This programme concerns mostly birds. A visit to Castle Gardens to hear from staff member and bird expert Jacob Daley, and from Managing Director Mike Burks about the birds of the Garden Centre, which are very much part of the scene.
Mike mentions at the end of the piece that he’d recently been up the bell tower of Sherborne Abbey and seen the swift nest boxes there, and the next piece is a chat and update with founder of the group Swifts Over Sherborne Steve Day and Tower Captain Tim Philips, who made and installed the nest boxes. things are definitely looking up, as can summer visitors to see an increasing number of swifts flying around the Abbey.
Finally, we hear about something called the Mediaeval Climate Anomaly from Durham University mediaeval historian Dr. Alex Brown. This was a period in the Middle Ages that lasted several centuries during which time we and Northern Europe experienced drought, summer heatwaves and water shortages – but an increase in agriculture and human population!
Photo by Walter Brunner on Unsplash