This is an unattended night audio recording from July 22nd-23rd 2017, captured near Fjerritslev in Northern Jutland. This coastal rural area is dominated by sand dunes systems, heaths and plantations, and overall quite sparsely populated.

The recording was captured inside a smaller tree group with bushes near an old farm building and next to an open field. An ant pile was just in front of the recorder, but I think it is not audible.

The weather during the night was partly rainy and later slightly windy – typical weather for this summer.

For a long time I have been curious to capture the ambient night sounds in an area far away from the city and without the usual and constant traffic noise. However it turned out that a harvester was working the half of the night producing quite dominating deep rumble.

First clip is from 23:00-0:15 featuring mainly rain coming and going, a persistent harvester sound and barking dogs.

00:00 Time is 23 pm. Harvester can be heard though out clip
00:03 Cranes far away. Also the nearby horse on the field can be heard.
00:16 Something moving around nearby
00:20 Rain, dog barking
00:27 Some animal nearby
00:29 Rain declines
00:43 Dog barking
00:47 Water fowl calls over field
00:50 Rain
01:07 Bird calls over the field
01:15 End – time is now 0:15

Second clip is from 04:00 – 5:00 am. With the harvester gone, wind sounds have taken over. A relaxed morning choir emerges slowly during the recording. The birdsong has now clearly declined compared to in the spring.

00:00 Time is 4 am. Harvester gone, wind has picked up
00:02 First birdsong very faint
00:33 Fine song of black birds
00:55 More birdsong
01:00 End – time is now 5 am

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Unattended night audio recording from Amager fælled, 10-11 June 2017. Nice clear sky evening, about 15C and mostly calm. It is June and officially summer. It can not only be felt by the sun intensity, but also by the distinct smell of fresh grass and the meter high vegetation everywhere.
I really like this period up to Midsummer with the moderate temperatures, abundant green growth and plentiful birdsong.

The tree ears microphone setup, Amager Fælled June 11, 2017. Click for large version.

I found a good undisturbed spot in a group of bushes and trees. With the microphones pointing out towards a grass meadow, I was expecting to hear sounds from the open area. Instead most sound came from the sides inside the canopy giving a very R-L stereo perspective of the recording.

The clip below is from 2:45 to 4:15 am, starting with night ambience, dominated by two singing nightingales. Along with the emerging light more birds wake up, gradually forming a full morning chorus around 4 am.

Through out the recording, there is of course also of traffic and party noise, something that cannot be avoided on a Friday night in June at this location.  These are obviously the natural sounds of humans in the spring / summer.

00:00 Time is now 2:45 am
00:06  Both nightingales sing beautifully
00:12  Bat-like click sounds over the meadow
00:15  The deep rumbling sound of traffic and music clearly audible, 3 am
00:19  Bat like sounds again
00:34 Cuckoo
00:36 First distant black birds
00:45 Nightingales still very dominating, 3:30 am
00:50  First wren
00:55  Black bird, right
01:00 Cuckoos, 3:45 am
01:10 Nearby robin (a bit loud)
01:15 Nearby chiffchaff (a bit loud) 4:00 am
01:30 4:15am (still before sunrise at 5 )’

Below various images of the evening and morning atmosphere.

This is an all-night audio field recording from Jægersborg Dyrehave, north of Copenhagen, 28-29th May 2017.

So, this time I managed to do a night recording in a forest a bit further away than my local Brøndbyskov. Jærgersborg Dyrehave is a much older and larger woodland (royal deer garden), know for a large population of old oak trees, Eremitageslottet and just plenty of deer. For a long time, I have been curious to know more about the night sounds of this old historic forest.

Wide angle view in front of the recorder. Dyrehaven May 28 2017

It is just a great time of the year, everything so fresh and green with tense smells of moist soil and vegetation. These few weeks of the year with such a high activity among birds, mammals, plants and insects, I think it could also be called it a stressful time of the year.

View behind the recorder, click for large version

It was a calm night with warm temperatures 18-12C. Recent days had been full summer days with temperatures >23C, dry and lots of sun. For the recording, I found a place some distance away from the paths, with tree trunk suitable for my tree ears microphone setup.

Below you can hear 2 clips from the night take (listen in headphones):

0:30-1:00 am – Deep night sounds and loud animal scream

Just past midnight, the deep noise from the amusement park (Bakken) is still clearly heard, but declining. Generally quiet night ambience, still somehow affected by (partying) humans.

At this time, there footsteps of deer walking around nearby.

About 6 and 8! minutes into the clip, out of the silence there is a sudden very loud screaming  (warning loud !)  of some sort of animal, very close. Does anyone know what species this is and why it is screaming? I am far from having any clue, just think it sounds more like a mammal than a bird.

2:50 – 6:00 am – Morning chorus

The clip starts 2:50 am. Now the noise from Bakken is gone and the traffic noise is also at a minimum, all in all making this period a very undisturbed silent night ambience.  Occasionally, you can hear a woodcock and an owl-like call.

However the first light is emerging and15 minutes into the clip the first robin decide to start the day with quiet singing. After 10 minutes the song thrush joins in with a beautiful soft song, and now the whole forest is clearly waking up.

At 1:00 there is some unusual bird song. I think it appears to be a Black bird, that suddenly changes its song into a funny exotic melody. Maybe a black birds that was raised amongst parrots? Never heard that song before. Anyone heard that before?

The bird song is peaking at this time. The main voices of the morning chorus are wood warbler, black cap, black bird, song thrush, wren and robin.

Yet another recording in the series of night recordings at Brøndbyskoven, this time from the night of Wednesday 3 – 4th May 2017 same place as last time.

Wide angle view from the recorder, 8.45 pm

A beautiful May evening after a sunny day with up to 14C. The temperature in the evening 10C, dropping to 6C in the morning. Surprisingly low winds in the forest, despite persistent easterly winds throughout the day. The air humidity was unusually low RH% = 50%, making all surfaces dry and dusty.  The recent days of cold and rainy conditions were quickly forgotten.

I started the recording at 20:50 pm (sunset) and stopped it 5:40 am (about sunrise). I have selected two clips from the session (listen in head phones).

Quiet deep night atmosphere 2:30 – 3:30 am

Surprisingly modest morning chorus 4:20-5:20 am

This is another recording in the series of night recordings from Brøndbyskoven March 22, 2017 same tree trunk as last recording.  With these recordings I would like to follow and document the variation of nature sounds over the seasons.

Wide angle view from the recorder, early morning in Brøndbyskoven, March 23, 2017.

The forest is still bare and transparent, and without much sign of green leaves or vegetation, forming a complete mosaic brown and greyish colours.
Birds have started singing during the last couple of weeks. On the recording a substantial morning chorus starts about 1 hours before sunrise, composed of voices of black bird, robin, wren, song trust and crow.
During the night it is almost dead quiet in terms of nature sound, however compared to the previous recording there is now a constant faint noise of insects from all over, which I believe is a sign of all the smaller organisms waking up after winter.

The recording starts at 18:30 (winter time) just after sunset and ends 6:30 in the morning. The clip above covers the first 25 minutes while the birds settle for the night, and then the hours from 3:30 -6:30 in the morning.

Weather conditions: very calm SW winds and dry roads. Temperatures up to 10C in the afternoon, but dropping below 0C in the morning.

Night audio recording in the icy cold and snow covered winter forest, Brøndbyskoven 11-12th, 2017. In the beginning very calm with a cold clear sky, -3C. But later, quite abruptly, it changed into more windy and cloudy conditions, and slightly warmer temperatures, 0C.

Tree ears microphone setup in the evening. The microphones are pointing in the direction into the image. Road lights can be spotted ahead to the left.

I have been curious to know if there could be any mysterious sounds in this frozen winter forest during the night. And, ok this time there weren’t any. Maybe they keep quiet when they sense a recording device in the area. Anyway such sounds are not to be expected on just any recording.

I have found this winter season very quiet in terms of animal and nature sounds. Traffic and urban sounds are however the same, very noticeable. As the wind picked up during the late hours it produced some nice blows through the tree tops accompanied by steady creaking of branches and stems. I started recording around 17:30 when it was getting dark. The clip is an excerpt starting with the first 15 minutes just at the beginning of the recording followed by a segment from 3 to 4:30 am, which was the time when the wind began to pick up.

The location was not very deep into the forest, it was still possible to get a glimpse of the road lights. Despite having found a day with a good wind direction going towards the adjacent motorways, a distinct rumbling noise now turned out to come from party music pounding bass played in the residential areas. This is a factor that needs to be considered especially for Friday and Saturday night recordings.

Nature audio recording of the quiet and calm atmosphere on a winter day in January, Borrevejle Vig, Roskilde fjord.  January 14 2017. The recording starts at about 2 pm, duration 78 minutes.
Partly sunny , westerly wind and about 3C.

Wide angle view from the recorder. Click for (much) larger version.

The surrounding reed beds give a relaxing whispering hiss, but otherwise this recording serves to give a picture of the overall silent winter landscape. I think it will be in clear contrast to how it will be in a few months time. Listen in headphones.

With some effort, though, it is possible to hear various water fowl on the water, mostly at a distance. I think some gees and swans. The water is overall ice free.
And then of course the motorway to the right in the bottom of the fjord and air planes that come and go with deep rumbling.

Audio nature recording from the winter forest of December 25th 2016, Brøndbyskoven. Recording starts around 9 am.

Microphone setup at the recording location in Brøndbyskoven

Temperature 4C and barely no wind, rain slowly setting in. The forest is now leafless, greyish and transparent. Sounds are dominated by more distant sources, including church bells from Brøndbyøster kirke (400 m) and motorway noise (1.5 km), but also flocks of small birds and crows calling to each other can be heard from time to time. In the beginning you hear me walk away.

Here in Denmark, Christmas (juleaften) is celebrated on the evening of the 24th, with church, rice porridge, pork roast/duck, Christmas tree and presents. The 25th is mostly a day for good relaxing and maybe a walk in the forest.

This is an audio field recording October 29th in Brøndbyskoven on a sunny and pretty windy afternoon, about 10C, winds from NW.

View from the recorder. Looking at the images the magnitude of wind rustling noise is surprising, and it also appears stronger on the recording than I remember it from the field. But is must be fairly correct, and the recording has not been processed in any way. Listen in headphones.

The trees still have plenty of leaves and the forest now stands beautifully yellow and green.

The canopy is however rapidly thinning out. Now is really the time to enjoy these beautiful autumn colors, and watch the forest’s fascinating transformation from magnificent shadowy green halls into transparent open areas.
The forest still has the sound of rustling leaves, but soon this will also be gone with hardly any sound from the wind, only leaving the traffic and other distant noises even more present.

It would be all dull, if not for the fresh layer of yellow crisp leafs on the ground, which also makes a great sound when walking through it.

This is a simple recording of the sound of rain from inside a car. Late evening, October 19th 2016, approx 9 C. Nothing special, just this subtle monotonous sound with varying intensity, which to me evokes some sleepy moods.