Sneaky crab spiders and the case of the rubble fly-tipping that wasn't

The BV: from the heart of the Blackmore Vale

The first of July's Podcast is a packed one – from hiding spiders and cancer-causing protein (or does it?) to the scourge of fly-tipping and the essential art of the hedgerow lifecycle...

• Editor’s Letter from Laura - “…Hiding behind the idyllic facade of thatched roofs and high hedgerows lies an issue that has been overlooked, avoided and ignored by successive governments … the rural tax. Living in a rural area is significantly more challenging than urban living for those who are on a low income.”
  

• Wildlife Writer Jane Adams talks to Jenny, about the amazing crab spider, which you may have spotted on some of the flowers in your garden ... or maybe not...
  "Crab spiders are amazing – I've occcasionally wondered why a fly was upside down on a flower, thinking what on earth is that doing? And it had actually been caught by a crab spider. But even looking at it, I couldn't actually see the spider."
  

• Terry talks to Nutritional Therapist Karen Geary, looking at the real science behind the current trendy view that eating too much protein may cause cancer. "What I get concerned about more than anything else with people with cancer is they're actually not eating enough protein: it is crucial for maintaining muscle and overall health during treatment."
  

• Farming columnist Andrew Livingston is talking to Jenny about the increasing problem of fly-tipping in rural areas, its impact on the environment, and the efforts made by farmers to combat it: "At the end of the day, we just clear it up, and it goes unreported - I don't think we know the real scale of the issue."
  And he shares the case of the rubble's mistaken identity: "It was dumped on the Thursday and we went on the Friday to move it, spread it and roll it ... and it had disappeared!"
  

• Lastly, Jenny reads Andrew's interview with John Calder on the importance of hedgerow lifecycles: "if you go back a few generations they’d be laying hedges every year, but on different parts of the farm. And that means that there are hedges in different stages all over the farm. Turns out that’s what’s ideal for nature."

All from the July issue of The BV magazine – the UK's Regional Publication of the Year.

Grab a coffee and jump in to the Dorset-ness. News, opinion, people, wildlife, art, farming, what's on, SO many horses ... and frankly stunning photography. Did I mention it's FREE? Why *wouldn't* you want a flick through? (*don't forget, we're proud to be purely digital. The only way to read us is right here online!) Frankly, it's so jam-packed with Dorset goodness, it'd be rude not to.

The BV is the 'glossy' rural monthly digital magazine from Dorset.