Amidst the beech woods alongside Garreg Ddu in the Elan Valley
Another year, and another morning in my favourite part of the Elan Valley: the woodland reaching down to the edge of the Garreg Ddu reservoir. I'm only a hundred metres or so from my usual recording spot, but this time under a stand of beech trees.
Because this is such a lovely relaxed soundscape, and also to make up for the lack of postings over the previous year, I'm including an hour of material here. For convenience, it's split into 2 sections of around 30 minutes each.
Part one opens at the first glimmer of light at 4am, as usual with the repeated song of a redstart. A Robin chimes in, and is followed by the unmistakable call of a Cuckoo further up the valley. We also hear, from the edge of the lake, the high pitched croak of a lone Common Toad, and all is set against a backdrop of more distant birdsong and the gentle rush of a nearby stream. Also heard: Carrion Crow, Mistle Thrush, Blackbird, Blackcap, Blue Tit, Long-tailed Tit & Wood Pigeon.
Part two continues with the two-tone song of a Great Tit, the warble & sing-song phrases of a Blackcap, a distant Wood Pigeon and the brief clucking of a Blackbird. The Redstart continues to sing, and comes quite close at around the 10 minute point. He's joined by a Wood Warbler, whose high pitched trill can be heard, too. Wood Warblers seem particularly drawn to beech trees (or most probably the insects which live in them), and you'll find a longer recording of one on the elan valley wood warbler page. A highlight of this recording is the section between 17-24 minutes when a Blackcap, Sylvia atricapilla, (another member of the warbler family) comes quite close & holds forth for several minutes. It's easy to hear his jumbled warble settle into a defined tune. He doesn't seem too disturbed by the falling branch, either! The scurrying in the undergrowth is perhaps a Grey Squirrel which might well have caused the branch to snap on this perfectly still morning. At various points some ducks, probably Teal, can be heard too. The section ends with a Chaffinch's repeated "g-g-g-g-g-g-ginger beer" (as I learned as a child!) before fading into silence.
Recorded: 2021-06-01 0400LT
Location: 52.27012, -3.59849
Part 1
Download full length recording:
34min, 53MB, .ogg format
Part 2
Download full length recording:
31min, 48MB, .ogg format
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.