Suffolk is a county of clouds, and on the coast, in a holiday chalet in Kessingland, we struggle to remember codes, and are not easily calmed by the decor. 

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Kessingland

This recording has come about by my activities on the Constable Ambisonic project, where I'll be making ambisonic sound recordings of 20 locations of paintings by John Constable. https://www.constableambisonic.co.uk/

As I explore and reacquaint myself with 'Constable Country' I have been recording in a variety of locations in and around the Dedham Vale. This recording was made on a footpath leading up the hill from Fen Bridge Lane in East Bergholt on a lovely warm sunny afternoon. The first bird that I heard as I started walking to the site was a cuckoo and soon many more birds joined the throng, including Reed Bunting, Wren, Blackbird, Chiffchaff, Song Thrush, Robin, Skylark, Whitethroat, Goldfinch, Blue Tit, Cuckoo, Chaffinch, Stonechat, Linnet, Dunnock, Blackcap, Crow, Pheasant, Great Tie, Greylag Goose and Magpie. 

As much as my birding skills are improving I still rely heavily on the excellent Merlin Bird App https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org

Reed Bunting and Cuckoo, Fen Bridge Lane, East Bergholt, Essex - 17th May 2025

Yesterday a storm front blew in and passed over head. In front of it the warm summer air and behind it the cooler air of autumn. I didn’t realise until it had passed but the difference was clear and defining. Today the wind is feisty, autumnal, and its effects on the trees dominates the sonic space. Imagine being a tree, or a nomad, constantly at the mercy of the elements. No wonder the leaves are browning, yellowing, reddening, having endured months of intense sunlight, rain, wind, with no respite. Those fragile paper thin structures, so hardy.

I have come on a Friday to avoid the hordes, families, paddleboarders, dog owners, smokers, and sometimes that’s just one person, screaming, splashing, smiling, relaxing. Living. But that’s not for me. I prefer the quiet solitude of off-peak. I usually prefer off-piste too, but this project is otherwise, out of my comfort zone and into the spotlight, but doing what I enjoy most.

Pond skaters, ducks, the weir letting the Stour trickle through, holding it back, keeping it slow and steady, like the rental revenue on those flats in the Mill building. It is a different mill to in Constable’s time, but still. It stands as a monument to industry, labour, the effort of those generations making their daily bread, surviving, working for the man. It is strange that in just one spot, place, so many decisions, influences, powers, monies, have come to gather to make a once navigable river to transport goods, from Mistley, where seagoing vessels were unloaded on to Lighters (barges) as far inland as the ‘port’ of Sudnury. And then to transport different goods in the reverse direction. Just a few decades later and it was superseded by the railways.

A man on a strange paddle board/seagoing kayak/super yacht hybrid, lots of berries on the trees in readiness for winter, some harsh pruning. He notices me, and the kit, and studies us for a while before paddling off. I have swam in this mill pond several times but the water quality is too bad now, my trunks staying put in their new drawer for a good few months yet. ‘Danger: Deep Water’. I hope someone is in deep water and that CEO’s the land over are carrying the can for the unacceptable state of the Countries waterways. A woman in a puffer jacket taking a photograph across the pond, a damsel fly, which is one of the 22 species on this river, I am unable to tell which, a woman jogging, fish making swirls on the waters surface, a dark cloud covering the sun and turning off the heat.

​One day this place will not be here, and all of the memories of it will be gone.

A sock in a tree, a bus heading to Dedham, a motorbike, those with the loudest mouths, exhausts, will be remembered, a man looking at the mic as he goes by, two people all dressed in blue with binoculars, the fish trying to catch flies just above the waters surface, a couple that I have seen four times walking their dog but the man walks ahead followed by the dog pulling the woman reluctantly along, a strimmer or maybe a hedge trimmer.

 Watch the whole hour on YouTube https://youtu.be/clQXSbnL3DY

Dedham Lock and Mill - 12th September 2025 (excerpt)

It’s been a long trek on public transport to get here, and a bit stressful on the Tube with all of the tripods and kit bag, that has put in to perspective a few things. It would have taken Constable, everyone, a lot longer to get around. For instance Constable used to walk from East Bergholt to Stratford St.Mary to catch the Stagecoach, which would then take 9-12 hours, conditions permitting, to get to London. Also on this project I’m working relatively close to home and have a car so can reach nearly everywhere pretty easily. Yes, I know that I’m having an impact and I have been weighing up the value of my work versus the impact I am having on the natural world. This work isn’t solely for me, but will be a sonic record for use by anyone in the future, under a Creative Commons licence. My carbon footprint, though quite large as much as car runs on petrol, is considerably less than a Shahed drone, from manufacture to deployment, and I feel that these recordings offer a somewhat more positive contribution to society than those. Still, it’s important to evaluate why and for whom I am doing this work, any work, and the benefits and side effect thereof. 

This triangle of land between roads and off of the main body of Hampstead Heath is rather sedate and affords a calm spot amongst the bustle of the city. Parakeets, car horns, a helicopter, a couple walking their dogs, a jet overhead banking in to the clouds that are gorgeous shades of blue grey. A golden labrador being stroked by some strangers, a slow 4/4 beat (approx 115bpm) in the distance, women with jackets tied around their waists, two girls questioning what was worth filming over there, a woman talking on ‘hands free’, the pulse in my knee making my crossed leg bounce up and down, the bench plaque reading ’34º43’34.8”N 139º23’41.1”E’, laughter coming from the couple on the bench along the way, a woman waiting for her dog to do a poo, lot’s of gilets on the edge of Hampstead and it makes sense that building stopped before the steep slope here, people waling behind me, pairs of people stopping to check their phones so maybe there is a Pokemon Go here, an invisible layer of the world bringing members of a different community to this corner of the world. 

There are lots of layers, digital, geological, social, historical, atmospheric, all relevant to the same ‘place’.

A heron, a beech leaf with a hole in it, some loud angry talking followed by some sirens, it's always about this time in a recording I’m feeling the need for some punctuation so maybe this is it, a different siren, a man in a cap pacing up and down, the cloud slowly thinning and more light reaching down to Earth, girls with coffees, a Vespa, a man whistling for his dog, a woman with a dog waving to the whistling man, they are pleased to see each other, the man has treats, a small boy on a bike stopping right in front of the mic, his father calling him away in possibly Italian.

My body clock is a bit anxious today as it guessed at 55 minutes, a fire engine, leaves are falling from the trees at about 5 per minute (within my limited field of view), a man with a blue helmet on a bike gets off of his bike and heads down the track in front of the camera.

I wonder if Constable was spoken to, questioned, viewed suspiciously, had his motive interrogated by members of the public whilst out capturing the landscape, I have over the years and with sound its easy to appease people’s suspicions but with image I imagine it will be more difficult. I’m sure I will find out.

Two lads stop talking as they pass by the mic and resume further along the path. 

Birds identified are Magpie, Sparrow, Wren, Great Tit, Dunnock, Robin and Chiffchaff.

Hampstead Heath looking towards Harrow - 27th September 2025 (excerpt)

Psychic Investigations:
exploring the weird British Isles

Stuart’s work is inspired by location and the people, experiences and objects he encounters there. 

He is particularly interested in sounds that are associated with place, overlooked and overheard noises of the everyday and highlighting the auditory as a defining factor in how we experience a particular environment. 
​
His recordings of people, their activities, experiences and environs have contributed to art installations, phone apps, archival records, dance performances, public consultation events, musical compositions, a computer game, a eulogy and sound tracks to short films.

New tracks tagged #john constable