Birdsong

Blackbird roosting calls

Description
This is a recording of the song of the male blackbird. The blackbird surely ranks as one of our most familiar birds and also one of our most vocal, with a beautiful song that can be heard throughout most of the year in our woodlands, parks and gardens. In remote areas, where blackbirds rarely encounter humans they can be shy and retiring, but they are often much more bold and confiding in urban areas. Early morning and evening are usually the best times to hear the male blackbirds at their most lyrical, as they proclaim mates and territories from favoured song posts. Each song is often two to three seconds long with a similar interval before the next burst, and is rich and mellow with a languid delivery and fluted quality. Most birds have a wide repertoire of songs and birds can even develop a 'regional accent' as certain characteristic phrases spread through adjacent territories. Most of our breeding blackbirds are resident with around 4.5 million pairs breeding in Britain. Large winter influxes of migratory blackbirds from the continent can swell the population to between fourteen and twenty million birds. There was concern that numbers had been declining since the 1970's but recent surveys suggest the populations may well have stabilised.

Find out more about this recording on the British Library Sounds website: http://sounds.bl.uk/Environment/British-wildlife-recordings/022M-W1CDR0001521-1000V0

Duration
00:00:40

Shelf mark
W1CDR0001521 BD10

Subjects
Birds

Recording date
1970s

Recording locations
OS Grid Reference(484500,140500)

Recordist
Williams, Aubrey John

Species
Blackbird, Turdus merula


Blackbird song, United Kingdom, 1970s

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

Gavin Vella

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

The sounds of a new day in the African bush. This album was recorded in Northern Tuli Game Reserve in Botswana and features the diverse sounds of birds and wildlife in an ecotone of mopane woodland and arid savanna.

Botswana: Dawn in Tuli Wilderness

Botswana: Dawn in Tuli Wilderness - Album Sample

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

The sounds of wildlife at night in the African bush. This album was recorded in Northern Tuli Game Reserve in Botswana and features the sounds of some iconic species often heard at night in Africa's savannas and woodlands, including lion, leopard, elephant, Spotted Hyena and Black-backed Jackal, as well as nocturnal birds such as Pearl-spotted Owlet & African Scops Owl.

Botswana – Night in the African Bush

Botswana: Night in the African Bush - Album Sample

Chant des Grenouilles communes dans la mare de l'ESAT, à Saint-Ulfrant

Eure

Grenouille commune, Pelophylax kl. esculentus, à Pont-Audemer (27) Eure, France un 12 mai 2024

This is a recording of the call of the robin. The robin is without doubt the most well-loved and best-known British bird. It is also one of the most widespread birds, being found in most gardens during the winter although somewhat scarcer during the breeding season. In Britain, it is very confiding and will often associate with gardeners digging the soil in order to take advantage of worms, or beetle larvae that become unearthed. Both male and female have identical plumage and can only be identified by their behaviour. The male is an extremely pugnacious and territorial little bird. It rarely moves more than 5 km from its birth site and will try to maintain a territory throughout the year, defending it very aggressively from interlopers. This explains why the male robin sings almost throughout the year. Its song however, varies much in composition during the course of the year and is at its strongest and most powerful from around Christmas when breeding territories become established. Disturbed robins also produce an urgent 'tic' as an alarm call. In good years, robins may produce three broods and this fecundity helps counter the severe winters which can cause very high mortality. There are 4,500,000 territories in Britain and the population is thought to be relatively stable.

Shelf mark
W1CDR0001389 BD4

Subjects
Birds

Recording date
1960s

Recording locations
OS Grid Reference(303500,86500)

Recordist
Shove, Lawrence

Species
Robin, Erithacus rubecula

Image reference https://pixabay.com/photos/robin-bird-nature-animal-world-3287974/

Robin calls (example 1), United Kingdom, 1960s

The song of a male wren recorded in woodland. The diminutive wren has a remarkably loud voice considering its size; its vocalizations consist of a loud rattling call and warbling song. This bird is brown and rather rounded in appearance with a short narrow tail which is often held in a cocked position. This species is relatively common in Britain and seen in a variety of habitats including woodland, farmland, moorland, gardens and parks. 

Shelf mark
W1CDR0001401 BD3

Subjects
Birds

Recording date
1960s

Recording locations
OS Grid Reference(73500,868500)

Recordist
Shove, Lawrence

Species
Wren, Troglodytes troglodytes

Image reference www.flickr.com/photos/postmanpetecoluk/50766335221 (Pete Beard)

Wren song (example 2), United Kingdom, 1960s

Nice to get a different song type here that I've not actually heard before. Slightly lower pitch but but the first note in the phrase is lower pitch again. Over-all a slower tempo also, focusing on a smoother bend rather than pumping out high pitch phrases. 

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

Willow Tit Song Type 2 - MixPre-7374

A common sound of the British countryside, all-year-round. 

Gear: Sound Devices Mixpre 6 ii + Schoeps CCM 4 & Lom Usi Pro Stereo Pair with Telinga Dish

Wren Alarm Call - MixPre - 3158

Robin in song, winter. 

Also audible in this recording: Song Thrush, Dunnock, Coot, Moorhen, Long-tailed Tit and Carrion Crow. 

Recorded at Fonthill Lake, Wiltshire on 18th February 1999 by Richard Savage, and shared as part of the British Library sound collection: https://soundcloud.com/the-british-library/robin-song-wiltshire-1999 

This recording is reproduced under Creative Commons licence CC-BY-3.0.

Profile Image by TeeFarm from Pixabay

Wren Alarm Call - MixPre - 3158

Gavin Vella

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