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On a breezy mid-June morning at High Ash Farm, Chris Skinner and Matthew Gudgin stand among towering foxgloves in dappled woodland — spectacular spikes of purple, pink and white, buzzing with bumblebees. Chris explains their biennial life cycle, vast seed production, and the important heart medicine (digitalis) derived from them.

Nearby, a sobering discovery: the fresh remains of a little owl, plucked by a peregrine falcon near a busy road — a stark reminder of the raw predator-prey balance on the farm. They then admire a vibrant stand of sainfoin (wholesome hay) in the wildflower field, its pink blooms alive with bees and its deep roots fixing nitrogen in the light soil.

Listener letters add warmth: a rescued spotted turtle dove in Tasmania, sweet cicely’s aniseed burst, and more.

This episode captures high summer’s beauty and its sometimes brutal realities — ideal for savouring the tall foxglove spires, nitrogen-rich meadows, and the unfiltered dramas of life at High Ash Farm.

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2432378/episodes/19360959-episode-2-78-foxglove-spires-and-peregrine-kills.mp3?download=true

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Please email any questions for Chris to answer on the podcast to
Chris@highashfarm.com

This podcast is brought to you by High Ash Farm. To support our efforts in creating this content, please consider making a small monthly or one-off donation. Your contributions help us with production costs, and after expenses, every penny goes towards conservation and maintaining free public access at High Ash Farm.
Support us here:
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or from the Podcast page here:
Podcast | High Ash Farm

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On a glorious hot mid-June morning at High Ash Farm, Chris Skinner and Matthew Gudgin begin at the maturing lake, alive with emperor dragonflies laying eggs, banded damselflies, and thousands of tiny fish fry (young roach and rudd) shimmering just beneath the surface. Swallows and house martins swoop low for drinks while a little grebe dives nearby.

The pair then witness one of nature’s greatest spectacles — a huge honeybee swarm forming a football-sized ball on a pine branch, the old queen and thousands of workers in holiday mood seeking a new home.

They walk through vibrant wildflower areas filled with sainfoin, field mint, woundwort and the beautiful pink-and-white trumpets of field bindweed — a plant farmers dread but which dazzles in the sunshine. Chris reflects on the start of hay cutting and the changing rhythms of high summer.

Listener letters add delight: cockchafer beetles (“blind bees”), Scottish hedgerows, feeding birds in summer, and more.

This episode is a sun-drenched celebration of high summer’s bounty — from dragonfly-studded waters and bee swarms to colourful meadows — ideal for savouring the warmth, wonder and busy life of the countryside in full swing.

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2432378/episodes/19376539-episode-2-77-dragonfly-dances-and-bee-swarm-ball.mp3?download=true

Support the show

Please email any questions for Chris to answer on the podcast to
Chris@highashfarm.com

This podcast is brought to you by High Ash Farm. To support our efforts in creating this content, please consider making a small monthly or one-off donation. Your contributions help us with production costs, and after expenses, every penny goes towards conservation and maintaining free public access at High Ash Farm.
Support us here:
https://donorbox.org/podcast-12
or from the Podcast page here:
Podcast | High Ash Farm

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On a breezy, showery mid-June morning at High Ash Farm, Chris Skinner and Matthew Gudgin walk through the magnificent wildflower meadows, now refreshed by welcome rain after weeks of drought. The pyramidal orchids are at their spectacular best — tall, vivid pink-purple spikes rising through oxeye daisies and yellow rattle — while Chris reflects on their long life cycles, chalk-loving habitat, and the extraordinary numbers appearing this year.

They also admire viper’s bugloss with its striking blue flowers and snake-like features, and discover dyer’s weld, an ancient dye plant linked to Neolithic cloth-making. A dramatic close-up encounter with a young hornet feeding on sugary extrusion from an oak tree (possibly honey fungus) adds fascination, alongside swallows skimming low, skylarks rising, and a marsh harrier quartering the fields.

Listener letters bring extra warmth: advice on managing new wildflower fields, redstarts and sand martins on Dartmoor, swift callers succeeding, RSPB summer feeding guidance, and more.

This episode celebrates the colourful revival of high summer — ideal for savouring the orchid-rich meadows, ancient dye plants, and the busy dramas of insects and birds at High Ash Farm.

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2432378/episodes/19341757-episode-2-76-pyramidal-splendour-and-honey-fungus-worries.mp3?download=true

Learn about chalk stream ecology

Explore hornet nest biology

Include listener Q&A topics

Think Harder

Support the show

Please email any questions for Chris to answer on the podcast to
Chris@highashfarm.com

This podcast is brought to you by High Ash Farm. To support our efforts in creating this content, please consider making a small monthly or one-off donation. Your contributions help us with production costs, and after expenses, every penny goes towards conservation and maintaining free public access at High Ash Farm.
Support us here:
https://donorbox.org/podcast-12
or from the Podcast page here:
Podcast | High Ash Farm