2021 ended somewhat unexpectedly sound-wise. From the reeds along a small canal I heard sounds that sounded like the muffled mooing of a cow. It turned out to be Nutrias Myocastor coypus. Nutrias are rodents from South America, so they are considered an invasive species in Europe. The populations here are offspring of animals abandoned by fur hunters in the past. The species is now widespread, actually harmless, but quite unpopular with humans. I heard these sounds consciously for the first time.

Singwarte Media Field Notes

PFR10375 PFR18861, 25-12-2021, Nutria Myocastor coypus, Germany

The recent history of the Grey Wolf Canis lupus in Central Europe, like almost everywhere else in the world, is also a history of competition, suppression and finally persecution. In superstition, they were portrayed as dangerous to humans directly, they were in fact seen as competitors for food and were therefore killed throughout the area. In addition to the desire to kill, hunters also see themselves in the role of those who have to put nature in order and, with the end of the Grey Wolf in Central Europe also as the end of the food chain. One argument in favour of hunting wild animals has been, at the latest since the Grey Wolf's extinction, to have to take over its role in nature. In 1904, the last wild local Grey Wolf was shot in Germany. Between 1945 and 1990 13 wolves were killed in the GDR ('East-Germany') and nine in the FRG ('West-Germany'). Since 1990, the Grey Wolf has been protected by the Nature Conservation Act in Germany, but exploring Grey Wolves are continuously shot illegally. Increasing exploration movements of Eastern European populations led in 2000, for the first time since 1850, to the reproduction of a wild pair of Grey Wolves. Then the development accelerated. So, 20 years later a monitoring yielded the following results (source: Bundesamt für Naturschutz): Packs 128, Pairs 35, single individuals 10 Between 2000 and the end of 2020, the following figures were given for kills: roadkill 393, illegal intentional kills 51 Since the 'return' of the Grey Wolf to Germany, an unpleasant mixture of hunting-, agricultural- and shepherd lobbies, together with the conservative to right-wing press, has been exerting pressure on politicians to officially allow Grey Wolves to be shot and to place the management of the population under the control of the hunting authority. Since 2020, so-called 'problem wolves' can now officially be killed in Germany. These are individuals that either repeatedly attack unprotected livestock herds or do not shy away from humans and visit human settlements in search of food. In the hope of a little bit of local or social media fame, people have in the past fed Grey Wolf offspring and posted videos of them. Animals that are imprinted on humans often lose all shyness and are thus more or less tame. Despite all the antipathy towards livestock breeders, it must be said that in parts of this community a slow rethinking is taking place and people are getting used to now necessary protection measures, e.g. for sheep, and thus no longer support the call for a management of the Grey Wolf population. This audio recording comes from a wild pack of wolves in Brandenburg. Thanks are due to all those who are committed to opposing the killing of wildlife and of course to Сталкер TN!

PFR18457, 02-10-2021, Grey Wolf Canis lupus, Germany

Recording sound of a thunderstorm is not an easy thing to do if you value a sound that is not colored by the reflections of a building or muffled a shelter. There are just too few dry thunderstorms in the Northern Hemisphere, unfortunately. Tonight there was a really exceptionally long and intense thunderstorm in Leipzig. Since my apartment building is adjacent to a very spacious courtyard, there is a massive reverberation there, which makes it acoustically very interesting, even if it is not a thunderstorm in an open field.

PFR18437, 27-09-2021, Leipzig Thunderstorm, Germany

Regular visitors to my blog will know that one of my favourite nature reserves is a former military training area south of Berlin (see: Scorched Earth I) After a massive fire some years back, new flora is now showing up and with it first larger fauna. One species was always present even right after the big fire, is the Eurasian Nightjar Caprimulgus europaeus. This bird species prefers an open, dry landscape with little ground vegetation and prefers to hunt insects in flight. The overall behaviour of this species is remarkable, as it is highly specialised and the mostly nocturnal encounters are always something special. Since the species is not very shy, sometimes approach the observer very close one might even think they are 'curious'. www.singwarte.info

PFR17831, 11-06-2021, Eurasian Nightjar, Field Cricket, Germany

Strong winds have been persisting for weeks, making wildlife sound recording outdoors almost impossible at the moment. Fortunately, there are birds that breed in buildings, like barn swallows. In this case, even in an observation tower in a nature reserve.

PFR17686, 06-05-2021, Barn Swallow, Hirundo r. rustica, Germany

One of my favourite songs among Eurasian songbirds. Often not recognised as a song, it is nevertheless complex and sometimes even contains imitations - as here from the Black Woodpecker.

PFR17654, 26-03-2021, Hawfinch Coccothraustes c. coccothraustes, Germany

My first recording session of the year. Tundra Bean Geese, Greater White-fronted Geese, Greylag Geese, Whooper Swans, Mute Swans leaving their roost.

PFR17420, 01-01-2020, Geese Swans Cranes leaving roost, Germany

Several displaying European Tree Frogs recorded near a substation. In background Common Nightingales and noise from a motorway. Double-MS recording down-mixed to binaural. No filtering.

PFR17268, 07-06-2020, European Tree Frog Hyla arborea, Germany

A binaural mix consisting of a wind energy plant surround sound recording and a simultaneously with two geophones recorded windmill.

PFR17138, 26-08-2020, windmill, Germany

At the beginning of April, during a sound recording trip, I accidentally came across a roost of Common Starlings Sturnus v. vulgaris consisting of several hundreds of individuals. During the morning recording session I realised that those songs were differently from those uttered at night. At night the birds arriving at the roost and and look for a suitable corner to sleep. Whilst doing this they territorial songs whereas in the morning one can hear birds uttering social or conversational songs all together.

PFR16479, 06-04-2020, Common Starling Sturnus v. vulgaris, roost, Germany

I am regularly asked how exactly I came to sound recording. The answer is as short as simple: I discovered that there are animal sounds that are very abstract and sound surprisingly artificial. Here my personal interest in synthesising sounds began to fade away...

PFR16506, 10-04-2020, Bluethroat Luscinia svecica cyanecula, Germany

Since Marc Namblard released his "Chants of Frozen Lakes" album, I have become more aware of this phenomenon. Ice, in a lake or river bed gets squeezed by changes in temperature and thus produces a wide range of sounds. At the beginning of January I spontaneously had the opportunity to record this phenomenon. The Mittellandkanal crossing former German-German border was thinly frozen over and the ice began to crack and groan under the rising sun. Mittellandkanal, Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany, 02.01.2020

PFR16175, 02-01-2020, cracking and echoing ice, Germany

No doubt, fireworks are something exciting for a sound enthusiast. The impact, however to the natural world, pets and people with no interest in extremely loud detonations or certain traumas are devastating - just to talk about the acoustic aspect. In the past few years there have been many studies on the health effects of fireworks made in urban areas, but surprisingly little in rural areas or in nature reserves. What happens in such a nature reserve during at several hours of massive noise production in medium or large distances around that particular spot? In 2012 I made sound recordings during the New Year's Eve fireworks at the same spot called Flachwasserzone Mannhausen located in the Drömling Biosphere Reserve, Saxony Anhalt. For a better spatial location of the events, I have made sound recordings again - but now in a 360 ° format. So this track is a binaural version of an Ambisonics recording. Caution! There are naturally very loud peaks in the recording that could damage your hearing.

PFR16104, 31-12-2019, New Year's Eve, Nature Reserve, Germany

I went to Germany's most famous Common Crane roost north of Berlin recently. My goal was to make sound recordings of a really large number of Common Cranes arriving at roost. In this case around 20.000 individuals. It is certainly arguable whether it is right, in times of continuous habitat loss, to bring people just to these places to reconnect with nature. Since several Common Crane roosts have re-established in Germany, a veritable hype has been created about it. The idea of ​​conservation gave way to the desire to make money with a natural resource, with minimal protection for the species and its habitat. So here we are: fields where birds used to search for food on are now crowded with people, small villages look like car parks in front of shopping malls and the roosts themselves are like funfairs, only the wurst stalls are missing. Of course all these people came to this rather rural place by car. For me as a field recordist this meant another time: not a good place for sound recording due to the massive anthropogenic noise. Nevertheless, I recorded some smaller flocks further away instead of the 20.000 at the actual hotspot, yet with considerable noise. Stereo downmix from ambisonics.

PFR15961, 20-10-2019, Common Crane Grus grus, Germany

So, what do we hear here? Well, it's actually just wind blowing into a tube with one open end...

PFR15432, 10-04-2019, wind blowing into a tube, North Sea, offshore

My scientific as well as my artistic work is based on a wide range of motivations and ways of approaching the sound of the so called natural world – regardless, whether it’s the sound of an entire habitat or a single animal or the fundamental sounds of the elements.

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Singwarte Media Field Notes

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