I'm still working on the Northumberland trip blog post, but the weather is too fine to stay indoors for long so it will be a while until it's done.

Today I went on a short trip to Dunbar and brought my full recording rig (including hydrophones) with me instead of only taking the handheld. This proved to be a smart move as there was hardly anyone around apart from a small group of surfers braving the cold water.

There were few birds including Gannet, Eider Duck and Herring Gull but they were minding their business and their calls were inaudible. The only trouble was created by Skylarks singing close to the shoreline but when I heard them I just moved away for a few hundred yards and their calls became inaudible.

In all I managed to record about 2 hours of audio over more than half a day. I recorded different distance perspectives, and on several of the takes I also buried a hydrophone in the sand and recorded this on the 3rd channel of the 633. Here's a short bit I recorded on a minuscule tidal island until a rogue wave almost flooded my recording bag:

Field recording tools of the trade

At the lower end of the price spectrum, field recording equipment will yield relatively similar results. A few dB of self noise won’t make a huge difference if the recordist hasn’t mastered the other tools of the trade, the ones that can’t be bought. Let’s examine some lesser known but rather more important tools that are sure to improve your field recording practice.

Introduction to Freestyle field recording

Freestyle field recording is a flexible approach to recording nature and wildlife sounds outside of the studio or any controlled environment, developed by George Vlad. While traditional methods are prescriptive and rigid, Freestyle field recording encourages deliberate experimentation and a very organic workflow.

Listening session at the House of Lords in Westminster

I recently received an invitation to play some of my soundscapes and to tell stories about conservation. While there’s nothing unusual about that, the setting was definitely novel for me.

A collection of Owl sounds

Owls are awesome and worth learning about. What better place to start than a curated selection of owl recordings, captured by your favourite wildlife sound recordist!

The 2025 Soundscape Fund

How can field recording make a difference for conservation and environmental causes? I get this question a lot, and one of the answers is here. Once a year I team up with Thomas Rex Beverly and Andy Martin to raise money for environmental NGOs.