From Civil war in Dorset to the Napoleonic war, tits on a tightrope and Honeysuckle romps home

Second episode of May’s podcast is out now – just click the play button to listen

In May episode two:

• Buying two horses unseen was a risk, but the results are absolutely wonderful, and the season has started well, says Toots Bartlett, our national three day event rider diarist.
• In Tales from the Vale, Andy Palmer shares tales of rationing and his mum’s war
• The fascinating history of compassion, bravery and the largest pitched battle in Dorset during the Civil War is told by Rupert Hardy, chair of North Dorset CPRE
• Pubs in previous centuries staged a wild variety of events to draw in customers – but they weren’t quite the same as today’s quiz nights and ‘open mic’ sessions, explains Roger Guttridge as he talks about Shroton’s village pub
• The tale of an innocent Dorset boy who quickly became a man in the horrors of the Napoleonic war is vividly described by Roger Guttridge
• Birds living and breeding on the UK’s farmland saw numbers decline by almost a tenth in just five years, says Dorset Wildlife Trust
• Blue tits are on a surprisingly precarious tightrope each spring. Nature writer Jane Adams shares the task ahead of ‘her’ Bonnie and Clyde
• With his gardening jobs for May, Pete Harcom suggests now’s the time to look for optimum siting for plants to bloom

• Originally a wildflower from Asia, Europe’s love for tulips meant that some bulbs were worth more than a house during the height of the Dutch craze for the plant, as Charlotte Tombs relates
• Life or death foals, DIY one-sided milking, windswept legs, film stardom and “Go Honeysuckle, go!” – it’s another average month at The Glanvilles Stud with Lucy Procter
• When Jemima Green was paralysed from the waist down after a car crash, she thought she’d never be able to ride again. She was wrong – she shares her story
• Events at a Dorset council meeting made national headlines, but ultimately overshadowed the importance of the vote, says Labour’s Pat Osborne
• The Government is punishing the victims of cross-channel trafficking, not the perpetrators, says north Dorset Lib Dems’ Mike Chapman.