Such a loud song from such a small bird, but the supporting cast is equally as important here, as the background is washed with the sound of millions of mosquito's and of course the incredible booming Bittern. I have to say, this is the first time I've been able to properly record those deep calls with a dish setup, no thanks to the Schoeps CCM 2's that I'm using as a stereo rig alongside the CCM 4 inside the dish. They really open everything up. 

Gear: Sound Devices Mixpre 6 ii / Schoeps CCM 4 / Telinga Dish / CCM 2's

Gavin Vella

River Warbler And Bittern - MixPre 4462

Werbeliner See bei Leipzig, 12.03.2022, 07:00 Uhr.

www.bemtevi.de

Goldammer (Yellowhammer), 12.03.2022

Spring is around the corner but it's very much still winter out there and I'll forever remember this recording, as I just freed my car from a real bad patch of ice, after hours of fetching grit from a grit bin down the road.. not far, but on the ice it took a while just to get down there without falling on my butt lol. Instead of just going home and sulking I got the sound gear out of my boot to record this Great Tit that was singing away the entire time I was stuck and I couldn't record the bugger lol, typically he stopped singing so only got a short recording. 

Gear: Sound Devices MixPre 6 ii / Schoeps CCM 4 / Telinga Dish / Schoeps Mk 2 Stereo Pair

Great Tit Winter Song - MixPre - 6102

Werbeliner See bei Leipzig, 23.04.2023, 07:00 Uhr

www.bemtevi.de

Morning At The Lake, April 2023, 2 Schwarzkehlchen (Stonechat)

I wasn't going to upload this recording as the song got interrupted briefly by a Sedge Warbler. These two were squabbling a bit as the Reed bed they picked to breed in is on the small side, so they don't have a heap of space between their territories and it wasn't helped by the fact that the Reed Warbler was mimicking the sounds of the Sedge Warbler, so it was asking for trouble really. You can even hear the Reed Warbler mimicking its alarm calls right at the end, albeit, softer and quieter than the Sedge but it was funny to witness this heated interaction. 

Gear: Sound Devices MixPre 6 ii / Telinga Dish / Schoeps CCM 4 + Stereo Mk 2's

Reed Warbler And Sedge Interuption - MixPre - 6399

Werbeliner See bei Leipzig, 08.05.2023, 7 Uhr
www.bemtevi.de

Morning At The Lake, May 2023 (Lesser Whitethroat)

Enigmatic Grille

This is a recording of a mug full of water and two sticks of chalk. Chalk has a loud natural reaction when placed in water as the air escapes and bubbles out. Recorded with an Aquarian Audio Hydrophone and a Crank Sturgeon plasti-dipped contact mic inside the mug in the water and a Lom Geofon suctioned onto the outside of the mug. No overdubbing or Fx.

Chalk In Water -Hydrophone, Contact Mic, Geofon - Zoom F6

Out of all digital recordings that I have made since 1991, this is the one I love the most. The bird is magic. 
Recorded with a Telinga stereo parabol and a Sony DAT TCD-D3 machine in June 1991. No filter.
You don´t need headphones for this track.

Whinchat

It might be strange, but this is my first decent recording of Common Frog (Rana temporaria). For some reason I have mostly seen Moor Frogs, although they must be both very common in Estonia. Yesterday evening I was out to record evening soundscapes but it was too windy. On my my way back home I saw a lot of frogs on the road and I checked a familiar ditch in hope to hear some frogs. There were many toads there but also in a shallow pond a happy bunch of common frogs. Luckily the place was mostly protected from wind and I put the tripod with SASS in shallow water. After 15 minutes frogs didnt mind the tripod anymore and started calling again. You can also hear the faint creaking sound of Common Toads in this recording. Recorded on 22. April 2015, 23:10.

Common Frog (Rana temporaria)

This recording was awarded the Silver Fox 2018. The Silver Fox is the overall winner of the annual competition of the Wildlife Sound Recording Society. This is the long version of the recording - the competition entries are allowed to be max. two minutes long.
Recorded 2017 at the Amazon Refuge Lodge in Loreto, Peru. 2 x AT4022 omnis in an Olson Wing array.

River Warbler And Bittern - MixPre 4462

Gavin Vella

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