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Sound Recording

Nocmig

Birding

My first ‘birding’ trip to Llandegfedd this year proved fruitful with a Kittiwake flying in over our heads on the dam wall, continuing on a NW flight path. Not sure if it’s a migrating bird or if it’s been blown off course during the last storm but I presume it’s the latter. There’s so much we don’t yet know about migratory birds, which is why Nocmig recording is quite an exciting activity to take part in. All that community data could really help paint a bigger picture about bird movements and distribution and all this could be achieved from the comfort of your home. So far I’ve only heard a Swallow, I haven’t actually seen one yet but looking forward to it.

One spring migrant I’ve certainly heard plenty of so far is the Chiffchaff. At first I wasn’t sure if it was just the birds that overwintered here that were singing, but I can confirm now on the Gwent Levels that they’re everywhere already! Here’s a recording from Llandegfedd this week.

I love this time of year, as winter migrants start to properly sing and ‘warm up’ to spring, but at the same time, spring migrants are arriving and starting to reclaim territories, so you get this cross-over of sounds from birds that live in totally different worlds to each other. You would have probably heard this by now but if you haven’t, keep a close eye on the Ivy and Holly bushes, especially around open fields of waterways. As the Redwing flock up, they’ll often sing together, creating a wall of sound that sounds way bigger than it actually is. The scratchy sub-song of the Redwing is quite common in winter but it’s less common to get a single bird sing their spring song, which is exactly what you can hear slightly in the recording below. Just a few fluty notes is all it takes.

I’ve recorded quite a lot so I won’t post everything, but here’s a comparison between the song of a Goldcrest and a Firecrest. Other than the fact that they’re both high pitch, they’re quite different when you know what you’re listening out for, so here’s a comparison. That dainty, bouncy rhythm of the Goldcrest is quite distinctive compared to the Firecrests loud-sharp-monotone song, that speeds up towards the end.

I have plenty more new recordings to listen to. I’m really starting to become more proud of the work that I do, and the benefits that it has, not just for my own mental health, but for others than are stuck in isolation, not just because of covid lockdowns but because they’re confined to the house, care home or hospital bed.
Below, probably one of my favourite, as it’s my very own Garden Blackbird that is now gracing me every morning and evening. I’ve commented on the track where mimicry is used.

My local Yellowhammer’s are back on territory and it’s so nice to hear this iconic song again. I can’t imagine the countryside without it. We need more gorse! Hedgerows aren’t enough, we need to protect our gorse patches and not allow farming culture to cut it all down. Even the brecon beacons national park have a lot to answer for, for needlessly cutting down gorse. Cattle can graze around it, and it doesn’t spoilt the view, it enhances it, as a mountain side covered in flowering gorse is a site to behold.

If you haven’t managed to get to your local mountains yet, the moorland soundtrack is in full swing again. Plenty of Skylark and Meadow Pipit displaying. The only sad the about that trip was seeing the amount of destruction done to our protected peat bogs. 4X4 and off-road vehicles have a lot to answer for, not only do they pose a threat to ground nesting birds but the damage they’ve have caused to our nationally important peat bogs is almost irreversible. They think it’s just grass, and that the grass will grow back, but that is not our moorlands work! they aren’t in many ways like ancient woodland, formed over hundreds of years, and once damaged like this, take a very long time to recover. The exposed peat makes the moorland less affective at storing water, which can cause flooding, as that water is no longer being stored and released slowly. It also contributes to global warming, as it makes the peat less affective at storing carbon. I hate seeing this happen on our doorstep but truth is, it’s happening everywhere. It’s good to see the police are starting to tackle this but I do think that off-roaders need somewhere where they can practise their hobby and enjoy themselves without causing damage. Simply educating people isn’t going to be enough.

Some other cool moments for sound were these Carrion Crows, that were in full territorial dispute. At first I thought they were dive bombing a predator, but they were actually dive bombing each other. |f you listen to the start of the recording, you can hear two birds forming a bond with each other by rubbing their bills together.

I’ll hopefully get more opportunities to record Siskin, as I know they can be excellent at mimicking other birds. In this recording you can hear Swallow and Green Woodpecker, but I’ve heard some that are quite elaborate with it.

This Robin actually did a pretty good job at mimicking other birds. I’ve commented a few of the more obvious species on the actual track, check them out.

Nocmig

Right! Now onto the good stuff, as migration is well and truly underway! And like last spring, I have high hopes for something special flying over the house. So far it’s been mixed bags, but last night, despite the northerly winds, I had quite a variety of cool birds.

I won’t upload every recording, but I’ve also had Wigeon, Snipe and good numbers of Moorhen, Coot, Mallard, Redwing and small numbers of Song Thrush too. As we approach April, things should really pick up, as so much starts moving, it’s quite exciting as you never know what you might have flying over your house at night. I’m expecting Common Scoter any day now as they have started moving all across the country but I’m also looking forward to Terns arriving, Spotted Flycatchers and Tree Pipits, which seemed to be a popular one for me last year.

I’ll end with some sleep material and a celebration of my local streams.


In Our Nature CIC

Be sure to check out my business In Our Nature CIC as we roll out free online workshops and downloadable resources, as part of our Heritage Lottery funded project My Local Patch.

We have a few dates for the diary, which were intended on being outdoor workshops originally but we’re having to adapt like many other businesses and provide our workshops online. It’s all new for us so bare with us as we digitise all our material. It’s the perfect time to celebrate our local patches, and be thankful for the things we do have on our doorstep during these difficult times.

Naturally I’ve diverted a lot of my time over to In Our Nature, which is another reason why I’ve focused so much on sound recording the last year, to increase my sound library to produce content that will be beneficial for educational purposes and therapeutic, as the sounds of nature really do have a positive impact on peoples mental health. That sense of freedom, roaming your favourite forest straight after a long lockdown is one of the biggest releases and I cannot wait to be able to travel again for that reason alone. For now I’ve been exploiting local patches, getting up that extra bit early to avoid the sounds of traffic, which isn’t always achievable but I’ve done my best. Local Marsh Tit’s were a real nice surprise, especially as they appeared to be paired up and singing. Generally though I’m just happy to start hearing more birds singing.

One interesting songster came in the form of this Chaffinch, which gave a little ‘brrrrrrr’ type trill at the start, as if it were warming up the vocals before giving it the full shebang.

Nocmig

I haven’t posted any updates on my nocturnal migration progress for a while, but I’m still at it!
So much to talk about I don’t even know where to start, but I hope to reveal some mystery files soon once I’ve got them approved but so far, a few good movements of Song Thrush, small numbers of Redwing, but the Mallards, Moorhens, Coots and Oystercatchers have began. I know as soon as I start to get Oystercatchers going over the house it’s game on.

I’ll end with some random doorstep photos, in what has been a variable and unpredictable few months of weather so far this year.

January Whiplash

January is giving me whiplash! Heavy rain and flooding, followed by a cold snap, followed by mild weather which spurred on an early spring with more birds singing and spring flowers emerging, then we got hit with snow, but swiftly followed by rain and milder temps again. Either way, I think the over-all pull of spring is fast approaching, no matter what the weather throws at us, it’s just around the corner.

January has the potential to be a little depressing for me, especially with Lockdown’s and a period of ill health and in general, a lot of stress in the family right now. So far though, we’ve dealt with everything together, no thanks to a good support system from my loved ones. The reassuring feeling that spring is fast upon us, is also very up-lifting. Already in the Garden I’m hearing a variety of different birds joining in on the action, as winter food supplies are running out, it can be a difficult time of year if the cold drags out any longer, but despite the cold night time temps, the daytime temps have been way above average and I’m already seeing substantial growth from my Daffodils in my Garden. Reports online of Great Spotted Woodpeckers drumming, Blue Tit’s making nests and plenty of Frogspawn in ponds. It’l be a few more weeks yet and really anything could happen as I’m reminded of the beast from the east that we experienced a few years ago.

I had a period of ill health, back and forth hospital with suspected gall bladder problems (again) but once I was feeling a bit more myself I started to record the birds I could hear from my doorstep. Everything in the little playlist below was taken from the comfort of my home.

Prior to the hospital trips I was enjoying getting out on my daily walks along the canal, and thankfully I was in walking distance of a Black Redstart, that was found by Marcus Doolan along the cycle track near Tesco. Such a random place, right next to a busy main road, but I believe the bird stayed for a while. It could even be still there! It was so tame, not very often you have to take the teleconverters off the camera, so all these were shot at 300mm (on a 1.6x crop sensor). Such a beautiful bird though, and well worth the walk.

Along the way, I was surprised to see so many Goosander, that appear to be getting a lot more socialised around people than they once were. I remember just a few years ago with one or two present along the south Sebastopol stretch of canal, but as soon as they saw anybody coming, they would fly away. Now though, they are following the Mallards around and coming in for the bread thrown out by public. Considering bread is bad for Ducks, I can’t imagine it’s that great for Goosander either, especially given that their diet usually consist of fish.

I’m back to work now though, awaiting some results from the specialist, so hopefully this experience will push my investigation along a bit quicker. My surveying Jobs take me to some random places, but for the last two years I’ve spent a lot of time surveying parts of the Gwent Levels. This week I had two very different locations to survey, one being a very busy farm and the other alongside the very tranquil Magor Marsh Nature Reserve.
I am very appreciative of my Job at the moment as I’ve particularly struggled this lockdown, as I know many of you are too. So I took the time before and after some of my surveys to capture a taste of what those areas sounded like. I hope you take the time to listen with your headphones as I’ve embraced the sounds of the environment, including sounds that I would typical avoid, like tractors, dogs, cars, trains ect, as we don't always get to chose our daily soundtrack, especially during these lockdown periods.

I’ll start with my day on the farm. Snow was on the ground, with -5 morning temps on a dawn survey, but spring was still in the area, with my first drumming Great Spotted Woodpecker and plenty of other birds to keep me perked up.

Also you’ll know by now already, I enjoy recording mimicking birds, and that morning I recorded this Robin, which gave a few good impressions during the short period I recorded. One phrase of a Great Tit, followed by another of a Blue Tit, but attempts were made to mimic Cetti’s Warbler and Goldfinch towards the end.

By far the best mimicker of the bunch though was this iconic Starling, which towards the end does a very convincing Yellowhammer Song! when not being outcompeted by a nearby Robin. As incredible Starlings are at mimicking, they aren’t very loud singers.

On another survey, I was lucky to have Magor Marsh Nature Reserve on my route, as part of a wider scope survey across the Gwent Levels. I was surprised to see Mute Swans building a nest already, but listening to the recordings below you would think it was spring, as so much was singing that morning. 2 Gadwall of note from the hide, one female of which has a white wing bar, which I have seen before. Only 6 Teal, 1 Kingfisher and plenty of Mallard, Coot, Little Grebe and Moorhens on the pond. Lesser Redpolls seem to be using the reserve quite often too and still plenty of Cetti’s Warblers making themselves known from time to time.

As I said, there were a lot singing that morning, but it’s always nice to get a recording of wintering birds singing, like this Redwing. This is their subsong rather than their full breeding song, but personally I tend to prefer the more complicated, scratchy subsongs.

I’ll leave you with plenty more songsters, including a performance from a Jackdaw that was trying to impress a female. Finishing with a Great Tit alarm calling, but specifically using their ‘Human’ alarm call, which is basically the bird telling me that they know I’m there… a bit pointless if you ask me but who knows what experiences these birds have with other people.

Seasonal Greetings

Summary

What a year it’s been. The impact of 2020 will be felt for a long time I’m sure, but I do believe there’s been some important lessons for us all this year. I had a very scary experience with Covid in April, being hospitalised twice, and despite coming out the other end, it’s been months before I’ve felt some what myself again. I have been very lucky, and I think that’s the whole point with this virus as it affects everyone differently. To think that there are still sceptic people out there who deny the very reality of Covid, just because there remains a cloud of mystery around how data is interpreted. Frankly, I couldn’t care less about how accurate the death counts were, people ARE dying and HAVE died from this virus, and that should be enough for people to start thinking about their actions. That doesn’t mean living in fear, it means proactively making decisions to minimise risks. That is literally all we can do. I think the government have had to make very difficult decisions this year, for the economy and peoples wellbeing. Do I think they made all the right decisions? of course not. There were times that too much trust was given to the people, and there were times where we weren’t given enough trust., timings were never perfect, typically too late to act but sometimes too early. Ultimately though, the power always remained in own hands and if we all continue to make sensible decisions, that doesn’t put others at risk, then that is all we can do. I really do feel for people who’s careers have been put on hold, kids that have lost out on a basic education and the amount of pressure put on small businesses, people who are self-employed or rely on face-face interactions to do their Job. I can’t imagine what you’ve all had todo in order to survive this. Of course some people simply haven’t, and are continuing to find their way out the other end of this long tunnel, but I do believe this will come to an end. Who would have thought we’d already have a vaccine? Am I sceptical about how fast it’s been produced and approved? Not at all. Will I have a vaccine if they become available to public? without a doubt, because I do not what to catch that virus again. If there is anything we had to succeed in as a race, it was this. We’ve overcome so much in our history already and I’m sad to say, this will unlikely be the last. We’re going to face big challenges in the future, with even greater stakes on the table. Climate change is catching up with us but all we can do is work together and great things can be achieved.

Willow Tit

So what else has 2020 produced? Well, conservation partners like the RSPB, BTO, WWT, DAERA, JNCC, NatureScot, NE and NRW have all worked together to compiled a ‘State of the Uk’s Bird’s 2020’ report.
It’s worth a read so here’s the link to BTO’s website, on which you can download the report yourself.
We all new species are declining all over the world.

One of the many declining species on the report, was the Willow Tit, which is now Britains fastest declining native species. This news comes just in time as one of our last breeding sites in Gwent has been decimated, so much so that there’s not even a stump left of what was perfect habitat. Enquiries are underway as to how and why this has happened. Thankfully, the site is located in Gwent’s largest forest ‘Wentwood’, so I can only hope the birds that did breed there, have found a suitable alternative elsewhere in the forest. Prior to knowing about the destruction of this breeding site, I found not one, but 3 Willow Tit’s, feeding and following each other around at a new spot in the forest. The habitat isn’t perfect, but it has a mixture of tree’s that will become much more suitable in the next few years. One of the three birds was actually singing, which is early as they don’t usually start till January, but temps so far this winter have been quite mild. I also managed to capture a sound that as apparently been undocumented before, which I’m told is an aggressive ‘warble’ described in old text to have a ‘nightingale feel’. I mistook this sound at first as being some sort of courtship contact call, as it was following what I thought was a female, but it could of actually been another male as I’ve been told that they also flock up in the winter, typical behaviour from the ‘Tit’ family.

Their song though is quite beautiful, and one I won’t mistake if I heard it again.

Looking Back

It seems to be a trend to look back on the years achievements, and despite all odds, it’s actually been a very productive year for me. Developing my sound recording has been both a therapeutic exercise to improve my own wellbeing between lockdowns, but it’s also been an opportunity to develop ideas that supports my new, collaborative business ‘In Our Nature CIC’. We’re so excited to be kicking off 2021 with our first project, which has been supported by HLF Funding. The Project is called ‘My Local Patch’ and you’ll be able to learn more about it here. Soon we’ll have a members area for participants of the project where you’ll be able to download resources and get involved in our workshops between now and the end of March. You can show your interest by creating an account on the website, so we know who you are and can invite you to events. Otherwise keep an eye out on our Facebook group
It’ll depend on Covid guidelines as to how we run this project but we’re hoping that it has a little of something for everyone.

I think we’ve all had our mental health tested this year. We’re not built for confinement, we need the outdoors, which is why we encourage everyone to make the most of each opportunity we get to enjoy our green spaces. This is where sound recording’s come into play though, as there are people who are stuck indoors, so to be able to listen to nature at home can be a powerful thing.

Watch this space: https://www.inournaturecic.co.uk

I've had lots of memorable moments with nature this year, most of which have been without the camera to be honest, but despite getting many planned Nightjar shots, it was this unplanned scene that was my favourite. I’ve learned quite a bit this year about the requirements and preferences of Nightjar, why they choose certain spots over others and what they do in all kinds of different weather conditions. They are quite incredible birds and can be some what predictable once you know what they require, but this spot was totally out of the blue and the last place I expected to find her as it was right out in the open. This was post-breeding, so I suspect she was enjoying the open area for a change after spending most of the year sat in wet poo on the ground from the youngsters.

Some of the biggest highlights though have most certainly been whilst sound recording.
As horrific as it was, for the first time in centuries the world was almost faced with complete silence with no cars on the road, no planes in the air and factories closed. Just sticking your head out the window was very strange and people were starting to notice the sounds of birds once again. Suddenly peoples Gardens become more important than ever, as people fed their garden birds and appreciated what they had in their doorstep.

I was lucky to still be working at that point, as I work alone in the countryside so no risks of social engagement. Farmers were still working though, so I couldn’t escape that sound, but considering this recording was taken under a mile away from what would otherwise be a raging sound from the M4 motorway, I was amazed I was able to capture such a peaceful recording of this Grasshopper Warbler:

Another lockdown magical moment was with a pair of displaying lapwing on the gwent levels. The only sound of man came from a nearby farm but the location was otherwise deadly silent, so much so that you could hear the wingbeats of passing Bats! It was insanely quiet and a moment I will never forgot.

I had many throughout the year, too many to share but here’s a Nightjar, Cuckoo, Pied Flycatcher and a Weasel, which was one of many mammals I got to record this year, like Water Shrew, Wild Boar, and a few Bat species too.

The list is too long for me to chose but I think you get the picture. We have almost come full circle and soon spring will be here. I hope this spring will be the release we all need but if we are back in lockdown once again, just think about the peace that wildlife will get during that time of silence. I hope 2021 you’ll be able to find your own tranquility in this busy world.

Wild Boar Humbug Hug 6th March copy.jpg





Back to 'normal'

So our firebreak is over in Wales, what does this mean, well I hope that it means people were sensible, people stuck to the rules and prevent further spread of this hideous virus so that we have a chance of at-least spending Christmas with our families, but I must say, my trust in people these days has certainly been tested.

During the lockdown I’ve still been as busy as ever with my surveying Jobs, mostly on the Gwent Levels. Whilst it has been great to still get outdoors, the weather has been questionable, and I don’t take advantage of my Job. As soon as the survey is finished I’ve been coming straight home. I did however get to find a rare bird on one of my surveys, in the form of a Richard’s Pipit.

I didn’t have a camera with my on my survey, or my sound recording gear, so I quickly took advantage of the only device I had, which was my mobile phone. I was amazed how much the video actually did capture, and thanks to the bird doing another circle, I was able to get 5 calls on video of the bird flying over. The spectrograph confirms it perfectly, with two horizontal higher modulations either side of the triangle shaped call, which is diagnostic for the species, which also separates it from the similar call from a Tawny Pipit, which only has a single upper modulation on the latter slope of the call, but that also has a double syllable.

I only wished I was quick enough for the Red-throated Pipit I had on a similar survey last month, but that bird was way too quick for me and I made the mistake in searching for my audio app on my mobile phone, instead of going for the camera. So top tip, if you ever think you have an interesting bird that is calling, go straight for the camera app and take a video. The audio quality is actually pretty decent for a mobile and the spectrograph never lies.

Below are a few photos from random surveys over the last month. I haven’t taken many pics, simply for lack of time. In other news though, during lockdown there was a Snow Bunting up the British mountain, found by Mike Jones and refound by a few local people on their daily walks up the mountain. The bird was feeding alongside the main road in typical Snow Bunting fashion but I don’t believe it hung around for long enough but if you’re looking for something todo withy our new found freedom, it’s well worth a visit up The British top road. The bird was sighted near the cattle grid at the old entrance of Blaencuffin Canyon.

Nocmig

Well I honestly don’t know where to start with Nocmig. November has been insane!!! With huge numbers of winter thrushes, some days noticeably better than others though and with added wader activity. I’ve had good numbers of Grey and Golden Plover, a few Lapwing but the last two nights a strong movement of Dunlin too. The last two nights I’ve had Barn Owl, which makes me wonder if there’s just a local bird but there isn’t much left of my local area in turns of hunting grounds so I really don’t know on that one.

One thing is for sure, I’ve added a lot more to my ‘mystery files’, something I one day hope to dedicate a blog post (or three) too, as I’m sure some of them might be interesting, and at the very least a good story.
So far this month alone, only 9 days in I’ve had over 2,122 Redwing Calls, 146 Blackbird, 81 Song Thrush, 8 robin, 6 Fieldfare, and I won’t bother counting the amount of random waders but here’s a few of my favourites below.

I’ve had that many birds, I was saving them all to start with but when you’ve got over 700 Redwing in one night, I’ve come to be a little more selective lol. That said, even the Redwing vary greatly, so it’s always worth saving the ‘odd’ looking calls just incase it catches you out again one day. I’ll do another blog on odd sounding Redwing as it’s quite amazing how much they vary in shape, size and frequency. Below is a picture of my favourite shape by far, but by no means a common shape to find.

Redwing Zigzags

Naturally, with migration doing well at night, Visible migration can also be just as good too. This month saw thousands, if not hundreds of thousands passing over pontypool alone, and with it, quite the number of Chaffinch’s and Thrushes. Getting my first Brambling of the year was nice, but nicer that it came so close to the microphone to reveal that subtle chaffinch type call that they also make. Sometimes, as we learned one morning, they don’t make their iconic raspy call at all, so it’s important to learn the subtle calls too as we had a whole flock of Brambling and not one of them made the rasp call.

I’ll end with another Robin, the song of winter, with a collection of both urban and natural sounds in the background.

Winter Thrushes

It’s been another random month so far, with Lockdown restrictions disrupting day-to-day lives yet again. There seems to be a lot more uncertainly this time around, with localised restrictions. Especially for people who live on the edge of county boarders who aren’t able to travel under a mile in one direction, yet people from the other-side of the country can travel there no problems . Well of course all that’s changing now, and about time it was really as it’s no longer about everyone being in the same boat, it becomes a little bit more about pot-luck as to where you live, as people living on the board-line will feel these restrictions even more frustrating. Of course it’l all be worth it in the long run, so long as everyone plays their part and doesn’t stretch things too far. Though I do think if the Government acted faster in the first place, they may have been able to avoid a second outbreak entirely.. I’m lucky that my Job gets me out of the county a little, whilst my survey work on the gwent levels continues. Here are some photos of a very mixed autumn so far. Not much on the photography side of things but I’m fine with that as it’s meant spending more time birding, sound recording and generally just being outdoors and learning more about the natural world.

Nocmig

This has been thee month for Nocmig recordings it would seem, as the winter thrushes arrive, the time spent going thru my nocturnal recordings has almost tippled, largely due to the sheer quantity of Redwing but also because the winds are up, and my neighbours wind chimes make it even harder to pick out the birds.
I’m trying to not let it get to me though as I’m as determined and committed as ever to these recordings.
It’s truly amazing what you get over your house at night. So far this month I’ve had a total of 686 Redwing, 118 Song Thrush, 37 Blackbird, 4 Fieldfare, 8 Robin, 5 Dunlin, 1 Wigeon Flock, Grey Heron, Curlew and I’m yet to total up the amount of Goldcrest calls as I had a huge movement of them in one night, made difficult to count due to wind chimes. Bare-in-mind that these numbers are only the birds that call. If you’ve ever watched a flock of Redwing fly over, you might only get one or two actually call in a flock of 70 birds, so the sheer number of Redwing flying over to get a total of 686 calls, is quite staggering and this is just the beginning of migration season.

I almost forgot that at the end of last month I also had a few Plovers, with Golden and Grey Plover and by far my favourite was 2 Barn Owls! Since they dug up my local fields for housing, I did wonder if we’d ever see them again as they used to breed here. These are just migratory birds though I believe, either young birds looking for new territories or adults seeking warmer climates for the winter.

Birding

I had hoped for a Yellow-browed Warbler this autumn, with a hope of getting a recording of that iconic call they make, but the only local bird found, was by Steve Preddy in Newport, which of course is out of county and despite working in Newport, this would have been for total pleasure and not work.. :) So i’ll just have to keep my ears out for my own, or wait till next year. Llandegfedd Reservoir has seen some nice birds though, which is about time, it’s been quite poor this year really for rarities. On the same birding trip with Craig Constance, soon after getting out of the car, Craig latches eyes on a Red-throated Diver which just dived, which I confirmed for myself once it emerged from the water. Before I even had time to lock the scope onto the Red-throated Diver he spots a second rarity in the form of a female Red-breasted Merganser! He was on a roll that morning for sure lol. Below are some phone pics thru my scope. Talking about phone pics, here are some more Phone-scope pic from not 1, but 13! Ring Ouzel in Blaeavon last week. Craig and I also had a run in with a ‘Mealy Type’ Common Redpoll that landed at our feet to feed up the British, but continued north up onto the moorland.

Sound Recording

Below are a few calls that you’ll only hear in the autumn and winter time really. A flock of Fieldfare, and also a small feeding flock of Redpoll. Both were quite windy but nice to get recordings either way of a new species.

I’m continuing to record as much Robin’s as I can this winter, 1. because it’s my form of bird therapy, and reminds me of spring and 2. because I’m intrigued to see if I can spot any different dialects, or any mimicking phrases they might possess.

For example, this bird I recorded on the Gwent Levels, does a fantastic job at interjecting a Blue Tit song, within it’s own phrase. This is quite a popular way of using mimicry in birds with complex songs, as in order to stand out from their rivals, they need more material to work with, so interjecting random sections of songs from other species of birds, makes their own song sound more elaborate and therefor, more appealing. It also demonstrates their ability to listen, learn and perform difficult tunes that fall outside of their typical vocabulary. Listen to that third phrase and see if you can hear it for yourself.

I’ve also been continuing to record water sources, that I intend on using to create a nature album. I hope to sell this album on In Our Nature CIC’s website, so that people who might be stuck indoors or are suffering from mental health issues, can bring the sound of nature into their homes. We’re offering a number of different activities at In Our Nature CIC, but one that I’m particularly excited about is our Sound Walk. Be sure to join our facebook group and keep informed about upcoming projects.

I’ll end with a distant pic of this female Marsh Harrier from my dusk survey near Magor Marsh this week.

Female Marsh Harrier

Breached Lockdown for a Shag!

Ok, so I do not encourage anybody to breach lockdown for anything other than an emergency or work, as per government guidelines, but here’s the story of how I ended up having to travel a little further than expected, for a Shag. Of course, I mean the bird.

It all started with curiosity, as a member of public, Jo Norman, posted a picture online of what was thought to be a Cormorant at the time, upon posting the phone pictures, others started posting pics of the same bird and as soon as I saw it, I instantly noticed it was actually a juvenile ‘European Shag’, which is a rarer bird for inland waters, as they are true sea birds, found around our rocky coastline. This time of year birds are on the move to warmer climates, and when this is timed with adverse weather conditions, we do end up getting a few blown off-course and stuck inland, struggling to re-find the coast. Every year birders check through hundreds of Cormorant flocks on ponds and lakes in the hope that one of them might be a Shag, but it seldom ever is. So to have one on the Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal was very strange. Even stranger was that the bird was super tame, often walking up onto the bank and sitting right next to you. This rang a few alarm bells to me, as these are usually signs that there may be an underlying health problem, however it was fishing and catching fish really well, so I suspect, being a first year bird, it doesn’t really have any fear of humans yet. The only issue was it was being pestered by Dogs each time a Dog walker went past, which is quite often on the canal. It actually took us two days to eventually find it, but Craig Constance went on a morning mission to locate it, proper investigative style, and he eventually pinned it down in Newinn, about a half a mile up the canal from where it was last seen. Apparently it has been here for two weeks, which was also a worry as the weather hasn’t been too bad so it must be struggling to get strength back. We observed it for a while, and Lee Gregory also came over to see the bird. Lee has a lot of experience ringing these birds, so his observations were welcomed. Shortly after the bird had a very close call with another Dog, and we both thought in that moment that this was going to be the end for this poor bird as it will only get weaker. The fish it was catching were tiny, and just not enough to sustain it long term.

Craig and I got home and just couldn’t settle with the idea of leaving it there. A couple hours later we rang all the rescue centres around, and all of them agreed that it would stand a better chance if it was on the coastline in more suitable habitat, but they were all too busy to help. So we just went for it. I got an old fishing net from the attic and Craig got some blankets and we went straight back out there to re-locate it. This actually took WAY longer than I was expecting, and before I knew it, I was almost in Goytre before I found it and Craig went in the opposite direction back towards Pontypool. Thankfully it was swimming back towards Newinn, so I followed it back till it decided to rest on the bank again. By then Craig had caught up and the capture was fairly straight forward. Net straight over whilst it was resting on the bank, bill strapped up (as they can cause a bit of damage with that hook) and it was straight in a bag with blankets. The bird was putting up a good fight, very strong, which was a good sign. Usually when a bird is on its last legs, the struggle of capturing it can cause it to die from shock, but this bird was strong enough to put up a fight all the way to the coast! which is a great sign. It was underweight, but it could still fish, so he has a better chance now.

Upon release, we were a bit worried as he didn’t fly off like we expected. He could fly enough to jump up 6 foot high rocks and I watched him fly a fair distance after the dog attack, so I think he’s just lost a lot of muscle due to being underweight. There were no signs of injury, inside bill showed no fishing hooks or lures and he wasn’t otherwise showing signs of injuries. He eventually could see the tide was coming in, so climbed up the rocks and eventually settled in a perfect little hole in the cliff, where he should be safe enough. As soon as he heard the sea he seemed to have a lot more energy, so just hope it manages to get into a routine of fishing and resting for long enough to get fit again. Here’s for hoping. One things for sure, he looked a lot more at home on the coast and if we didn’t intervene, he would have been malled by a Dog or eventually starved to death. As an ecologist, this sort of thing happens quite often and I consider it now more of a responsibility and part of my Job. I do not encourage anybody to breach lockdown rules, the title was just a bit of a joke.

Vismig & Goldcliff

I’m still working along the Gwent Levels this winter, and I was looking forward to the day I started getting some autumn migration overhead. Till this day, the Vantage Point surveys had been fairly quiet, but all was about to change with the wind on the morning of the 21.09.20 where the schedule survey was lined up in accordance with high tide and an early morning. With all these factors and rolling fog coming in off the bristol channel, it must have spurred many birds to move. Before I knew it I was counting hundreds of birds, sometimes all at the same time, all heading East. The over-all count was incredible with a staggering;

X 2570 Meadow Pipit
X 287 Skylark
X 354 Siskin
X 180 Linnet

X 500 Goldfinch
X 193 Swallow
X 72 House Martin
X 33 Sand Martin

X 16 Tree Pipit
X 6 Yellow Wagtail
X 16 Grey Wagtail
X 316 Pied Wagtail

X 2 Yellowhammer
X 11 Reed Bunting
X 6 Golden Plover

Little Stint to the right

During the survey I also had 3 Little Stint drop on the last bit of mudflat with a few Dunlin and single Ringed Plover. Presumably the same birds present at Goldcliff Lagoons at the moment.

I went straight to Goldcliff afterwards, which was a good call! as Darryl Spittle found me my first Lesser Yellowlegs, which I landed on straight away from the first platform. Present also was 1 Glossy Ibis, 13 Grey Plover, 6 Ruff, 3 Greenshank, 4 Yellow Wag, 1 Whinchat, 4 Wheatear, 5 Pintail, 5 Bar-tailed Godwits amongst all the usual great birds.

The Lesser Yellowlegs was quite a distance away for my telephoto lens, so I’ve included a phone pic thru my scope, which shows much more features, even when surrounded by black-tailed Godwits.

Here's a few more from previous visits to Goldcliff and Magor, with plenty of Wheatear along the coastline, a hunting Hobby catching Dragonflies and a few special insects in the form of the beautiful Ivy Bee, Migrant Hawker and I stop at Llandegfedd on the way home found my first Ruby-tailed Wasp. There’s no wonder I haven’t seen one before, I didn’t realise how small they were. Most would mistake them for a fly! but those colours are truly incredible.

With so much luck the day before on visible migration, I arranged to meeting, socially distanced with Craig Constance and Daniel Webb at Goldcliff and were also later joined by Darryl Spittle. I really enjoy this sort of birding as it tests your ability to recognise calls on the fly and even the visual elements happen so fast, you really need to know what you’re looking for, and I couldn’t have been surrounded by better influences really as these guys have been doing it a long time and they’re quite the pro. That said, if there was anything I brought to the table, it was my parabolic dish, as it allowed us to pull out individuals in a flock that would have otherwise been too distant to hear. I’ve listed a few of the favourite birds in the recording and mashed them together.

Nocmig

It’s been a very mixed bag on Nocmig recordings lately, with some really bad nights with 0 score, but there has been a slow movement of Song Thrush, and last two nights have had my first movement of Redwing, yesterday also seeing my first on the canal whilst looking for the Shag. Last night though was a big score! With 2 Redwing, a BARN Owl! which is a new one for me and totally unexpected over Sebastopol, but for me a personal favourite, a Golden Plover! which I believe is a young bird if I read correctly, as it’s slightly higher pitch and a shorter, less formed call.. but I could be wrong. Either way, very happy with those results and it totally pays off.

I’ll end this very long blog with a picture of this beautiful Starling. Still on my wish list to get a decent recording of these guys.

Starling

Telinga Stereo Mk3 Review

I don’t often do gear related reviews, but considering gear plays a big part in what I do, whether it’s cameras, lenses, binoculars, scopes, trail cameras or sound recording gear, I thought some might find it useful to learn about this gear, as in todays saturated market, it’s difficult to know where to start off and even harder to find something that’s good value for money with such a fast growing development line.

Camera’s for instance are constantly being improved, but not quite on the level as todays smart phones, so you can still pick up a bargain that should last you several years. I won’t go into cameras this time around, but I would like to talk about my sound recording gear, specifically my choice of microphones.
I have never been able to afford premium gear, so I’m always looking for best value for money produces, whether that’s new gear or used. The great thing about microphones is, they usually last a very long time and the whole formula to making a quality microphone, was mastered many years ago, so you can pick up second hand microphones that still to this day sound incredible. Recording wildlife presents many hurdles in the field, as like photography, it can be difficult to get close enough to your subject to get a strong enough signal. The way around this is to use longer, and often more expensive long shotgun microphones that give you more directionality and a narrower axis sensitivity, so you can isolate the sound you are pointing it at, whilst the long interference tube rejects sounds from behind and from the sides. For many years I used the affordable Sennheiser ME67, which I still use today for all of my Nocturnal recordings. It has superb noise - signal ratio, but it doesn’t sound as premium as Sennhieser’s MKH line, so I also own an MKH 416, which is a shorter microphone, so you would need to get much closer to your subject, but the sound is superb and has been the industry standard for many years, especially for dialog in film productions.

No matter how long the microphone though, you always wish you had more directionality and reach, and this is where the parabolic microphone comes in. Before I bit the bullet and bought my first parabolic, I listened online to every available recording I could find, I also read reviews and contacted each manufacturer so I could understand what makes a good parabolic dish setup.

The main manufacturers were Telinga, Dodotronic, Wildtronics and since then a few others like Soundshark and Klover. I’ve always believed that a company’s web presence says a lot about a company and whilst some of the other companies have more promotional videos online, the quality of those videos tell the story about what sort of quality you can expect from them. To cut a long story short, Telinga is where I invested my money, because the sound quality was very comparable to the some of the classic branded companies like Sennhieser and Schoeps and if sound quality mattered above all else, you could always buy their universal handle, which allowed you to use a microphone of your own choice. This is where I wanted to be down the line, using their great quality handle and flexible dish with my own microphone, but I settled for the Stereo Mk 2 which was a newer version of their famous Stereo Dat Mic. I could write a whole blog on recording stereo inside a parabola, but in short, it’s a much more natural experience, and helps you find your subjects faster in the field, even with your eyes closed. Here’s a recording of a Dunnock as an example of the sound of the Stereo Mk 2, but bear in mind I recorded this using a Zoom H6, which is a great value recorder, but doesn’t show off the microphones full potential.

I’ve since upgraded my recorder to Sound Devices Mixpre 6 ii and have also upgraded the Telinga Stereo Mk 2, to the version 3, which Telinga offered to all customers so long as they paid for the shipping. How many companies can you say have done something like that? Not only did the upgrade vastly improve the sound quality, it extended the microphones life whilst retaining most of the original materials. Take a listen to the Dunnock below and see if you hear the difference. The background sounds more open, but natural, and the mid-high sounds over-all less coloured. I am inspired by quality, so the better it sounds, the more likely I am going to use it, and this year, I’ve used this microphone more than ever.

Here’s a collection of recordings from this year alone from when I first started using it, till this very day.
The Stereo Mk 3 has improved wind handling performance, as well as an overall more dynamic range, which makes you really make use of that stereo as the background sounds are more natural. This is very difficult to achieve inside a dish where only the mid-high frequencies are being amplified, so off-axis sounds have the potential to sound more coloured, but with the Mk 3 they are very natural. This is the best quality you will get inside of a Parabolic dish for the money. The next setup here would be to use their Universal Dish and make use of small cardioid or omni microphones from Sennheiser or Schoeps. What I will say though, is that the microphones you’ll get from Telinga are designed to handle the toughest of weather conditions, and even though the sound quality will be improved jumping up to a Schoeps, it does come at the cost of wind and handling noise, all of which are superb on the Telinga mic. Schoeps realise this also, and have teamed up with Telinga and Rycote (famous company for wind protection solutions), to create a dish set that allows you to have the ultimate setup. I would love to own one one day, but even then, if I ever wanted stereo inside a Parabola, the Stereo Mk 3 is the way to go. Below is a variety of different types of recordings from the Stereo Mk 3, everything from Wild Boar, Tree’s and a variety of different tonality birds from various distances and in mostly challenging conditions, living here in South Wales, we are very humid, wet and windy, and often all three at the same time.

telinga-pro-8-mk2-system_copy.jpg

I have to end by saying also that Jon and Klas at Telinga have been nothing but supportive with every dealing I’ve had with them. I’ve provided them with feedback of their gear, and they have returned nothing but the best of customer service. Sound Devices have also been very helpful, as I had a bit of a bumpy ride with my first few units but all has been resolved and I’ve been using the gear for months now with nothing but flawless performance. I’ve owned the Telinga Pro X and V2 flexible dish now since 2015 and even though the dish has quite a few scratches from me pushing my way thru dense forest, it all continues to work perfectly. I’ve seen and felt the dish provided with the Dodotronics setup and it doesn’t come close to the quality of this V2 dish from Telinga: The flexibility and edging is far superior with no bubbles in the plastic itself and it’s actually larger, which means you have an advantage of capturing slightly lower frequencies with the dish. If build quality is less important to you though, the dodotronic setups do feature good mic capsules, some of which have been rumoured to be used by Telinga in the past also, and if you just want the use of a parabola as a tool, then some of the cheaper options might be more suited for your purposes. If you want the best quality though, you cannot go wrong with Telinga and the Stereo Mk 3 will always be in my bag.

https://www.telinga.com/products/pro-series/

Indian Summer

Anything can happen this time of year with the weather but September has become a month not to underestimate, as we have consistently had warm weather creeping in, just when we all had a taste of the autumn in august with wet, windy and cold. Migration has some-what come to a stand-still in the last week, with no waders moving on my nocmig, but it has been replaced with a large movement of Siskin, Meadow Pipit and the odd Chaffinch. Now my Nightjar have left for Africa, I usually turn my attention to the water. Llandegfedd has already produced a few Ospreys on passage, one of which stayed for a week but remained antisocial due to all the boat activity on the reservoir. We were lucky to witness it leaving the reservoir after one last circle of the water in search of a fish and literally the next day, the same bird was picked up at Chew Valley Lake.

It’s now a great time to search for any late summer insects. Wasp Spider females are now at their largest size so they are easier to find and there are plenty of Caterpillar’s around that are fattening up, ready to pupate. In terms of resident birds, the local Raptor population seem to be turning to insects for their main source of food, including Red Kites, that I’ve observed feeding on what looked like large Beetles. This field was full of sheep so it’s likely that the beetles are a variety of dung beetle species that are draw to the fields by the sheep droppings. The coast-line is filling up with waders, with large flocks of Turnstone, Ringed Plover, Sanderling, Dunlin, Oystercatchers and Knot. It’s been a great year so far with waders, mostly around the coastline, with an abundance of Curlew Sandpiper, Pectoral Sandpiper and Little Stint in the country, all of which have been seen at Goldcliff Lagoons in the last two months. I have a group of friends that regularly bird Goldcliff Lagoons, and if you want to see regular updates on the birds seen there. I highly recommend looking at Blair Jones’s blog - https://www.thewildlifeoculus.com/ where he has a very well written, running documentary of Goldcliff Lagoons that’s also packed full of images that paint a vivid picture of the often, action packed lagoons. I also recommend subscribing to John Lawton’ youtube channel - https://www.youtube.com/c/johnluk/videos as John also spends a lot of time on the Gwent Levels and puts a lot of time and effort putting together video clips. Video is another ball-game, you really have to be dedicated as not only does it take up a lot of space on the hard drive, it’s pain-staking to edit footage and cut it up into a presentable form.

I have a lot of images below, some of which have been taken very recently on short trips to the beach at Ogmore-by-sea. All others have been taken in Gwent, with a Great White Egret showing well at Blaenavon Garn Lakes. Wasp Spiders at Marshfield on the Gwent Levels, Osprey at Llandegfedd and the rest, pretty much in my tiny little Garden.

I’ve also been continuing to search for natural textures. I’m planning on using these images as part of a task at In Our Nature CIC. For anybody suffering with mental health issues, it can be an important exercise to make your world smaller. You might find yourself stuck in a closed environment all the time, whether it’s office work or you might be house-bound for health reason, so open spaces can feel a little overwhelming. Focusing less on over-all landscapes, and more on the little details right in-front of you can be a good way to over-come what can otherwise be a sensory overload. The same technique also works for people who take in too much information, in that they’re constantly exposed to open landscapes, where they’re always having to interpret large quantities of information. People who drive long distances tend to suffer from this and it’s often subconsciously so you aren’t even aware of how much information the brain is actually taking in.
We’re subjected to information every single day and we can’t control everything, but we can chose to concentrate on the little things.

Sound

The end of august was quite a windy one so I didn’t do much in terms of sound recording, other than of course this recording below from the comfort of my doorstep. Here you can really hear the depth of the wind storm at was upon us that day.

Since then it’s returned to our Indian Summer, and the water coming thru the inlet at Llandegfedd sounds beautiful.

The bird soundtrack is still very much so Robin dominated now but with the hot weather I have started to hear the odd Dunnock, Blue Tit and Great Tit singing. Next on my list is to get some nice recordings at the beach, the sound of Waves are magic, but I’m saving this for those cold winter days where there won’t be any birds singing.

Nocmig

I haven’t had much on the wader front, as there’s been a low pressure over Scottish seas for a few weeks now, holding those wader flocks back. I have had large numbers of Siskin, Meadow Pit and Grey Wagtails over the house early morning though, with the off Yellow Wagtail in the mix. I’ve just started to get Chaffinch in the morning also but Siskin seem to be dominating the morning migration, with numbers reaching in the hundreds. I’ve had that many recordings I haven’t uploaded any of them yet but here’s one of the closer Yellow Wagtail calls to end this lengthy blog.

End of a Season

The picture you see below, will likely be the last of the season, as my last nest has sadly been predated. Over-all the season was a success, with all my other pairs successfully fledging two chicks each. That is a great year for these birds that don’t have a very high success rate. I suspect the failure of this particular pair was down to a Tawny Owl, that was very persistent throughout the night, doing low flights right over the nest site. I was surprised after a nocturnal session how many males were still churring last week, but I suspect it was more of a ‘goodbye’ churr, cuing to the females that the time has come, because the following days, all of my roost sites were un-occupied and I found this female miles from her nest, roosting in a tree. It’s probably a welcomed changed after sitting in mud and poo for most of the season.

Here’s a short clip of the pair seeing off a hunting Tawny Owl:

Midnight used this log roost almost every single day as it was close enough to the nest that he could keep an eye. Not all males will do this, but it made sense for him todo this the second time around, as the first clutch failed. Two sets of eyes are better than one. I only located one of the fledglings, so it’s likely that they’ve left the clear-fell now and headed to more suitable feeding grounds ready to migrate for the first time to Africa. It always amazes me how chicks know where to go..

I’ve done so much travelling between work and random birding trips since my last blog, so I won’t bore you with all the details. Here’s a selection below that highlights my favourite moments, most of which were on the Gwent Levels but some, like the Southern Dune Tiger Beetle were from the Gower. Small Red-eyed Damselflies were numerous at the reen entrance to Goldcliff Lagoons which was nice, as I’ve never seen one officially before. Lesser Marsh Grasshoppers seem to be turning up everywhere on the Levels now I know what I’m looking for. Their sound is actually quite similar to Field Grasshopper but the notes are spaced differently. You can hear it better when slowed down so I’ve including a recording below.

Sound


Below are some targeted flock recordings from Goldcliff Lagoons on a nocturnal visit. It’s quite difficult to get one of the platforms to yourself at high tide with so many visitors, especially this time of year where it becomes more popular due to arriving migrants, so I visited after dark, on a late high tide. There were still quite a few birds feeding in the dimming light, but even after dark, simply moving the dish around you can target specific species. It’s great hearing such a variety of waders in one place, with the added sounds of Shelduck, Little Egret and Greylag Geese in the background. It’s also been beneficial to me, to see different variations of calls on the spectrograph, from wader species, as it helps me ID some of the more unusual calls you get on Nocmig recordings.

Nocmig

What a turn out so far! In my last blog I spoke of how autumn migration has well and truly began, and whilst everyone knows this, I didn’t expect to get all these species over the house already! Wood Sandpiper was on my wish-list and it didn’t take long to get one! I had a Wood Sand long before I had a Green Sandpiper, which goes to show it’s not all about how common the species is, you really could end up with anything on these recordings, regardless of where you live.

Below I put together a selection of different calls, all of which I had within one night, just so you can see the visual differences side by side.

Here’s a few more species, all dated accordingly, but I’ve also had quite a few Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Whimbrel, Crossbill, Swifts, House Martin, Swallow, Oystercatcher, Moorhen, Grey Heron, Coot, Spotted Flycatcher and many unknown smaller birds that are going to take a while to ID.

I’ll leave the blog with a Robin recording, which seems to be taking over at the moment.