Episode 2.48 - Bombs, Bootlaces and Winter Orchids

9 snips

Nov 30, 2025

Join Chris and Matthew on a contemplative walk through Norfolk as they uncover hidden histories, from WWII bomb shrapnel to the enchanting world of honey fungus. Discover the outrageous stinkhorn fungus, which grows rapidly and uses a stench to seduce flies for spore dispersal. Marvel at thousands of bee orchid rosettes quietly thriving underground, patiently waiting to bloom. The duo also tackles pressing issues like avian flu and provides insights on wildlife gardening. It's a blend of nature, history, and conservation that will leave you both informed and entertained.

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ANECDOTE

Close Encounter With A WWII Bomb

Chris recounts a 1942 unexploded German bomb that landed six feet from an ash tree on High Ash Farm and was later diffused and removed.
He shows a three-kilogram shard of shrapnel that pierced the farmhouse wall while his pregnant mother sheltered inside.

INSIGHT

Hidden Spread Of Honey Fungus

Chris explains honey fungus spreads invisibly via hyphae and visible black rhizomorphs under bark.
He highlights that infection is often hidden in heartwood so foresters dread its unpredictable impact.

INSIGHT

Spalting: Rot That Becomes Art

Spalted wood shows black hyphal lines created by fungi that rot heartwood yet produce decorative patterns.
Furniture makers prize this spalting despite the underlying wood decay.

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Join Chris Skinner and Matthew Gudgin on a crisp, overcast late-November morning in Fox’s Grove as the last leaves carpet the woodland floor and light floods in for the first time since spring. Stand beside the old ash tree that still bears the carved letters “UXB” from 1942, hold the jagged 3 kg lump of bomb shrapnel that tore through the farmhouse wall while Chris’s pregnant mother sheltered inside, and feel the weight of history on a quiet Norfolk morning.

Discover the invisible killer that terrifies foresters – honey fungus – as Chris peels back bark to reveal black bootlace rhizomorphs and slices open a log to expose the exquisite “spalted” butterfly patterns that furniture-makers prize, even while the fungus rots the heartwood of living trees.

Meet the outrageous Phallus impudicus – the stinkhorn – emerging from its egg in the horse ride, growing 3 inches an hour and releasing a stench of rotting flesh that draws clouds of flies to carry away its sticky black spores in one of nature’s most shameless acts of seduction.

Then walk to Arminghall Field in stunned silence as Chris drops to his knees in December to reveal thousands – literally thousands – of bee orchid plants already up, their blue-green rosettes scattered across the hillside like emeralds on clay. Some will flower in 2026, some will wait years, but every one is living proof that nature can survive a century of ploughing, spraying and heavy iron.

A poignant, funny and utterly unforgettable wander through war memories, fungal sex-lives and the quiet defiance of orchids in winter, and the sheer privilege of watching a square mile of Norfolk wake up to another season.

https://www.buzzsprout.com/2432378/episodes/18267268-episode-2-48-bombs-bootlaces-and-winter-orchids.mp3?download=true

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