top of page
Melodies In Moving Water
Acoustic Ecology
The Acoustic Ecology section of this project will focus on the certain species of plants and wildlife that hold a particularly musical or ecological resonance. As well as those flora and fauna that are deemed sonically fascinating due to their lack of these qualities.
http://www.denbighshirecountryside.org.uk (Tiit Hunt)
Example of a similar recording technique, here used to capture the eating habits of Shore Crabs.
Derbyshire Bat Conservation Trust (Hugh Clark)
Ultrasonic Detector Recording of Common and Saprano Pipistrelle Bats along the River Derwent in Belper, Derbyshire.
Example of techniques used to capture the sounds of micro-organisms in a pond in Belper, Derbyshire.
Water Voles
Water Voles are considered Britain's fastest declining mammal, and as such many new measures are being taken to aide their survival.The most simple and effective way assisting the conservation of these creatures is by monitoring their presence or absence.
Throughout the project measures will be taken to record and archive any interactions and log their location.
Extract from a recording of a Water Vole along the River Derwent.
Signal & White-Clawed Crayfish
Much of the Biodiversity of the River Derwent is seldom seen or heard, and such is the case of freshwater Crayfish. Habitat field recording techniques have been developed to capture the gigantic underwater sounds of the Signal & White-Clawed Crayfish and their violent ensemble.
Atlantic Salmon
The recent return of the Atlantic Salmon to British waters is as fascinating as it is bewildering. Having disappeared from Derbyshire for nearly 200 years, the Atlantic Salmon has slowly been making a return to the Derwent, swimming up through the midlands to its historic spawning ground in Northern England and Scotland. One of the tasks of this project is to record the fish as it passes through the river Derwent on its journey up North, creating a sonic archive of this majestic creature in ways never heard before.
Bats Along The Derwent
Noctule, Daubenton's, Whiskered, Natterer's, Leisler's, Brown Long-eared, Nathusius' Pipistrelle, Saprano Pipistrelle and Common Pipistrelle Bats can all be found in certain areas across Derbyshire, and in the interest of conservation, recordings will be made throughout the project to archive and catalogue all sightings.
Plant Life
Floating Pennywort, Himalayan Balsam, Meadowsweet and Giant Rhubarb are some of the examples of wild plant life found along the River Derwent, each with its own specific acoustic micro-environment.
These micro-environments host a cacophony of audio vibrations, and with the use of Contact Mics and Hydrophones these sounds can be captured producing a beautiful insight into their microscopic soundscape.
Freshwater Lamprey
Having been absent from the Midlands for almost 200 years due to industrialisation of the rivers and poor water quality, freshwater Lamprey have been slowly making their return to these waters, where they have been able to colonise their historic breading grounds. These prehistoric fish use a funnel-like mouth filled with a fractal formation of teeth to attach to their prey in order to feed.
Specific handmade hydrophones have been designed to capture the unobserved habits of the freshwater Lamprey in their natural environment.
Please note that these are merely a small selection of the acoustic ecology aimed to be studied throughout the project.
bottom of page