Cuckoo calls, Pewits and an Adder...
Good fortune on a mosses shoot with Photographer Alexandra Claire Davies.
I was joined by my friend and photographer, Alexandra Claire Davies, on Whixall Moss recently. We couldn’t believe our luck upon arriving, hearing the iconic spring call of the endangered Cuckoo. This was before I set up my microphones, and I didn’t hear it again, but I’ll return to record the Cuckoo properly now that I know they’re here. Following my last visit with Matt Sewell, I decided to focus my recording efforts on what is fast becoming one of my favourite birds, Lapwings, whose flight is most unusual, best described by the 18th-century naturalist and engraver Thomas Bewick as “ It sports and frolics in the air in all directions”. It wasn’t hard to find them, like their flight, their call is very distinctive and different from all other birds, which I love and wanted more lengthy recordings to work with. We ventured off the beaten track, heading towards the middle of the moss where there was a pair frolicking about above the water, as you can hear in the recording below:
We were delighted and somewhat surprised heading to a new spot to use the Biodata kit on Sphanum Moss, when we nearly stepped on an Adder (Vipera berus)! I was over the moon to see this, as I’ve never seen one in its natural environment and have often hoped I might, as I’m told they’re common here. Sadly, it slinked off without getting its picture taken as we scrambled for our phones. I’m now on a mission every time I visit to photograph and to see if I can record audio of the adder’s movement.
It was a morning of good fortune and many firsts for both of us. I’m so glad Alexandra came, and here are just a handful of some of the incredible photographs that she took that day (click on any to see full frame):
I’ll be visiting the mosses soon to record the epic dawn chorus as we approach its peak in Spring in a few days. I can’t wait to get back into the studio with these recordings and to compose the Mosses from these recent visits. I’ll be sharing more in a couple of weeks as I’m heading into a new studio space to begin to bring together the recordings and musical sketches made so far, to shape them into more developed pieces of music.
