Monday 3rd May – a trip out at 4am to the quietest woods in Oxfordshire again, at Whichford. This time I knew where the birds hung out, so headed straight in their direction, scaring a herd of deer across a field, and was set up by 4.30am ready to record.
In the early evening I ventured out on my first post-marathon run, a ten mile loop of Wytham Woods from home. Oh the bliss of not having to take a watch or worry about time! My quads were quite cross about the steep downhill section out of the woods, and have obviously not recovered yet from Stratford.
I am very excited about the potential of hearing deer barking in the future and I know just what you mean about getting to grips with the technicals. I have used an EDIROL R-09 for everything up until now, but am branching out to try some different options and to see what happens when you use more expensive/specific kit.
Thanks Felix! I should add a note about gear and technical things really. It’s been quite a learning curve, but currently I’m using the Olympus LS-10 handheld recorder with a Sound Devices MixPre microphone amp and a Sennheiser ME66/K6 cardiod microphone in a blimp (windshield). The single mono mic isn’t the best solution for these immersive sounds – I’m currently wading through the options for stereo recording. It’s as much a case of finding a quiet location though to be honest – and this is definitely the quietest woods I’ve found in Oxfordshire yet, in terms of getting away from human generated noise.
I missed the constantly barking deer from this recording I think – so I’ll post that and I’ll blog a gear list soon.
This is gorgeous.
What are you using to get such crisp recordings of the birds?
The bluebells are stunning at the moment and I love the idea of peace and solitude in both the images and sounds on this post.
You got a pheasant too… one of my fav. Oxfordshire sounds.