Recorded at my local spot - only about a kilometer from my home.  This section from about 5:20am on Sunday 5th May 2024, which was International Dawn Chorus Day (IDCD 2024).  In a ditch close to the bank of the River Cam.  Just opposite the sailing boat club - if you know that stretch of river.  Sadly, much fewer sedge warblers than we have heard over the last few years at this location due to the rather (over) enthusiastic hedgerow clearing over the winter by the sailing boat club.  Some traffic noise (to the left) from the local road as well as the A10 and A14 - the rumble of which can be clearly heard from this location over the flat and mostly treeless fen.  Recorded using two small mics (EM172) in wind 'fluffies' clipped to either side of a pollarded willow trunk. Recorded in 32 bit (floating) at 48kHz on a Zoom F3.  A reasonable selection of riverside warblers, finches and waterfowl can be heard above the background traffic noise. Sadly, no sign of any cuckoos this year - I haven't heard one (yet) this year and there are usually one or two along this stretch of river.

Waterbeach riverside listening at dawn on IDCD 2024

One of my bee hives has a frame with microphones permanently installed.  It is too cold at this time of year to lift the roof of a hive to visually inspect the bees ....but I always have a good listen to then on a day between Christmas and New Year. I made an recording this year for over an hour.  The microphones are a piezo contact mic embeded in their beeswax comb (which acts as a large diaphram) and a DPA4060 lavalier mic on the same frame in a brass mesh cage to protect it and prevent the bees from gumming it up with wax and propolis.  The microphones are orhtagonal to each other and are mixed in a 'mid-side' configuration - giving a nice 'stereo' soundscape.  This Christmas I got a Meng-Qi Wingie 2 audio resonator as a present.  Its a dual channel resonator which can 'chime' to certain frequencies if a sound of the right frequency is input.  I proceced  the recording through both channels of the resonator.  One channel was set to 'polyphonic' and I found a nice Minor Pentatonic triad - which made the bees sound like a choir harmonising toghether.  The other channel I set to 'strings' which makes a nice plucking/ringing sound when excited at the right resonant frequency by a loud bee and 'pings'.  The Wingie 'enhanced' version is faded in and out during the middle section of the recording.  I think I'm going to have fun with the Wingie - applying it to some of my (vast) library of field sound recordings.

Resonating Bees

The first proper outdoor test of my new homemade 'Gladys' hydrophone.  Some common frogs in a neighbours garden pond.  Thanks Katie!  Pleased with how they sound.  Nice flat response.

Frogs Gladys Hydrophone

Spring Equinox March 2025.  Whistlewood Common, Melbourne, Debyshire. Olympus LS-P5 recorder.  On the side of a small pond full of frog spawn.  Close to main road and East Midlands airport.

Whistlewood Equinox mix. Frogs and spring bird calls.

Dawn Chorus from about 3:30am to 7am on Easter Sunday morning 2025.  Recorded from the woodland on one of the islands in the 23 acre lake at Waterbeach. Good mix of birds and development of the chorus - from early stirrings in the heronry, robins, wrens, woodland species and finally building into a crescendo including noisy geese and corvids.  Bank holiday weekends are often good for recording dawn choruses as there's often very little human (traffic) noise early in the mornings.  Thanks to Urban & Civic for permission to canoe over to the island at dusk to leave my recording equipment, returning in the morninging to collect it again. Also, special thanks to Network Rail for cancelling all the trains this weekend (!) adding to the beautiful peaceful morning.  Binaural recording with 'Pammy' my dummy head with a pair of MKH8020 mics - recorded 24/48KHz to a SD MixPre-6.

Dawn Chorus Waterbeach Lake Easter 2025

Dusk at the Heronry - Waterbeach Lake. Easter 2025.  The unique sound of herons 'quacking'.  I understand this to be the 'begging call' of young herons at the nest.  Some distance away - I didn't want to get too close and disturb these birds.  I was setting up an overnight recording rig to capture the following morning's dawn chorus.  "Pammy' the binaural dummy head with a pair of MKH8020 mics to a SD MixPre-6. 24/48kHz.

New tracks tagged #Field Sound Recording