Farmer captures rare footage of dust devil

A stunned farmer captured “spellbinding” footage of hay swirling in the air on his mobile phone.

Tim Bargman was turning hay at Canfields Organic Farm in Rudgwick, West Sussex when a dust devil caused a vortex.

He got his mobile phone out and recorded a 30-second clip of the rare phenomenon.

See also: Video – Dust devil spotted at harvest

“I was just in the field turning hay when all of a sudden this cloud of hay started coming towards me,” said Mr Bargman.

“It lasted a good few minutes – long enough for me to get my phone out and work out how to record a video.

“Usually, we get the odd bit of hay that jumps 5m in the air, but never anything like this. It was absolutely fantastic.”

Mr Bargman reckons the hay storm was about 30ft (9m) wide and climbed as high as 80ft (24m).

He said the dust devil moved across a couple of fields at his 45ha organic beef farm before it petered out.

Children ‘showered in hay’

Before then it did manage to shower schoolchildren with hay at the local primary school, Rudgwick Primary School, located almost three-quarters of a mile away.

“My father, Peter, bought the farm in 1960, but sadly he died three ago,” added Mr Bargman.

“It was like a message from him for above telling me to stop messing about and get a move on.”

Have you recorded a dust devil on a farm? If so, contact the newsdesk on 020 8652 4905 or email philip.case@rbi.co.uk