I was on the south-west coast path early on, and stopped to listen up what the hell was that? A sort of finchy rasp, not really that mellifluous but odd and out of place.
It is indeed out of place, the RSPB set up a specific reserve for this bird, the first they created for a single bird species!
I’ve heard corn bunting in Europe and there’s some sort of resemblance i nthe sound, but the RSPB says the cirl bunting is a close relative of Yellowhammer, which stacks up now I listen to this again. I never got to see this fellow, as I was recording it and didn’t want to flush the bird, it sound quite close.
An early start looking over the reedbeds for some magical birds, the low boom of the Bittern set against some geese.
Shapwick Heath is reasonably quiet in the morning, a bit further way from busy roads that Westhay, and it’s nice that dogs are not permitted, due to the resident otters.
Using the big rig, MKH30/40 MS, SD702 decoded to LR stereo
Corvids were the main attraction at Buckenham Rook roost, but they didn’t find their mojo. They lined up impressively enough on the wires near Buckenham station, Norfolk.
but never really got to make that much of a din. I switched species allegiance to the geese flying overhead to their roost in an easterly direction on the marshes
I’ve heard the corvids at full tilt in the past and this was a desultory performance. They build up their ranks as the year progresses. Maybe I was just that little bit too early in the year for them.
Lake Vrynwy is a RSPB reserve which has a lovely ambience and little noise pollution. Geese and cuckoos in the morning, from the south side of the lake
The South-West coast path takes you high up on the cliffs overlooking Beer beach. A robin was signing, with a background of crows and the waves from a distance.
The Fonnereau Way has been used since the mid-1800s, although it’s been the subject of a fight when a incoming resident at the Westerfield end tried to block it up and have it stopped on several occasions. Network Rail has also had it in for the pedestrian level crossing but have also failed to have it struck off.
The Fonnereau Way is the mainly vertical line to the left, with a bridge to put ‘elf’n’safety at Network Rail out of its misery
Becoming a housing estate will clearly change this part of the Fonnereau Way, so I walked this to capture some pictures and soon to be historical sounds from the route. The farmland is intensively farmed and heavily sprayed as I’ve observed a few times, it’s quite possible that being turned into a housing estate may actually increase the biodiversity. Although the birds will be persecuted by hundreds of domestic cats and the gardens will no doubt be tiny, the farmland doesn’t support that many birds at the moment.
The Fonnereau Way starts from Christchurch Park, but I started where the changes will be made, where it crosses Valley Road. In the local plan all vehicle access will be from Henley Road rather than Valley Road.
the nondescript entrance to the Fonnereau Way from Valley Road
and it’s a noisy place. It gets better quickly as the old path threads its way past some sports facilities and the playing fields
before reaching farmland
There are a few birds in the farmland, but to be honest the urban Brunswick Road Rec has more diversity to my ears, the birds are few and far between
Ipswich council did a nice job making this rec better for wildlife while keeping the facilities. It’s a pleasant little oasis of birdlife. The birds are getting up earlier than the Sunday traffic on the ring road. This recording is a lovely piece of avian exuberance and joie de vivre.
There is a little nature reserve by the canal near the football ground, an oasis of calm. The water is sluggish with green on top apart from where the water seems to well up from the river bed in these gently roiling clear pools. I don’t think the water makes any sound here, there is some background traffic noise which would mask it.
The nature reserve was improved by the Access to Nature project in 2012. It’s easy to be cynical about some of these projects but this one seems to have worked really well, and there was a lot more birdsong in this part of path by the canal than in the unimproved bits.
Seems like it’s been a successful year for our swifts, they have been breeding and screaming parties are heard overhead.
They’re still as hard to record as they were last year, however there are more of them it seems. I got the AT XY mics on the job this time. Maybe next year I will try a seriously long boom pole to get the mic pointed straight up in the air and use the directional pattern against some of the noise and traffic rumble of the town, but I’m still of the view swifts sound best in the city!
