RSPB Fowlmere

Birdsong

This is a recording of water entering the Fowlmere nature reserve via an inflow pipe at the southern, watercress farm end of the reserve.

Fowlmere Inflow

The sound of water, recorded at Fowlmere, near the watercress beds at the southern end of the reserve. Prior to emerging into a pool, the water is pumped through a tall U bend of pipe-work. This is a recording of the sounds from the pipes.

Fowlmere Pipes

This is an 8 minute recording , made at RSPB Fowlmere, Cambridgeshire in the die-ing light of an evening in early September. Water droplets drip from the hide. Ducks call from the lake. A mute swan honks, then leaves the water and flaps its wings. Other water birds call from the reeds. A farmer rattles a metal gate as he checks on his grazing cattle. The A10 at nearby Melbourn provides an underlying hum. Trains pull into and depart from Shepreth station. Planes fly over on their approach to Stansted. As a climax, a flock of corvids fly-over and settle in their roost.

Fowlmere: The sound of the last light Of the day

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

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

Turtle Dove - Streptopelia turtur
Taking it's english name from the latin, and that from it's call, the purring call of the Turtle Dove is a rare sound in the english landscape of today. Diminishing habitat, both in summer and winter and the persecution of mediterranean hunters on migration, mean that the turtle dove may soon disappear from our shores.
Telinga Pro8 MkII omni & cardoid mixed to mono - some EQ
4.45am 27/5/2017 Fowlmere, Cambridgeshire UK

Turtle Dove Fowlmere 270517 MONO

European Greenfinch - Carduelis chloris

Telinga Pro8 MkII omni & cardoid mixed to mono - some EQ
27/5/2017 Fowlmere, Cambridgeshire UK

Greenfinch Fowlmere 270517 MONO

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

Turtle Dove Fowlmere 270517 MONO

Mark Wilkinson1