Life at Jeremy Clarkson’s Diddly Squat Farm in Oxfordshire is rarely quiet, and the latest incident has once again highlighted the delicate balance between farming needs and environmental conservation.
Kaleb Cooper, the 27-year-old farmhand from Chipping Norton who shot to fame in the first season of Amazon Prime Video’s Clarkson’s Farm back in 2021, found himself at the centre of a heated exchange with bird campaigner Hannah Bourne-Taylor earlier this year. Cooper, now a familiar face to fans of the show, has appeared in all four series, including the most recent instalment released across May and June 2025. Away from the cameras, he is also a devoted father of three children with his partner, Taya, having welcomed their youngest son, Ashton, in September.
The clash was revealed by Clarkson himself in The Sunday Times Magazine, where he recounted how his outspoken farmhand was “told off” by Bourne-Taylor, a local parish councillor and passionate bird specialist. Bourne-Taylor had been working to monitor bird populations on the farm and was keen to enhance habitats for species such as skylarks, which nest in grass fields and are particularly vulnerable during the summer months.
Clarkson explained that, in response to her concerns, he had already taken steps to encourage biodiversity by planting wildflower strips in the centre of his fields. However, when Bourne-Taylor suggested that more could be done, Cooper’s blunt response was simply: “No.”
The situation escalated in early June when Bourne-Taylor arrived at the farm to find Cooper cutting the grass fields to prepare hay for the cattle’s winter feed. She was horrified, fearing that the tractor was destroying skylark nests hidden among the grass. Clarkson recalled her distraught reaction: “‘He’s mincing all the baby skylarks. They’re in their nests in this field, and they’re too young to fly off.’”
According to Clarkson, Cooper endured the scolding without complaint but defended his actions, arguing that delaying the cut until the skylarks were old enough to escape would render the grass useless as feed. “Kaleb took his b******** like a man,” Clarkson wrote, “but said that if he’d waited until the skylarks were old enough to get out of his tractor’s way, the grass would have been useless.”
Clarkson admitted that he initially sided with Bourne-Taylor, insisting that Cooper hold off in the next field to protect the birds. Yet, the outcome proved Cooper’s point. By the time the grass was cut later, it had lost its nutritional value, leaving Clarkson to concede: “Guess what? He was right. It was.”
In his typically wry style, Clarkson concluded that the farm’s cattle would pay the price for the compromise, joking: “Next spring our cows are going to look like they’ve been on Mounjaro.”
The episode underscores the ongoing tension at Diddly Squat Farm between traditional farming practices and modern environmental expectations. Cooper, known for his no-nonsense approach and sharp tongue, continues to embody the challenges faced by farmers who must juggle productivity with conservation. Meanwhile, Clarkson’s willingness to share these disputes with the public has only added to the show’s appeal, offering viewers a candid look at the realities of rural life.
