Frogs

Common frog

This is the time of the frogs. About 300 of them sang this morning, many of them in amplexus with females. Ekebydammen, April 22, 2023.

Common frog in chorus

In Sweden this is a very rare frog species almost only found along the northern coast of Uppland. It is red-listed as Vulnerable. This has been a  rather cold spring and not much activity as yet, but after a while a couple of frogs started calling at Bodalsträsket, Örskär, Uppland. May 20, 2023.

Pool frog in chorus

Yucca Oriole singing from palm trees in a canyon

Yucca Oriole in Palms

Lots of volunteers help toads and frogs across a busy city road so that they can go down to small city ponds for their lek. This year more than 2000 toads and frogs have been helped to cross the road!

Ekeby, Uppsala. April 18, 2025.
Mixpre 3ii + Wildtronics Stereoparabolic dish

Frogs and toads in a suburban pond

For those of you who have difficulties separating different species of frogs and toads, this recording has three of the most common ones included. There is a background "noise" of common frogs and the moor frog calls after 5, 14, 21 and 28 seconds, and after 38 seconds the common toad starts to sing.

Moor frog, common frog and common toad lekking

A new favourite sound of mine. I will be a few days in Scania in search of frog calls and I am off to a good start! Around five fire-bellied toads were displaying despite cold temperatures (only 10 degrees).

Högaborg, Skåne. May 11, 2025.
Mixpre 3ii + Wildtronics stereo parabolic dish

Fire-bellied Toad lekking

A very, very gradually unfurling, utterly unhurried, dawn chorus, beginning from the very first faint bird calls of First Light (Crescent Honeyeaters) in a eucalypt forest near the north-western coast of Kangaroo Island. In various passages of the recording, the gentle, plaintive calls of Glossy Black Cockatoos (an endangered species) can be heard; also, occasionally, the loud, wailing calls of Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos.

A continuous unedited recording. By human time, this extract from an overnight unattended recording, made on Thursday 10th April 2025 (five years after the catastrophic Black Summer bushfires), runs from 05:34 to 07:27.

Recommended listening: good quality headphones (preferably open-backed) with flat frequency response, or good quality monitors, at a low to mid volume.

Recorded mindfully and respectfully on land and water which, although not indigenously inhabited for some 4000 years, remains to this day of fundamental cultural, spiritual and historical importance to the indigenous mainland Ramindjeri, Ngarrindjeri, Kaurna, and Narangga peoples.

2025.04.10 From First Light. Wilderness Protection Area. Kangaroo Island.

A rich soundscape from Northern Sweden, highlighting the incredible insect life still to be found in this environment. A wonderful place to field record. The song of Goldcrest to a backdrop of various pollinating bees and hoverflies begins as a Black-headed Gulls call overhead. Arctic Terns, Hooded Crow, Common Redshank, Common Greenshank, Wood Pigeon, Wood Sandpiper, Greylag Goose, White Wagtail and others can all be heard in the background as the recording progresses. Recorded with a Tascam FR-AV2 Recorder, coupled ith a pair of Lom Usi Mikro Lav stereo microphones.

Arctic Terns and Insects in Västerbotten, Northern Sweden

Lom Geophone recording of a Red Ant colony at Västerbotten, in Northern Sweden.

Geophone Recording of Wood Ant Colony; Northern Sweden

Somehow, it was quite touching to listen to these little creatures, munching their way into a mushroom somewhere from below. I suppose they might be very small worms, but I did not see them, so I am not sure.
JrF ecoutic into leaf audio field amp into mixpre 6ii



Forest mushroom being eaten – from underneath

Following the reissue of his debut album Dispatches, Field Records is proud to return to the seminal work of Mike Parker with an overview of his releases on Prologue — a truly original strain of steely, hypnotic techno that has touched upon many different waves within the wider scene. 

Having pioneered a hard-edged, reductionist style via his Geophone label since the mid-90s, around 2010 Mike Parker found himself at the vanguard of an emergent sound alongside artists like Donato Dozzy and Cio D'or exploring the possibilities of immersive, profoundly transcendental club music. The Prologue label came to define this cult zeitgeist, where reduction and repetition took on a truly psychedelic quality and the subtle details made all the difference. It ran from 2008 to 2015, laying the foundations for the deep techno sound that remains a vital, evolving subculture in the present moment. 

From Parker's first appearance on Prologue with the Subterranean Liquid EP in 2011 through to the Lustrations LP in 2013, he delivered some of the most incisive music of his accomplished career — teased-out rhythms carrying exquisitely engineered textures veering from the subliminal to the visceral, locked into endless, cyclical oblivion and maintaining a stern, machinist veneer.  This collection on Field Records combs through Parker's Prologue output and makes a considered selection, gathering key pieces from the first two EPs alongside six of the album tracks on a triple vinyl pressing, alongside a further eight cuts on the expanded digital edition.

Not just a straight-forward reissue, consider Epilogue a thoughtful reframing of a key point in Mike Parker's stellar career. In every exacting pulse, every inch of tacit spatial design, it's the work of an expert sculpting a sound which remains influential in the here and now.

Bandcamp

Mike Parker - Forward (Donato Dozzy Remix)

A drop rig recording from my favorite forest pond in Nåsten. The call of the (young?) Black Woodpecker was somewhat reminiscent of a handbrake on a wet rim. In the end of the recording the song (?) of a Long-tailed Tit can be heard as well.

Högbyhatt, Uppsala. September 1, 2025.
Zoom F3 + Clippy EM272 separated 1 m apart

A squeaky handbrake? No, a Black Woodpecker drinking

The small forest pond had almost dried up after a long summer without much rain. Perfect conditions for egg-laying Blue Hawkers patrolling the pond edges. In this recording you will also hear a family of Long-tailed Tits visiting the pond for a drink. In the end a Sparrowhawk flies by and all tits flee (Crested Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Blue Tit, Coal Tit).

Högbyhatt, Uppsala. September 1, 2025.
Zoom F3 + Clippy EM272 spread 1 m apart

Blue Hawkers and Long-tailed Tits

Buy Redwood Sounds

AMB91 Redwoods: Active Nature

In this episode, I converse with an exceptionally talented and dedicated field recorder, Mr. Bo Söderström. As a field recorder, Bo spends a considerable amount of time in the wonderful wild habitats around Uppsala, Sweden. Here, in mature forest, expansive wetlands and various other locations, he has honed his craft to secure intimate recordings of the birdlife in these very special locations. Here in this this interview, Bo selflessly talks in depth about his own processes and shares some wonderful intimate recordings of the very highest quality. A true journey into sound and a wonderful glimpse into the quiet places he chooses to spend his time within. His immersive recordings will take you into the wilds of Sweden and lift the veil on some of the wonderful birdlife found here..

Subscibe to Wild Bird Acoustics here;
https://wildbirdacoustics.buzzsprout.com

Alan Dalton: 
A journey into the wonderful world of field recording birds in their natural environment. Join me at Wild bird Acoustic's to experience incredible soundscapes of wild birds, here in Sweden and further abroad. The podcast will feature sound magazines, trips to wild places and interviews with sound recorders from all around Europe and beyond. Carefully selected audio from the field will inform and educate birders who wish to learn more about bird vocalizations. Going forward, I hope to draw together a community of field recorders, birders and outdoor enthusiasts, to share the sounds of wild birds and places from all over the world....

I hope it will appeal to those who seek a relaxing audio experience, contribute to mental well being and provide an outlet for listener's who seek to escape the stress that modern life can generate.

An Interview with Bo Söderström

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

Fire-bellied Toad lekking

Bo Söderström

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