GROUNDED Live
GROUNDED Festival is a cross between a farming conference and a food festival, held in a different farm location every year, so each festival is a unique, unmissable event celebrating local expertise and culture with an inspiring line up of speakers.
With multiple stages running concurrently, it combines science and technology with ancient wisdom, provides a respectful place for lively discussion, an audience as interesting as the speakers and an excellent menu of local food, drinks and music, all on a beautiful, regeneratively-managed farm.
Each year we record presentations and make them available, free for all, as a podcast called GROUNDED Live. We hope you enjoy the conversations.
GROUNDED Live
GROUNDED Live - 2025: David Watson - Mistletoe Magic - Are We Getting Mistletoe All Wrong?
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In this episode of GROUNDED Live, we share another unedited presentation recorded at GROUNDED Festival 2025, on farm in Bridgetown, Western Australia.
One of the great joys of GROUNDED is discovering speakers who make you fall in love with subjects you never expected to find interesting — or even knew existed. Professor David Watson is one of those people.
David is an ecologist, biodiversity champion and long-time ornithologist based at Charles Sturt University, where he leads the environmental program at the Global Institute. His research spans landscape ecology, wildlife monitoring and the critical role of ecological keystone species — including, famously, mistletoe. He is also a founder of the Australian Acoustic Observatory and works closely with landholders, Indigenous communities and conservation partners through initiatives such as Great Eastern Ranges and Slopes to Summit, helping reconnect ecosystems — and people — across Australia.
In this session, David brings science, storytelling and humour together to reveal how overlooked species and working landscapes play an essential role in biodiversity and ecological resilience. It’s eye-opening, surprisingly funny, and deeply affirming for anyone who manages land or cares about the living systems that support us all.
Unsurprisingly, David was the best-selling author on site at GROUNDED 2025 — and once you listen, you’ll understand why.
Settle in and enjoy Professor David Watson on GROUNDED Live.
GROUNDED Festival is a cross between a farming conference and a food festival, held on a different farm each year. Every festival is unique, celebrating the people, landscapes and food of its host region through an inspiring line-up of speakers, local producers and hands-on learning.
With multiple stages running concurrently, GROUNDED brings together science and technology, ancient wisdom and fresh thinking. It provides a respectful place for lively discussion, an audience as interesting as the speakers, and an excellent menu of local food, drinks and music, all on a beautiful, regeneratively managed farm.
Each year, we record many of the presentations and make them freely available as the GROUNDED Live podcast. We hope you enjoy the conversations.
Thanks for listening, and if you enjoy this episode, we'd love to welcome you to a future GROUNDED Festival.