Wood ants in the Beeches
This is a mono recording taking from a mound nest of the southern wood ant Formica rufa in Burnham Beeches, Buckinghamshire on a warm, sunny day in July 2017. JrF Contact microphone to Sound Devices 702
Category: In the field
A Robin in the garden
It was in the late summer and autumn of 2016 that the relationship with our garden robin truly began to take on a new depth. When we were tidying the flowerbeds it would often alight next to one of us, often within no more than a couple of feet. And if…
Signposts #1: Black Water, White Rocks – Patrick Franke
Since becoming interested in wildlife and field sound recording a few years ago I have had the pleasure of meeting some wonderful people, many of whom have been kind enough to share their knowledge and experience as I began to learn the craft. One of those is Patrick Franke whose…
Northern Wheatear
I saw my first wheatear on the grass retaining bank near the car-park at Wilstone Reservoir near Tring. It was a bracing spring day – clear skies, bright sunshine and a nipping wind that stung the cheeks as I searched the hedgerow for a singing chiff-chaff that had caught my…
Meet the youngster
Over the last year or so, we have built a rather special relationship with a robin in our garden. The story is worthy of a longer post, but as a bit of a taster, here’s an image of the last fledgling from the multiple broods raised by ‘our’ robin this spring…
Bitterns in flight
Lakenheath Reserve is one of our favourite places and on a visit back in June it was again the venue for a wonderful wildlife encounter. Leaving the car-park shortly before dawn, we made our way out at a steady pace through reed-beds alive to the sound of sedge and reed…
White letter Hairstreak
A new addition to the list of butterfly visitors to our garden, this male (I think!) White Letter Hairstreak dropped by today, taking a feed on the Asters.
Stone worship
My first memory of seeing Stonehenge, that most majestic of neolithic monuments that dominates the Salisbury Plain landscape just west of Amesbury in Wiltshire, was from the back seat of my parent’s white Rover as we sailed – or crawled – along the A303, the highway to the sun on our…
Nightsounds – a wasp nest in the shed
This spring an overwintering queen wasp vespula vulgaris emerged from hibernation and chose our shed as the site to create her colony. Colonies are usually formed below ground, as was the case in 2015, when I made this recording by the entrance hole under one of our flowerbeds. After initially…
….. worth two in the bush
The chance to join a bird ringing session was an opportunity not to be missed, so when friend and fellow WSRS member Bill Parker mentioned he would be ringing later that week, in a conversation during our recent sound recording trip to Somerset, I was quick to ask if I…
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A Robin in the garden
It was in the late summer and autumn of 2016 that the relationship with our garden robin truly began to take on a new depth. When we were tidying the flowerbeds it would often alight next to one of us, often within no more than a couple of feet. And if…
Signposts #1: Black Water, White Rocks – Patrick Franke
Since becoming interested in wildlife and field sound recording a few years ago I have had the pleasure of meeting some wonderful people, many of whom have been kind enough to share their knowledge and experience as I began to learn the craft. One of those is Patrick Franke whose…
Northern Wheatear
I saw my first wheatear on the grass retaining bank near the car-park at Wilstone Reservoir near Tring. It was a bracing spring day – clear skies, bright sunshine and a nipping wind that stung the cheeks as I searched the hedgerow for a singing chiff-chaff that had caught my…
Meet the youngster
Over the last year or so, we have built a rather special relationship with a robin in our garden. The story is worthy of a longer post, but as a bit of a taster, here’s an image of the last fledgling from the multiple broods raised by ‘our’ robin this spring…
Bitterns in flight
Lakenheath Reserve is one of our favourite places and on a visit back in June it was again the venue for a wonderful wildlife encounter. Leaving the car-park shortly before dawn, we made our way out at a steady pace through reed-beds alive to the sound of sedge and reed…
White letter Hairstreak
A new addition to the list of butterfly visitors to our garden, this male (I think!) White Letter Hairstreak dropped by today, taking a feed on the Asters.
Stone worship
My first memory of seeing Stonehenge, that most majestic of neolithic monuments that dominates the Salisbury Plain landscape just west of Amesbury in Wiltshire, was from the back seat of my parent’s white Rover as we sailed – or crawled – along the A303, the highway to the sun on our…
Nightsounds – a wasp nest in the shed
This spring an overwintering queen wasp vespula vulgaris emerged from hibernation and chose our shed as the site to create her colony. Colonies are usually formed below ground, as was the case in 2015, when I made this recording by the entrance hole under one of our flowerbeds. After initially…
….. worth two in the bush
The chance to join a bird ringing session was an opportunity not to be missed, so when friend and fellow WSRS member Bill Parker mentioned he would be ringing later that week, in a conversation during our recent sound recording trip to Somerset, I was quick to ask if I…