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In the crisp dawn of a new year at High Ash Farm, Chris Skinner and Matthew Gudgin usher in 2026 with the aerial spectacle of black-headed gulls wheeling westward in V-formations, drawn to ploughed fields teeming with worms, while a muntjac deer ambles across the lawn and scraps from last night's dinner lure a swirling flock to feast. Reflections on evolving habits reveal how these "laughing gulls"—once harvested for eggs and masqueraded as plover meat—have adapted to inland life amid min-till farming that spares soil compaction and boosts invertebrate bounty, transforming them into acrobatic garden visitors brightening even rubbish tips in winter's low sun. A ramble yields glimpses of roe deer lolloping through overwinter seed remnants, their dark coats and flashing white rumps a seasonal hallmark, alongside muntjacs nibbling hawthorn and a cock pheasant in resplendent breeding plumage. From a secluded bird hide in Fox's Grove, they marvel at a frenzy of woodland titmice—long-tailed tits with punkish white Mohicans, blue tits flashing azure crowns, great tits sporting bold black breast stripes, and coal tits probing conifer feeders—amid nuthatch courtship calls and the vulnerability of hole-nesters to opportunistic green woodpeckers. Listener voices enrich the dialogue: clarifications on trusting continental robins in northern Europe, the dawn of electric tractors grappling with heavy loads, wildlife-friendly gardening triumphs in urban oases, solar farm campaigns, absent fieldfares and redwings lingering eastward due to mild weather, and a treasured photo album chronicling Norfolk's vanishing rural crafts. This episode heralds renewal in frost-kissed fields and avian choruses, ideal for embracing the fresh rhythms of a budding year.
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2432378/episodes/18443853-episode-2-53-gull-glides-and-tit-troupes.mp3?download=true
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