27/10/19. Leighton Moss: Grisedale hide very early in the morning.
I went back to the hide for about 5am when I knew there would probably be no people there, and perhaps I could capture the sounds of the deer out of the hide window. The hide faces the pool, the reed beds, and the fields beyond. To get the deer, I really needed to be ...
26/10/19. Leighton Moss: Grisedale hide at dusk.
October is red deer rutting time at Leighton Moss, and so I spent some time on this late afternoon sitting outside Grisedale hide listening to them bellow. Unfortunately, even late in the day the traffic noise by the reserve is unrelenting. The sound of bellowing red deer sits right in the midst of ...
26/10/19. Waders on the shore at Silverdale, Lancashire, as the tide comes in and the rain comes down.
The tide came in at about 9:30pm or so that evening. it was raining. About an hour before high tide there are hundreds of waders feeding on the sandbanks in Morecambe Bay. The tide gradually pushes them off, and they often leave in large groups, sometimes coming further inland; sometimes going back out to the ...
12/05/19. Dawn Chorus in the woods at Cominac. Part II
Sitting there in the dark, surrounded by forest sounds was wonderful. The first birds of the morning followed by some barking deer. Then lots of rustling sounds all around, from foraging deer I think. A cuckoo starts up; then more deer barking. The chorus reaches a crescendo; and the tawny owls are still ...
12/05/19. Dawn Chorus in the woods at Cominac. Part I
I sat on a comfortable and quiet rotting log by the track after setting up my microphones in a wood clearing. It was quite early; about 5am, and there was very little sound except for those noises made by those of us present setting up our kit across the forest to record the dawn chorus. ...
10/05/19. Black redstarts in Aulus-les-Bains before dawn.
I sat on a bench in the quiet narrow winding streets of Aulus well before dawn and waited for the Black Redstarts. In the background the River Garbet can be heard as it continues to empty the spring thaw down the valley. Black redstarts are quite rare in the UK; I had never heard one ...
10/05/19. Meadow above Aulus-les-Bains
Beautiful secluded meadow near Ustou, above Aulus-les-Bains; late afternoon. I sat at the edge of a boggy corner of this meadow and listened to the bees and other insects together with lots of birds. This is a short excerpt from the hour I spent there. Unfortunately, there were also lots of plane noises, and ...
