23/04/2021 Buxton Wood, Stiperstones, Shropshire
A bright cloudless sunny day, temperature about 7ºC.
About 10:35.
Redstart calling in the top of an oak tree in Buxton Wood, an upland oak, ash and holly wood on the ridge of a hill.
Nagra Seven and SQN 5S
Telinga parabolic reflector fitted with a Neumann KM184 cardioid mike.

Nagra Seven20210423103956 007 Redstart

Nightingales recorded at Castor Hanglands NNR (Ailsworth Heath) Sunday 06/05/2012 from 03:30 to 04:45. Even with a double Bank Holiday following, there is still traffic noise from the A1 Great North Road and the A47.
Nagra LB 24 bit 192 khz with a Sennheiser MKH 418-S.

Nightingales

A pine plantation on the steep slopes near The Rock and Rock Farm on the end of the Stiperstones range in Shropshire. I was up before dawn on the 17th of March 2022 and set up my Mid-Side mikes (Sennheiser MKH30-40 combo in a Rycote blimp) on a lighting stand and ran 30m of cable back to the recorder, a Sound Devices MixPre 3 II. The recorder was left running whilst I went for a walk on Black Rhadley to photograph the moon setting over Corndon Hill just over the border in Montgomeryshire, Wales. The recorder was set at 32-bit Float at 192kHz and was edited (topped and tailed, normalised and fades added) in Izotope RX 9.

2022 03 17 The Rock at dawn

07/05/2023 circa 05:00
International Dawn Chorus Day 2023
Between the gates to Black Rhadley facing south south east
Conifer plantation beneath The Rock to the left, former pond in front and heather/bilberry scrub to the right. Hedge behind.
SoundDevices MixPre-3 II 192kHz 32-bit float
Neumann KM183 omnis in Rycote Baby Ball Gags and Windjammers spaced 60cm apart on a Rycote Stereo Bar
Low cloud and overcast
Sunrise due at 05:30
Cuckoo, Song Thrush, Rooks, Wrens, Pheasant, Sheep, Cows, Quad Bike, Willow Warbler

2023 05 07 - Black Rhadley 2nd Edit 24bit 96k

21/05/2023 circa 03:51
Overnight recording at Nipstone Rock, Stiperstones, Shropshire. A mid/side combination of Sennheiser MKH30/MHK40 on a 30 metre cable to a Sound Devices MixPre-3 II recording 192KhZ 32-bit float. The mikes were in a Rycote Windshield and Windjammer, mounted on an old mike stand. I'd set them up in the shelter of Nipstone Rock so they were pointing towards west towards Montgomeryshire/Powis.
This segment started at about 03:51 and there are Curlew, Woodcock, Cows, Nightjar, Tawny Owl and Wood Pigeon. I can't identify the calls of the small bird that is calling fairly regularly.
Recording has wind rumble filtered out below 400 Hz and has been boosted by -20 Db as the Nightjar was away off to the right.

2023 05 21 - Nipstone Nightjar 48kHz

20140504 Dawn Chorus Buxton Wood 16bit

Original recorded on SQN 5-S and Nagra Seven using Jez riley French contact mikes, 192kHz 24-bit.
The wire fence that runs west-east at Hills and Holes National Nature Reserve. A warm summer morning, with a light breeze that created a deep drone when the wind vibrated the top strand of the wire.

Fence, Hills And Holes 2017 08 27 1030

The tail-end of Storm Henry, sheltering behind some Corsican Pines at Bedford Purlieus NNR.
Nagra Seven and SQN 5-S 24-bit 192mHz Neuman KM183 and Sennheiser MKH30 M/S set-up.

Nagra Seven20160201163354 010 Boundary Corsican Pines

A bird I hadn't heard in around twenty years. Recorded at Swaddywell nature reserve in Cambridgeshire, owned by the Langdyke Countryside Trust.
SQN 5-S mk III and Nagra Seven at 192 kHz 24-bit using a Neumann KM184 cardioid reverse mounted in a Telinga parabolic reflector.
Lots of background noise from the stone quarry next door, the traffic and many light aircraft (plus a RAF Typhoon). Heavily processed in Logic Pro X.

Grasshopper Warbler at Swaddywell 2018 05 03

Recorded on an iPhone of a short call by what I believe is a Goshawk. The bird was calling from a mixed pine and larch plantation on a hill ridge which then chases to an oak, ash and holly wood.
One of the files is the straight audio, the other has been boosted using RX 7.

IMG 2462 Audio

Recording of a potential Goshawk in the Shropshire Hills 01/03/2021 10:54 GMT
Sennheiser MKH418-S M/S into a SQN 5S III and then to a Nagra Seven 192/24.
Early low cloud had largely been replaced by bright sunshine and around 2ºC.

Nick Dando

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