To continue my research into which birds are active and which I would like to include in my final composition, I went on a trip to Talkin Tarn in Brampton, Cumbria. It is a glacial lake that was formed by severe glacial action over 10,000 years ago and is home to plenty of wildlife. During my visit there were a lot of children and families around, so I chose some of the less populated footpaths to get my recordings.
When I was recording there was an extensive list of bird that I could hear, these include: Great Spotted Woodpecker, Carrion Crow, Common Chaffinch, Eurasian Blue Tit, Great Tit, Willow Warbler, Eurasian Oystercatcher, Ring-Necked Pheasant, Common Chiffchaff, Eurasian Blackcap, Common Redstart, Canada Goose, Eurasian Blackbird, Long-tailed Tit, Bank Swallow, Eurasian Wren, Rook, Coal Tit, and Eurasian Robin.
I have continued using the H1N Zoom microphone for my field recordings, it has two XY microphones which allow you to pick up stereo sound. I have not found much use for the stereo sound, until an Oystercatcher flew over me and this translated into the recording. I have attached this recording along with some of my other better recordings below.
Oystercatcher overhead
Rooks in the forest
In the audio below you can hear what I captured when sat still in a bird hut located by the water. This hut allowed me to be hidden from the wildlife and therefore they were more confident around the space, similar to the hut at Geltsdale which also kept you hidden away. You can hear some of the birds very clearly, for example, there are Bank Swallows which I saw flying together over the water.
The ambiance that you can hear in the background of this clip conveys the surroundings, the water underneath while it was raining slightly. The hut itself was echoey which meant any movement I made was very loud, giving my an opportunity to sit still and listen to the sounds around me. There are always more sounds than I notice, even quieter bird calls that I would not notice if I was talking over had headphones on. Keeping quieter also made it easier for the Merlin app to pick up any of the bird calls ongoing.
I kept the app recording the entire time I was walking around, meaning even if I didn't capture the bird on my H1N, my phone allowed me to add it to my mental soundscape of Talkin Tarn.
