"I met Magnus around the Northern Flyway release in 2018. Magnus and the Sound Approach then contributed to the first Spell Songs record I produced. Since then he’s helped me out with beautiful sound recordings and soundscapes on Jenny Sturgeon’s - The Living Mountain, Spell Songs - Let the Light In and installations for The National Trust and The Sill - National Landscape Discovery Centre. We hope you enjoy this beautiful collection of field recordings - Four Spring Airs from Magnus. Do check out his website and the work he does with The Sound Approach” Andy Bell
soundapproach.co.uk
Wheatear on Mt Aragats, Armenia
A varied and musical song of a Northern Wheatear on Armenia's highest mountain, Mt Aragats in early May. The wheatear was perched on a large boulder just a couple of metres from my microphones. The clean acoustic of high mountains on a wind-still morning is a sound recordist's dream. Mt Aragats, Armenia, 10:22, 13 May 2011
Icelandic dawn chorus
Recorded in the place where, a few hours before, I proposed to my wife. The night was the first without blizzards or strong wind for a week. When I picked up this equipment during a new blizzard the next day it was still running, and an arctic spider was lying on the warm recorder, enjoying some unexpected comfort. On the memory card was a beautiful dawn chorus with the following birds, in approximate order of appearance here: Great Northern Diver, European Golden Plover, Snow Bunting, Meadow Pipit, Red-throated Diver, Rock Ptarmigan, Purple Sandpiper, Whooper Swan and Black-tailed Godwit. Several species in this recording featured in Northern Flyway, although using older recordings. Skagi peninsula, northern Iceland at 05:17 on 5th May 2022
Montado night, Portugal
In early May the nights of the open cork oak 'montado' in Portugal are full of sounds. While cow bells gently ring, we can hear Scops Owls (the constant pyu... pyu...), Wood Larks (the beautiful descending songs), a few frogs, a distant Red-necked Nightjar (tutuc-tutuc-tutuc-tutuc-tutuc...) and even more distant, a Great Spotted Cuckoo (the distant descending wails at 0:37), a Common Cuckoo with a sore throat, and a Little Owl. Rosmaninhal, Idanha-a-Nova, Portugal, 03:53, 13 May 2012.
Peewits on Tory Island, Ireland
St Patrick's night on Tory Island, Donegal, 2008. A male peewit (Northern Lapwing) sings and dances in the air over a backdrop of Atlantic surf. You'll appreciate the irregular circling of the peewit at its best with a pair of headphones. Samples from this recording featured in Lost Lapwing on the Northern Flyway LP.