Chris Skinner (00:24):
Morning everybody. It's five o'clock in the morning. It's a bit of an overcast morning. It's a slight wind blowing, been more rain overnight and just starting the day off on the farm. Rats in front of me and we're just walking down to the farm duck pond because last night there was some new arrivals. Oh, one of the liveries has just arrived to look after their horse, possibly one of the nurses. They start really early in the morning and I'm just going down the Farm yard and just see if we can see who arrived last night. No sign of them. Rats with me. My demented terrier. He's wanting to go back and have join me for a cup of tea in a few minutes, but he's heading the wrong way. Come on, you terrier. Oh, some grey like geese have flown in overnight. They're feeding on the grass. Four of them all adults, pigeons doing their dawn chorus behind me and just looking around under the trees that surround the duck pond. Can't see them because last night, there go the grey lags.

(02:18):
And they're taking off and I can't see the new arrivals. They were Egyptian geese and they'd been nesting in a tree on the far side of high ash farm and they've brought their offspring, which is rather late, sort of past the middle of June. And I can't actually see where they've secreted themselves, but they are quite aggressive. So a bit concerned for the goslings that I have. There could be a bit of shenanigans later on and they're quite noisy, the parents are, but I can't actually see. It's funny how you lose things in your own farmyard. I can't actually see where they are. I thought they'd entertain us a little bit. A song thrush, singing way in the background, repeating its song two or three times over. There's one tree left with branches coming quite close to the ground, but nothing underneath there. And I'm right up to the edge of the duck pond now unless they've secreted themselves in the reeds here. Note, can't see them. The mysteries of high ash farm and some of those will be revealed later this morning. Matthew Gudgin will be joining me and will be looking at more of the wild flowers, especially the ones that enjoy this wet weather. So join us later on this morning for the latest edition of the Countryside Podcast with me, Chris Skinner and Rat. Oh, oh, I dunno what that was. I heard a noise back, further up the farm yard. Oh, that's those grey lag, they've landed on a meadow. They didn't go very far. They took off and they're making a nice dawn chorus, so for us, I thought we'd have Egyptian geese. It's the Norfolk motto. Do different. We've got grey lags, just found the Egyptian geese, grey lags, one side of me and it's just a good old Norfolk farm yard duck pond. And these parents very proud with three young Egyptian geese trailing on behind them just out of the nest. And that's the noise mom and dad make all day.

Matthew Gudgin (06:04):
Always great to be back on High Ash Farm near Norwich in the company of farmer Chris Skinner on an overcast lunchtime. Cool again for June. And we're looking around for Rat the terrier. Chris, what's happened to him? Where's he gone?

Chris Skinner (06:20):
I think he's on the scent trail of - oh, he's coming, running straight towards This is master scent trail. He's tearing across the field.

Matthew Gudgin (06:30):
He thought he'd lost you.

Chris Skinner (06:31):
Yes.

Matthew Gudgin (06:31):
Here he comes, hes back

Chris Skinner (06:33):
He's back.

Matthew Gudgin (06:34):
Hello.

Chris Skinner (06:35):
Good boy. Yes. He has to be part of the countryside podcast team. Of course. And he's disappeared into the stinging nettles

Matthew Gudgin (06:46):
That's what Terriers do, isn't it

Chris Skinner (06:47):
That's what they do. Yes. Apart from rolling in fox poo. So he thinks it's his favourite perfume of all and he thinks I love it. And then he has to have a bath afterwards.

Matthew Gudgin (07:00):
So we're here under some very mature woodland here in the stinging nettles as well and the horse pasture. So what have we come to see,

Chris Skinner (07:08):
Right? It's a special time of years. It always is. Every week's a special time of year at High ash farm and we've come to one of the lower spots of high ash. It's an old meadow. It was reclaimed in back the 1960s by me. It was quite overgrown and have left all the trees on it and also some pasture oaks as well. And these were just sticks when I left them. The one beside us here is a glorious English oak. It's up 60 odd feet now and I don't think I can get my arms quite around the trunk. And another one over there, two beauties. And they're scattered all over the field and it gives a kind of beautiful feel to the pasture.

Matthew Gudgin (07:54):
Its like Parkland, isn't it, with these trees? Just teenagers really, aren't they?

Chris Skinner (07:57):
Yes, they certainly are. They'll probably make three or 400 years in the right spot. And because we're low down on the farm, it is very wet here. And this is what they look like Matthew, once they're some mature old and gnarled and up 70 or 80 feet and full of holes and broken off branches. Branches that hang out low. And look at that one over there, the huge branches, the size of a tree going almost down to the ground over there. And that's where we're going to walk. We've got a little bit of walking to go to the spot. Well, it's called trudging with gudge I think because it's a bit of a trudge. Okay,

Matthew Gudgin (08:37):
Well I'm up for a trudge or what did they call that in the falklands? A yomp.

Chris Skinner (08:42):
A yomp. Anyway, so down the hill, they're the oaks right beside us and much further. And those trees wouldn't be here. Can you feel the ground beginning to soften under your feet?

Matthew Gudgin (08:56):
It's very Soft.

Chris Skinner (08:57):
Yes. There we go.

Matthew Gudgin (09:00):
And on we go. Yes, the tree line finishes just about here, doesn't it? You can probably hear the squelching. I guess there's water appearing. Yes, we are wearing our Wellingtons.

Chris Skinner (09:17):
Yes. So this is a very low flat area. It's really prone to water logging. And we are now on high ashe's official bog. We are standing on water, but there's a layer of PT soil over the top of it and underneath us, this is floating. And if you don't believe me, just stand there and I'll walk away from you. Just tell me,

Matthew Gudgin (09:48):
Oh yes,

Chris Skinner (09:49):
Did the earth move for you?

Matthew Gudgin (09:52):
Yes, Chris was bouncing up and down a few yards away and I could feel the earth moving up and down here as well. So we're floating on, on just water,

Chris Skinner (10:01):
On water and I've just seen something very special. Just look in there,

(10:09):
Beautiful male damsel fly on some meadow suite iridescent blue wings folded up over the top of its back, right next to a plant, which gives the game away as to where we are. You won't find this growing many places called marsh thistle. It's a specialist of wet ground and it grows up to a couple of metres tall and it's on the way. Small little bright purple buds at the top of it. Just behind us is a fence, a small area of woodland fenced off to stop any cattle which aren't here anymore or the horses going through there because it's too dangerous for them. And in the spring of 1948, the year before I was born, there was a big, really long cold winter of 1947 and this froze and the farm workers together, my farmer wants some extra firewood. So they brought my father's E 27 N tractor down here, which was petrol paraffin, and they were pulling a tree out from the other side there. And the tractor didn't have tyres on it. It had what are called spud wheels. They were metal bands to replace the rubber tyres and on them were metal spokes if you like. And they were called spud wheels because when the wheels went over the ground, it left little holes every foot or so about the size of your fist and it gave the tractor extra grip. Anyway, the back end of the tractor went in and it kind of bottom out. It sumped out on the back of the tractor and it was facing sort of the backend sunk in a bit. So the only thing to do was to ring the neighbour who lived in Queen Anne cottage on the other side. His name was Claude Cogman. And he came chugging down the next morning and the farm workers, there was lots of them working here at the farm when I was born.

(12:17):
And they all told me the same story that Claude Cogman, that was his name, brought the field Marshall tractor down with a winch on the back. And when they arrived the next morning, the tractor had sunk halfway in. So he attached the cable to the front axle and started the Phil Marshall up with the winch on the back. And he was parked right down the field there, close to where the old village cricket pitch was over a hundred metres away. And he started it up and started to pull the tractor out, but the tractor refused to move. The only thing that came was the front axle with the wheels on and over the next two to three weeks, the tractor disappeared completely.

Matthew Gudgin (13:02):
Oh, it's down

Chris Skinner (13:02):
 and it's still there. I still have kept the insurance claim. My father got 117 pounds, six shillings for it, minus 11 pounds for secondhand front axle. And that was from commercial union, the local insurance company.

Matthew Gudgin (13:21):
I should think they hated paying out as insurance companies always do. So it's still there.

Chris Skinner (13:25):
It's still there to this day. A complete tractor minus the front axle.

Matthew Gudgin (13:32):
And the story really is to demonstrate just how bottomless this pit is.

Chris Skinner (13:35):
It absolutely is. It's completely water logged. And of course it's been a wet spring, a very wet last winter and it continues to be very unsettled at the moment here in Norfolk. But I say every cloud has a silver lining. We're just going to walk a little bit more through this squelch, this kind of black thing. And if I hear a little scream, I know you've gone through into the water layer,

Matthew Gudgin (14:02):
you'll have to launch an insurance claim for me then.

Chris Skinner (14:04):
Yes.

Matthew Gudgin (14:04):
Am I covered by your dad's insurance policy?

Chris Skinner (14:09):
I don't think so. I'm not sure the company's still there, but anyway, this is what you call delightful now. There's a smattering of suppose they're pink flowers is the best way to describe them and they look rather untidy. But one of my favourite flowers and it's called Red Ragged Robin. What lovely name. And obviously ragged because of the shape of the flower head. If we walk on a little bit more, I hardly dare go down my hands and knees because virtually in water here. Another little shake up and down.

(14:50):
You can feel the tremors or I can

Matthew Gudgin (14:53):
shaken all over.

Chris Skinner (14:55):
 Here we are.

Matthew Gudgin (14:56):
He's going down on his knees nonetheless.

Chris Skinner (14:58):
Look at this. Oh lovely. Hugely, finely, divided petals. The whole flower head straggly looking. Yes it does, but it's got a kind of magical beauty to it and it really only grows on the edges of rivers, reservoirs, really damp, soaked areas like this. Very low fertility. It's quite tolerant of acid conditions which we have here. And the soil is anaerobic because it's continually waterlogged. Beautiful plant. I first came across it at college at Eastern Norfolk Agricultural College. And there's a field there sloping really quite violently down to the river yare, which flows through that part of Norwich. And at the bottom of this hill, it's called the hangings. Dont know how that field or area got its name. This plant was growing there. And that's the first time I came across it.

(15:58):
I was about 17, 18 years old and there was some white ones there. And much later on I started doing research just to learn more about wildflowers at the local library that was in Norwich. And I'd been given special permission by the librarian to visit special parts of the library where old Wildflower books were. And I still smile to this day. I think Rat has found something in the brambles behind us right where that bog is. So he'd either got himself stuck or he's found something nice to smell. And I keep hearing odd barks in the background. Anyway, in Norwich City library, before it got burnt down completely, these very old books, there was one called Gladstones Britannica and I was given permission to look at it. I had to wear little cotton gloves to turn the pages. It was such a precious item. And there I found Red Ragged Robin and next to it, sort of almost an addition to the description of where the plant grew, what it looked like.

(17:14):
And a beautiful hand drawing was an addition. White, red, ragged robin and I still remember it to this day. And I've taken photocopies of the page or rather librarian did. So I've got a copy of that book that sadly got destroyed. It got burned down. And there are white ragged robins as well, but they're quite scarce, just like many plants and flowers. Occasionally we get white poppies on the farm and they're really scarce. But nevertheless, whether it's a white red ragged robin or this beautiful pink colour, just I love them to bits. And I think you can see there's a certain majesty in them because nothing else can grow here really. There's a few species of mint. There's meadow sweet that coming up over there, which also likes its feet in water, really rich menthol scent to the leaves. If I pick this one up, it's going to be a tall plant. It will grow up in about three weeks time. Just pick the top of one of the leaves off and give it a good rub in the hand like this. And then you can smell a kind of menthol smell. I can see another one which will come into flower again in about a fortnight's time. Just tarring up through the rushes and sedges here, just take one of the leaves off. Give that one a vigorous rub.

Matthew Gudgin (18:42):
Or I can smell it from here.

Chris Skinner (18:44):
Can you?

Matthew Gudgin (18:45):
Oooo yeh

Chris Skinner (18:47):
Watermint, mentha aquatica. So all around us are sedges and rushes and they'll all be up two metres high perhaps. And so it's a delightful area. It's an area that can't be farmed. You could drain it, but it would wreck the sort of habitat that's here. It would run land drains across. And of course that's happened to many marshy areas right across East Anglia, particularly close to where we are in the Yare valley.

Matthew Gudgin (19:18):
So this is really precious here, isn't it?

Chris Skinner (19:20):
Absolutely.

Matthew Gudgin (19:20):
And actually all too precious now.

Chris Skinner (19:22):
Yes. And becoming increasingly scarce with pollution and the pressure on the land all over the UK really is growing and growing and growing. So as long as I'm here, this will stay here like this with these glorious, quite scarce wild flowers now. So there we are. A proper introduction to red ragged robin. I love it.

Matthew Gudgin (19:48):
See, he's not going to drain this even though he's got an antique tractor

Chris Skinner (19:52):
Yes

Matthew Gudgin (19:52):
waiting for restoration.

Chris Skinner (19:53):
It's exactly that, goodness know's what it's like. It could actually be quite in good condition, but it's how you get it out. I do know exactly where it is and it's very close t o where that miscreant terrier's barking. Where is he? I don't know where he is.

Matthew Gudgin (20:09):
Anyway,

(20:09):
The red ragged

Chris Skinner (20:11):
Robin red ragged robin. Yes,

Matthew Gudgin (20:12):
Around the rocks the ragged rascal ran.

Chris Skinner (20:16):
Oh, very good. Very droll. Yes. And all the thistles of course got static bumblebees on the top. That's a whitetail bumblebee. It's so cold despite that. This queen. No, it's not a queen, it's pretty large. It's getting up towards the end of their season. It's feeding very slowly on the thistle head. You notice if you look closely, it's covered in fur and that means it can work at a temperature where honeybees can't. Honeybees get going at about 12 degrees C onwards. And it's probably about eight, nine here at the minute. Pretty chilly, pretty overcast, very wet. But nevertheless, look at that working away like a Trojan.

Matthew Gudgin (21:11):
I think rat's enjoying himself. Chris, we can just see where he is but we can't see him. You better explain

Chris Skinner (21:18):
Matthew. This is an area I brought you to just a few years ago and it was a plain arable field. In fact, it was a field of stubble and I had given up, we'd had a few really hot summers. It's south facing, it's sharp gravelly sand. And I know you would like to plant a vineyard on it, but skinner here loves wild flowers. Oh, rats appeared. I'll explain that. We are looking at 10 acres of wild flowers in full flower and it's almost blinding. The oxide daisies are out, vipers bugloss just peering out to the top, like tall, blue loopings, little patches of them from last year where each plant grew and obviously they like it here. So instead of one, there's 20 there, there's a dozen in front of us. Beautiful plants.

Matthew Gudgin (22:18):
It's just an acre upon acre of white. It's like you've had a frost.

Chris Skinner (22:22):
It does, yes. And as you go down in the hill further towards the bottom of the valley, that's way in front of us there. It changes from the white to pink because there's sainfoin down there. The pH is high down, lower down the slope and quite low at the top here. So we've got two distinct soil types and just amuses me, I used to have to farm this and scratch my head because you'd have shiny clay soil down halfway down the hill and then gravel sand just where we are. So amazing. And drought stricken beyond belief. The soil. And here's a droughts tolerant plant. This is called alfalfa or lucerne and it's just coming into flower. So we can, we've got a little path in front of us, we can just walk in a little bit and I'll see if I can pick some of the different species out as we walk through. So a whole variety. There's, rats turned around and folded a bit over perfectly for us,This is yellow rattle and that's the parasite plant. Now if you look in the bottom, we look down to the ground, past this unbelievable display of oxide daisy

Matthew Gudgin (23:41):
The daisies are all up above knee high, up to waist high.

Chris Skinner (23:43):
They are. And can you see virtually no grass, little bit of clover there. And the reason is the yellow rattle, it's parasitized and there's a lot of it. Once you can look through the side of the oxide daisy display and daisy, it's lovely because you ask a child to draw a picture of the sun. This is what they draw the yellow centre with all the little rays coming off. And of course day's eye when you think about the word day's eye is the sun, the day's eye. So there we are.

Matthew Gudgin (24:15):
You've just got the odd million here, havent you?

Chris Skinner (24:17):
The odd million. Yes. If I had a penny for each one, I'd be quite a wealthy man. I think. So let's just walk on a little bit further and as we start to descend the slope, we should come across some different species here. More yellow rattle. Rats. You'll have to get out the way. It's so dense. He's having a job actually scrolling through more alfalfa. This is grown quite widely as a fodder crop for livestock. It's really high protein and suits a lot of bovine species as well as horses as well. It can be cut and dried or baled as haylage. And it is a really very, very valuable fodder plant. As is the sainfoin, which we'll come to as we go over the crest of this hill now down towards the valley.

Matthew Gudgin (25:12):
Once again, rat is just about visible by his tail and the movement of these oxide daisies. There's not much wind today I would imagine It's quite a sight when this is all just whipping around in the wind.

Chris Skinner (25:23):
Yes. Yep. And I can see as we're walking through, this is interesting. Here's a bee here. I should have bought one of our questions. That's a honeybee and it's actually working. And the interesting thing is the pollen, rats decided to walk right past the daisy we were looking at, it's flown off that bee, but the pollen, although the centre of the daisy is bright yellow, the pollen bearing plant, part of the plant, the pollen is blood red. And that Bee looked as though it had some terrible accident on its pollen baskets each side because it collects the pollen with its mouth and transfers it to the hind legs and then carries this load of pollen because there's not much nectar from here today. It's so cool. Takes that back to the hive. That's a lovely side. Beautiful

Matthew Gudgin (26:23):
Is that the vipers

Chris Skinner (26:24):
bugloss and sainfoin grown together there.

Matthew Gudgin (26:28):
The blue and the pinky red.

Chris Skinner (26:30):
Yes. And the sainfoin is now going to take over. So if I brought you back here in two weeks time, the white will pretty much be gone and it'll be transferred to pink. And there's a huge volume of sainfoin in it. And that's another one of those deep-rooted leguminous plants which can stand dry weather sort of week after week because it goes down so deep. And again, it's a useful fodder plant.

Matthew Gudgin (26:59):
Walk on a little bit more

(27:07):
Rats keeping pace with us.

Chris Skinner (27:11):
Start to see some different ones coming here.

Matthew Gudgin (27:14):
It's this very fine filaments of leaves.

Chris Skinner (27:17):
Yes. Oh, this one is not quite in flower yet. It's a flat topped flower. It's called yarrow and it's got a really interesting scientific name, Achillea millefolium. And I won't take a leaf off, but if I go low down in the crop you can see one of the leaves and it's hugely divided. It looks almost like a fern leaf and there's lots of leaves. And then it throws up these stalks with a flat white flower head on the top. Absolutely loved by moths and hover flies as well. And there's that one of these honeybees. Oh, it's just flitted past and disappeared. I was going to show you the bright red pollen baskets.

Matthew Gudgin (28:03):
Ladybird on the yarrow.

Chris Skinner (28:04):
On the top of the yarrow. So there it is, Yarrow, Achillea Millefolium. Really another one drought tolerant soil. Very, very deep rooted. And Achilles, the Greek warrior hero, discovered it contained a lot of iron and he used it to heal wounds on his soldiers. Iron made with swords and it was reputed to have very good healing properties. So yes, quite a bit of history. And the plant I was going to show you is this, which is bright yellow in the understory and that's bird's foot trefoil. And once it's finished flowering, the little seed heads look exactly like a bird's foot complete with the little claws on them. And really lovely to see. I've just spotted another honeybee, over here.

(28:54):
Oh, that was rat. He got under my feet. I couldn't actually see him but trod on my own dog and he scared that one off.

(29:01):
You wait til i catch him. Except I can't see him now.

Matthew Gudgin (29:06):
He says that's revenge for not looking where you're going. He's all right. He's scampering about.

Chris Skinner (29:12):
Tell you what, that will stop him being any trouble. I picked him up.

Matthew Gudgin (29:21):
On. We go. There's a definite change in colour on this field as the soil type changes.

Chris Skinner (29:29):
Exactly so. Lots of people walking on one of the permissive paths at the bottom of this field. There's a good seven or eight, nine people there. And the car park where you can park for free at the top of the hill. Lots of cars up there at the moment.

Matthew Gudgin (29:46):
Are you going to cut a walkway through here at any stage?

Chris Skinner (29:49):
Yeah. Just walk on a little bit more Matthew. The answer is yes, according to rat,

Matthew Gudgin (29:57):
We've seen those people. Rat doesn't like to share it with anyone

Chris Skinner (30:05):
As if by magic Matthew. This is a line that divides the sandy gravel soil from. I think it's a good idea for I pick this miscreant terrier up.

Matthew Gudgin (30:21):
Come on, Rat.

Chris Skinner (30:22):
Rat behave. He senses he can't see them, but he can sense the people walking around the bottom moving

Matthew Gudgin (30:27):
Eight or nine walkers in there, colourful cagoules just in case it rains.

Chris Skinner (30:32):
Yeah, quite wise as well. That's enough.

(30:35):
Quiet. So sainfoin on our right and oxide daisy on our left. And that's the demarcation of the soil type. It's nothing I've done any differently. The walkers who walk through the farm all contributed to supplying the wild flower seed that I put on here about five years ago now, just let me pick him up. Can I pick you up? Right. And now my hand on his muzzle very gently. You understand? And if you're any trouble gudgeon, you'll get the same treatment. You talk too much. So you can see how just the soil influences everything that's growing above it, whether it's acid or alkaline, and then the alfalfa or the lucerne is just coming into flower. Now I'm sure that you don't and neither do I, but if you go to very expensive restaurants, this gets served on your plate, which is the flower of the alfalfa. It's a beautiful deep purple

Matthew Gudgin (31:43):
And entirely edible

Chris Skinner (31:44):
And very edible and quite tasty. It's got a kind of nut taste to it and it adds a lot of cost to the meal. Probably not much nutrition, but if you're in expensive restaurants, this is now a great favourite. So there we are.

Matthew Gudgin (32:01):
It's egg and chips for us most days, isn't it?

Chris Skinner (32:03):
Probably. Well that's if you're lucky, I do bread and cheese. Look at this as well. A different species going to be quite tall. It's a white version of a flower that's normally pink. In fact, it has two distinct colour modes. It's called Campion. This is white Campion. Again, we looked at that oxide daisy that also has very deeply clefted flowers called Campion because in village games years and years ago, the winners of the games had a garland put around their neck, made of this tall flower. So they were the champions. That's where the word has come from. So just love a little bit of history.

Matthew Gudgin (32:45):
I think these derivations are fantastic, aren't they? And it shows how in touch people were many years ago in the countryside with their surroundings and the nature.

Chris Skinner (32:55):
 Nature and the plants that they could use for healing as well. Like we looked at Yarrow just now, Achillea Millefolium used as a medicinal plant and they're still used today. Lots of people walking past just enjoying. And if we walk down just a fraction more, we'll be able to get to the spot where anybody listening could walk on. And I heard we got sworn at just now, I dunno if you were aware, not by rat,

Matthew Gudgin (33:24):
But

Chris Skinner (33:26):
By a road deer that's just scarped off through the other side of the field. Oh,

Matthew Gudgin (33:32):
This is great cover in here for them, isn't it?

Chris Skinner (33:34):
Yes. Perfect. And you can see different set of flowers now, the oxide daisies are fading away and it's more predominance of yellow rattle in the underscore and all rats barking at, here we come to the path through the wild flowers. All hes barking at is a sign telling us all about yellow rattle. There we are, a perfect little footpath cut through and lovely selection of the flowers. And look there. Should we gather some of that alfalfa and see if we can sell it at the local restaurant so we can double the prices?

Matthew Gudgin (34:12):
Do you think they want it at Kentucky Fried Chicken?

Chris Skinner (34:15):
I'm not sure about that. Other chicken places are available, but that's one that springs to mind. And you can see there's a purple hue as well here, which is these tall grasses now coming into flower. And there's a whole succession of those Matthew over the coming weeks. And when you see just a field of that, it looks as though it is covered in fog or mist. It's got a lovely name, tall species of grass, Yorkshire fog. Love it.

Matthew Gudgin (34:45):
Wonderful to look at this, your newest wild flower meadow, which is only a few years in the making and it seems like it's never been away.

Chris Skinner (34:52):
I know. Yes, it probably was here centuries ago just like this. And because there's more and more people, we've reclaimed much of the woodland, which covered the British Isles and then the Industrial Revolution and the whole succession of kind of war on the natural environment and the Norfolk Mottos to do different. And that's why this farm celebrates the predators and the prey and all the different plants that like to call this their home.

Speaker 4 (35:32):
On my lap. Here. Here, come here on my lap here.

Chris Skinner (35:37):
I know what your like.

Matthew Gudgin (35:38):
It's raining. So we've nipped into the farm van to have a look at some of your emails for this week and Julie, Julie Wilkins has sent a message. Hi everyone. Just wanted to say thank you for the quick delivery of my tote bag, which I received this morning. Yes, you've got special tote bags, haven't you, Chris?

Chris Skinner (35:58):
 Yes. On offer that kind of advertised the podcast and raise a few funds for the production team. Brilliant. I've used mine already in the local supermarket and got lots of comments.

Matthew Gudgin (36:12):
Julie is a fan of Rat the Terrible Terrier.

Chris Skinner (36:14):
Well, she'll be spoiled this week. He's all yours and he'll come with five pounds tucked in his collar.

Matthew Gudgin (36:22):
William Osborne says, we did a night hike around high ash last night, enjoyed all of the lovely fox gloves. We did wonder with some of those six to eight foot tall plants, just how old they are. Our little hiking group can't get enough of the farm. We regularly say cheers to you at the end of a hike and the wilding work and conservation efforts and we really appreciate the well kept walking path, says William.

Chris Skinner (36:46):
Yes, they're all beautifully mown so you can't go wrong. And a question about the foxgloves, their biennials and the ones that are in flower this year are all exactly the same age. And it just goes to show you like if you plant an area of woodland, there'll be one or two of the trees in the woodland that go right out over the top of the others, just because they found something in the soil that they like. Foxgloves are exactly the same. Look, you've got a roe deer running, right past the truck showing its white bottom and it's a, oh, it's a doe. So something scared it out. Big ears. And it stopped about 50 yards ahead and it's showing its pure white bottom so that if other deer are frightened as well, they've got that to follow. Oh wow, you couldn't make it up. What about that?

Matthew Gudgin (37:36):
She's bounded across quite a large field in just a few seconds flat.

Chris Skinner (37:39):
Yes, I'm that quick as well, Matthew.

Matthew Gudgin (37:42):
I know. Yes. When it comes to paying for the next round.

Chris Skinner (37:44):
No, no. When it comes to tea time.

Matthew Gudgin (37:48):
Patricia. Hello Patricia Monkman. Patricia sends us a picture of an insect on a flower, a real closeup shot, this Hi Chris, please could you identify this insect that frequents our garden?

Chris Skinner (38:03):
Wow. Yes. And it's a super shot. When I first looked at it, I thought it was a very quick look for I answer and go through the questions properly. It looked like a dung fly and one of those ones that you see on the horse poo on the fields or cattle poo. And I think it was William Ogden that did a little poem on flies, God invented the fly and then forgot to tell us Why or something. It's God in his wisdom, invented the fly and then forgot to tell us why. So I think it's lovely. I've had a close look and it's one of the species of mason bees at the farm. It's got a furry body, which shows more or less closely what it is. But there are over 200 species of solitary bees in the uk and that's one of the commonest ones. And that's the one that fills the little holes in cavities in walls with mud and puts pollen and nectar in the hole and an egg as well. And then seals it out with mud and carries on and like that. So well done. Fantastic shot. So you've got one of the species of mason bees,

Matthew Gudgin (39:17):
Julian Lawrence, who lives in Suffolk says great podcast on orchids and the wild flowers, which we enjoy looking at and see again soon. This led me to an email that I've sent because we were walking locally Sunday and came across more than a hundred orchids, mainly bee orchids, but the odd pyramidal we saw both last week, didn't we, Chris? We did. And that alone was stunning, but there were lots of white bee orchids and we've never seen them before, have you Chris?

Chris Skinner (39:46):
I've never seen one.

Matthew Gudgin (39:48):
Well, here are some photos.

Chris Skinner (39:49):
There's a fantastic picture of one and it can be nothing else. It looks like a bee with pure white wings and instead of the body being that dark purple colour we saw on the bee orchids here at High Ash Farm last week's podcast, the body sort of yellowy colour, mustardy colour and it almost looks like an albino version, but because there's some colour on the orchid, it is a white orchid. Just as we mentioned the red ragged robin has a cousin as well, which is pure white as well. And the same with the campions.

Matthew Gudgin (40:25):
Now Kerry has sent this, I would be grateful if you had the time to answer my question. Each year I have a hornet's nest near the house. They're no problem though. It is a bit like a Hitchcock movie, late evenings when the lights are on as all the hornets start hitting the windows to get to the light source. Oh dear. During the day if they come into the house, I just open a window wider. Unfortunately, it appears that a hornet has decided a crack in the wall in a cavity area of the indoor conservatory is a good place to build its nest this year, I've blocked the area off with plastic and gaffer tape in the hope of stopping access. But I'm worried it'll find another way into the cavity. I don't want to kill it, but obviously I can't have a hornet's nest in the well used conservatory. How big will the nest be at this time of year and what are the chances of it just abandoning the nest if I make it difficult for him?

Chris Skinner (41:16):
Right the size of the nest at this time of the year being not much bigger than a golf ball, it's been a cold season to start off. Hornets get going a bit later than the common wasp. They're usually pretty tame. Really. An elderly couple in the village had exactly that problem and had hornets in their porch and I persuaded them, it took a bit of doing to leave them over the summer and they'd sit in the porch with the door open and they were entertained all summer long and it's one of the best experiences of their life. So one way of just helping if you want your situation, if you're a bit anxious about it, which I understand is to make sure that the queen hornet is out. And then keep the door shut, gaffer tape the hole off. And hopefully because it's a late season, she'll start nesting somewhere else more tolerable. But as far as hornets and wasps go, I'm very happy to have bedfellows of hornets, but not so the wasp.

Matthew Gudgin (42:19):
Now, another winged friend this time a bird and Janet Raven has sent us an audio clip wanting you to help her out with an identification. So first of all, let's hear it. Janet says, please could you identify this sound? It's been bugging us for weeks. Could it be a siskin?

Chris Skinner (42:49):
I would love it to have been a siskin, but immediately I heard the sound and there's an awful lot of wind noise in there. You have to kind of pin your ears back to listen very carefully. And without doubt, I was a hundred percent certain it was a male chaffinch on nest guard duty and it will make that sound. And also has a song at this time of year, probably on second brood as well. The first brood will have fledged by now. And my son and Neil in the farm office yesterday morning, didn't trust my knowledge on chaffinchs. And Daniel played the sound to his computer. You can't make it up. And the computer on the screen came up male chaffinch and there was a cheer in the office from me.

Matthew Gudgin (43:38):
Oh, the computer knew it as well.

Chris Skinner (43:39):
The computer knew too.

Matthew Gudgin (43:41):
Oh wow.

Chris Skinner (43:41):
So well done. And

Matthew Gudgin (43:43):
You're going to be out of work soon.

Chris Skinner (43:44):
Yes, Exactly that. And that's what you call field craft. It's very different to what you get off a screen.

Matthew Gudgin (43:51):
Quite right. And just finally, we've had a note from our friends at Chatterbox because this excellent, this podcast goes out on chatterbox, which is a talking newspaper for the blind. And Tim who runs it has passed this on to us from one of their listeners saying, I just wanted to say how fascinating Chris Skinner's countryside feature was the other week. And the description he gave of the bluebells was truly memorable. I say this as whilst growing up in the countryside in North Norfolk around the Holt area, I regularly spent a lot of time walking through the local woods. And at the time, back in the eighties, I was fortunate in still having some useful partial sight in one eye. The carpet of bluebells in the spring was just incredible. And I think I can also remember some faint scent as well, but I don't think Chris mentioned this. Well, there is a bit of a scent, Isn't it?

Chris Skinner (44:40):
There certainly is, and it's quite a heady aroma. First thing in the morning with the damp still air that you need. And of course it attracts bluebells, attracts moths at night as well as a few butterflies and certainly bees during the daylight hours, they're well over. The seed pods are filling up and we will do a visit back into the bluebell wood because they all get the attention when they're in flower. Many of our wild flowers do, and I'm interested in them all the year round. And it's quite fascinating to see the change in the Bluebell structure now with the bells hanging downwards when they're in flower. And the seed pods vertical.

Matthew Gudgin (45:21):
Email address, chris@countrysidepodcast.co.uk. It's been terrific fun once again, Chris, I look forward to next week.

Chris Skinner (45:29):
Yes, We did the trudge with gudge and you've still got mud on your boots and you can't take that home with you because I expect 2000 pound acre that is,

Matthew Gudgin (45:38):
You and your mud. What about your friend there? He seems quiet for the moment.

Chris Skinner (45:43):
He is. Look at his feet. He's got to have a bath when he gets back. They're black. Look at him. He's meant to have white feet.

Matthew Gudgin (45:50):
He's sulking now.

Chris Skinner (45:51):
He is. He's in my arms and I think he's drifting off to sleep. I think all these questions have been a bit too much for him.