Search - Philip Goddard :: Branscombe Landslip - Blackbirds Singing In Wind And Calm

Devon Sea and Cliffs is a series of natural soundscape recordings made by nature recordist and composer Philip Goddard, capturing the rich tapestry of birdsong, sea and other natural sounds on and around the coast of Devon, UK - particularly where cliffs and steep-sided partially wooded valleys add interest and variety.This over two-hour double album, recorded on 8 May 2016, was recorded facing out of the edge of the the open scrubby woodland in the lower, western part of the spectacular Branscombe Landslip, near Beer, Devon, UK, through late afternoon into early evening on 8 May 2016. A strong wind was blowing, with gusts chasing around through surrounding trees and scrub, while it was relatively sheltered where the recorder was. It is actually a major remastering (in 2019) from the original 3+ hour recording - the first attempt having succeeded only in using the last 70 minutes of edited recording (early evening), when the wind had veered and rendered the recorder much more sheltered. That version is still available as Branscombe Landslip - Blackbirds Sing in the Calm Within the Wind (PGC-182).In this new remastering it has at last been possible to tame the microphone wind noise in the longer earlier part of the recording sufficiently to make it an enhancement rather than a blight, and consequently worthwhile cutting out the very many distorted peaks and people disturbances to extract a really useful amount of this thrilling afternoon soundscape with gusts of quite strong wind chasing around in the surrounding trees and scrub while a multitude of birds sing unperturbed by the wind commotions.During the serene final hour (CD 2) we are mostly well sheltered from the wind, which has veered a little and is sending its gusts further afield, and hear it just as a continuous background rushing sound as it persistently has its arguments with distant trees and scrub. That sound completely masks the gentle distant sea sound echoing on the cliff towering above us, which we would otherwise hear, but at least is adds an exhilarating frisson to the otherwise great serenity in this sheltered area.The blackbird - one of our most mellifluous and uplifting songbirds - is our star performer, with several spells of singing - either close solo or in even more exquisite more or less distant reverberant ensemble, that occurring both during the afternoon windiness and during the peaceful early evening. The towering cliff helps ensure that many of the louder bird sounds are reverberant. As well as blackbird, we hear a range of bird species we can reasonably expect in such a place, including blackcap, robin, chiffchaff, wren, chaffinch and goldfinch.The single recording is split into four continuously playing tracks per CD, just to aid navigation.