11/06/18. Noisy pond at Balranald, North Uist.
There is a wonderful walk at RSPB Balranald. I went there in search of corn crakes, but the walk offers so much more; it takes you out along and through the sand dunes, past the machair fields with their white wind blown soils, and into that space just beyond the beaches where all sorts of ...
12/06/18. The Machair at Dusk!! Aird a’ Mhachair, North Uist.
Lots of seabirds and other birds calling after the sun goes down. Down a track that leads to the MoD testing area. The microphones are in the field. I am sitting in the car for 3 hours trying not to disturb what’s going on. Unlike the night before, this was a very still ...
13/06/18. Squeaky trees in Coille Langais during storm Hector.
It was going to be a very windy day on Uist, so I headed for the woods. There aren’t many woods on north Uist, but there are some: I went to Coille Langais (Langass woods) next to the ancient burial mound, Barpa Langais. These woods have a nice history; established in 1969 by the Forestry ...
June 2018. The sounds of water in the Cairngorms.
In her magnificent book, The Living Mountain, Nan Shepherd describes the contribution of water in its many forms to the unique character of the Cairngorms. She celebrates its ever-presence in the landscape, and the various ways we experience it through all of our own senses. “On one short stretch of burn the ear may ...
09/06/18. Young Long Eared Owls. Dalmunzie Castle hotel estate. Glenshee, Cairngorm National Park.
I left my recorder and microphones on a ridge overlooking a small cluster of pine trees to capture the “squeaky gate” call of the young long eared owls. This short extract was from about 11:00pm; it was not yet dark, but the sun was down. The calls are from the young to their parents. They ...
20/05/18. Irish Ferry passes Skokholm.
One morning I went down to South Bay to try contact microphones on the rusted remains of the metal capstan on the dock; at least, I think that’s what it is! There was a deep rumbling. And it was just as intense if I put the microphones directly on the concrete of the dock itself. ...
12/06/18. Tigh a’ Ghearraidh, nr. Hosta, North Uist.
An evening spent on the beach in this isolated spot just north of the extraordinary RSPB Balranald nature reserve on North Uist. The beach is close to a well-known blowhole, though the tide was out when I went, and so unfortunately I couldn’t find this spot. The beach was wonderfully noisy; lots of Oyster ...
