In 2025 I have visited four breeding sites where males were calling early in the year but there had been no signs of breeding later in the Spring. This was until yesterday when I stumbled upon a breeding pair. In this recording you can first hear begging calls of the female and later on what I gather is the female song (more the tone of a Wood Pigeon than in the male). 

Uppland. May 4, 2025.
Mixpre 3ii + Wildtronics stereoparabolic dish

Lapland Owl breeding in Uppland also this year!

Early morning along the West coast of Sweden and the gulls reign over the small fishing village. Common Gulls, Herring Gulls and Great Black-backed Gulls are prominent voices before humans wake up.

Fiskebäckskil, Bohuslän. July 21, 2025.
Zoom F3 + Clippy EM272 spaces 1.5 m apart.

A flock of seagulls

Cheddington Station (OM 08 83cm) 1100¬1200 - 2025_07_10

Sadly I am unable to hear wart-biters and bush-crickets live anymore since I lost most of my hearing above 7000 Hz. The Dark Bush-cricket sings with a frequence of 9500 to 11500 Hz. But using the equalizer I could increase the volume just enough that I could hear them. You will notice that it sits much closer to the right microphone.

Fiskebäckskil, Bohuslän. July 21, 2025.
Zoom F3 + Clippy EM272

Dark Bush-cricket high-frequency song

Red Deer Hind Vocalisations in a thunderstorm.

Rycote ORTF blimp with USI Pro inside. Zoom f3 Recorder, in a small group of younger pine spruce trees.
Unedited recording other than fade in/out.

Rainfall Recording with DIY raincover (made from filter material)

A second meditative recording made at night from within a rock cave at Remarkable Rocks, Kangaroo Island; this one from April 2025, on a very still, calm, full moon night. The first three and a half minutes of this track are recorded from outside the cave, from the granite dome overlooking the ocean. The rest of the track is recorded from inside the cave, with the microphones pointing up towards the curved, scalloped granite ceiling where it merges with the back of the cave. This recording was made with a pair of MKH 8040s in ORTF.

Related recording: https://soundcloud.com/hearingbeings/20241212-night-ocean-in-a-cave-remarkable-rocks-kangaroo-island-early-summer

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 mainland Ramindjeri, Ngarrindjeri, Kaurna, and Narangga peoples.

2025.04.13 Ancient Cave and Ancient Ocean.

I performed a comparison between the 3.5mm Plug-In Power and 48V XLR Phantom inputs of the MicTrak ZOOM M4 recorder.
The first part was with two 3.5mm Plug-In Power shots; the second part was with two 48V XLR shots.
I used two PUI AOM5024 capsules simultaneously on both channels.
The file was normalized to 0.1 dB.
Downloadable file..

ZOOM M4 - 3.5mm PIP Plug In Power Vs. XLR 48v - NORMALIZED up to 0.1 dB PUI AOM5024 capsules

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

Lapland Owl breeding in Uppland also this year!

Bo Söderström

Related tracks