSPCA Young Photographer Awards – another programme to empower the next generation.

Host: Holly Cushen

Writers: Holly Cushen and Morwenna Kearns

Producer: Morwenna Kearns

Audio producer: Chris Attaway

Wildlife advisor: Rebecca Machin

Executive producer: Sarah Millerick

Recorded on location at RSPCA Newbrook Farm in Birmingham

Wildlife advice: rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/wildlife [http://www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/wildlife]

RSPCA Next Gen: nextgen.rspca.org.uk

Young Photographer Awards: young.rspca.org.uk

More information on how to get involved: rspca.org.uk/getinvolved/donate/audio [https://www.rspca.org.uk/getinvolved/donate/audio]

Episode 4 - Biodiversity, wildlife photography and education with Rob Moffat

Welcome to Walk on the Wild Side, an RSPCA podcast. We’ll meet people from this 200-year-old animal welfare charity, and learn about what they do. We’ll discover more about the amazing wildlife all around us, and how we can help it thrive, and be inspired to get outdoors and into nature.

In this episode, Holly gets a guided tour of RSPCA Mallydams Wood from Centre Manager Peter Smith, discovering a range of specialist facilities for the assessment, care and rehabilitation of wildlife. Outside, there are woodland environments for foxes and kestrels, pools where young seals can gain strength before returning to the wild, and aviaries for birds of all ages. Inside the centre, there are treatment rooms, specialist areas for cleaning oiled birds – a highly technical process – and isolation cubicles for larger animals. In the kitchen, specialist food is prepared for hundreds of different species of animals, mixed precisely for each animal. Holly and Peter also watch an RSPCA archive film about foxes, made in 1970.

Host: Holly Cushen

Writers: Holly Cushen and Morwenna Kearns

Producer: Morwenna Kearns

Audio producer: Chris Attaway

Wildlife advisor: Rebecca Machin

Executive producer: Sarah Millerick

Recorded on location at RSPCA Mallydams Wood near Hastings

Wildlife advice: rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/wildlife [http://www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/wildlife]

RSPCA Mallydams Wood on Instagram: instagram.com/mallydams_wildlife_rehab [http://www.instagram.com/mallydams_wildlife_rehab]

More information on how to get involved: rspca.org.uk/getinvolved/donate/audio [https://www.rspca.org.uk/getinvolved/donate/audio]

Episode 3 - Wildlife rehab, ecology and trees with Peter Smith

Welcome to Walk on the Wild Side, an RSPCA podcast. We’ll meet people from this 200-year-old animal welfare charity, and learn about what they do. We’ll discover more about the amazing wildlife all around us, and how we can help it thrive, and be inspired to get outdoors and into nature.

In this episode Holly Cushen takes a walk in the woods near RSPCA Newbrook Farm with Lydia Andrews, an RSPCA Animal Rescue Officer. So much of the RSPCA’s work is with people as much as with animals – our frontline workers collaborate with the public, agencies like Fire and Rescue, and specialist teams to help individual animals. They also help to educate people on how to look after both wildlife and pets. Lydia and Holly also chat about some memorable animal rescues, the need for a boat team in Birmingham, and the 200-year history of the RSPCA, and watch a film on how to make gardens inviting to wildlife.

Host: Holly Cushen

Writers: Holly Cushen and Morwenna Kearns

Producer: Morwenna Kearns

Audio producer: Chris Attaway

Wildlife advisor: Rebecca Machin

Executive producer: Sarah Millerick

Recorded on location at and around RSPCA Newbrook Farm in Birmingham

Wildlife advice: rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/wildlife [http://www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/wildlife]

Wildlife in your garden video: youtube.com/watch?v=FiIJ3e52csA [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiIJ3e52csA]

Work for the RSPCA: jobs.rspca.org.uk/jobs/home [http://jobs.rspca.org.uk/jobs/home]

More information on how to get involved: rspca.org.uk/getinvolved/donate/audio [https://www.rspca.org.uk/getinvolved/donate/audio]

Episode 2 - Working as an Animal Rescue Officer with Lydia Andrews

Welcome to Walk on the Wild Side, an RSPCA podcast. We’ll meet people from this 200-year-old animal welfare charity, and learn about what they do. We’ll discover more about the amazing wildlife all around us, and how we can help it thrive, and be inspired to get outdoors and into nature.

In this episode, Holly Cushen goes for a walk in the fields around RSPCA Newbrook Farm with Lead Wildlife Officer Geoff Edmond. Wildlife is all around us – we don’t own it but we have to look after it, and we can help by creating wildlife corridors, putting out food, being careful with our litter and volunteering as an RSPCA Wildlife Friend. In return, walking in nature can make us happy – and children especially love minibeasts! Holly and Geoff also talk about the RSPCA’s long history of collaboration: with governments to change and create laws; other organisations to improve animal welfare day to day; and the public – for instance after the Torrey Canyon oil spill in 1967 when the RSPCA and local communities came together to help birds.

Host: Holly Cushen

Writers: Holly Cushen and Morwenna Kearns

Producer: Morwenna Kearns

Audio producer: Chris Attaway

Wildlife advisor: Rebecca Machin

Executive producer: Sarah Millerick

Recorded on location at RSPCA Newbrook Farm in Birmingham

Wildlife advice: rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/wildlife [http://www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/wildlife]

Work for the RSPCA: jobs.rspca.org.uk/jobs/home [http://jobs.rspca.org.uk/jobs/home]

Volunteer for animals: rspca.org.uk/getinvolved/volunteer [http://www.rspca.org.uk/getinvolved/volunteer]

More information on how to get involved: rspca.org.uk/getinvolved/donate/audio [https://www.rspca.org.uk/getinvolved/donate/audio]

Episode 1 - Volunteering, changing laws and wildlife walks with Geoff Edmond

Welcome to Walk on the Wild Side, an RSPCA podcast. We’ll meet people from this 200-year-old animal welfare charity, and learn about what they do. We’ll discover more about the amazing wildlife all around us, and how we can help it thrive, and be inspired to get outdoors and into nature.

RSPCA Walk on the Wild Side