Insects

Honeybees in a Salix

Short-haired Bumblebee

Bombus sylvarum

In mid-August the Virginia Creeper on our porch is flowering attracting thousands of honey bees. Håga, Uppsala. August 17, 2023.

Lewitt 440 pure in ORTF + Mixpre 3 ii

Honey bees in Virginia Creeper

This spring has seen a lot of buff-tailed bumblebee queens - I hope they all can start colonies and that there will be no major weather setbacks.

Tämnaren, Uppland. April 8, 2025.
Zoom F3 + Clippy EM272 as tree ears

ASMR - the first buff-tailed bumblebee queen searching for nectar

For me this is the essence of when Spring has arrived to Uppland. Song Thrushes have arrived in big numbers and the bumblebee queens are active from early morning searching old mice nests to start their colonies, and in the background the Black-headed Gull cacaphony completes the picture.

Kalvnäset, Uppland. April 15, 2025.
Mixpre 3ii + Wildtronics stereoparabolic dish.

The essence of Spring

A wide and deep, gently rhythmically hypnotic, mallee heathland dawn, from an evening to morning recording made with a mid-side rig utilising an omnidirectional mid microphone. (Relaxed listening with good quality headphones with flat frequency response, especially open-backed, at a moderate volume, is ideal. But what you hear, and how you hear it, depends, most of all, on what you're listening for, and  how you're listening. This is not a 'pop' recording (and no apologies for that).)

Recorded respectfully on the land of the Ngargad (Ngarket) people.

Track photo: taken at the recording location, in Ngarkat Conservation Park, on the second morning of recording.

2025.09.13 Ngarkat Dawn. Early Spring.

ome new gear purchased this week in the form of a Radius Mini-alto Windshield setup. So far very impressed with the well thought out ergonomics, ease of use and modularity. Everything we could ever have asked for at a really competitive price. To complete the setup I also purchased a Schoeps Mk 8 Capsule to make a compact MS setup for on the road.

This is recording in MS at its widest setting, panned full L and R. It sounds really good even when you collapse the MS slightly but I've kept it full open so you can hear all the elements. The stereo effect is pretty impressive and the ambience really shows on that Mk 8 capsule, with the fireworks bouncing off the hard surfaces of the housing estate.

No EQ applied at all, just a hard limiter to control some of those louder explosions and make it overall easier on the ears.

Gear: Sound Devices MixPre 6 ii + Schoeps Mk 4+8 MS inside the Radius Mini-alto 115 without Fur.

If you haven't bought a Radius windshield yet, don't hold out, they're awesome.
Also something to listen out for, not all the 'wizz' sounds are fireworks, as there were lots of Redwing moving that night too. Feel sorry for them, I bet they're frightened to death hearing all that whilst trying to migrate at night.

Bonfire Night Under Umbrella - Schoeps MS in Radius Mini-alto - MixPre-7938

Clouds start to covering rocky walls of mountains, wind, relaxing wind gusts and distant wind with water droplets falling from rocks. Wind trough mounmtain valley howling like big wave, 
Recorded in Kamnik Alps


High land muntains ambience for sleeping - distant winds and falling rocks waterdroplets dripping - Relaxing 3h  3hours

grey heron morning stretches

Sitting on a blanket on moist grass in the clearing between two forests.
The pine forest is behind, the eucalypt forest is in front.
Left is east, right is west.
The sounds from in front blend with those from behind, both to the left and to the right.
The variable breeze pervades throughout.
The sky above is ever so gradually lightening, and all around, beings are awakening.
Like forever, the natural mystery of Mind is happening.

(From recent exploratory field recordings with a mid-side rig, this one with cardioid mid microphone. This track is an excerpt from a longer recording.)

@Bandcamp

2025.11.02 A Dawn between Two Forests. Spring.

Red Deer Coughing

ALONA FANTASY

Saturday early morning in a time of sunrise recorded on my balcony. Many small birds has morning play around microphones, distant church bells, there is also river hum and little traffic. 
Microphones are seperated around 120cm, two sennheiser MKH8020, recorder Zoom F3

Morning in small town with close birds and chruch bells - Balcnoy and Sennheiser MKH8020

Field sound recordist and archivist of vanishing sounds in natural Iandscapes. Highly commended in the Sound of the Year Awards 2024 - Best Natural Sound.

The essence of Spring

Bo Söderström

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