We may be in coronavirus lockdown but I’ve rarely been so busy; it’s a great opportunity to put mics in hedgerows, by the pond, in the meadow and up trees, with a network of cables leading back to my study, traffic and aircraft noise reduced to a temporary minimum.
At the back of the house is a huge oak tree, and for several weeks its inhabitants have produced much amusement, for every morning from our pillow we’ve watched a drama unfolding – a very lively battle between a grey squirrel and and pair of jackdaws. Over the winter the squirrel was residing in a hole in a side-branch of the tree, and every day the jackdaws would persistently sit by the hole, pecking away and calling loudly. The squirrel would occasionally dash out and chase the birds away, and when it was away the jackdaws would dash in and steal some of its nest material.
I love the calls of jackdaws, rich and varied, and this was a situation crying out for a close-up microphone to capture some intimate sounds. But this wasn’t going to be easy. The hole (circled in the photo) is about 3 metres away from the main trunk, and some 6 metres vertically above our rather deep pond. A few years ago I wouldn’t have hesitated to do what was a relatively simple climb, but I’m getting a bit too old for clambering around in oak trees over water, so placing the mic involved some fiddling about at the top of a ladder with a 4 metre carbon fibre pole. Eventually the mic was in place just 10 cm from the nest, and I could sit in my study and record.
Jackdaws are intelligent and wary birds, so getting some images required setting up my hide in the field below. That hide was my old ‘Fensman’ that I bought almost 50 years ago. Sitting back in there, its musty and somewhat tarry smell immediately took me back to some of my best, and worst, sound recording trips: midge and mosquito bitten in Kielder Forest and the Highlands of Scotland, or sitting on the seashore on the Isle of Mull as the tide came in and flooded the hide. But what better place to self isolate?!
The recording and photography were a success, even getting the quiet growls from the squirrel inside the hole as the jackdaws peered inside (too quiet to play here). And I’m pleased to say that the jackdaws have won, removing all the squirrel nest and replacing it with so many sticks; the hole in that tree must be much bigger than it appears.
Now on to the next challenge that Hessay has to offer during this difficult and worrying year…stay safe.
Simon Elliott 