Where Meadows Breathe and Woodlands Sing; The Sandemar Files #2

Sandemar Reserve, located just southeast of Stockholm City, is a wonderful place to record birds. My favourite month at this site is undoubtedly May, when the spring floodgates are opened and migrant bird species return in the large numbers. It is at this time of year that waves of summer migrants arrive on the coastline of Sweden. This is an exciting time to be in the field. Throughout the entire month, I devoted myself to this this remarkable site, arriving at dawn to actively record returning migrant species. In addition to the large amount of time spent actively recording at the site, I also made great efforts to carefully place automated recorders in several areas, in the  hope of uncovering audio of some of the more secretive species at this site.  The result was a treasure trove of delightful results, audio of a wide range of species, in a number of different habitats. Join me at Wild Bird Acoustics as I share the audio with listeners...

Transcript

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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 sound magazine here at Wild Bird Acoustics. This is the Sandmeyer Files, the second installment, the second sound magazine from Sandmeyer Reserve from audio recorded in the spring of 2025.

I have a lot of wonderful audio to share with you. Once again, this is quite a long sound magazine. I'm committed to doing these longer sound magazines here in the third season of Wild Bird Acoustics.

I think it'll just lend itself to people being able to relax and listening to the audio in this season of recordings. As I say, a lot of amazing audio to share with you, and we get stuck into that straight away.

Now the first recording I have for you, just over three minutes long. It's absolutely wonderful. It's Common Crane overlying the canal at Sand Marr Reserve early in the morning over Woodlands. And the backdrop is the Don Chorus at the Woodlands at the site in the background, you're gonna hear garden mortar, chaffing blue, TT black cap, the buzz of insects, and a few distant willow wars, and it makes for an incredible backdrop, as I say, that these overlying common cranes giving your.

Company calls and flight calls as they fly over the woodland at five o'clock in the morning on the 12th of May, 2025. Settle in and have a listen folks.

 Terima telah

Terima telah

Terima kasih. 📍 

Now common white throat is a very common species at Santa Ma Reserve. I recorded the species quite extensively in 2025 at this site, and I have a nice bit of audio now for you recorded with an SM mini audio recorder, which was just left in position for just over a week at the Stegen path at the site.

Now this is a nice recording of common white throat. In song, there's yellow hammer in the background, little bit of wind, which adds a little bit of ambience, so quite a nice recording as I say, common white throat in full song.

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Now we're gonna stay with Common White Throat just for a moment, and I'm gonna play you another beautiful recording. This time recorded with the Sennheiser Array, a pair of stereo 8 0 2 oh Sennheiser, and there's an incredible ambience here from the wind. I found this bird singing at an area called Hogar and some low shrubs, placed recorder carefully and just sat back and recorded a long soundscape.

This is about three and a half minutes of this bird in song, a small bit of the soundscape, but it's quite wonderful. Once again, common by throat. In full song on the 15th of May, 2025 at Santa Mar Reserve.

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Now I got the next recording on the 10th of May, 2025. It was the first cuckoo of the year for me. I recorded this bird with a tinga pbla, and in the background, it's very, very busy here, Don Chorus. It's very, very early in the morning. There's Chief Chaffin song, garden Warbler blue tit, yellow hammer calling, lap wing calling.

All kinds of stuff going on in the background. Wood pigeon and other common species like Eurasian rain. It's a wonderful recording habilis, and so much going on. You can hear birds flitting around in the undergrowth. The main subject here, common cuckoo.

 Terima telah

Terima kasih telah menonton

Terima telah menonton! 📍 

Now we're gonna move on to another very, very common songster at Sand Mar Reserve Garden Warbler, I've got this wonderful recording. The Warbler is very, very close to a wildlife acoustics SM mini recorder that I had in place for just over a week at the canal at the reserve in the background, you're gonna hear yellow hammer, blue hit.

Listen out for Singing. Tree Pivot a little bit distantly. Also chaffing here in song, this is an absolutely wonderful recording from Santar Reserve of a singing garden, warper on site. I've listened to this folks.

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Now. Next we have a shorter recording this time of a nice species lesser white throat. I recorded this at an area called Fard Na Vegan. It's an area of coniferous forest that kinda juts out on this little peninsula into the Baltic Sea. And on the 10th of May, 2025, I was out there recording and came across this newly arrived lesser white throat.

The bird was giving song in the woodland as it just moved through the foliage. And in the background here you can hear Goldcrest ch Chaffin song. Ren Feeding Great Spotted Woodpecker and also the Song of Wood Pigeon. But a nice short recording this. This is a lesser white throat at Sand Mar Reserve.

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 Now, in 2025, I did an awful lot of passive recording at Santa Mar Reserve, and I got some wonderful results and. Quite often of common species too. So this is a case in point. This is a recording of magpie. Very, very common species, but quite often it's, it's one that you don't get very intimate recordings of, but this is a nice intimate recording.

Quite often passive recording feels like eavesdropping in away. And in this recording you have a magpie just moving around a bush right over the recorder. Very, very close. There's a little bit of noise in the background from a road, but it's not too intrusive. But there's also a wonderful background from various singing thrush species, and it makes for a very, very nice recording.

I've listened to this and again, as I always say, never overlook common species, and I really do enjoy passive recording for this reason. It kind of gives you the results. It does, , it doesn't really determine anything apart from what's in its immediate area, and quite often you get some wonderful, wonderful recordings just like this one.

This is Mag Pie.

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So a lovely recording there. And I particularly like, as I've said before, the ambience from the rain, just a very light drizzle in the background of that recording. It just adds to everything. Now, I'm gonna stay in Corvids for a little while. I love Crows, and have a recording here of Northern Raven from the same recorder,

flying very low overhead calling. You can hear the wing beats at one point in the background. You have yellow hammer. As always, Willow warbler, very distant guard warbler. And also towards the end, a singing common white throat. But this is the cause. The gut roll calls flight calls of Northern Raven at Santa Ma Reserve on the 14th of May, 2025.

  

 📍 Now we're gonna move on to a pass Ryan Species. I was absolutely delighted to get this recording. It's a very scarce breeder here in Sweden, and the species is red breasted fly catcher. I picked this bird up at Far Nest Vegan with an SM mini recorder. The bird was singing in the middle of the dawn chorus early in the morning.

It's a little bit of road noise again, distantly in the background, not too intrusive in the background, you hear spotted fly catcher. Chaffin, some tits res, gray, like goose distant common goal. But listen here for the very mellow song of a red breasted fly catcher, it is not the most noticeable song in the world, and it's very, very easily overlooked, quite low, very nice kind of tone to it, just up and down, up and down quite short. And I think this could be easily overlooked in many Woodland when there's a lot of birds singing.

Six is having strokes here from this bird. Like I say, red Breasted fly catcher, a very, very scarce breeding species around Stockholm. Only a handful every year. So this was a very nice pickup and I was delighted with this recording. Have a listen.

This is Red Breasted Fly Catcher at Sand Mar Reserve.

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Now a nice short recording of a knock mid call. This is Common Red Shank overlying at night just over the canal path at Santa Mar Reserve. Listen as some common red shank fly over in the dead of night on migration. This is common red shank.

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I have another waiter species for you now, and this was recorded again with an SM mini recorder. It was recorded very, very early in the morning on the meadows close to the sea. The flooded meadows there an excellent spot for waiters. Now, the species I'm gonna be giving you now is common ringed plover.

And what you're gonna hear in this recording, first of all, is some common goal moving around. There's some snipe. Lap wing, distant common white throat, and towards the end a singing skylark. But listen, from about 26 seconds for the calls of common ringed plover.

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Now the next recording I have for you was recorded very, very early, first thing in the morning after arrival at the reserve on the 24th of May, 2025. Now, as I was rounding the path, I heard the very distinctive noise of a locust tele warbler, which was quite exciting. Even at distance, I knew it sounded like a river warbler.

The bird was found that morning by another observer before I arrived. However, I didn't actually know the bird was present when I arrived at the site, so it was almost like finding the bird for myself. I was absolutely thrilled with this. So the first thing I did was obviously just to get some sort of a recording.

I just moved into position and from a safe distance, I just recorded the bird in Song River Warbler is a lo costella warbler. They sound very much like an old fashioned sewing machine. And I'll just play it a quick first recording that I grabbed just for a record of the bird. This is river Warbler, quite a rare species around Stockholm, and I was absolutely delighted to come across this bird and get this recording.

Have a listen to this.

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So a very, very distinctive sound. I think you'll agree, and I think you will also appreciate the analogy of an old fashioned sewing machine. Lo costellos are fantastic birds, very much a field recorder's bird. They're just sound absolutely wonderful. There's various species, but you don't come across 'em.

Very, very regularly at all. They're quite scarce across the range, and river Warbler is more of an eastern species, but every year, a few torn up here in Sweden and they are actively sought out by birders. So absolutely delighted to come across this bird and having got my recording, my record recording, I moved in and just settled down and tried to get a better recording.

I'm going to play another recording of the bird. Now, once again, this is River Warbler. The bird starts up after about 30 seconds at roughly the same time as a newly returned th Singal. It makes for a wonderful, wonderful recording. There's some other common species here in the background, which I'm sure some of you guys can recognize for yourselves at this stage.

But the main subject here is River Warbler with Thrush. Nightingale also very close to the Bird in Song. Have a listen to this. It's a wonderful, wonderful recording.

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Now moving along swiftly, one of my favorite Songster in spring at Santa Mar Reserve, and that is Tree Pivot. The song of this species is quite wonderful and. They returned from late April onwards by early May. There's usually quite a few birds at this site, but this year was a little bit poor for them.

I think last year I had seven or eight males at this site. This year I could only find three or four males, so I. Things do vary from year to year at these sites. Nothing necessarily to be concerned about, but very nice to get up close to these birds with the tinga parabola, which is what I did in this occasion, and just record this wonderful, wonderful song.

Very focused recording. There's not a lot going on in the background really. Everything's quite distanced and snipe and geese and things like that, but like I say, because I'm using the Tinga Probla, it's a beautiful, clear, focused recording. This is three Pi in full song at Santa Ma Reserve. On the 19th of May, 2025.

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Now on the same day, I was moving around an area called Hager. There was quite a few tree Ps in the area, and I came across this bird. It had been singing, but then it started giving the high calls of the species. Something I don't have a lot of recordings of in breeding habitat.

Now in the background there's a few things like red shank blackbird, common snipe chaffing and blue tit. But listen for the very high piercing calls in the canopy overhead of tree pivot. This is quite distinctive once you get your ear in on it. , The bird was right over my head.

This is recorded with a Tinga probla once again and is quite a nice, clear recording. As a result, these are the high calls of Tree Pivot.

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 Now next up is a little section I took from a longer soundscape. It was basically a very, very windy scene in the Woodlands, and I was interested in recording the wind, just moving through the woods and the various singing birds in this recording, which was recorded with these Sennheiser 8 0 2 oh stereo array.

You're going to hear some Robin in song, some Blackbird in song as they win the rushes through. The Woodland, but listen carefully for the Song of Tree Creeper here. A few strobes during this recording.

Now I'm quite partial to these windy soundscapes in Woodland as the wind picks up and drops, and it's quite a nice backdrop for this recording.

Have a listen to this folks. This is just a little soundscape of woodland and various bird species as far as Na. Vegan in sandmeyer.

  

 📍 Now, next up, a little bit of non bird action here. And one of the big pluses of working with passive recorders, the SM mini audio recorders, is you come into contact with mammals, and this tends to happen at nighttime. Now, I've had some issues as well with mammals. Pulling out my recorders, sniffing at them, and on occasion moving them.

And I think these animals were very, very close. I have had problems with these in tears to National Park before. The species is wild boar, but on this occasion, they actually left my recorder alone. They didn't come right in on top of the recorder as it was placed a little bit up about a meter up into the canopy in a large kind of knot of vegetation.

Now we'll have a quick listen. This is wild boar. Quite close to the recorder At nighttime at Santa Ma Reserve on the 19th of May, 2025.   📍 

 

Now in late May. Sandmeyer. I was out in s far speaking one day and I came across this bird very, very interesting. It's a mixed singing willow warbler, and it's giving some of the characteristics of Ch Chaff song in its own song. Now, this is a phenomenon that's well documented around Europe and the reasons are unclear as to why Sunbirds do this.

It's quite rare. I've only recorded one individual doing this before, so this was quite a nice capture. Now I'm gonna play you a short recording of the bird, very clearly giving elements of both Willow warbler and chiffchaff. In the song I saw the bird quite well, long primary projection, pale legs, and quite sure it was a willow warbler, as most of these birds seem to be.

But have a listen to this. There's a little bit going on in the background, but quite a nice recording of a mixed singing Willow warbler.

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Now we're gonna move on to a fantastic series of recordings that I got on the wet meadows at Sand Ma Reserve in mid-May, and the species involved is white-tailed eagle. Obviously this is a very, very. Impressive species, and it's a species I'd only recorded up until this point on one occasion in Vassar button, so I was absolutely over the moon to get some high quality calls of this species.

Now, the first recording I'm gonna play for you is a single TRO of white tailed eagle calling from the meadows. I believe the bird is sitting on a post quite close to the recorder in the background here you can hear general kind of annoyance from herring in particular. Also common snipe overhead, lap wing, quite close by.

Not too happy at all, as are many of the birds in the area. And I would just play you a single recording first of White-Tailed Eagle, and then we'll get into it a little bit more. Have a listen to this.

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Now what's actually going on here on the wetland meadows is this is an area where a lot of birds breed. So you have quite a large number of gray lag, Barnicle and Canada goose, all breeding, also lap wing and the white tailed eagles of course, notice all of this going on. And they came in every morning early to hunt young geese especially, and.

It's a scene of carnage, I suppose, but it's completely natural. , These birds are obviously going to take advantage of any situation they can in order to feed. And in this recording, you're gonna hear several strobes of white-tailed eagle. It's a quite remarkable recording. Absolutely thrilled to get this.

And this is the joy of passive recording. There is no way I could have got this recording without using sm. Mini recorders in place on the wetland meadows. The birds are extremely close to the recorder, as you will hear. There's plenty of birds here going absolutely nuts, particularly hooded crows who are obviously mobbing the bird.

There's some golds around as well. Also northern lap wing and all of these birds are actively trying to mob this whitetailed eagle to try and get it out of the area. The bird has probably already made a kill at this point, but there's some wonderful audio here of Hood Crow, in particular mobbing whitetail eagle.

And that leads to several stross of Eagle call. Have a listen. That is quite remarkable. Recording folks.

 Ah. 📍 

One more recording of Whitetailed Eagle for you. This came the next morning on the 26th of May, and again, obvious the birds are in the area. You can hear a lap wing giving some calls here.

Obviously they can see the birds in the area this is pretty much an early morning scene from the wet meadows, so you can hear birds just going about their business, and about a minute or two into this recording, you can hear birds clearing off the water, probably geese and wild fell as a whitetail.

Eagle flies in and then gives a stro of call at extremely. Close range, an absolutely incredible recording. Once again, like I say, I got quite a lot of these recordings. I can't play them all. I think I have about 12 or 14 recordings in total, but I thought I'd play a few for you today so that you could enjoy them.

It's a very difficult species to record at close range, so naturally I'm delighted with these recordings and I thought it'd be wonderful just to share a few of them with you. Here at Wild Bird Acoustics. Once again, this is an early morning scene. Whitetailed Eagle. Over the meadows at Santar Reserve.

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 so there you go folks. I think we'll wrap it up there. I hope you have enjoyed the audio recordings from the time I spent in spring 2025 at the Wonderful Reserve that is Sandem Marr Reserve.

I will never tired of just moving around this place at any time of the year. Recording birds. There's always so much going on and it is a field recorders paradise. As always, all that remains is for me to thank you guys, the listeners for tuning in at Wild Board Acoustics.

It's very, very much appreciated. This is Alan Dalton signing out. We'll see you next time folks.

 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.

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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.