Episode 2.65 - Owl Odyssey and Second Chances

Send us Fan MailFresh from a successful quadruple bypass at Papworth Hospital, Chris Skinner returns to High Ash Farm after nine days away, still bruised from head to foot but glowing with renewed purpose. In the living room he shares extraordinary stories of the operating theatre where three members of the surgical team recognised him from the podcast and asked (unsuccessfully) to play it during the nine-and-a-half-hour procedure, and of the young farmers from the Philippines and South Sudan working in the UK to buy tractors and sunflower seed for their families back home. A gentle drive across the farm reveals hares hunkered in the overwinter seed mix, roe deer, and a young Chinese water deer, while a visit to the barn owl box — an old dog kennel Chris installed in a tree twenty years ago — shows it occupied for the fifth time, the female likely already incubating. Rat the terrier sits proudly on the day’s emails as a living paperweight, and listener warmth pours in: support for Rat’s antics, toad-spawn ribbons in Kent, bumblebees diving into daffodils, a returning rookery in a spinney, and a clever robin learning to steal from tit feeders. This reflective episode marks a new chapter for Chris and the farm, full of gratitude, second chances and the quiet return of spring’s familiar rhythms, ideal for cherishing the living heritage that surrounds us.https://www.buzzsprout.com/2432378/episodes/18921358-episode-2-65-owl-odyssey-and-second-chances.mp3?download=trueSupport the showPlease email any questions for Chris to answer on the podcast [email protected] 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-12or from the Podcast page here:Podcast | High Ash Farm