Song of the Birds

[Andrew Slater]

There's been some interest in this piece on these boards in the past. I notice that it's to be played ('Traditional', recorded by Casals; not the version by Murrill) on the Sunday Morning programme tomorrow (08/07/2012). (No timings are available, but I would guess at about 11am - but don't blame me if I've got it wrong .)

[salymap]

Thanks Andrew, I've mentioned it several times I think, also the cello concerto by the much neglected Herbert Murrill, who once headed the BBC music Dept IIRC, which, as you know, quotes from it.

[salymap]

You gotit 'spot on' at 11am but it sounded pretty terrible- sure I've heard a better Casals recording than that one.

[Andrew Slater]

Pure luck on timing . Pity about the recording. Will listen later.

[Bryn]

Though I overslept somewhat, I managed to use the Zoom H3-VR ambisonic recorder to record a good measure of the dawn chorus from about 05:05 hrs this morning. Around 06:15 it would appear a small bird decided that the hairy windshield I was using might offer some handy nest-building material. An 8'25" 320kbps stereo mp3 clip derived from the 48/24 4 channel ambisonic recording of that section may be downloaded from https://we.tl/t-psw1oEmNBV for the next 7 days. Anybody care to identify the species of the culprit from its tweets?

Should anyone be interested in a binaural mp3 derived from the full 4 hours 35-minute recording, I would be happy to also upload that to wetransfer.com . That file is 629MB in size.

[cloughie]

Though I overslept somewhat, I managed to use the Zoom H3-VR ambisonic recorder to record a good measure of the dawn chorus from about 05:05 hrs this morning. Around 06:15 it would appear a small bird decided that the hairy windshield I was using might offer some handy nest-building material. An 8'25" 320kbps stereo mp3 clip derived from the 48/24 4 channel ambisonic recording of that section may be downloaded from https://we.tl/t-psw1oEmNBV for the next 7 days. Anybody care to identify the species of the culprit from its tweets?

Should anyone be interested in a binaural mp3 derived from the full 4 hours 35-minute recording, I would be happy to also upload that to wetransfer.com . That file is 629MB in size.

Dawn Chorus here currently starts with a blackbird at 5.30am.

[Richard Tarleton]

Bryn, your dawn chorus consists (on a single listen) of robin, blackbird, great tit, goldcrest, woodpigeon, blackcap, greenfinch (brief song flight) and carrion crow. The loud songster close to the mike at around 3 minutes is a blackcap, but I wonder if the bird attacking your mike is a robin? I'll have another listen later!

[Bryn]

Dawn Chorus here currently starts with a blackbird at 5.30am.

I awoke spontaneously, just before 05:00 and a blackbird was already in full throw, as were many other birds. I live in a heavily wooded area. I might try setting the alarm for 04:00 tomorrow and head for an acoustically sheltered area in close-by Lily Hill Park, the last chance to get a reasonably traffic-noise-free chorus for a while.

[Bryn]

Bryn, your dawn chorus consists (on a single listen) of robin, blackbird, great tit, goldcrest, woodpigeon, blackcap, greenfinch (brief song flight) and carrion crow. The loud songster close to the mike at around 3 minutes is a blackcap, but I wonder if the bird attacking your mike is a robin? I'll have another listen later!

And that's just a brief clip. There are magpies, greater spotted woodpeckers, blue tits and a good few others in the full run. I have not listened to the whole thing yet, of course. There may well be a great green woodpecker, feral pigeons and collared doves captured, too. They are certainly frequent visitors to the garden. Feral pigeons nest beneath a neighbour's solar panels, despite all his attempts to keep them out.

[Bryn]

Up at 4.30 this morning to set up the H3-VR to record the dawn chorus. Now listening to the 5.1 surround mix from the ambisonic original. Pretty much dominant are the robins, but also rooks, tawny owls, magpies, jackdaws, ringneck parakeets, blackbirds, fox, collared doves, wood pigeons and many others I have yet to identify. Also my next-door neighbour, around 5 o'clock, checking on his children who tented last night, complaining that it was too cold for him.

[Sir Velo]

Feral pigeons nest beneath a neighbour's solar panels, despite all his attempts to keep them out.

Winged rats can be dissuaded from taking up living up quarters in your home by frequent and persistent use of a garden water jet. I literally blasted a family of said vermin out of a pyracantha by this method. It did require continuous action for a prolonged period of upwards of a month but was successful. Now they have taken up residence with the next door neighbour.

[gradus]

Buzzards out today in the fine weather.

[LezLee]

We inherited my sister-in-law’s house when she died and we found 17 pigeons’ nests in the loft. The noise was amazing. The council no longer treated them as vermin so we had to get rid of them privately. One evening a man in a van arrived and surreptitiously took a gun from the boot and took it up the loft ladder, later to emerge with some lumpy black bin-bags. All very surreal. He later returned to fumigate the loft and block off the holes in the eaves. Cost us £150.

[Bryn]

Up at 4.30 this morning to set up the H3-VR to record the dawn chorus. Now listening to the 5.1 surround mix from the ambisonic original. Pretty much dominant are the robins, but also rooks, tawny owls, magpies, jackdaws, ringneck parakeets, blackbirds, fox, collared doves, wood pigeons and many others I have yet to identify. Also my next-door neighbour, around 5 o'clock, checking on his children who tented last night, complaining that it was too cold for him.

Another recording, yesterday morning, in celebration of Morning Chorus Day. Starting with Tawny Owls before first light, Robins and Blackbirds greeted daybreak, followed by all the usual suspect. One surprise, for me, came at around 07:30 with a more than usually inventive song from what I presume to be a ring-neck parakeet.

Here's a link to a high data rate binaural mp3 (best listened to via headphones) of a c. 17-minute extract of that section:

https://we.tl/t-woTvpt0mhJ

It will remain valid for 7 days.