Episode 2.36 - Hawkbit Bites and Tree Tombs

In this captivating episode of the Countryside Podcasts, Chris Skinner and Matthew Gudgin wander through High Ash Farm’s breezy late August pastures, where September’s dawn heralds autumn’s subtle arrival. Autumn hawkbit carpets the hillside with dazzling yellow blooms, its serrated leaves hiding antioxidants and vitamin C, a medicinal marvel for eyesight once mistaken for hawk bites, thriving in close-grazed grass amid drought. The month’s changeling nature unfolds with Norway maples blushing pink, whispering of flamboyant colours and brisk northwesterlies to come. Viper’s bugloss dazzles in cobalt blue, its bristly leaves and snake-like stems a toxic deterrent, while seeds mimic viper heads, echoing ancient remedies for bites. In Cantley Hill Plantation, a fallen ash tree—snapped by winds—reveals ash dieback’s grip, its skeletal form a mystery amid drought and over-abstraction, a poignant loss in a landscape scarred by 1987’s hurricane. Listener tales of robin’s pincushions, tardy tadpoles, and insect absences weave into this lament, as the farm’s live show beckons on October 19th at Norwich’s Maddermarket Theatre under a freshening sky. From Saxon "hara" hills to family histories at Stoke House, this episode celebrates nature’s cycles amid shifting seasons.

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2432378/episodes/17787602-episode-2-36-hawkbit-bites-and-tree-tombs.mp3?download=true