These recordings were made on an Olympus LS14 Recorder, with paired Omni microphones spread ‘head-width’ apart, left out in a dry bag for 24 hrs., and edited down later.
Recording 1 was at Nedd on 19th May, and lasts for 11 minutes 30 seconds.
The first four minutes were from a site in the wooded garden of Calltuinn and include some 18 species: redpoll, chaffinch, great spotted woodpecker (at about 11 seconds, calling and hammering), swallow, house martin, blackbird, blue tit, wood pigeon, dunnock, hooded crow (at about 54 seconds), goldfinch, oystercatcher (down on Loch Nedd, at about 1 minute 15 seconds), song thrush, pine marten (chattering sounds, at about 2 minutes 5 seconds), cuckoo (at about 3 minutes 5 seconds), wren, great tit and willow warbler(at about 3 minutes 30 seconds).
The rest of this recording (from about 3 minutes 55 seconds) was made on the neighbouring croft, beside the waters of the Allt nan Iall, and includes a loud ‘duet’ between blackcap and sedge warbler (which was around for about a week), together with occasional chiffchaff and siskin, giving an overall total of 22 species.
Recording 2 was at a loch elsewhere in Assynt on 27th May, and lasts for 1 minute 30 seconds. The location is unspecified because it includes the calls and song of the very rare wood sandpiper, together with the classic and cackling calls of a cuckoo and whistling call of an otter.
Stefan Taylor