Dawn in the forest

After a couple of weeks when the dawn has been too wet or windy for recording, I finally made it up to Haldon Forest for the August recording of my year-long project.

Unfortunately the wind was carrying the sound of the A38 main road across the forest to where I was recording, and even after filtering there is still some traffic noise audible. For this reason I've made this month's track a condensed version with only the most interesting bits of action.

After remaining quiet all summer, the Fallow Deer are becoming more vocal as they approach the rutting season. A group of seven deer crossed the road only metres from the car as I was recording, including the first antlered stag I've seen this year.

Also heard in this recording are a couple of summer migrants, now close to the end of their stay but still making their voices heard. First of all a Nightjar, which actually swooped overhead, silhouetted against the dawn sky, before it called. Towards the end of the recording a Chiffchaff also breaks into song.

Partially baffled boundary array

This recording was the first field test of a new type of stereo array for my AT4022 microphones. Drawing on the design of Crown's "SASS" microphones and also the research of several members of the NatureRecordists Yahoo group, this features two angled wooden boundary plates with an acoustic  foam baffle between them. My initial feeling is that it significantly improves the width and localisation of the stereo field - comments and opinions are very welcome!

Even when things don't go quite to plan with the recording it's still wonderful to be out in the forest so early in the morning - driving back I caught a glimpse of fog around Exeter, so I made a detour to a point where I could look down onto the city rising out of the morning mist.

Exeter surrounded by fog

Posted from Newton Abbot, England, United Kingdom.

It's now late July, and the dawn chorus is virtually non-existent. With breeding over most of the birds are busy feeding on the abundance of insects and seeds around the forest and are quiet except for occasional contact calls. In the distance a Nightjar calls over the scrubland, and then falls silent as the light grows. Tawny Owls and a Kestrel can also be heard, before a group of Ravens arrive in the area. Towards the end of the piece a Great-spotted Woodpecker flies in and begins feeding on a nearby tree.

This is actually a condensed version of an 80-minute recording, with passing cars/aircraft and long periods with little or no activity removed. The Raven segment has been left pretty much intact however, to include the wide variety of different calls the birds produce.

Recorded with 2 x AT4022 omnidirectional microphones in a parallel boundary array, connected to a Tascam HD-P2 recorder. Filtering applied with apQualizr to remove distant traffic noise, and levels boosted by 20dB for easier listening.

Posted from Newton Abbot, England, United Kingdom.

Shapwick Heath (© Li-Li Williams 2010)

These two recordings come from a weekend spent in the Somerset Levels, one of south-west England's richest wildlife habitats. An area of peat moorland less than 5m above sea level, the Levels have endured centuries of agricultural drainage and peat extraction. Several nature reserves have now been established, collectively refereed to as the Avalon Marshes. Consisting of thousands of acres of rough pasture, flooded peat workings and moorland, the marshes are now an important habitat for breeding and wintering birds.

The first track is from Shapwick Heath National Nature Reserve (NNR) and was recorded at 9:30pm. Shapwick Heath and the adjoining Ham Wall NNR support a large population of introduced Marsh Frogs (Rana ridibunda). The origin of these isn't clear, but they seem to have been around for many years. In this recording the microphones are positioned beside a marshy pond, surrounded by trees. A cloud of mosquitoes over the water create a drone loud enough to register on the recording, although you may need to listen through headphones for the full itch-inducing effect. As the Marsh Frogs begin croaking a Tawny Owl hunting over the marshes joins in with an occasional hoot.

The second recording was made at 5:15am the following morning in Ham Wall NNR, from a hide overlooking a flooded peat working. The reason for using the hide will become apparent during the recording when a sudden rain shower passes through - the weather that morning was far from ideal! Again we hear the Marsh Frogs, although as the daylight grows they become much less vocal. A pair of Mute Swan were feeding on submerged plants just in front of the hide - you can hear them calling to each other with quiet grunts, and occasionally blowing bubbles beneath the surface. Also listen out for the cow which is clearly trying to pass itself off as a booming Bittern!

We never did hear a Bittern that day, but we certainly saw one - what both Lil and myself had taken to be a large tuft of grass about 10m in front of us on a grassy track suddenly spread its wings and flew away across the marshes. Shows just how good their camouflage is!

Posted from Bridgwater, England, United Kingdom.

Posted from Cheriton Bishop, England, United Kingdom.

Posted from Glastonbury, England, United Kingdom.

We arrived at the heath just before sunset, and walked out to one of the more remote areas. The site is bordered by farmland and bisected by a well-used B-road, so vehicle noise is an issue everywhere. We heard the first Nightjar calling in the distance at around 21:40, some 20 minutes after sunset. This bird was too far away to record successfully, but hearing it churring along with a late Skylark and a just-awakening Tawny Owl was beautiful. We then slowly retraced our steps back to the parking area and came across another bird calling from a clump of conifer trees. Again, this was a little too far away to record, and after a few minutes it moved on to another part of the heath.

At this point we split up for a few minutes - Lil wanted to check out the local bat life with her detector and I wanted to look at the conifer trees to see whether there were any decent concealed recording sites close by. As I headed back down the path to meet up with Lil again I could hear a Nightjar calling in front of me. The bird had landed on a bare branch about 10m from where Lil was standing, and I managed to get this recording before it moved on. At the end of the recording you hear a wonderful example of the bird "clapping" by striking its wings together over its back as it flies away.

The recording was made with a Sennheiser ME66/K6 microphone and a Tascam HD-P2 recorder. Levels boosted by 20dB in post and some filtering applied using apQualizr to remove distant traffic noise.

Posted from Bishopsteignton, England, United Kingdom.

1. For those of you not from the UK this is a series which runs for a few weeks in late Spring following various wildlife stories using hidden cameras and location film crews [↩]

The AT4022 is an omnidirectional microphone, meaning it is equally sensitive to sound from all directions.¹ Because of this, an ORTF set-up like I was using with the RØDE NT1As would deliver very little in the way of stereo. Instead I've mounted the microphones in a parallel boundary array, based on the work of Curt Olson and other contributors to the Naturerecordists Yahoo group (photos below).

These recordings are from a morning spent testing the new rig on the sand dunes at Dawlish Warren NNR. The microphones are connected to a Tascam HD-P2 recorder, and the only post-processing is a gain boost of around 20dB to save you turning up your speakers!

Whitethroat (Sylvia communis)

Skylark (Alauda arvensis)

Initial thoughts - the self-noise of the microphone is definitely more noticeable that that of the NT1As² but the recordings have a far more natural feel. With the NT1As I always "knew" I was listening to a recording, whereas with a good set of headphones it's possible to completely lose yourself in the AT4022 recordings and feel like you're back in the field listening to the birds. My guess is this is partly down to the more even frequency response of the new microphones, along with the better stereo field created by the parallel boundary array.

The recordings were made on a fairly breezy morning, and the only protection on the microphones was the simple foam cover provided in the box. Aside from a few particularly strong gusts I had no trouble with wind noise while recording - another advantage of omnidirectional microphones which are typically much less sensitive to wind than cardioids.

Posted from Exmouth, England, United Kingdom.

1. Theoretically anyway. In practice the response pattern becomes a little uneven at higher frequencies - see this diagram: http://eu.audio-technica.com/en/resources/e873eb8efe56cafc_at4022_polar.jpg [↩]
2. The AT4022 is rated at 13dB(A) self-noise as opposed to the  5dB(A) of the NT1A, one of the quietest consumer microphones available [↩]

Posted from Ashcombe, England, United Kingdom.

Posted from Ashcombe, England, United Kingdom.

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

As the recording begins, the sun has just dropped below the horizon, and a Blackbird is still singing in the scrubby bushes on top of the sand dunes. Although the air is perfectly still, recent bad weather has left the sea quite rough, and the pounding of the waves on the far side of the dunes forms a constant bass rumble. As Herring Gulls stream overhead on their way out to sea, small groups of Curlew and Redshank begin to drop into a roosting site about 100m away along the water's edge. Just after the 7 minute mark, one of the Brent Goose flocks that winter on the Exe Estuary flies in and lands in the distance.

As the birds continue to arrive, and the rising tide shrinks the roosting space available, occasional scuffles break out. Eventually,  at 12m 39s, something causes most of the roosting birds to take to the air and circle before settling again. Peace returns until 17m 40s, when a Blackbird begins to give an alarm call, almost certainly in response to an approaching hawk. The hawk (from its size probably a Sparrowhawk, although Peregrine seems more likely in that habitat) actually flies past the microphones at 18m 21s, the rush of its wings just audible above the surf. I was sitting on a driftwood log just behind the microphones, and the bird passed by at eye level about 2m away, just a grey ghost in the twilight. Although the birds don't take flight again the presence of the hawk seems to unnerve them, and both the Redshank and Curlew are very vocal for the last few minutes of the recording.

If you're wondering what the quiet sizzling and popping noises are right through the clip, it's not the microphones acting up in the cold, damp air (the aluminium tripod was running with condensation when I finished recording) but the tide creeping in across the mud. By the time I packed up and left the water was only a few inches from the feet of the tripod!