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PODCAST

Chris Skinner"s Countryside Podcasts

Nature, Wildlife and Countryside Living with Chris Skinner from High Ash FarmChris Skinner, a Norfolk farmer, takes a unique approach to farming, prioritizing biodiversity and wildlife conservation in every practice.Tune in every Sunday morning as Chris, alongside broadcaster Matthew Gudgin, explores topics on nature, wildlife, and rural life.Join them for strolls through High Ash Farm and beyond, spotting wildlife and addressing your queries about the natural world.Email questions for Chris to

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All Episodes

50:45

Episode 2.92 - Death Watch Frass and Nightshade Berries

Chris Skinner"s Countryside Podcasts ·

2026/10/03

Send us Fan Mail On a bright early-October morning at High Ash Farm, autumn has arrived in earnest at Fox’s Grove. Horse-chestnut leaves are already brown and falling as the corky abscission layer seals each leaf from its stalk, while field maples around the field edges glow scarlet and gold in the low sun. Fallen ash trees, victims of dieback, lie among the leaf litter, and a lawyer’s wig ink cap stands at perfection before it begins to eat itself — dripping black ink that attracts flies and...

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49:20

Episode 2.91 - Tenancy Act and Norfolk Gem

Chris Skinner"s Countryside Podcasts ·

2026/09/26

Send us Fan Mail On a bright late-September morning at High Ash Farm, Chris Skinner and Matthew Gudgin sit on a homemade oak bench with a panoramic view of Norwich and begin an unusual episode. 452 acres of the farm have been put on the market for around £2.5 million, yet the 1947 Agricultural Holdings Act means Chris — and in time his son Daniel — remain tenants for life. The pair set off to show what a buyer would actually acquire: not just land and cottages, but a working conservation land...

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51:24

Episode 2.90 - Fairy Rings and Giant Puffballs

Chris Skinner"s Countryside Podcasts ·

2026/09/19

Send us Fan Mail On a fine mizzling mid-September morning at High Ash Farm, Chris Skinner and Matthew Gudgin begin in the farmyard and notice that September has lived up to its name as the changeling month. The swallows have vanished almost overnight — more than a hundred young sent south after a successful season — while a handsome young cockerel struts among the nest boxes and a robin still sings. The pair then set out on a fungal foray. At the base of an oak they find beefsteak fungus, a r...

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42:35

Episode 2.89 - Ivy Bees and Falling Ash

Chris Skinner"s Countryside Podcasts ·

2026/09/12

Send us Fan Mail On a beautiful early-autumn morning at High Ash Farm, after another 13 millimetres of welcome rain has turned the fields verdant once more, Chris Skinner and Matthew Gudgin begin at the farmyard entrance. A robin is singing again after its midsummer silence, rooks and jackdaws corkscrew down from the sky in display flight while a peregrine circles high above, and late swallows are still feeding young in the barn. On the flowering ivy they discover a new arrival: ivy bees (Col...

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43:22

Episode 2.88 - One-Tooth Charlie and Glacial Water

Chris Skinner"s Countryside Podcasts ·

2026/09/05

Send us Fan Mail On a grey but mild early-September morning at High Ash Farm, Chris Skinner and Matthew Gudgin slip through a gap in the hedge onto Hallback Lane and stand beside a remarkable hollow tree known locally as the Africa Tree. Around 500 years old and pollarded two centuries ago, its great cavity faces them in the almost exact shape of the African continent. The tree becomes the doorway into Chris’s childhood memories of Charlie Graver, a diminutive farm worker who left school at t...

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43:59

Episode 2.87 - Alfalfa Aphids and Self-Pruning Giants

Chris Skinner"s Countryside Podcasts ·

2026/08/29

Send us Fan Mail On a misty, humid late-August morning at High Ash Farm, with rain threatening after another dry month of just 17 millimetres, Chris Skinner and Matthew Gudgin stand on the farm’s poorest south-facing sandy field — the one exception still lush and green after the pollen-and-nectar crop was mown for fire safety. Chris digs into the concrete-hard ground to reveal the secret: lucerne (alfalfa) and sainfoin sending wooden tap roots two to two-and-a-half metres down to moisture, wh...

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44:29

Episode 2.86 - Beech Cupules and Clay Pond Drinks

Chris Skinner"s Countryside Podcasts ·

2026/08/22

Send us Fan Mail On a fresher late-August morning at High Ash Farm, after just under ten millimetres of welcome rain has begun to tint the parched pastures with the faintest green, Chris Skinner and Matthew Gudgin begin at the duck pond. An extraordinary mallard mother who successfully raised nine ducklings earlier in the spring has now returned with a second brood of thirteen tiny balls of fluff. The youngsters form a tight “football” when geese approach, while the attentive mother keeps con...

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46:12

Episode 2.85 - Eclipse Crowds and Buzzard Bales

Chris Skinner"s Countryside Podcasts ·

2026/08/15

Send us Fan Mail 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 s...

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45:16

Episode 2.84 - Drought Whips and Hornbeam Bracts

Chris Skinner"s Countryside Podcasts ·

2026/08/08

Send us Fan Mail On a breezy mid-August morning at High Ash Farm, with temperatures still high after another week above 30°C and only a fleeting six millimetres of rain quickly absorbed by the parched ground, Chris Skinner and Matthew Gudgin survey the aftermath of intensive fire-prevention work. The last of the waist-high pollen and nectar fields have been cut short, tedded to knock seeds to the ground, and baled — one bale per acre — removing the worst of the fire risk, though the stubble r...

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52:26

Episode 2.82 - Tinder Fields and Hobby Missiles

Chris Skinner"s Countryside Podcasts ·

2026/08/01

Send us Fan Mail On a fiercely hot, windy late-July morning at High Ash Farm, Chris Skinner and Matthew Gudgin stand on one of the highest points of the farm as temperatures push into the 30s and a strong breeze turns the landscape into a tinderbox. Chris recounts a heart-stopping encounter with a group of people barbecuing in Successional Woodland — the smell of cooking meat leading him to intervene and then race to mow nearly 80–100 acres of pollen-and-nectar fields that had just finished f...

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51:46

Episode 2.82 - Rook Roosts and Meadow Makers

Chris Skinner"s Countryside Podcasts ·

2026/07/25

Send us Fan Mail On a still late-July evening at High Ash Farm, Chris Skinner settles beneath a field maple in Fox's Grove as thousands of jackdaws and rooks gather overhead for their nightly communal roost. As dusk falls and the woodland fills with a remarkable chorus of calls, Chris reflects on the social lives of these intelligent birds and the peaceful spectacle that marks the close of another summer's day. Returning in daylight with Matthew Gudgin, they explore the hidden world of seed p...

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47:36

Episode 2.81 - Flamingo Pond and Burnet Banquets

Chris Skinner"s Countryside Podcasts ·

2026/07/18

Send us Fan Mail On a beautiful but still dry mid-July morning at High Ash Farm, Chris Skinner and Matthew Gudgin explore Woodcock Wood and a rarely visited blue clay pond — an old hand-dug clay pit that now serves as a precious watering hole in the drought-stricken north half of the farm. With the water table dropping and a hosepipe ban in force, Chris explains the pond’s history, the floating water fern (Azolla filiculoides) known locally as flamingo weed that turns bright pink, and ...

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47:09

Episode 2.80 - Butterfly Banquets and Nettle Nurseries

Chris Skinner"s Countryside Podcasts ·

2026/07/11

Send us Fan Mail On another scorching July morning at High Ash Farm, Chris Skinner and Matthew Gudgin explore the extraordinary abundance of butterflies thriving despite the relentless heat. Among thistle-lined field margins they encounter meadow browns, green-veined whites, six-spot burnet moths, peacocks and a surprise brimstone butterfly, while Chris explains how drought, migration and nectar-rich wildflower crops shape the fortunes of Britain's summer butterflies. The pair then visit a ca...

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37:34

Episode 2.79 - Hayfield Kites and House Martin Mud

Chris Skinner"s Countryside Podcasts ·

2026/07/04

Send us Fan Mail On a glorious early-July morning at High Ash Farm, Chris Skinner rises at 6 a.m. to follow Neil mowing hay across Cantley Hill. A swirling flock of lesser black-backed gulls and red kites follows the mower, hunting small mammals and insects disturbed by the blades. Later, they watch the tedder fluffing and turning the crop in the intense summer heat, while Chris explains the shift from traditional small bales to modern Heston bales. In the farmyard, a delightful surprise: hou...

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39:01

Episode 2.78 - Foxglove Spires and Peregrine Kills

Chris Skinner"s Countryside Podcasts ·

2026/06/27

Send us Fan Mail 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 predat...

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43:59

Episode 2.77 - Dragonfly Dances and Bee Swarm Ball

Chris Skinner"s Countryside Podcasts ·

2026/06/20

Send us Fan Mail 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...

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47:10

Episode 2.76 - Pyramidal Splendour and Honey Fungus...

Chris Skinner"s Countryside Podcasts ·

2026/06/13

Send us Fan Mail 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 ...

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51:23

Episode 2.75 - Bee Orchid Wonders and Mistle Thrush...

Chris Skinner"s Countryside Podcasts ·

2026/06/06

Send us Fan Mail On a breezy early-June morning at High Ash Farm, Chris Skinner and Matthew Gudgin walk through one of the glorious wildflower meadows carpeted in oxeye daisies, yellow rattle and other species. Chris reveals the hidden wonders of bee orchids — their pink, bee-mimicking flowers, extraordinarily long life cycle involving mycorrhizal fungi, and the fact that the plants die completely after flowering once they’ve set seed. They also enjoy a large gathering of mistle thrushes on t...

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44:46

Episode 2.74 - Firethorn Butterflies and Heatwave...

Chris Skinner"s Countryside Podcasts ·

2026/05/30

Send us Fan Mail On a breezy, sunny late-May morning at High Ash Farm, Chris Skinner rejoices in an extraordinary influx of Painted Lady butterflies drawn to the pyracantha (firethorn) bushes around his house. He explains this “eruption” — a mass arrival from southern Europe fleeing extreme heat and nectar shortages — turning the thorny evergreens into a fluttering feast for these powerful migrants. The pair also enjoy green hairstreaks dancing along the long new hedgerow, their iridescent gr...

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44:20

Episode 2.73 - Holly Blue Heaven and Fox Cub Frolics

Chris Skinner"s Countryside Podcasts ·

2026/05/23

Send us Fan Mail On a bright late-May morning at High Ash Farm, Chris Skinner is thrilled by the appearance of a stunning male holly blue butterfly basking in one of the wildflower meadows. He explains its remarkable two-brood life cycle — using holly in spring and ivy later in the year — and the joy of seeing these tiny blue gems after a cold spell. The pair then head to Cantley Hill Plantation, where a family of young fox cubs has taken over an old badger sett. Chris shares trail-came...

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