On a hike in the Outer Hebrides, not far from artist Julie Brook's Winter Wall there was a sudden excitement. Aside from the elements churning the airwaves, these parts are silent. So I was happy to encounter this gregarious bunch. It sounded like the feeling was not necessarily shared. I love the stone clacking sounds of the aptly named stonechats.

Species: European Stonechat (Saxicola rubicola), Eurasian Wren · (Troglodytes troglodytes) 
Location: Aird Mhor, Isle of Harris, Outer Hebrides, Scotland
Date and time: 7 August 2023, 15h32
Habitat: Moorland

Gear used:
Sound Devices 744T 
Sennheiser MKH 8040 in a parabolic dish and Brady mics (omni clippys) in AB.

Stonechats and Wrens

On a still summer's night I heard this sound piercing through the single-glazed windows of our cottage, in rural Ireland. I could not see where it was coming from partly because it was pitch black midnight (no moon), and partly because the direction of the sounds themselves is disorientingly hard to pinpoint. 

To me they seemed to come from the swing we had in the garden, or maybe my associative sonic brain was making a fool of me. In any case, the begging calls of these juveniles were loud and clear, and I felt elated that they would choose our garden to stop and call - which they did for over 30 minutes.

Species: Long-eared Owl (Asio otus)
Location: Kilteen Glebe, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland
Date and time: 24 July 2019, 00h15 
Habitat: Lowland farmland

Photo credits: Pawel Wiecek, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Gear used:
Sound Devices 744T
Sennhesier MKH 8040 and MKH 30 in Mid-Side configuration (decoded)

Long-Eared Owl Juveniles

Family ties to Argentina make it a place I hold dearly in my heart. Fifteen years after my first and only visit, I was back. This time with a recorder in hand and a will to explore. 

This recording was made on the marshes that border the Paraná river, the second longest river in South America after the mighty Amazon.

You can hear Southern lapwings, or Teros as they are known locally, very common in these parts and all of South America except dense forests. Teros have benefited from the extension of open grassland habitat through widespread cattle ranching. The other predominant species in this recording are grasshoppers, one of the Tero's main food sources. 

You could say these sounds are representative sample of this vast green landscape. It is my submission to the BioPortraits project https://soundcloud.com/bioportraits led by Maria Emilia Pérez and Damián Alférez in Argentina, which aims to showcase nature through sound and science.

Species: Southern lapwing (Vanellus chilensis)
Location: somewhere near Zárate, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina
Date and time: 31 December 2009, 19:32
Habitat: River marshes, grassland
Gear: Fostex FR2-LE, Rode NT4

Southern Lapwing And Grasshoppers

On a hilltop in the Outer Hebrides on our way to work, we kept encountering this individual. It was always a moment for pause as the air was filled with the echoes of its flight call, quite probably an alarm a call alerting of our presence, in what is usually a wild remote corner. We traversed the land respectfully. I had never heard or seen a loon - as they're also called. This medley is a shortened version of a recording I made at that location on one occasion.

Species: Red-throated loon (Gavia stellata)
Location: Aird Bheag, Isla of Harris, Outer Hebrides, Scotland
Date and time: 10 August 2018, 10:23
Habitat: Moorland

Red-Throated Diver (medley)

Coming back from the funeral of one of our daughter's great-grandparents we stopped in Wales. It was rainy and damp but the fresh tunes of the wood warblers by the morning campfire warmed our souls.

Wood warblers are widespread and numerous in deciduous forest in Europe and reaches their highest densities in the UK in the western oak woods of Wales, which is where this recording was made.

Species: Wood warbler (Phylloscopus sibilatrix), Telor y coed (in Welsh)
Location: Graig Wen Campsite, Barmouth, Wales, UK.
Date and time: 5 May 2018, 7:00 
Habitat: Woodland
Gear: Sony PCM-D50

Wood Warbler Mornings

The Pallas' Leaf Warbler is certainly one of the most beautiful leaf warblers of the Western Palearctic. Coveted in Europe as a rare and exceptional species during migration, few European people come into contact with its song. Yet its complex song is just as attractive and at the same time little studied.
In Asia, on the other hand, the bird is common and therefore receives much less attention. Here it is simply one species within the large variation of leaf warblers, which, in contrast to the European representatives, almost all have complex songs.
species in background: Blyth's Pipit, Isabelline Shrike, Common Rock Thrush, Pacific Swift, Eurasian Tree Sparrow, domestic horses

PFR07774 - Pallas' Leaf Warbler, M song, Mongolia

Jerry Berrier is a birder, a wildlife sound recordist, and an outspoken advocate for the natural world. And, he’s been blind since birth. In this episode he tells his remarkable story, and explains how his blindness, while clearly not an advantage in the modern world, does not slow him down.

Episode 268-Meet Jerry Berrier

It was a pleasure spending a few minutes recording this gull perched on a container at Miavaig Pier, in the Isle of Lewis. It was a quiet Sunday morning, as the locals respect the traditional Sabbath. The reverberation on the pier stones and buildings gives one that quintessential port soundscape.

Species: European Herring Gull (Larus argentatus)
Location: Miavaig, Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland
Date and time: 13 February 2022, 10:54 AM
Habitat: Coast

Gear:
Sennheiser MKH8040s + MKH30 in Double Mid-Side, decoded to Stereo 
Sound Devices 744T

Picture by
Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0

Herring Gull of Miavaig

This sea loch is located on the western coast of the Isle of Lewis. There is a whole Atlantic Ocean until the next land mass, with the exception perhaps of the St Kilda archipelago. I was blown away by the amount of activity down below the trusty dinghy. There was a depth of 15-20m and the hydrophones were hanging at about 8m below the surface, and spaced about 2m apart.

Species: Pistol shrimp, unidentified fish likely the long-spined scorpion fish (Taurulus bubalis)
Location: Loch Tealasbhaigh, Isla of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland
Date and time: 11 August 2018 at 12:12
Habitat: Sea loch, coastal, underwater

Gear
Aquarian Audio H2A
Sound Devices 722

Under Tealasbhaigh Loch

Sedge warblers are explosive little songsters and one of the mimicking superstars of the avian world. I had the chance to spend several spring mornings on a private island on Lough Macnean, and got to experience these relentless announcements at close quarters.

Species: Sedge warbler (Acrocephalus schoenobaenus)
Location: Brady Island, Lough Macnean Lower, Co. Fermanagh, Northern Ireland.
Date and time: 29 April 2021, 8:30am
Habitat: Farmland, wetland, reed beds

Gear used:
Sennheiser MKH 8040 on Innercore Parabolic
Sound Devices 744T
Nikon D750
Tamron 150-600mm

Processing: High pass filter and de-noising

Sedge Warbler of Brady Island

I photograph, record, and write about the natural world. I see, I listen, I write. I fundamentally believe that curiosity can save the world—so I publish stories to make people curious. Ultimately, curiosity leads to discovery, discovery leads to knowledge, knowledge leads to insight, and insight leads to understanding. Please enjoy!

Patrick Franke – Field biologist & recordist
Vice-chairman Wildlife Sound Recording Society
Board-member Finch Research Network
🇮🇱

Hi! I'm Ángel, Sound Artist and Field Recordist. My inspiration is the natural world. I run SoundArk. offering Audio Production and Post-Production services. I'm based in the United Kingdom, and have been lucky to travel the world through my trade.

www.soundarkstudios.com
angel@soundarkstudios.com
 
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