St Paul’s Cathedral is only a stone’s throw from the tall glass-faced buildings of London’s financial district. I was sitting in the gardens ot the cathedral, and the bells sounded really odd, as if there was an organist following on after then about 2 seconds late. This must be the echo coming from the glass-fronted buildings about 0,5km away, it does nothing for the tone
Canary Wharf Shopping Mall
Some upmarket busking in the ground floor Canary Wharf shopping mall
Spinney Birdlife
There’s a spinney nearby, so over the holidays I got myself into the tree and rigged a pair of omnis, and stood really still. The first thing I heard was the mournful repeated tone of the collared dove, a steady counterpoint to the recording, with its mournful ho-HOO-hoo, with the stress on the first syllable. Later on the woodpigeon appears, with its ho-hoo-HOO-HOO-ho-hoo, and there are various other birds flitting around in the undergrowth.
It was a very windy day, so there is a lot of wind noise in the trees, which adds atmosphere for me, reminding me of a special moment with the birds
Nightingale on the heath
My bike ride to work takes me past open fields and for a short stretch over some sandy heathland. I was surprised to hear a nightingale in the distance – I had to stop and listen to the lovely sound
this was recorded using an omni MP3 recorder so it’s not a fantastic species recording, but it captures the moment for me 🙂 The singing males have come all the way from Africa, and they have scouted their territories. They are hoping to call the females down from the sky as they arrive a couple of weeks later. It feels surprisingly early to hear nightingale song at the moment.
Campsea Ash Auction Rooms
Auction in progress, classic auction patter
The livestock and game auctions at Campsea Ashe bring out a whole much of characters, full of good old Suffolk boys with strong accents. And a few loud cocks too
Loud cocks
Southwold Footbridge Ripples
Windy recording of the ripples lapping at the mudbanks by the Southwold Footbridge
It was a seriously windy day, good for ripples but not so good for the recording.
Under The Pier show soundmark
Tim Hunkin’s madcap creations at the Under the Pier show at Southwold have their own soundmarks, but this rhythmic squeak from the animated sign is the one that most reminds me of this attraction.
A Vee of Geese overflying Southwold Pier at dusk
I was recording the waves at Southwold pier as darkness started to fall. The air was still enough to give it a go without being taken down by the sea winds.
Suddenly, in the distance I hear the sound of geese, and a massive vee of geese pass overhead, possibly a hundred birds in all
Fairground Roundabout
This fairground roundabout was set up in the town centre, and seemed to have some sort of mechanical organ contraption in the middle which delivered this hurdy-gurdy melody.
Christchurch Park Mistle Thrush
In Christchurch Park in the centre of Ipswich near the Mansion, there was this mistle thrush giving off the football rattle sound, a welcome piece of wildlife in the town centre on a freezing day. Somehow the city sounds in the background give him some edge, even though it’s hardly a classic species recording.
The sudden boost at the end is the bird diving off to take up some issue with a bird in a yew in the graveyard