ABOUT THIS EPISODE
On another scorching mid-August morning at High Ash Farm, the day after a spectacular partial solar eclipse, Chris Skinner and Matthew Gudgin reflect on an extraordinary evening. Around 500 well-behaved visitors and 250–300 cars gathered peacefully on one of the farm’s high points for the best view of Norwich and the setting sun. Dads fashioned pinhole cameras from cereal boxes and sieves; Chris shared his welding mask so everyone could watch safely. By morning the site was spotless — not a single tin can or crisp packet left behind — putting a huge smile on his face.The pair then visit a hay bale that has become a busy “takeaway” for two newly fledged buzzards. Parent birds watch peregrines make pigeon kills near the cathedral or on neighbouring pea fields, then dive-bomb the falcons and claim the carcasses (plus the occasional young rabbit). Trail-camera footage captures the young buzzards squabbling over their meal and tumbling off the bale. Chris celebrates the remarkable recovery of buzzards: once almost extinct in southern Britain, numbers have risen to around 50–55,000 birds, with three successful pairs now nesting on the farm.As dusk falls, Chris sits on his patio and watches a colony of pipistrelle bats stream from the old piggery roof and new extension. He explains their tiny size, delayed implantation, echolocation, and evening feeding routes over hedgerows and the duck pond, while noting the larger noctules that roost in a lightning-struck Scots pine. Later, in the welcome shade of Fox’s Grove, speckled wood butterflies patrol sunny patches on the woodland floor. Males vigorously defend their territories with aerial dogfights, using eye-spots on their wings to deter predators, before the pair discuss the grasses outside the wood that serve as their larval food plants.Listener letters bring further delight: a holiday photograph of barn swallows nesting on a balcony in Lesvos, reflections on churchyard wildflowers, and a gentle enquiry about rats on the farm (and the enduring popularity of Rat the terrier).This episode is a joyful celebration of shared wonder, recovering predators and the delicate night-time world of bats and butterflies — ideal for savouring an unexpected community eclipse gathering, the cunning of young buzzards, and the quiet magic that still thrives at High Ash Farm even in the depths of a prolonged heatwave.
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2432378/episodes/19650899-episode-2-85-eclipse-crowds-and-buzzard-bales.mp3?download=true
Please email any questions for Chris to answer on the podcast to
Chris@highashfarm.com
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