The Calls of Northern Bullfinch; Nocturnal Recording at Bro Reserve

In this, the first episode of the second season of Wild Bird Acoustics, I offer a small educational piece on the vocalizations of Northern Bullfinch, a regular migrant here in Sweden, which periodically appears elsewhere in Europe.
Following that, a simple sound magazine of a nocturnal trip to Bro Reserve in Sweden, a wonderful site filled with magical bird sounds, free of man made noise. On this special night, I made some wonderful recordings on a night when the ether was filled with the sounds of newly arrived Thrush Nightingale, Sedge Warbler, Common Crane and a host of other species. Listen in and relax to the sounds of wild Sweden...

Transcript

  You're all very welcome to wild bird acoustics. I'm your host, Alan Dalton, and I'll be taking you on a journey into sound. 

 Now, welcome everybody to season two of wild bird acoustics and what a journey it has been. I have a little bit to talk to you today. It's been an incredible journey over season one. I'd like to thank everybody for listening to that season. And I hope you're going to enjoy season two going forward. 📍  Now, I think the main difference in season two is probably going to be audio quality.

And that is mainly due to the acquisition of a pair of matched stereo Sennheiser eight oh two oh microphones. Now it's late November in 2024. As I sit here and record, and at this point I've been using the Sennheiser Array for about 11 months, and I have to say they've been absolutely incredible, incredible to the point that they've actually changed the way that I record birds.

And I'll explain that a little bit more now.  They've actually changed my attitude towards recording, and they've actually changed the errors that I tend to record.  And the reason for that is because the microphones are simply so sensitive. So one of the downsides, oddly as I found out, is because they're so sensitive, any background noise, boats, planes, all that anthropogenic noise, really affects the recording.

So what I found was, I started to Pick up all this background noise when I was out recording during the day and what that actually meant was I began to start recording a lot more initially early in the morning and eventually towards the end of the spring, I found myself getting out much more at night.

So to put it into a nutshell, because the mics were so sensitive, I actually started to avoid or want to avoid any kind of anthropogenic noise whatsoever. And as I say, that led me to get out more and more at night time. And the more I did that, the more I realized that this is the ultimate time to be out in the field recording. 

 Now, one of the big plus points for getting out at night has been just reconnecting with nature and  being out at night has been quite incredible. I've had some incredible experiences with birds and indeed mammals. And some of the audio I've recorded has been absolutely fantastic.

  It's been wonderful to get out into the darkness and just see what I came across. And as I say, I got some wonderful recordings  and as a result, I have an awful lot to share with you over the course of season two.  Now quite often I was out recording.

I got a lot of longer soundscapes. You have so much time at night, you can just set up the recorder,  leave it there for a couple of hours in a good spot. And as a result, some of the audio passages were quite fantastic. Now, as incredible as these Sennheiser microphones have been this year, they're not perfect for every situation.



And you're still going to hear a lot of recordings with my older gear. So I'm still using the Tilinga Prabhla quite a lot. And for me, that's been a wonderful piece of equipment over the years. It's been my go to kit and I'm still using that extensively in the field. Also, I'm also using the gear I bought in the very first place when I first started out.

And for me, that's a simple zoom HM1 recorder coupled with some clippy stereo microphones. I like to plant them just close to birds in various places at night. And in many ways, folks, field recording is like photography. You can spend an absolute fortune on the best possible camera and the longest lens, but if you don't know what you're doing, if you don't have any field craft, you just won't get any results.

. So, as far as I'm concerned, nothing has changed. The key to good audio is getting the microphone as close as possible to your chosen subject. And I think if you can manage to do that, you're always going to get some fantastic audio.

So with that in mind, I'm going to move on to the very first sound magazine of Season 2, and we're going to concentrate on a species Northern Bullfinch. It's a wonderful species here in Sweden. It's a little bit different to the birds you might get in the UK and Ireland in that their vocalizations are quite different.

Now, over the course of season two, I promised myself a little less waffle and a lot more sound recording. And I hope you appreciate that going forward. I hope you enjoy this sound magazine folks. Have a listen.  



 Now welcome everybody to the Vismig Files once again and we're going to be dealing with a species today that is very very common around Europe but there is a  📍 little cavat and the species is Eurasian Bullfinch. But here in Sweden we have a subspecies of Eurasian Bullfinch which is kind of colloquially known as Northern Bullfinch and in fact if you're listening from the UK or Ireland you probably won't be too familiar with these calls as Northern Bullfinch makes different calls.

And I record the species quite often in autumn, generally speaking on migration, and it gives a trumpeting call that is quite different to  📍 birds from, say, the UK or Ireland. And I just wanted to run through some of these lovely recordings I have of the species today, they're quite interesting.  And I think for a lot of UK and Irish birders, this will be quite interesting, as this subspecies of Eurasian bullfinch, does occur on passage in places like Shetland and possibly down the east coast of Britain.

It's generally quite scarce, but in certain years it can occur in good numbers and it wouldn't be a bad thing to be actually familiar with the calls of this subspecies.  So once again, you're welcome to the Vismig Files and this is Northern Vulfinch.  Now, the first recording I have for you comes from Landsort, a regular listening station of and this was actually recorded with a Tlingit Prabhla.

I went down to the island in November 2023 and on this particular day there was a big passage of Northern Bullfinch as well as Common Redpoll. And I wanted to start with this recording just because it's quite simple and it will allow you to get your ear in on the call. Now it starts off with a few blue tits and some yellow hammers in the background before the trumbly calls of Northern Bullfinch passing board which is moving south just comes into the recording.

So have a listen to this folks. This is a recording of Northern Bullfinch on active migration at Landsort in Sweden. 

Now here in Sweden, Bullfinch migration kind of peaks around October, late October probably, and continues into November. Quite a late migrant, and it's probably the best time to get out into the field looking for the species here in Sweden. Now I have a recording for you from Hallegern in Västerbotten.

It's actually an October recording. It comes from late October in two thousand and twenty three. There is a dog barking here in the background from my neighbor, who stays there all year round, but it's not too distracting. Now, this is about a minute long and you hear quite an odd call. One you'd never heard before at about 37 seconds before the bird actually picks up on volume.

There's probably a few birds passing here. And it's quite a nice recording. So the volume actually picks up through the recording and around 50 seconds you get some really, really nice calls of Northern Bullfinch. So this is quite a nice recording and it represents or gives a good representation of what it's like to hear a couple of birds passing overhead on passage in autumn.

So I'll play that for you now. This is Northern Bullfinch at Vastabotten in Northern Sweden in late October 2023. 

Now this is a very staple species of Vismig migration on the coast of Vastabotten in autumn. The next recording was taken from an SM mini recorder which was actually just left on the island for the entire autumn period in 2023. The recording comes from October 23rd, 2023, and it's quite a nice short recording of a passing Northern Bullfinch.

Have a listen folks. 

Now, those of you living in the UK and Ireland, and maybe further south in Europe. We'll actually recognize these calls as being very different to Bullfinch in those areas. And it's a very, very nice, mellow, trumpeting whistle, and it's very, very distinctive when you get to learn the call. Now I'm going to stay on Halligarn, and we're going to listen to another recording from the 27th of October, 2023.

There's some Greenfinch, Blue Tit, and other species here in the background. Also Common Redpoll, very, very typical at that time of the year. But it's very, very easy to pick out calling Northern Bothinch here on active migration and Vasterbotten in Sweden. Have a listen folks. 

Next up on the VisMig files is a lovely recording of Northern Bothinch. This time from Landsort in Sweden. Now, the recording starts off, you can hear some Yellowhammer just calling from close to the recorder, and also a few Waxwing in the area, and then, softly, softly, softly, comes the calls of Northern Bullfinch, and as they get close to the recorder, you get a nice clear recording, Of the typical call, once again, of the species as it overflies the recorder on active migration.

This is Northern Bullfinch at Landsort in Sweden. 

Now folks I'm going to take you back to Landsort and this time back to November 23rd, 2023 when I was on the island for a lovely passage of both Common Redpoll, Northern Bullfinch and Waxwing. And this particular day I got some lovely, lovely recordings of all of those species. But in this recording you're going to hear all three.

So, listen carefully for the calls. You should have your ear in now for Northern Bullfinch. But also here in the background, just take note there's some nice calls from Bohemian Waxwing and Common Red Ball. All moving through on passage late in November, in Autumn 2023. 

Now, in season two of the podcast, I just wanted to keep these VisMig files, quite a lot of them, quite short and to the point and with species such as Northern Bullfinch,  it's quite easy just to play you a few recordings. It's a very, very distinctive call, a very, very noticeable mellow whistle. And I think it's very, very easy call to learn.

And I think it'll be of interest to a lot of birders around Europe. It's one of my favorite calls here in Sweden in the autumn. And I just hope you've enjoyed these little short bits of audio, and I hope to help some birders maybe pick out a few of these birds as they move south in the autumn, and hopefully also maybe in areas where they are a scarce species.

So it's just something to listen out for in the future, and coming into the autumn, it's always good to be aware of these calls. Now I'm going to leave you with one last nice bit of audio from Landsorten, Sweden, also from the 28th of November in 2023. Once again, listen now for the lovely, fluting, mellow trumpet calls of Northern Bullfinch. 

So there you go folks, that's the Vismig Files, short and sweet and to the point. And I hope you have enjoyed it.  As I've already mentioned, it's a very distinctive calling species, a call very much worth learning, and a call I hope one or two of you might pick up out of range over the course of an autumn.

I hope you've enjoyed this folks. Once again, thanks for listening to the VisMig files here at Wild Bird Acoustics.



 So there you go folks that's the very first sound magazine of season two and I think this is quite a nice little educational piece just to get into season two and species like northern bullfinch I think will be of interest to boarders in places like Holland, Belgium and along the east coast of Britain where these species, although they're quite scarce in all likelihood, are possibly likely to occur.

And it's good to get your ear in on the calls of the species. So hopefully that was educational for you guys. And we will be doing a lot more with VisMig and NockMig as the season goes forward in this second season.  Now we're going to move along pretty much straight away here and move on to the second sound magazine Now all of the audio you will hear in this next sound magazine was recorded with the Sennheiser 802 array and they've been quite incredible as I've already shown mentioned in the intro. The results of this single night bear that out and it was at a place called Bro Reserve in Sweden.

It was quite an incredible experience. I explain quite a lot as I go through the Cell magazine so there's no point in doubling up on that. So we'll get straight into it now. This is night recording at Bro Reserve in Sweden. I hope you enjoy this folks.

 Now you're all very welcome to another sound magazine here at wild bird acoustics And on this occasion, we have some absolutely incredible audio and it's all from a single trip, a nocturnal overnight trip to Brough Reserve, which is located north of Stockholm City, and it's quite incredible reserve. 

Now, this is one of several nocturnal outings I made in 2024.  And the aim was to arrive around midnight and just record right through the night in the hours of darkness. And I arrived up by train, on the second last train up. And then I made my way along the road and just a couple of cars passed on the way.

Now, on arrival at the reserve, it was apparent there was a massive amount of thrush nightingale in the area. It was the 19th of May, and it was very, very obvious there had been a huge arrival of the species. Now, the 19th of May is around the peak arrival of the species, but I was quite blown away by the amount of singing males in the area, and I'm quite sure that birds were just passing through.

But the soundscape was absolutely incredible as I entered the reserve. Now, as incredible as the soundscape was at this particular point, I was very conscious that I wanted to make my way away from the road and any possible source of noise pollution. Now, on arrival further into the reserve, I could hear several more thrush nightingale and song.

And quite incredibly, on the night, I counted 28 singing male birds. So it made it a little bit easier to leave this area and work my way into the reserve. And I was kind of just relaxed about the whole thing as I knew I'd get plenty of opportunities to record Thrush Nightingale as I was there for the entire night. 

Now it was properly dark already and the soundscape as I made my way into the reserve was absolutely incredible. And perhaps after about seven or eight hundred meters I came across a small ditch. And at this stage, my eyes were attuned to the darkness and my hearing was very, very much attuned to the surrounding area.

And what I heard next, I could not pass up. In the ditch was a singing sedge warbler, probably just moving through, but it was very, very close to the pathway. And I was able to get a recorder right up beside the bird.  Now, because I was out at night, there was absolutely no noise in the background. And the soundscape of singing Thrush Nightingale in the background was absolutely incredible.

And sometimes you know as you're putting your recorder down that you're about to get an absolutely incredible recording. Now this is a short excerpt of a much longer recording. I recorded this bird for about 25 minutes. But I'll play about 4 minutes or so of this. See if you can pick out mimicry of things like Eurasian Blue Tit and White Wagtail.

But in the background here is Thrush Nightingale. More than one bird. It's quite an incredible backdrop. And it just makes for an absolutely incredible recording. And this is the reason I get out at night, folks. Have a listen to this. This is Singing Sedge Warbler at Borough Reserve in Sweden. 

I have a plan for the future. I have a plan for the future. I have a plan for the future. 

We are extra extra extra extra 

Uh, Uh, Uh, Uh, Uh, Uh, I don't know if you can see it, but there's a lot of birds in the background. 

Now, having recorded Sedge Warbler successfully, I made my way further into the reserve, towards Lake Malloran, to my favourite area in the reserve. And, as I did so, Thrush Nightingale were absolutely everywhere. And, as it was still darkness, and this has been the bird seeing best, I decided I should spend some time on getting a really nice recording.

of the species. So that's what I did. I actually rejected several males singing as there were other species too close. But eventually I settled on a single bird that was singing in some blackthorn. And it was quite incredible. I got the mic right beside the bird and it was an incredible backdrop from a nearby reed bed.

I'm going to play this for you now. This is a singing thrush nightingale in the dead of night. Once again, there's absolutely no noise pollution here. I made a very, very long recording of this bird. But you will hear about four minutes or so. This is a wonderful recording, folks. Have a listen. This is Thrush Nightingale in song in the middle of the night at Broad Reserve in Sweden. 

I'm 

not sure if I'm going to be able to do this. I don't know if you can see it, but there's a bird in the background. It's a bird. It's a bird. It's a bird. It's a bird. It's a bird. It's a bird. It's a bird. It's a bird. It's a bird. 

Please subscribe if you liked the video, also check the description for links to other videos! 

I'm trying 

to 

Now an incredible recording there and like all of the recordings in this sound magazine that was made with the Sennheiser 8020 array and it has been absolutely incredible and particularly useful at night. Now if you were listening carefully there folks you would have heard a number of species in the background like singing sedgewortler, several thrush nightingale, grey laggoose and there's even a bit of great crested grebe towards the end.

Thanks for listening. But also, and predominantly, a number of calls from Northern Lapwing. And that betrays the fact that you're quite close to a bit of flooded meadow at this particular location.  Now, Lapwing activity led me to stay in this area for quite a while. It was still dark at this point, but the first glimpses of blue were just beginning to show in the sky.

So I sat around here for about an hour, and during that time I had incredible views of Longerdale, a single board which unfortunately remains silent, and an incredible experience with a Roosting Osprey, which I found very close to my position.  Um, you get these really amazing experiences at night, things you really don't expect and it was quite magical.

So anyway, I stayed in this area for quite a while and as dawn approached, I left my recorders out on the meadows anticipating the display of Northern Lapwing. And the result was the following recording, which I'll play for you now. There's a few other species in this also, I'll go through them with you after the recording.

But for now, this is Northern Lapwing over Flooded Meadow at Brøde Reserve in Sweden. 

Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, 

So that's Northern Lapwing calling over the meadows just before dawn. Quite incredible soundscape, and pretty much predominantly of three species. Thrush Nightingale, Side Dwarbler and Northern Lapwing. So that was the scene just before dawn and it was quite incredible folks just to sit there and listen to that.

It was an amazing experience.  Now the scene there actually built quite strongly just after dawn and I'll come back to that a little bit later because something else began to happen in this area also. And that was a pair of Common Crane began to give their morning display. Now this is something I was very, very keen to get a really nice recording of with the Sennheiser Array.

So I spent a little bit of time just placing my mics carefully in the darkness, just as the sun began to rise. I had a good idea of where the birds were. They were still quite distant but such a loud call, I knew I'd get a good recording from this location. And then it was just a matter of sitting back for about an hour and waiting for the birds to start to call.

And they did so. And the result was a wonderful recording, which I will play for you now. Once again, other species in the background, and I will run through that with you after this recording. But just for now, sit back and listen, preferably with headphones, to the wonderful display of Common Crane's dawn calls.

birds chirping and water flowing 

Um, Uh, Uh, Uh huh. Uh huh. Uh huh. Uh huh. Uh huh. Uh huh. Uh huh. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well bit System. Oh, Oh, yeah. I'm a I'm a I'm a I'm a 

So a quite amazing scene there, I think you'll agree, quite a lot going on in the background. Thrush Nightingale obviously singing, there's quite a nice distant cuckoo in there. Northern Lapping again, and Sedge Warbler in the reedbeds. And also a bit more from Greylag Goose. But also there, just as the dawn starts to build, Common Blackbird and Reed Bunting starting to sing. 

Now quite a long recording, and I don't want to shy away from that, sometimes if I get a really, really nice recording, I'm going to play about four or five minutes. And I hope that's okay with you guys. I think a lot of people are really starting to enjoy the podcast just for relaxation purposes. And it's nice just to be able to lie back and chill with a pair of headphones on and listen to these kind of soothing sounds.

Incidentally, one of the more unusual compliments I've had several times about the podcast is that it's wonderful to fall asleep to. And although that's kind of a strange compliment, I'll take it. It's nice to realize that people are actually relaxing to the podcast. So I think these kind of recordings, it's nice to leave some longer sections of audio in there.

It seems a lot of people are using the podcast as a vehicle just to unwind in the evenings. And I think that's absolutely fantastic.  Now, at this stage of the morning, the sun was beginning to rise and The dawn chorus was beginning, and I started to kind of tune myself in and listen out for certain singers.

And the next singer I recorded was this Chif Chaf. Now Common Chif Chaf is, as the name suggests, quite common around Europe. There's always nice species to record. And I grabbed this recording in a small copse, quite close to an area of woodland. We'll have a listen to this next. This is Common Chiff Chaff at Broad Reserve.

A little bit of a shorter recording. So enjoy this, folks. 

So there you go, that's Common Chiffchaff. In the background there's more Thrushing Island Gale. There's also Blackcap there, and Starling, and a number of other species.  Now we're gonna move on again, and as I move through the cups, I found a lovely, lesser wide throat just moving around, giving a little bit of song and chatter, and I decided to stop and record that also.

I'm gonna play that for you now. So next up, we have a nice recording of lesser wide throat. 

I'm going to go to 

the bathroom. Um, Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 

Now there's a lot going on there in the background behind that singing lesser white throat. Um, Species include Eurasian Skylark, Thrush Nightingale as always, Grey Legged Goose once again, the Chiff Chaff, Common Cuckoo in the distance, also displaying Common Pheasant at least three times, Wood Pigeon, Magpie, Northern Lapwing yet again, A single call of common tern, and also a black cap in song, as well as calls of common white throat.

And common white throat is another species that's quite common in the area, and a species that I said about recording on that particular morning.  Now also in the background of that recording, you can hear the human world beginning to wake up. Noises from the road and a distant industrial estate. And sadly when that happens, you often kind of know it's time soon to go home.

But actually, I managed to find a couple of other quiet locations. And as I say, Common White Throat was a species I wanted to record. And I found this bird just giving a bit of song in a small copse quite close to the lake. And managed a decent recording of it with the Sennheiser Array. So we'll have a listen to that now.

This is Common White Throating Song, a bro reserve, in Sweden. 

So, a nice early morning scene there, mainly common white throat in the foreground, and also common blackbird singing as well. There's a very noisy pass in there by a pair of grey lag goose, which is quite noisy. And it's, it's kind of funny, although it's a natural noise, it almost feels like, you intrusive noise pollution when it happens.

But anyway, I'll just let that in there for you. Thrush nightingale, also cuckoo, reed bunting singing in the reed beds, again lapwing overhead, sedge warbler in the distance, and also a very brief bit of very distant hooperspawn. There are a pair breeding in the area.  Now as I already alluded to, it was by this stage getting a little bit noisy in the background and I decided to call it a day.

I think it was about seven o'clock in the morning. But I had an absolutely wonderful time and saw a lot of birds, the highlight of which was three great white egrets which floated over my head. And that was a fantastic end to the morning. So several hours in the field recording resulted in a lot of wonderful audio.

And what I want to leave you with before I go, is the scene, just the wall of sound, the dawn chorus on that particular morning. Again, mainly sedge warbler, thrush nightingale and northern lapwing. But also here in the background, Great Crested Grib, Common Snipe doing their overhead display, Mallard and Common Cuckoo.

And looking back now into 2024, this is actually one of my favourite bits of audio. So basically this is the Dawn Chorus from Beside the Lake at Borough Reserve on the 19th of May. 2024 and it's quite incredible audio scene. Have a listen to this lovely soundscape. 

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 

Uh huh. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 

So, there we go folks, another magical night in the fields, and as always, if you've never been out doing a bit of nocturnal birding or field recording.  Do give it a go. It's an absolutely wonderful way to spend the night and it really helps you kind of reconnect with nature. As always, thanks for tuning in to listen to this sound magazine.

And we'll see you again next time on wild bird acoustics.    



 So there you go. That's the first major sound magazine of the second season here at wild bird acoustics. And I hope you enjoyed it. I think it gives a nice sense of what it's actually like to be out in the darkness, just moving around in an area where there's just so much going on.  Now I didn't want to mention this before the sound magazine started but there was a generator there running in the background at about one half to two kilometers from the location where I was recording and I was absolutely flabbergasted to hear that the Sennheiser microphones had actually picked up this kind of low frequency hum.

Even at that great distance.  Now, you need to be very keen ear to notice that. And it's very, very subtle in the background of some of those recordings. But for me, it's very, very annoying. And it's typical really of how difficult it is to get away from anthropogenic noise these days, especially at these low kind of bass frequencies.

Now, after that trip, I promised myself to pay more attention to the backgrounds and try and get out into really, really quiet environments. locations. So that's just a little cautionary tale.  Quite often you may think you're miles away from any noise, but it's incredible how this noise just travels over distance and seeps into recordings.  Anyway, that's it now for this first episode of wild bird acoustics. I hope you've all enjoyed it very, very much as always, we'll be back in a couple of weeks and we have another wonderful episode lined up for you, and I do hope you will join us for that   

so that brings us to the end of another episode of Wild Bird Acoustics, and I hope you've enjoyed it. As always, you can find us on YouTube by simply searching for Wild Bird Acoustics. We do have a mailing list also, and if you want to be part of that, folks, you can drop us an email at wildbirdacoustics at gmail.

com.  Now, all feedback is gratefully received here at the podcast, and if you'd like to write a review of the podcast, you can do so at the Buzzsprout header page. In addition, if you'd like to make a small financial donation to the podcast, you can do so using the Buy Me A Coffee button. And you'll find that also on the Buzzsprout header page. 

We'll be back in a couple of weeks with more from Wild Bird Acoustics. Until then, take it easy, folks. And as always, don't be afraid to get out into the field and relax and just listen to the wildlife out there. Maybe even do a little bit of field recording of your own.  We'll talk to you soon, folks. Take it easy.

That's all from Wild Bird Acoustics.