We may use different mediums, but when it comes down to it Penarth Sounds and Nub News are about the same thing: bringing the community closer together and producing content YOU care about.

It is therefore only natural that we've joined forces to bring you a new feature: WITH PENARTH SOUNDS. Every week, we join a Penarth Sounds presenter while they produce their show to give you some behind-the-scenes insights.

This week, Tom Quinn of Wild Penarth helps us to discover the nature on our doorsteps.

"Join me as I set out with my microphone on a mission to discover the nature that's all around us in Penarth," says Tom Quinn in his introduction to Wild Penarth.

Perhaps taking this request too literally, I arrange to meet Tom at St Augustine's Church, one of his favourite places to record. I find him pointing his microphone to the skies, catching the sounds of starlings as they circle the spire.

While he does so, Tom roams the graveyard with a pensive but carefree air, like some Victorian flaneur brought to the 21st Century and handed high-tech audio recording equipment.

But as we begin talking, it becomes clear that Tom is just a regular guy who has found a new hobby.

"I moved to Penarth from London in March and was really just looking for a way to meet interesting people.

"I've always been interested in nature. I'm not an expert or anything, just someone who really likes it."

Wild Penarth does not lend itself to categorisation. Tom muses on nature and philosophy against a backdrop of ambient music and the wild sounds he captures. The result is a truly original, calming, and even meditative 30 minutes of radio.

"Autumn's my favourite time of year," says Tom in the episode I joined him to record.

"One of the big changes we see during Autumn, is that the birds start to migrate. So lots of well-known species like swallows and house martins will start their journey south to somewhere where it's warmer in the winter.

"And if you look outside right now, you can see literally hundreds of house martins in the sky stocking up before they go on their journey."

And then the narration gives way to the sound of birdsong and a soothing score played on sitar.

It's hard to convey the effect this has on the listener - everyone will respond differently - but I defy anyone to not get caught up in Tom's love of nature.

"The show is really about spotting the nature on our doorsteps around Penarth," he tells me. "People always think that nature is something you have to go and visit, but it's everywhere. There's so much cool stuff to see around town, in our gardens and on our streets.

"You don't want to be a snob about it. It's not like 'look at all these people just looking at their phones and not noticing nature'. I just think that once you start noticing it it just builds and builds and you start noticing more, which is what I'm doing while I make them. So it's just inviting listeners along on that personal journey."

Tom's dulcet tones can be traced to Stockton-on-Tees in the northeast where he grew up. From there he moved to London to take a PhD in Philosophy. After completing the PhD, Tom decided academia wasn't for him and now he works in communication for environmental charities from his new base in Penarth.

"Through my work I saw this really cool talk that inspired the show. It was by Professor Miles Richardson, who is a researcher at the University of Derby," Tom explains.

"He was talking about the mental health benefits of nature, but his main point was that you don't need to know about nature really - what that precise bird or tree is - you just need to notice it."

Wild Penarth has been my favourite lockdown discovery - an antidote to the introspection and angst of isolation. I ask Tom if producing it has kindled in him any lofty broadcasting ambitions.

"No, no, nothing like that. For me, the show is just a nice thing to do. It's a soothing thing to produce which should make it a relaxing thing to listen to."

I leave Tom in the graveyard so he can record the episode's narration in peace. During my walk home, the birds seemed louder and Penarth's nature more obvious than ever before.

Listen to Wild Penarth on Penarth Sounds at 17:30 on Sunday evenings.