Early Spring in Swedish Woodland; The Tyresta Files #5

In this episode of Wild Bird Acoustics, I take you on a tour of Tyresta National Park, sharing audio from a wide range of species. Given such an incredibly rich habitat, the opportunities for the active field recorder at this site are almost never ending. This pristine woodland habitat could easily occupy me for several years, such is it's scale and remarkably biodiversity. There is always more to discover at this incredible reserve. The more one lifts the lid, the more you begin to realize and wonder at. This park is a seemingly endless treasure trove of discovery and wonder and I have barely scratched the surface of this vast swathe of woodland habitat. Join me for a auditory tour and immerse yourself in the sounds on pristine Swedish woodland in early spring...

Transcript

 You are 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 Wild Bird Acoustics. Once again, another fortnight has passed. Time is moving very, very quickly. This will be going out in the middle of June, I think, June 16th. And in this episode, we're gonna have a lovely sound magazine, active field recording with a Tinga Pala at Rista National Park in Sweden, where I spent a large chunk of the early spring period, it is Early Spring in Swedish, Woodland, some wonderful, wonderful audio to share with you. Now, before I get into that, I just wanna thank everybody for the kind words and feedback I have received so far in season three.

It is been absolutely wonderful to hear that so many people out there are just enjoying the podcast in its current form. I have been doing quite a bit of thinking over the last few months, indeed, over the last year or so, as to what to do with these long soundscapes that I have.

Now I do have a large library of long soundscapes, so I could add them in this manner. Through a Patreon account, which would cost a little bit, or perhaps just for subscribers, those who want to subscribe to the podcast.

But more on that maybe towards the end of the season. For now, we're gonna get stuck into the sale magazine. As always, folks, thanks for dropping by to the podcast, and I do hope you enjoy this.

This is early spring in Swedish Woodland. I.

 Now welcome again to Wild Acoustic. So glad you could join me here at the podcast. And we have a wonderful sound magazine here for you today. This is early spring in the Woodlands at Tears to National Park, another installment of the tourist files. And most of these recordings were taken in the early spring period before most of the migrants returned to the park.

Some wonderful, wonderful audio of a wide range of species were gonna get stuck in straight away. The first recording I have for you is of cold Hit a bird, just singing away quietly, quite close to Lake Ton in the Woodlands, coniferous woodlands around the lake. A wonderful little recording. This is cold hit in song.

Now that was recorded on the 14th of March and on the outskirts of the park, a little bit noise in the background, but not too bad. Also, in the background there, there were blue hit and some overlying Eurasian siskin. Now at that time of the year, one of the signature sounds of the park is displaying common buzzards.

And the next morning on the 15th of March, it was quite windy and over the lake at Lake Flatten. There were several common buzzards present and the sound was quite wonderful. I grabbed a quick recording with the Tingo Pbla and all of the recordings you are gonna hear in the Sound magazine. We're taken with the Tinga.

This is a wonderful little soundscape of common buzzards high over lake flatten, just given the typical display of these species in early spring. There's quite a nice background here. Quite a few half inch in the background, but as I say, the main species are displaying common buzzard.

Next up it's Common Red Paul, and a short recording of the species. Have listened to the flight calls of the species here, as well as the trillion calls the species gives on occasion. I found this group in a small group of willows on the edge of Lake flatten, and made for a wonderful short recording.

This is Common Red Paul, again on the 15th of March, 2025.

Now, as always, it's always very, very nice just to wander around with Tinga Pbla, just recording whatever you come across. And the next recording is of the Eurasian rain. A very, very common species which returns to the park in a late March. This recording is from the 30th of March, 2025, and in the background here, you're gonna hear what sounds like common buzzard, but I'm not actually sure it is common buzzard as there is Jay also in the area and around this area of Lake Floden.

I had Jay actually mimicking buzzard on so many occasions. I just cannot be sure anymore whether this was in fact common buzzard. But have a listened to the recording. This is Eurasian, ran with some Robin in the background. A wonderful recording taken at Gamal Strum quite close to Lake Flatten at ER National Park.

Now the next recording I have for you came on the 22nd of March, 2025. It's a very, very typical scene of early spring. Chaffing have just returned to the park and they were singing everywhere on this particular morning. But the main subject of this recording is a drumming greater spotted woodpecker. You can also hear birds feeding greater spotted woodpeckers that is in the background.

And after about a minute, the display on the lake calls of Hooper swan on the lake flooding a typical early morning scene in this part of the world. And a wonderful recording. There's gonna be a lot of recordings in this sound magazine. I'm just gonna run through them quite quickly. But this is a wonderful, wonderful scene and typical of the park in early spring.

This is drumming great spotted woodpecker.

Now we're gonna move forward in time, a little bit to the 16th of April, 2025 when I came across these displaying green Sandpiper, and it's a very, very short recording. There's some northern raven in the background, and towards the end, the call of Eurasian Atch. But a wonderful, wonderful scene, a very, very short recording and typical of early spring.

Also at the park Green Sandpiper returned from the second week of April onwards when you can hear them displaying at the various beaver habitats, little marshes of wetlands around the park created by European beaver, a wonderful sound and typical of tears to National Park in early spring.

Next up one of my target species of the early spring period, and that is a lesser spotted woodpecker. I had so many wonderful encounters with these species in 2025 at tears to National Park. This is just one of them. I came across this adult female, lesser spotted road picker, just quietly in some trees in the interior of the park, and she was giving some calls as well.

And that's what you're gonna hear in this recording. Again, it's an early spring background before migrants return. So species such as Robin would grow nut hatch, chaffing blue, tit re, and very typical, as I say, of that time of the year, but a nice recording here of an adult female that's a spotted woodpecker, just feeding and giving some quiet calls.

Now a very interesting recording for you next of Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. And on this occasion I found two pairs in a very suitable area of habitat, and there was a pair actually just moving around some low willows. And I think they were starting to mate. Male was chasing the female around the bush and they were just sitting quietly.

I think this is some sort of a solicitation call by one of the birds now nearby. There's also a drumming male, lesser spotted woodpecker, which is very nice and adds to the recording. We'll have a listen to that now. A nice kind of behavioral bit of field recording. This is possible solicitation call of a lesser spotted woodpecker.

Now I stayed with these lesser spotted woodpeckers, the pair that is for quite some time. They were very, very excited. They were moving around some willows in a flooded area, a very nice area for this species. Like I said, there was at least two pairs breeding in this area, and you can hear in this recording, it's quite intimate.

They are very, very excited. Mating was observed on a number of occasions and it was very, very nice to get up close and get this recording with the Tinga. It's a wonderful little recording this now for some Jay at the start. Also in the background, some Song of Tree Creeper, but it's the excited chatter here I'm most interested in of lesser spotted woodpecker.

It was the first time I had recorded this call type, so very, very happy once again with this recording. So this is probable solicitation calls and chatter from lesser spotted woodpeckers, a pair of adults.

Now the next recording is on the 8th of April, 2025, and again, it's taken at one of these wonderful. European beaver wetlands, there's so many in the park. These animals are so active the entire time. As soon as the spring comes out, you'll see them in the evenings collecting wood, felling trees, just moving around doing what they do.

And basically they are the architects of the park and they create some wonderful. We've just heard lesser spotted woodpecker there. That is one species that are very dependent on beavers for habitat. They create areas by flooding forests, drowning trees, and that gives lovely nest sites and feeding areas for lesser spotted woodpecker.

And there's so many species like that in the park that are dependent on these habitats created by European beaver. Case in point, now you're gonna hear a short recording of. Several species. Notably a little dispute between some common mohan and coot, followed by a lovely recording of the display of little grave, another species that benefits from the actions of European beaver.

Have a listen folks.

Next up a passer iron species you might think has no business in the middle of a woodland. But again, this is down to European beaver creating habitat for said species. This is common read bunting. I found this bird in song in a little patch of read bed on the edge of a beaver meadow. This is a wonderful recording.

An adult male bird in song at the end of March, 2025 probably just returned to the breeding grounds, and it's lovely at this time of the year just to see these birds returning to breeding areas. So again, with the lingo problem of this recording. Very nice and very clear. This is the song of Common Read Booking.

Now a lovely background there as well. I think you'll agree. Stock do and song and distance. Song thrush. All newly returned to the area and there was so many birds around on this particular morning, I think it was the 31st of March, 2025, and also overhead on a number of occasions. The calls of Red Cross built.

I have a very short recording now of you of a Red Cross bill just going over my head. An opportunist recording grabbed with the Tinga parabola. This is the flight call of Red Cross Bill.

Now the next recording I have for you is about one minute, 40 seconds long, and there's several species involved. It starts off with the song of Eurasian Siskin, which is what I was initially focused on. But as often happens in the park, several species chimed in. So eventually what you're gonna hear after about a minute in this recording is a half inch flying in, and I got a lovely recording from that point onwards of its calls as it sat in a high birch tree.

Absolutely fantastic recording of that species as well. Of course, there's other species in the recording. Notably the calls, the Song of Nut Hatch, Eurasian Nut Hatch. There's wood pigeon blue T and listen carefully for the calls of Bulfinch as well. But another notable part of this recording is the drumming about great spotted woodpecker and lesser spotted woodpecker, and it's quite informative.

You can list that this quite carefully. The deeper drumming is that of great spotted Woodpecker, and listen carefully for the distant, lesser spotted woodpecker, which is drumming here. A much higher pitch. Much more rapid fire. So this makes this a very, very interesting recording. A lot to take in here.

But the main species here, I suppose, are initially Eurasian Siskin and song. And then after about a minute, the calls of Hage have a listen.

Now another species dependent on European beaver. Here, I found this bird on a wetland in early April. And it is calling for a mate. This is a wonderful recording of the display of Slovo Grebe, also known as Horned Grebe. This is the Creat display call of the Species. There's a wonderful bit of background here from some displaying golden eye.

Common Golden eye on the pond in the background. But an absolutely incredible recording, like I say, of displaying Slovo and Grebe. A male bird calling for a mate probably just returned. No sign of a female yet, but this is a wonderful recording. I'll play it for you straight away. Display of Slovo and Grebe.

Now I spent a little bit of time with this birdish sle gre. It was quite vocal unusably, so, and I think that's because it was calling for a mate in the background here, my old nemesis, gray like us, very, very noisy. They can be very frustrating at times. And you can hear them in the background just making a bit of a racket.

Also in the background here, drew Stock Dove and Common Read bumping the same board. Ashley, I would say that you heard in an earlier recording recorded about 10 days later. Once again, this is the display of Slovo and gre. Have a listen.

Now, it was such a pleasure to actually just wander around here to National Park this spring. I understand completely how fortunate I am to live in Sweden. When I get out into places like this, it's just so biodiverse and there's so many beautiful species to record. It's an absolute wonderland. A perfect place to record for a field recorder.

With an interest in birds and it has been absolutely wonderful to get out into this area over the course of early spring 2025. The next recording I have for you came on a wonderful morning, the 18th of April. It was raining, just light rain, and I love recording in the rain. I just love the ambiance it gives in the background of any given recording.

But when you get up close to a really nice singer like this song Thrush, it really does add to any recording. Now this is a beautiful recording of a song Thrush in Full song at a place called Nedra. The Bird was actually singing very close to a Tony L Nest, and I know that because I had passive recorders down in this area over the spring and interestingly.

At one minute, 55 and two minutes and five seconds in this recording, I'm quite sure the bird is mimicking Tawny el, A bird present in the area apart from all of that is just a wonderful song. I look forward to these birds getting back every single April. And every April. You will find me in places like tears to National Park recording the species.

No two song thrush sing the same. And it's a beautiful, beautiful song. I'm simply gonna play you the recording now. This is a wonderful recording of a singing song, thrush in the Rain at Tourist National Park.

Now, next up it's back to Gamal Strum, near Lake Flat and Interiors to National Park. And on this occasion I was focused on Eurasian tree Creeper. Now you will notice in the background here, there seems to be a common buzzards, and yet again, I am not entirely sure if that's what it is. I suspect it might be, but there's also Eurasian J in the area, and they were incessant mimics of the species in this particular area.

I've actually put a piece together on Eurasian J Vocalizations. I found them incredibly interesting over the course of 2025. I got a lot of. Calls and a lot of vocalizations recorded of the species. I became increasingly interested in Eurasian Jay, but for now, this is Eurasian Tree Creeper, a bird in song near Gamal Strum.

This is for Jay and Robin and other species in the background. I think Eurasian Tree Creeper is often overlooked in wood. It's not the most obvious song in the world. Sounds a little bit like Willow Warbler could easily be overlooked. So I thought this would be quite interesting. For the listeners, this is the song of the Eurasian Tree Creeper, as well as some calls have a listen.

I am gonna stick with the Eurasian Tree Creeper just for a short while. And in this recording you're gonna hear a bird at Close Range giving song. It's a difficult species to record at times. They're always on the move, just fitting around, feeding, and they don't sing regularly. In other words, they just give a regular song as they're moving around.

So it's quite difficult to know where the next stroke is going to come from sometimes because they move around so much in the background here. European Robin, quite a few of them. And also towards the end of the recording quite loud is Eurasian nut Hatch giving the Raptor light call, and it's very, very loud in this recording.

Also, some distant gray lag, gray lag goose that is incredibly noisy and generally speaking all over the park in early spring. But a nice recording nonetheless of a ation tree. Creeper. We'll have a listen.

The next pieces I have for you is also dependent to a large degree on European beaver. It does breed on the lakes as well in the park, but it does take full advantage of any flooded forest or any wetland areas in the park. And Hooper swan is the species I am referring to. There's quite a large number of peas in the park due to the fact that beavers are so active now.

It's quite strange for me to see these species sitting sometimes in flooded woodland. Quite a lot of trees in the area. What they do actually get into some surprisingly dense areas and probably nest in these areas. In the spring, you're going to hear a recording of a pair of birds just giving single calls.

They're very much aware of my presence. They're not that far away. They're quite relaxed, but this is a nice recording of Hoopers Swan, just giving single calls. Also in the background here, as always, some gray lag goose, happily quite distant. I play the recording now to the calls of a pair of Hooper Swans.

Whilst I am on Hooper Swan, it would be remiss of me not to include a kind of passage of wonderful rum call. This is one of the signature sounds of tears, national Park in the spring. Like I say, it is quite a few pairs of Hooper Swan around and they're quite often moving around the park, which leads to a lot of disputes.

This leads to a lot of vocalization by Hooper Swan, and quite often in early spring, it's a sound that just reverberates back and forth across the park and just echoes through the park and it's quite wonderful. I'm gonna play you one of many recordings I got of the species. This came from Ned Shart, two pairs involved.

Again, they're having a dispute and the sound is quite wonderful. Like I say, very, very evocative. Very typical of Swedish Forest in the early spring, and I'll just play it for you now, like I say, one of the sounds I will never heard of here in Sweden, this is the sound of displaying Hooper Swan.

Now I'm gonna leave you with a soundscape recording from an area of flooded wooden close to Nedra Interior National Park. It's a wonderful recording. I recorded this with a drop break, which was a pair of, I think it was long micro uses and a small Tasca F four AAV two recorder. I just left it there for a few hours in the morning as I was passing it and collected it on the way back.

That led to an incredible soundscape, about three hours long, and I'm just gonna play about three minutes of that, a short excerpt from that longer soundscape. It's quite wonderful. You can hear some wonderful audio here from Northern Raven. There was a nest not far from this location and the birds were often present in this area.

That's why I planted the device in the first place to drop rig. I wanted to get some nice recordings of northern Raven, but there's a lot going on here in the background as there is anywhere in tears to National Park in the spring. But listen, in particular for the calls of Green Sandpiper and towards the end, another flooded woodland breeder, which is Eurasian Teel.

The calls of a female bird just flying up and flying past the recorder. It's just a wonderful soundscape. I think it's a very fitting way to end the Sound magazine, and I'll play that for you now. This is Northern Ravens Green, Sam Piper and Common Hill, or Eurasian Teal at Tears, the National Park on the 16th of April, 2025.

Ah.

Now. There you go. That's early spring in the Woodlands. And it's just a roundup of all kinds of audio from various species that are recorded in 2025 in my study area in tears to National Park. The park is absolutely vast and I barely scratch the surface if honest, and it just makes me wonder what else is to be found to be discovered in this larger area.

And I'm sure I'm going to return to it in the future. It's been absolutely incredible, a wonderful experience to just move around this area. Even within the relatively small area of the park that I took on in the spring, it was about five square kilometers, I think, in total, but there was so much in there to discover, and I don't think I even scratched the surface.

Like I said, the park is much bigger. There's much more habitat in the place I haven't even looked at closely, and I'm sure I will get back to that in the future. In the meantime, I hope you have enjoyed these sounds, these wonderful soundscapes in tier National Park. It's a quite incredible habitat. I've enjoyed every moment of the Woodlands in the spring of 2025, and I hope these recordings have given you a little taste of what that environment is like.

Once again, thanks for joining me here at Wild Bird Acoustics. This is Alan Dalton signing out for now. We'll see you next time folks.

So there you go, folks. Early spring, in Swedish, Woodland. It was a wonderful, wonderful experience. As I have already mentioned on several occasions,

I am gonna just close it out now and thanks everybody for listening. Once again,

just a quick call to action as it were to any of you out there who will have friends who are avid birders or people who just like to relax to these sounds of nature. Just let them know about the podcast, if you can. It seems wild bird acoustics is gaining a good bit of traction through word of mouth. And for that I have to thank you guys, the listeners. So thanks very, very much once again.

No, that's all, and we'll see again in a couple of weeks. Folks, enjoy your summer. I'm getting ready to go up to the island. Once again, a faster button. Can't wait to get up there and do a bit of recording. We'll see again in a couple of weeks.

 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 Wild Bird acoustics@gmail.com.

Now all feedback is greatly received here at the podcast. And if you'd like to write 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 will 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.