For the third year running the polar jet stream has meandered southwards and brought snow and freezing weather to the whole of the UK. This has led to large numbers of winter migrants being pushed into Devon and Cornwall as they move south-west in search of warmer weather. Almost every tree around our house has several Redwings perched in the branches, and our garden bird list has a new addition, with two Meadow Pipits dropping in to forage for insects and snack on the bird food we put out.

A rather larger group of Meadow Pipits is the subject of this recording, made on the morning of the winter solstice in a field just outside Dawlish. You can also hear the flight calls or Redwing and Fieldfare, the distant drumming of a Great-spotted Woodpecker, and the croak of a Raven.

Recorded with 2 x AT4022 microphones in a partially baffled boundary array and a Tascam HD-P2 recorder.

Posted from Dawlish, England, United Kingdom.

Portabrace AR-HDP2 case

I recently bought a Portabrace¹ case for my Tascam HD-P2 recorder. It took a little while to arrive as the case had to be shipped from the USA (and judging by the date on the manufacturing tag I suspect it was made to order as well) but it was well worth the wait – it protects the recorder all round while still allowing easy access to every control and connector. This evening I tested it in the field for the first time, and while walking around the local lanes I came across this Blackbird (Turdus merula) singing in a hedge about 3 metres away, with the sound of the Aller Brook audible in the background:

Posted from Dawlish, England, United Kingdom.

1. The more-or-less industry standard navy blue bags you see almost every sound recordist carrying their gear in [↩]

For more information on this incredible project, have a look at the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust’s website.

In this recording, No. 60163 Tornado bursts out of Kennaway Tunnel onto the sea wall at Dawlish, whistling to the spectators who have gathered to watch it pass by. The sound of the engine fades into the distance, but the whistle can be heard across the water until the train rounds the curve at Langstone Rock and heads inland up the River Exe.

The recording was made from a breakwater which juts out into the bay about 100 yards from the sea wall, using an Audio-Technica AT825 stereo microphone (in a Rycote windshield – the wind is always blowing out there!) and a Tascam HD-P2 recorder.

Posted from London, England, United Kingdom.