Ebbor Gorge, Somerset Dawn Chorus

There’s a welcome reduction in aircraft during the coronavirus pandemic, which means our soundscapes aren’t scarred by the rumble of jets. I listened to the lovely soundscape unfold, with an extract from the early part of the chorus which is more sparse, the later part which is denser and richer in sound.

It was a lovely expedition to a local nature reserve, and I am intrigued to sample other nearby soundscapes with less human-induced noise. The gorge helps shield the valley from noise, it will be interesting to see if this works on the Somerset Levels as well, which don’t have the protection of lots of limestone rock.

Cuckoos, Lake Vrynwy

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

 

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Mill Stream Nightingale

This has been a good year for nightingales

The oaks are part of the historical boundary of Rushmere St Andrew

but I was still surprised to hear one so close to the town, in an area very disturbed by dog-walkers.

Robins at Alderman Canal

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.