This spring an overwintering queen wasp emerged from hibernation and chose our shed as the site to create her colony. Colonies are usually formed below ground, as was the case in 2015, when I made this recording by the entrance hole under one of our flowerbeds.
https://soundcloud.com/mark-wilkinson1-1/wasps
After initially building a small nest with chewed up wood pulp, which dries to make a papery substance, the queen begins to lay eggs which develop into non-reproductive workers. The workers take over the care of the nest, and the queen becomes an egg laying machine, growing the colony through the summer. At the end of autumn a number of eggs develop into new queens and males, which leave the nest and mate. The new queens seek out suitable places in which to hibernate, and the males and the old colony (including the old queen) die.

2 x DPA4060 to Sound Devices 702 mixed to one mono track. 1.30am, 14/06/17, Hertfordshire, UK

Reference: Naturespot - http://www.naturespot.org.uk/species/common-wasp

Vespula Vulgaris Nest At Night Barwick 140617 MONO

180613 05:54 White Stork, Beak Clattering, Juveniles hissing in nest

extract of 'Beast From the East' From the album ‘Strange-Eyed Constellations 2 (various Artists)’. Released by Disco Gecko Recordings.  http://soundcloud.com/discogeckorecordings.

Available Now! http://smarturl.it/strange-eyed2 

Other artists on the album include:
Andrew Heath (http://soundcloud.com/andrewheatharts)
Banco De Gaia (http://soundcloud.com/bancodegaia)
Experiments in Silence (http://soundcloud.com/experimentsinsilence)
Glenn Marshall (http://soundcloud.com/glenn-marshall-75079951)
Halcyon Daze (http://soundcloud.com/halcyondaze2)
Phonsonic (http://soundcloud.com/phonsonic)
Simon McCorry (http://soundcloud.com/amonism)
Simon Power (http://soundcloud.com/simonpowermusic)
Toby Marks (http://soundcloud.com/tobymarksmusic)

Strange-Eyed Constellations2 various Artists

Beast From the East

Beast From the East (extract)

Female Long-eared owl calling from a tree by the Lough Neagh shore Co. Antrim. Telinga Parabolic mic and Sony PCM D100

Female Long-eared owl at the shore of Lough Neagh Co Antrim

Curlew at Lough Neagh, Co Antrim. Telinga Parabolic Mic and Sony D100 recorder.

Curlew calling at night on Lough Neagh

Lapwing in courtship at Lough Neagh, Ireland.

Lapwing Courtship Flight Calls

Some snow is smelting in the street close to the port of Turku, drops of water are falling inside the manhole. Very close recording with the mic as close as possible.

Recorded with an ORTF setup Schoeps CCM4 x 2 on a Cinela Suspension
Recorder MixPre6 by Sound Devices
Original Recording in Wave 96kHz 24bit
Recorded on 7th of April 2019 in Turku, Finland.
During a residency at Titanik Gallery.
GPS: 60.435320,22.237472

Turku 2019

Rhythmic drops of smelting snow in the street trough a manhole (Turku, Finland)

April 20, 2019. The recording begins at 7.37 in the morning. I really like diversity of birds in Matsalu but recording is somewhat difficult because there are no natural obstacles (thick forest or mountains) to preventing noise from the roads. It's not technically pure clean recording. It's a sketch, the groundwork, note in my audio notebook.

A walk through the landscape of Matsalu National Park, Estonia.

Kingfisher call highlights from a dawn to dusk recording at Bottisham Lock, Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire, UK. 19 instances of kingfisher calls during the 8 daylight hours.  Approximately one every 25 minutes throughout the day. 22nd January 2020.

AudioMoth sound recorder. Mono. 16/48.

Kingfishers at Bottisham Lock

With storm Jorge gusting at 70mph on the beach at Newborough, Anglesey, off the North West coast of Wales, I decided not to leave any 'posh' microphones or recorders out all night.  I wanted to locate the famous Ravenry though - for later in the week, when the winds have died down.  I left two AudioMoth recorders out in dry-bags - at a location that looked a likely spot (plenty of corvid poo on the ground below) from 4pm until lunchtime the following morning.  The wind was too strong when the corvids arrived at the roost at dusk (although they can just be heard above the wind noise on the recording).  However, by dawn, the wind had dropped to 30 to 40 mph and the corvids can be heard waking up and chatting - as well as the more usual 'tweety' birds doing their usual dawn chorus thing.  Yep - I think I've found a good spot for recording the ravens later in the week when the wind-speed has dropped.

Dawn in the woods at Newborough, Anglesey.  Recorded with two (mono) AudioMoth recorders - each in a dry-bag hung from a low branch - about 200 metres apart.  Mixed as a pseudo-stereo (one recording panned 40% left, the other 40% right) recording.  No EQ. Mono source files 48kHz, 16 bit using the AudioMoth built-in MEMS microphones.

Dawn at the Corvid Roost on Anglesey whilst Storm Jorge blows

Evening at the corvid roost in Newborough Forest on Anglesey as the corvids arrive and settle down for the night.  Rather breezy and the sea still noisy from Storm Jorge which passed through a couple of days ago.

Binaural recording - best listened to using headphones.
 
The sea can be heard over to the left (Malltraeth Bay) and less so to the right (Llanddwyn Bay) whilst the wind billows around the Scots Pines - all around.

'Posh Pammy' dummy head with anatomically correct pinnae and MKH8020 microphones.  Recorded 48/24 to a SD MixPre-6.  2nd March 2020.

Vespula Vulgaris Nest At Night Barwick 140617 MONO

Mark Wilkinson1

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