Stuart Bowditch Podcasts

It's been a long trek on public transport to get here, and a bit stressful on the Tube with all of the tripods and kit bag, that has put in to perspective a few things. It would have taken Constable, everyone, a lot longer to get around. For instance Constable used to walk from East Bergholt to Stratford St.Mary to catch the Stagecoach, which would then take 9-12 hours, conditions permitting, to get to London. Also on this project I'm working relatively close to home and have a car so can reach nearly everywhere pretty easily. Yes, I know that I'm having an impact and I have been weighing up the value of my work versus the impact I am having on the natural world. This work isn't solely for me, but will be a sonic record for use by anyone in the future, under a Creative Commons licence. My carbon footprint, though quite large as much as car runs on petrol, is considerably less than a Shahed drone, from manufacture to deployment, and I feel that these recordings offer a somewhat more positive contribution to society than those. Still, it's important to evaluate why and for whom I am doing this work, any work, and the benefits and side effect thereof. This triangle of land between roads and off of the main body of Hampstead Heath is rather sedate and affords a calm spot amongst the bustle of the city. Parakeets, car horns, a helicopter, a couple walking their dogs, a jet overhead banking in to the clouds that are gorgeous shades of blue grey. A golden labrador being stroked by some strangers, a slow 4/4 beat (approx 115bpm) in the distance, women with jackets tied around their waists, two girls questioning what was worth filming over there, a woman talking on ‘hands free', the pulse in my knee making my crossed leg bounce up and down, the bench plaque reading '34º43'34.8”N 139º23'41.1”E', laughter coming from the couple on the bench along the way, a woman waiting for her dog to do a poo, lot's of gilets on the edge of Hampstead and it makes sense that building stopped before the steep slope here, people waling behind me, pairs of people stopping to check their phones so maybe there is a Pokemon Go here, an invisible layer of the world bringing members of a different community to this corner of the world. There are lots of layers, digital, geological, social, historical, atmospheric, all relevant to the same ‘place'. A heron, a beech leaf with a hole in it, some loud angry talking followed by some sirens, it's always about this time in a recording I'm feeling the need for some punctuation so maybe this is it, a different siren, a man in a cap pacing up and down, the cloud slowly thinning and more light reaching down to Earth, girls with coffees, a Vespa, a man whistling for his dog, a woman with a dog waving to the whistling man, they are pleased to see each other, the man has treats, a small boy on a bike stopping right in front of the mic, his father calling him away in possibly Italian. My body clock is a bit anxious today as it guessed at 55 minutes, a fire engine, leaves are falling from the trees at about 5 per minute (within my limited field of view), a man with a blue helmet on a bike gets off of his bike and heads down the track in front of the camera. I wonder if Constable was spoken to, questioned, viewed suspiciously, had his motive interrogated by members of the public whilst out capturing the landscape, I have over the years and with sound its easy to appease people's suspicions but with image I imagine it will be more difficult. I'm sure I will find out. Two lads stop talking as they pass by the mic and resume further along the path. Birds identified are Magpie, Sparrow, Wren, Great Tit, Dunnock, Robin and Chiffchaff.

Yesterday a storm front blew in and passed over head. In front of it the warm summer air and behind it the cooler air of autumn. I didn't realise until it had passed but the difference was clear and defining. Today the wind is feisty, autumnal, and its effects on the trees dominates the sonic space. Imagine being a tree, or a nomad, constantly at the mercy of the elements. No wonder the leaves are browning, yellowing, reddening, having endured months of intense sunlight, rain, wind, with no respite. Those fragile paper thin structures, so hardy. I have come on a Friday to avoid the hordes, families, paddleboarders, dog owners, smokers, and sometimes that's just one person, screaming, splashing, smiling, relaxing. Living. But that's not for me. I prefer the quiet solitude of off-peak. I usually prefer off-piste too, but this project is otherwise, out of my comfort zone and into the spotlight, but doing what I enjoy most. Pond skaters, ducks, the weir letting the Stour trickle through, holding it back, keeping it slow and steady, like the rental revenue on those flats in the Mill building. It is a different mill to in Constable's time, but still. It stands as a monument to industry, labour, the effort of those generations making their daily bread, surviving, working for the man. It is strange that in just one spot, place, so many decisions, influences, powers, monies, have come to gather to make a once navigable river to transport goods, from Mistley, where seagoing vessels were unloaded on to Lighters (barges) as far inland as the ‘port' of Sudnury. And then to transport different goods in the reverse direction. Just a few decades later and it was superseded by the railways. A man on a strange paddle board/seagoing kayak/super yacht hybrid, lots of berries on the trees in readiness for winter, some harsh pruning. He notices me, and the kit, and studies us for a while before paddling off. I have swam in this mill pond several times but the water quality is too bad now, my trunks staying put in their new drawer for a good few months yet. ‘Danger: Deep Water'. I hope someone is in deep water and that CEO's the land over are carrying the can for the unacceptable state of the Countries waterways. A woman in a puffer jacket taking a photograph across the pond, a damsel fly, which is one of the 22 species on this river, I am unable to tell which, a woman jogging, fish making swirls on the waters surface, a dark cloud covering the sun and turning off the heat. ​One day this place will not be here, and all of the memories of it will be gone. A sock in a tree, a bus heading to Dedham, a motorbike, those with the loudest mouths, exhausts, will be remembered, a man looking at the mic as he goes by, two people all dressed in blue with binoculars, the fish trying to catch flies just above the waters surface, a couple that I have seen four times walking their dog but the man walks ahead followed by the dog pulling the woman reluctantly along, a strimmer or maybe a hedge trimmer. Watch the whole hour on YouTube https://youtu.be/clQXSbnL3DY

Sunday morning in town, its a bit breezy, people making the shortcut through the graveyard, a flock of pigeons or Rock Doves as they used to be called, air con units, aircraft heading away from London, a lady whose perfume I detected before I saw her, I feel like I have to behave differently in this urban environment as I can't blend in to being a tourist, I'm more on guard, a man asking if he was in my way, I wave him through, people aren't here to look at the attraction they're on their way to somewhere else so why would I be sitting in a graveyard with a lot of recording kit on a Sunday morning feeling vulnerable? The concerned man walks back through the other way with a drink less concerned this time, a car with loud music travelling down Queen Street, a gull, a man sneezing, ‘Morning!' said a man who took a photograph of the ruins, and exclaiming child in a push chair. It's warm on the outside, warm on the in, I can feel the effects of my (non-psychedelic) mushroom gummy, my 21st day of sobriety, I made it to 47 days last time so let's see how I get on, I do have more clarity but I also feel slightly removed from some situations, its a new feeling as I take a step in to the next stage of my life, leaving a lot of things behind, embracing the new, and trying to be kinder to myself, a Robin, a man running, a woman on a phone call, the Rock Doves taking to the air and flying past the microphone, someone clapping, the shadows moving slowly but perceptibly, dapples, gravestones with names eroded away over time, a lady with a Nirvana t-shirt, I'm writing more today as I have my head down as a defence mechanism, not wanting to engage with passers by, the wind has died down a bit but I only notice as it picks up and moves the trees, a lady in her Sunday best, the fragrance of a woman after I have seen her, a man with a hand in his pocket, the Robin again, I need to take some tips from this experience as I'll be recording in Ipswich Town Centre soon where I imagine there will be lots of passers by, I have done lots of urban recording before but not with film, and not for as long durations, Church bells but from further away than St.Botolphs, a motorbike, the Church bell of St.Botolphs, nearer with longer intervals whilst the further faster bells still play, here it sounds like a ‘Campanology Course for People with No Sense of Timing', a Jay, a cough, curious children, a man with crocs who says ‘Allo mate!' but wasn't talking to me, people wearing all black even though it is still really summery, a man with a striped t-shirt, a woman with a spotty dress, at first it was interesting that the soundscape was punctuated with a bell nearby and somewhat haphazard but now it's annoying that they haven't got any better and it hasn't formed in to a one note polyrhythmic masterpiece, the Robin's warning call, some lads being laddish, a woman with blue hair. Piece of Paper Under the arch Sheltering Then after 10 minutes Wheels across the path to the grass Someone let it go without screwing it up Which is rare Gave it a chance to leave To go on its own To seek sanctuary Within the confines of wherever the wind takes it We could all learn a lesson from that.

Tourists taking photos, a woman coming from the Mill Residencies, a man singing, a chat about exam results, a man getting his photo taken with a baby, I'm featuring in people's photographs, or influencing their decision not to take one, being in ‘the' spot means that others also gravitate there, pause to get ‘the' shot, then leave, voices of sports players drift on the wind, bicycles on the gravel, one of the cyclists singing, people waiting on the other bench getting bored waiting for me to move on so they go off in a huff, a cormorant, a light aircraft, tourists being dropped off by a Toyota EV, a man asking if the recording kit is mine, the tourists taking longer to get in the car than they were looking at the view, distant motor bikes, Moorhen, sitting on the bench in memory or Edna Cartwright, wood pigeons flitting from tree to the chimney on Willy Lott's House, two cars, one coming in and one going out, jackdaws, the lad from the car coming in walking past and going in to Mill House, dog growling at the mic, a Kite ridind the wind. As the world burns, fights, suffers, warms, society slowly implodes, capitalism collapses, doubles down, genocide is administered, famine engineered, drones are optimised for warfare, billions syphoned away from social needs, people exploited, trafficked, abused, killed, left to rot or fend for themselves, resources mined, the earth torn apart, extracted, refined, manufactured, advertised, marketed, sold, used, thrown away. All of that is happening right now, everywhere, except here. Here there are people making memories, sharing time together, making the most of the late warm summer afternoon, getting a glimpse of the chocolate box, the Moorhen wrestling with some weed, Willy Lott's Cottage, of the ladies blue hair. Sheltered, protected, preserved, presented. Sheltering me, protecting me, preserving me, presenting me, as the chocolate box? There is always a chocolate that is the least favoured, but less weight gained by not eating those. ​The high whispy clouds of this tranquil vista visible but out of reach could easily be the smoke of destruction a screen to hide the horrors behind heavens and hells are the same ideology but from the view points of the perpetrators or victims. Full version now on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yxmbopr_7Y

As part of the Constable Ambisonic project I want to understand how we perceive the landscape, and what did Constable and his contemporaries bring to our understanding of the natural world, and who else has contributed to the language used and ideals we hold in regard to perception of landscape. Here I talk to my mum, Terri Bowditch to try to understand how we came to live in the semi-rural town Essex market town, and how that affected my life growing up in the 1970's and 80's, in comparison to North West London where they had moved from.

As part of the Constable Ambisonic project I want to understand how we perceive the landscape, and what did Constable and his contemporaries bring to our understanding of the natural world, and who else has contributed to the language used and ideals we hold in regard to perception of landscape. Here I talk to artist and printmaker David Stone at the Cuckoo Farm Print Workshop, Colchester. We discuss a variety of topics including Romanticism, Capability Brown, Helen Allingham, Turner, JS Lowry and of course, Constable.

This recording has come about by my activities on the Constable Ambisonic project, where I'll be making ambisonic sound recordings of 20 locations of paintings by John Constable. https://www.constableambisonic.co.uk/ As I explore and reacquaint myself with 'Constable Country' I have been recording in a variety of locations in and around the Dedham Vale. This recording was made on a footpath leading up the hill from Fen Bridge Lane in East Bergholt on a lovely warm sunny afternoon. The first bird that I heard as I started walking to the site was a cuckoo and soon many more birds joined the throng, including Reed Bunting, Wren, Blackbird, Chiffchaff, Song Thrush, Robin, Skylark, Whitethroat, Goldfinch, Blue Tit, Cuckoo, Chaffinch, Stonechat, Linnet, Dunnock, Blackcap, Crow, Pheasant, Great Tie, Greylag Goose and Magpie. As much as my birding skills are improving I still rely heavily on the excellent Merlin Bird App https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org

I was in Bournemouth on an assignment but arrived early to have a mooch about the town. I hadn't visited since 1999 and that was under the cover of darkness as we were going raving at an all nighter, although I forget which club it was we went to. What I do remember is that it was the first time I heard the Ferry Corsten remix of William Orbit's version of Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings. Anyway, I digress. Today it was calm and the sea had large gentle swells with non-boarded paddle boarders bobbing about. I loitered about under the zip line that goes from a tower at the end of the pier to the beach and after a few minutes some excited peoples zipped overhead.

Myself and good friend Matt Shenton went on a well overdue trudge around the edge of Old Hall Marshes near Tollesbury. It's an RSPB site, so we were looking forward to hearing, seeing, recording, some birds, but as the car park is closed on weekends (doh!) we had a extra mile or so walk to get to the site. it was windy and fresh, but with a hint of warmth. Was good to take in heady lung fulls of muddy salt marsh air. Once we got there Matt recorded a fence with his contact mics and I sat quietly near the borrowdyke listening to a plethora of birds. There was however a lot of aircraft activity, which when looking at the Flight Radar app there was a light airplane doing a lot of small loops around Copford, and an Airbus 330 flying from Frankfurt to Cancun, amongst others. You can however revel in the delightful sounds of Sedge Warblers, Whitethroat, Wren, Chiffchaff, Swallow, Reed Bunting, Goldfinch, Blackcap, Greenfinch, Yellow Wagtail, Pheasant and Robin.

To follow up on my recording of the Nightingales at Middlewick from last year (yes, I know it takes me a long time to do things) I wanted to record the skylarks as there are several nesting pairs on the site. Frazer Merrick (artist and runner) commented that he'd just heard them on Middlewick and Michael Padmore (from the 'Save Middlewick' campaign) tipped me off of some more locations. So I got up before dawn and headed out to hide amongst the gorse and broom. Even at 6:30 you can hear that there is a lot of traffic noise that the birds have to compete with. The skylarks were very actively singing, but I couldn't observe them flying with their distinctive up and down trajectories. Also in this recording are Chiffchaff, Great Tit, Linnet, Blackbird, Crow and Song Thrush. Just at the end of this recording (edited off) I got bowled into by an out of control dog called Rocky, which knocked me off of my seat and onto the floor, covering me with wet footprints and slobbery tongue. Imagine what it would do to the skylarks if it had found them nesting on the ground.

In preparation for my upcoming project Constable Ambisonic (more on that soon), I was in Manningtree Station car park for 5am to meet my friend photographer Simon Rogers. It was damp but mild and we walked the paths of the Stour Valley as far as Flatford and back, simply to get back in to the swing of being up early, in the field, listening and recording. In this, the third recording of the morning, one can hear two Great Spotted Woodpeckers working on different trees, Chiffchaff, Robin, Wren, Moorhen, Coal Tit, Pheasant, Wood Pigeon and Dunnock, as well as a flock of Graylag and Canada Geese in the distance. A wheezing pug and her owner also put in an appearance.

It had been a while since I'd done any recording so it was great to get up early and head out to one of my favourite spots, Arger Fen. I made two recordings, this one in the woods, and another in more open scrubland. Since it was before dawn there was plenty of bird action including tawny owl, pheasant, song thrush, robin, blackbird, mistle thrush, wren, chaffinch, crow, coal tit, dunnock and green woodpecker. Although I know quite a few species now I'm ever reliant on the Cornell University Merlin bird app for identification, which is fantastic and I really recommend it if you want to become a bird nerd.

On the 19th September 2013 I had a phone call from a friend who only phones when he needs something. He's cool so usually it's a pretty good shout. He was in a spot of bother and needed a package full of art taken to a gallery for him as the package sent via courier had gone missing. Only problem was that it needed to be there tomorrow, and the gallery was in Århus, Denmark. So, with only 3 hours sleep I got the airport bus at 3am, was on an 8am flight from London Stansted, took a bus from the airport, got picked up by someone in a car at the rendezvous point, was driven to the gallery and delivered the important package of art. There was a lot of applause and cheering. Everyone was happy. I got to spend the rest of the day meeting artists and exploring the city. The recording documents walking a full revolution of the Your Rainbow Panorama, designed by architects at Studio Olafur Eliasson.

Whilst collecting sounds for my Modern Tendring Vernacular project in February 2024 I went to record the tide bell at Harwich, which I had never seen or heard before. There was a strong wind and rain but I'd timed the tide right to capture the bell, and was meeting a chap called Geoff soon, so only had one shot at recording it.

Between 2008 and 2010 I lived in Hackney and on a cold Wednesday morning I went for a walk down Ridley Road Market in Dalston. I remember there being lots of meat, piles of pigs trotters and some strange vegetables. I loved the mixture of cultures, food, voices, accents, and music, but not so much the intensity of some of the smells. I recorded this whilst walking along so it's not a static recording but one that evolves as I move along the street.

In the years around 2013 I would go on regular walks with my good friend and artist Alan Hockett, exploring the darker, more mysterious corners of Essex. On this particular day we walked from Burnham-on-Crouch, along the sea wall, to the North Sea (previously called The German Ocean). Not long after setting of we came across a gorgeous but old crab that was being used to lift a small yacht out of the river and on to dry land. Here is the sound of it in action.

During a research and development trip for the project Fabric: Silk Road (with Ruth Philo) I recorded two women working with silk on a large hand operated loom at the Museum of Silk Manufacture in Nanjing, China. Although I couldn't understand their commentary it was fascinating to watch them work together on this complicated and beautiful machine. Ruth continues the project which you can follow at http://www.fabricsilkroad.co.uk and on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/fabricsilkroad

By a strange set of circumstances I found my self sitting, quite near to the village lock-up and stocks, outside Canewdon Church on a sunny Sunday morning. The bells were ringing for quite some time but just as I was relaxing in to reverie, a couple of things happened. A light aircraft was passing over head, and whilst that's nothing new in that area, the drone of the aircraft slightly descended to match the key of a new peal. The peal also sounded more mechanical and drone-like in itself and less like it was played by the campanologists inside. Lasting not quite one and half minutes it was quite possibly the most unique bell peal I have ever heard. I was quite amazed by it and also by the in-tune aircraft. After a pause, the bell ringers started again and whilst less interesting I have included a portion of it here as the recording features my first ever kestrel at about 7m50s. What a lovely morning and at a church reputed to be one of the most haunted places in Essex with an association with 'witches and devilry'. There is even a local legend, that I remember as a child, that if you run around the church anti-clockwise on Halloween, the Devil himself will appear.

Over a number of years my good friend Graham and I took regular road trips out to very uncool places, for a change of scenery, to chew the fat, to talk crap and experience underwhelming facets of life. The story of this trip is fraught with danger but one of the highlights of our trip was playing Mr G's bingo in Leysdown-on-Sea on the Isle of Sheppey. Unfortunately we didn't win the packet of fish fingers but Graham did win the Kenneth Williams mug.

Whilst staying with some friends in their forest retreat in Gelse, Hungary, a clap of thunder woke me up at around 5am so I recorded the storm pass over. The recorder (Sony D100) was placed just inside my door that connected to the outside terrace area.

I was on my way back from my Uncle's surprise 80th birthday party and I took a detour around the Circle Line on the London Underground, just for fun. I spent a couple of hours sitting on different platforms listening, absorbing, thinking.

In 2007 in was collecting sounds for a sound installation (called AWSoM) I was making with artist Damien Robinson for the Sutton-with-Shopland Music Festival. On Tabor Farm, where the music festival was to be held, is Sutton Hall Railway, a narrow gauge railway run by enthusiasts. This is a recording of my ride on one of the trains pulled by a steam locomotive.

In early May 2024 I went on a public walk around Middlewick Ranges as part of Jane's Walk Colchester 2024. The overriding theme of the walk was to raise awareness of the flora, fauna and diversity of habitats in this area, which is currently under threat of sale by the MoD and subsequent development of housing. So to aid the campaign of the good folk at Save The Middlewick Ranges, I got up early to get a pre-dawn recording of the nightingales, of which there is a significant national population, and other birds in the area. I located myself in a spot well know by the group to be amongst nightingale territories and captured 20 minutes (10 minutes here) of the glorious dawn chorus. Enjoy X

In 2009 I joined my friend, artist and activist Nicola Field on a March for Palestine through the streets of London to the Israeli embassy. Occupation persists and grows. Marches persist and grow. Hope persists and grows. Ceasefire now! X

In 2016 I was recording a variety of locations for the Essex Record Office Sound and Video Archive 'You Are Hear' project https://www.essexsounds.org.uk . One of the threads of interest were 'Quiet Places' so I headed out to the sea wall at Paglesham, near the final resting place of The Beagle (Darwin's Ship), next to the abandoned oyster beds, overlooking Potton Island across the River Roach. As I lay on the sea wall soaking up the warmth of the sun, 10 minutes or so in to the sounds of swaying grasses and foraging bees, my reverie is broken by the sound of a PA system being plugged in some distance away. Sound checking ensued and the moment of peace was gone. So I walked back to the Plough and Sail public house which was heaving with people so I followed the sound of the crowd. In the car park a Barn Dance had been set up and in the middle of it all was a man that I knew, Keith Baxter. He's a lovely guy, great musician and a member of the Famous Potatoes https://famouspotatoes.co.uk , and as it turns out a fantastic Barn Dance host.

A week before lockdown came in to force in the UK I recorded an interview with artist Terry Flower for the series of podcasts I did for Visit Stour Valley (available on Soundcloud and other platforms). He directed me to a lovely spot across the fields in some woods beside Belchamp Brook. I sat there for half an hour soaking up the atmosphere and contemplating the impending doom. There is plenty of spring bird activity including Chaffinch, Blackbird, Green Woodpecker, Great Tit, Pheasant, Jackdaw, Robin, Linnet, Blue Tit and Wren, plus a field full of sheep and some bird scarer explosions.

I put a call out for sounds, or suggestions of sound, from the borough of Tendring in Essex. Geoff, a volunteer at the High Lighthouse in Harwich, agreed to let me inside to make some recordings. I meet him on a very blustery and rainy day and he kindly let me spend some time alone in the building to capture the sound of the lively weather filtering through the building. The only internal sound you can hear is the fire alarm that needed its battery changing.

During a trip to India in January 2010 to stay with my housemates uncle in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, I visited the Ashram in Sabarmati, one of several ashram's that Gandhi stayed at between 1917 and 1933. www.gandhiashramsabarmati.org/en/

It had been several years since I was on Wallasea Island, so I was pleased to be back in one of my old haunts. I went with a very good friend that I was visiting over the festive period and we decided to go and watch the sunrise over Foulness Island, which is itself somewhere I have recorded and made work. https://essexmeme.fandom.com/wiki/Essexmeme_Wiki We arrived just as the gate to the RSPB reserve was opening (luck!) and parked up and made the half an hour trek along the sea wall to School House Viewpoint, the most easterly point of the island. The last time I was here the conveyor belt that was in place to unload earth extracted from beneath London during the construction of Crossrail was still in place. The tunnelled material was used to landscape the interior of Wallasea Island before the sea wall was breached to let the sea in and develop the area as a wetland for wading birds. For the Essexmeme project in 2014 we interviewed a farmer on Foulness Island who was incredulous... 'We've been trying to keep the sea out for hundreds of years, and now they want to let it back in!' The scheme was certainly working as there were plenty of birds within earshot including Green Winged Teal, Stone Curlew, Meadow Pipit, Black Bellied Plover, Curlew, Oystercatcher, Redshank, Water Pipit and Canada Goose.

I am pleased to be working with artist and musician Matt Shenton on his project Listening To The Landscape, that has been funded by a Arts Council England 'Develop Your Creative Practice' grant. For our first session together we spent quite some time talking about equipment and techniques for recording sound in the field, before venturing out into the wilds of the Shotley Peninsular to find a spot to make a recording. In the resultant recording you can hear the bells of the Royal Hospital School and birds including Jackdaw, Robin, Rook, Long Tailed Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Magpie, Pheasant and Blackbird.

My travelling companion and I have taken to booking a few weeks away in October both as a means of extending the summer and a chance to discover somewhere new. We've been keen to travel to Palestine and Israel to see for our own eyes what is happening there, as well as to visit some of the holy sites associated with a variety of religions, and this is where we travelled to in 2019. Being interested in the sonic aspect of places and people's activities, I found time to record the sound of many of these locations, as well as the places that we stayed and travelled through. The original two hour broadcast on CAMP Radio is a collage of recordings made inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Dormition Abbey, Tomb of the Virgin Mary, St. Anne's Church, Church of Condemnation, The Western Wall and St, James' Cathedral Church, all in Jerusalem; The Milk Grotto and Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem; St. Joseph's Church and The Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth, as well as streetscapes from each of those cities. The single recording there is from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem on 2nd October 2019. I'm not a religious person by any means but I felt strong emotions in these buildings, a palpable sense of their power and importance both historically and today. Following pilgrims throughout the cities we were able to witness some incredible services, rituals and ceremonies of people from the Catholic, Jewish, Greek Orthodox, Armemian Apostolic and Islamic faiths. We also sought out conversations and experiences with Palestinians and Israelis, had lunch with some Jewish people in Jerusalem and visited a settlement in Hebron and Aida refugee camp in Bethlehem to better understand both viewpoints of current and historical situations, although recordings of those encounters do not feature here. Listening to these recordings now brings back a lot of those memories and emotions and I hope that you too can get a sense of the religious and historical significance of this area at this time, as well as recognising that they are real and everyday places that continue to be home to one million people today.

I'm chuffed to have contributed a field recording to this exhibition of large format photographs taken by the excellent Mark Edwards. Countless Edens is on until 15th October at Primeyarc in Great Yarmouth and expertly curated by originalprojects; so head on over there if you get the chance. 'Countless Edens is a body of photographic work by Mark Edwards, made over the course of three years, in the house and garden of the writer Ronald Blythe. Both house and garden were formally the house of Blythe's close friend, the painter John Nash. Countless Edens draws upon the rich English landscape traditions of both literature and painting. The pictures depict a garden that was initially planted by Nash when he first moved to Suffolk in the mid-forties. The garden was established in order to supply source material for both his paintings and illustrations. He bequeathed the house , situated on the Suffolk/Essex border, to his close friend, the writer Ronald Blythe. Blythe lived there until the end of his life, and continued to cultivate and attend to the garden. This intimate space, and the landscape beyond, forms the fulcrum to much of his writing. The interior photographs extend this discourse to allow the viewer to examine the relationship between Nash and Blythe through objects, possessions and personal motifs that also allude to the paintings and writing of both. Viewed as a body of pictures, the photographs contribute to the work of both painter and writer in a response to place and history. With Ronald's encouragement, Mark Edwards began to explore the outdoor and indoor space. The exhibition includes a sound recording made at Ronald Blythe's garden by artist Stuart Bowditich. Birds that can be heard include Garden Warbler, Blackcap, Dunnock, Wren, Chiffchaff, Starling, Blue Tit, Linnet, Nightingale, Bullfinch, Wood Pigeon, Redstart and Willow Warbler.'

In August 2014 I went for a walk with artist Cathie Cox to explore the riverside environs of West Thurrock. We started at St.Clement's Church (which featured in the film Two Weddings and a Funeral) and its rather incongruous neighbour the huge Proctor and Gamble factory, and then proceeded along the sea wall amongst all of the industrial and liminal riverside landscapes, admiring the world renowned graffiti (true fact!) and having a chat with the friendly homeless man.

The day before my birthday in 2010 I took the train and tube to Brixton, arriving in Electric Avenue, probably for a gig or to go dancing. Please excuse the slight wind noise on the mic.

A recording made on a family holiday on 11th May 2008 to Barcelona, I walked in on a service (unknown) at the Basilica Santa Maria Del Mar,

A recording from the archive, made on Platform 3B at Peterborough Station on 24th July 2008. I have no recollection of where I was going or what I was doing on that journey but I was waiting for a connecting train to somewhere.

On the fifth day of our walk along the Camino de Santiago I went to record the bells of Igrexa De San Tirso in the small town of Palas de Rei. The plan was to record from around 7:55 until 8:05 with the church bells in the middle of the recording, a strategy I have employed for many years now. Unfortunately, although I could see the bells, they didn't ring. But you can enjoy the songs and calls of a Wren, Robin, Blackbird, Long Tailed Tit, Song Thrush, Carrion Crow and Great Tit. To witness the impact of human activity, see how the bird calls diminish with the arrival of gathering peregriños. You can hear more successful attempts at recording bells in this fashion on my Touch Radio broadcast https://touchradio.org.uk/radio146.html

My travelling companion and I were in Den Bosch, Netherlands, for the weekend and found St.John's Cathedral whilst wandering around. There was a service in proceedings for the celebration of Pentecost. You can hear the opening and closing of the gates on the stalls as people come to sit down, and also in the middle section of music as people get up to queue for their communion wafers. Photo by Ruth Philo.

My travelling companion and I went to one of my favourite places, Shingle Street in Suffolk, for a New Years Day walk in 2018. On the way back we made a short detour to Bawdsey and waited for the ferry to return across the River Deben. There was a queue of excited passengers waiting to be picked up and some children playing the shingle beach.

I was early for a job in Central London so was waiting on the corner of Mortimer Street and Berners Street to kill some time, or rather, make a field recording. The location of the recording is in the street, not from the vantage point of the photograph.

A recording made at Beiyuanmen Night Market, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, China on Thursday 31st September 2018.

At the end of my Camino journey, taking 8 days from to reach Santiago de Compostela from Sarria, I was lucky enough to find Procession of Holy Encounter in the centre of the city and followed the procession through the narrow streets for 20 minutes to the central Praza da Quintana De Vivos next to the Cathedral. I positioned myself in the middle of all of the people taking part and in front of, but not too close to, a tannoy speaker. 13 seconds after I pressed record the liturgy began. Tune in to also hear sombre music (advice as to which piece is welcome) played by the band, carrying of pasos (floats), the tapping of staves and dragging of chains.

Recorded in a small woodland called The Bottoms, near to St.Andrew's Church in Wormingford in north Essex. I initially went to record inside the Church but it was closed (even though the opening hours online stated otherwise) so went to sit in the woods for a while. It was quite a bit milder than recent temperatures, that made for a pleasant experience listening to the birds although being in a quiet place I quickly realised that my tinnitus was pretty bad today. You can hear most prominently a Green Woodpecker and Robin, but also Blackbird, Jackdaw, Greenfinch, Great Spotted Woodpecker and a Redwing.

Part of a series of recordings being made for the project Fonema in Barreiro, Portugal. My two week residency is part of Territory, a programme commissioned by Sluice magazine and PADA Studios, which will exhibit as part of the Lisbon Art Weekend 10-13th November 2022. I sat drinking a beer in the afternoon outside of the Cervejaria Pireza listening to the clientele converse about things I had no chance of understanding. I love this kind of situation as I'm completely reliant on interpreting tone, intensity, gesture and body language as to what may or may not be being spoken about. All of these conversations were happening on the ground floor, inside the bar and in the street. After a while I noticed conversations of a different kind happening on the first floor. Residents in this area are keen on keeping caged birds (not something I am a fan of. I don't really agree with the concept of pets.) and at least three birds in cages outside three separate houses seemed to be chatting to each other above the people below.

Part of a series of recordings being made for the project Fonema in Barreiro, Portugal. My two week residency is part of Territory, a programme commissioned by Sluice magazine and PADA Studios, which will exhibit as part of the Lisbon Art Weekend 10-13th November 2022. I spent a while recording next to the River Tagus on a small spit known as Alburrica. The recording highlights the effect of the ferries, which pass very frequently, on the surrounding landscape, both sonically and ecologically, with the sound of their engines and the intensity of the water being displaced. Also this is the first time I have recorded a Small Egret, whose call you can hear once between two ferry horns at around 2:50. The recording also captures a lady collecting clams along the tide line, whose work was interrupted by the sudden noticing of the microphone. I apologised.

A recording made next to the River Stour at Foxearth Meadows, Essex, on 30th April 2022 in the late afternoon. Competing with the rush hour traffic are the following birds, of which there are many during peak springtime activity. Chiffchaff, Wren, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Robin, Long-Tailed Tit, Great Tit, Nuthatch, Oystercatcher (this far inland!), Bullfunch, Moorhen, Sparrow, Blue Tit, Mallard, Green Woodpecker and Blackcap...as identified by the Cornell Lab Merlin App...which is fantastic!

I went to the allotments to do a bit of digging, weeding and watering. Being next to Sudbury Meadows, and alongside the old railway embankment there had been lots of birds recently so I decided to make a recording and see what birds I could identify (with the excellent Merlin iPhone app). I couldn't identify them all but my knowledge of birds songs and calls is getting better. You might do better than I could. See if you can hear the following: Robin, Wren, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Dunnock, Chaffinch, Blue Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Goldcrest, Tawny Owl, Grey Wagtail, Carrion Crow and Wood Pigeon.

It's been a while since we made any site visits as part of our Fabric Silk Road project but today we had an invite to record the machines, environs and personnel at Vanners Silk in Sudbury. Ciaran Roche at Vanners, one of the five working silk weaving companies found in Sudbury, saw our activities online and said that we'd be more than welcome to come and have a chat about our project and see behind the scenes at their town centre mill. More info on our blog shortly. www.fabricsilkroad.co.uk

It's been a while since we made any site visits as part of our Fabric Silk Road project but today we had an invite to record the machines, environs and personnel at Vanners Silk in Sudbury. Ciaran Roche at Vanners, one of the five working silk weaving companies found in Sudbury, saw our activities online and said that we'd be more than welcome to come and have a chat about our project and see behind the scenes at their town centre mill. More info on our blog shortly. www.fabricsilkroad.co.uk

It's been a while since we made any site visits as part of our Fabric Silk Road project but today we had an invite to record the machines, environs and personnel at Vanners Silk in Sudbury. Ciaran Roche at Vanners, one of the five working silk weaving companies found in Sudbury, saw our activities online and said that we'd be more than welcome to come and have a chat about our project and see behind the scenes at their town centre mill. More info on our blog shortly. www.fabricsilkroad.co.uk

It's been a while since we made any site visits as part of our Fabric Silk Road project but today we had an invite to record the machines, environs and personnel at Vanners Silk in Sudbury. Ciaran Roche at Vanners, one of the five working silk weaving companies found in Sudbury, saw our activities online and said that we'd be more than welcome to come and have a chat about our project and see behind the scenes at their town centre mill. More info on our blog shortly. www.fabricsilkroad.co.uk