Songs from the Solstice; The Hällögern Files #1

Northern Sweden is a field recorders dream and a place I return to at every given opportunity. Each summer, I return in order to relax and spend time in nature, allowing the sounds of the natural world to seep into my very being. It is an incredibly relaxing place and one I wish to share with other's. Places like this are increasingly rare in the modern world... 

 In this episode I present the audio I collected over the course of July 2025 from the tiny island of Hällögern. Most of the month was spent recording various breeding species, often watching them for long periods in order to figure out where best to deploy my recording rigs. Having an abundance of time on my hands was a rare gift and the result was some rather special audio. This will be the first of a number of episodes where I share audio from that particular period on the island and I hope that listeners will enjoy every strophe of it...

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 another episode here at Wild Bird Acoustics. We're going to be taking you to the far north of Sweden, the coast of VAs Button. I recently spent a month on the island in July and early August and had an absolutely incredible time field recording birds at the site. As you will all know by now on the podcast, it is my favorite location to actually get out into the field and do a little bit of field recording. Of course, being so far north as well, you get some incredible northern species and some very special audio can be had there, and this year was no exception.

I have loads of audio to share with you. I think I've got about 170 really high quality audio files. A lot of them longer soundscapes. I'm wondering what to do with them, but plenty of beautiful shorter files as well of various species from all around the island.

There's no point in getting overly descriptive about the sound magazine. You're about to hear it for yourself. We're gonna dive straight into it.

These are the summer sounds at Halligan in VA button in Northern Sweden, Sweden.



 Now welcome everybody to another sound magazine here at Wild Bird Acoustics. I'm gonna be taking you up to the far north of Sweden in the summer months in the Sound magazine. It's an incredible time to be up on the coast of Vata Buttonin. And in July, August, 2025, I spent almost a month on the island.

Just feel recording, relaxing, and enjoying myself. I've got an incredible amount of audio. A lot of it is a very, very high quality, and I can't wait to share some of that with you in this sound magazine. Now my sound recording process on the island went up there for such a long period is generally just to leave rigs out for long periods of time.

And that's what I did on this occasion. Quite often overnight, the Sennheiser array went out and I set up some drop rigs at the back of the island. Now having time on your side, being up there for about a month just means you can play the long game, and that really, really helped me to get the audio I wanted of several species.

I have an awful lot to get through. I'm just gonna start now and. It's difficult in some ways to know where to start. Now I am gonna start with Arctic Turn. It is the four species on the island this year. It was a little bit melancholy on the island because of Arctic turn On arrival, I realized that numbers have crushed.

Normally I have about 50 pairs on the island at the breeding colony just to north of the island, and it's possible avian flu has taken its toll on the island. I could only find eight pairs of breeding birds. They didn't have a good breeding season, and by the time I left, there was very few juveniles around, which was quite sad.

However, when I got there, they were quite active and I did get some nice audio of Arctic turn. I'm gonna play a little bit of audio now. That'll record on the evening of the 21st of July. It's Arctic turns common goals, common sandpipers, and typical species like that on the island. There's so much insects here in the background.

That was a feature of the summer. You'll hear them buzzing around. It's quite incredible. This was recorded with a Linga. Problema on a tripod was just left out overnight on the islands. This is Arctic turns at halligan in vapa.

Now, it's quite remarkable to hear all the insects there and in the evening. In the Woodlands. It was quite remarkable. There was this incredible drone, just a sheer amount of insects in the forest was remarkable. I'm gonna play a quick recording now of blue tits and green shank in the distance and just listen for the drone of insects here in the background on the island.

It seems that insects doing very, very well still in the north of Sweden and it's quite remarkable. This, I'll just play it quickly. So this is blue tits in the forest. A lot of young were around and the adults were feeding them. It's the end of the breeding season and in the background, as I say, there's some green shank moving around, giving their lovely floating calls, two pairs of bread on the island this year, and it provides a wonderful backdrop, but the incredible drone of the insects here in the forest is quite remarkable.

Have listened.

So that's the incredible drone of insects in the forest. Some sort of midges I think, but there must have been millions of them. Now we're gonna move on to another species that is regular on the island, a regular and common breeder, and that is common Sandpiper. Now I left the Sennheiser ray out around the coast nearly every night.

The weather while I was there was very, very warm. It averaged about 30 degrees for the first three weeks, which is. Not normal. It was difficult at times in the middle of the day to get any work done as a result, but what it did mean was there was no rain, and this meant I was free to leave my rigs out anywhere I want without worrying about the weather.

Now this is a lovely recording of common sandpapers quite close to the Sennheiser microphones one evening on the 2nd of August, 2025. We'll have a quick listen to that. There's a few calls from Distant Green Shank in the distance.

Now we'll stay on common sandpaper. I think for a minute. I got quite a lot of nice audio of these species. This comes from the 20th of July in the same area. There's a tiny bit of noise here from some kids playing on a distant island. Not intrusive at all, but it's a typical evening scene on the island and typically common sandpipers display in the evening.

So a pair of birds, at least here. It's a wonderful recording. Again, insects and the waves from the Baltic Sea lapping in the background. Have a listen. This is common sandpipers once again.

Now the next recording I have for you came on the 25th of July. It is of a species I don't think I've ever played on the podcast before. Very, very common and it is herring goal. Now, I put these Sennheiser array out on a small rock on this particular evening, and a pair of herding gold were in the area.

One of them must have landed right beside my rig. And proceeded to give a lot of calls, and this is the long calls of Herring goal. Here in Scandinavia, we have Argent Herring goals. That's the local race. They sound the same as Argentina around the rest of Europe, but it's a lovely recording in the background of some blue tit and some cult hit.

But the main subject here is a long calling Hering goal. It's a lovely bit of audio. Have a listen to this folks.

A, a.

Hey.

Now waders are a focus of mine. When I'm on the island in the summer, we have several breeding species on the island, and one of those is common red yank. In the next recording, you are going to hear the display or the agitation calls of a common red chain. I'm not sure what was going on at the back of the island at the time.

I wasn't present, but there was two pairs of common red shank breeding on the island this year, which is excellent. Normally I just have a single pair of birds breeding, but it's lovely to see these birds in summer, and what you're gonna hear now is a common red shank just sitting up on a rock just giving display calls or possibly some sort of an agitation call.

Maybe there's a crow or something like that in the area. But again, it's a lovely bit of audio in the background here. There's things like Arctic turn. Common goal as always, but also listen out for orchestral. And I do have a bit of audio of that species to share with you later on. So this is common red shank at Halle.

Mm.

Now Halligan is located on the Vassar Botten coast of Northern Sweden. And of course, being so far north there are are some rather special species in the area. One of those is red throated diver, or red throated loon, as they're known in North America, and they are fantastic birds. Now, they don't breed on the island per se.

They breed on the inland lakes close to the site, and in the mornings and evenings the birds overflow the islands on their way to and from the feeding grounds out on the Baltic Sea, and they get this wonderful, wonderful call. I'm gonna play you a quick recording now to some Ganzer common goals, Arctic turns and things in the background.

But the main subject here, which sounds almost like a goose flying over, is a red throated diver. It's a fantastic recording. We'll have a listen to that now. This is Red throated diver.

Now divers are one of my favorite species, vocally. I absolutely love them, and that's why I was so happy with this next recording. It came on the 17th of July. Just after the sun came up. Now in this recording, after about 20 seconds, you're gonna hear a very distant black throated diver just giving its display call, first of all, before some red throated divers come over on their way out to sea giving their own calls.

Fantastic to get both species in the same recording. There's some wonderful background here. Things like singing Goldcrest at the beginning. There's some oyster catcher, arctic turn, a whole host of species, and this is one those recordings that really sums up what it's like to be on the coastal VA button in the middle of summer and absolutely wonderful recording.

I'll simply play it for you now. This is Red Throated Diver, black Throated Diver as well at the beginning. A wonderful recording from Vastar button. Have a listen.

Now I mentioned earlier there was a common kestrel in the background of one of the earlier recordings. There was an adult male present on the island for large parts of the month. It had bred on the mainland. The bird had raised a nice brood of four young, but this bird actually spent quite a bit of time on the island.

Quite often roosting on the island. And I got some lovely recordings of the bird over the course of the month. This came on the 18th of July at three o'clock in the morning. The sun is already up in the background. There's blackhead gold, there's calling Cango, Arctic Turn and others as always, but a wonderful recording of an adult male Kessel.

The bird was melting. It was probably absolutely exhausted. Looked a bit tattered at this stage, having raised its young. But it was a wonderful opportunity to get recordings of these species. This was recorded with the Sennheiser Array and is a lovely, lovely quality recording. This is common Kestrel.

Now I'll stay on common kestrel for a moment. I got a lot of recordings of these species. Another wonderful recording for you here and this time is the juvenile birds that are raised on the mainland and a couple of birds here, and you just hear them moving around. Assen, Heiser, Ray Dy in the morning.

It's a lovely recording. You can hear red breasted mark. In the background, you can hear red breasted margan flying around the island. Common goals nut hatch at the beginning. But once again, kestrel is the main subject here. We'll take a listen to it now.

Now one of the nice things about recording is that you can listen back to your own recordings. Now, I really enjoy listening to these again, and as I'm putting this soundscape together, it just takes me straight back to the island. I'm gonna play you a long soundscape recording now of about four or five minutes.

It's quite wonderful. It's in the forest early in the morning, and it's just common species like Chaffin Green Finch, blue T, common Sandpiper. Hooded Crow, common goal, green shank, ticking robin, things like that. There's a lovely bit of ambience from a C creek and tree here as well, and it's just a lovely atmospheric recording, a very, very quiet place.

And the island is actually changing. This year we had a number of winter storms and because it's been so warm here in the winter, we lost a lot of trees in the forest. It just went over. The ground isn't frozen, so the trees are going over in the winter. And we found that maybe 20% of the trees were gone when we arrived this summer.

Quite sad in some ways, but there's also a lot of natural regeneration, a lot of rows on birds growing up in their place. So for me, these soundscapes document the island as it changes through the years. I'm gonna play this recording now. It's a lovely bit of audio of the woodland behind our cabin early in the morning on the 18th of July, 2025.

Have a listen to this.

Now the next recording is of common species again on the island. A northern ally, I suppose, in Sweden is field fair. That's the main subject In this recording, you will hear the rattling call of field fair. Also, blackboard here as well and some song thrush. So the oil and brush is basically early in the morning on the 21st of July, 2025.

We'll have a listen to that now.

Now the next recording I have for you came a little bit later in the trip on the 2nd of August, and by that stage, the first ramblings of the autumn were turning up in the woodlands, and that's the main subject of the next recording. A few chaff inch here as well. Listen to the harsh nasal calls of ling.

Just beginning to gather in the woodlands as family parties move onto the islands.

Now one of the features of July on the island is waders and green. Sandpiper are one of those species that passed through and good numbers in July. They're already in passage by late in the month. And I'm gonna play a quick recording now of Green Sandpiper. One of the first better recordings I got of the species recorded with the Tela.

Little bit of noise in the background from the mainland from a couple of kids playing. Again, not intrusive. This is green Sandpiper at Halligan. In July, 2024.

Now, one of the great joys, as I say in late July is Green Sandpiper passage. As well as wood sand paper passage. I'm gonna play a lovely recording now from the evening of the 19th of July. There's so much going on here in the background. This was recorded with a Tasca F four, AAV two drop R with some small lavalier mics, long uc micros on this occasion, and there's so much going on.

Like I say in the background, green shank, red shank. Lovely calls of a wood sandpiper moving over in the evening on passage. Common goal. Arctic Turn singing goldcrest, some calls of Siskin, a distant will of war herring goal in the area, red breasted ganzer, and some flight calls of Red Cross Pill. But listen out here for some lovely calls from Green Sandpiper just moving through on the evening of the 19th of July, 2025.

Now the next recording was recorded with a Tinga Probla and also features green Sandpiper, but also some black head of golds and the local pair of oyster catchers. We have two pairs of bread this year on the island. It's a lovely recording. It is so quiet in the background, and this is one of the reasons I love Haller so much.

Now I'll simply listen to the recording. This is Green Sandpiper at Haller in master button on the 18th of July, 2025.

Now the final recording in this sound magazine for you. It is of Oyster Catcher Now. Oyster Catcher has an incredible display, a wonderful piping display. And it was one of my focuses on the island this summer. I really wanted to get some good recordings of the full display of the species. Now I managed to do that.

In fact, I really managed to nail it. I got some lovely long soundscapes of these birds in full display. I can't really play a 20 minute recording, but I'm gonna play a lovely four or five minute recording now of piping oyster catcher recorded at the north end of the island on some rocky foreground, an absolutely incredible sound.

This is the display of Eurasian hoist catcher.

And what a stunning sound that is. It's a wonderful, wonderful sound, and I was delighted to get some high quality recordings of that particular display. It's one of the sounds of the island in the summer. Now that just about wraps up another sound magazine here at Wild Bird Acoustics. It's been wonderful to actually go through these recordings because I've been listening to them.

Again, it just takes me straight back to the island. I hope you have enjoyed them. Now, I do have an awful lot of longer soundscapes and it seems a shame I can't really play these on the podcast. I have been tying around with the idea of a Patreon account. For the podcast at Wild Bird Acoustics. Now, potentially if there was a Patreon account, I could put long soundscapes onto the Patreon account and have an open access for anybody who wants to subscribe to a Patreon account at Wild Bird Acoustics.

I will only do this if there's interested in it. If you are interested in this. Drop me an email at Wild bird acoustics@gmail.com, and we will see if we can make it happen. In the meantime, as always, thanks a million for tuning in. I hope we've enjoyed these wonderful, wonderful sounds from an incredibly quiet part of the world.

Faster button in Northern Sweden. That's off me. Alan Dalton here at Wild Bird Acoustics. We'll see again in a couple of weeks.



 So there we go. An absolutely wonderful sound magazine. I think you'll agree. I hope you do enjoy these longer sound magazines. I think they're good. Four D podcasts, continuity, not too broken, and it means listeners can just put their feet up, sit back for an hour and enjoy unbroken sounds, unbroken audio for a full hour without excessive waffling from yours.

Truly, Alan Dalton here at Wild Bird Acoustics. Now I'm gonna say a you. I'll see you again in a couple of weeks. Thanks for tuning in. As always, listen to wild bird acoustics if you're out in the field doing a bit of field recording or simply doing a bit of birding.

I wish you very, very well. Thanks for listening, guys, and we'll see you again soon. That's all for me here at Wild Bird Acoustics.

 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.