For years I’ve been nagged by my good friend Craig Constance to start recording ‘Noc-mig’ which essentially means recording nocturnal migration by putting a recording device on record all night. I’ve never been a fan of the idea, as it’s taken me a long time to save up for all of my equipment and the last thing I wanted to do was to leave it outside where it could either get stolen or damaged by typical British weather. Sound recording gear tends not to handle water very well. So what made me change my mind? Well, Craig pointed out a few people that have uploaded information about Nocmig online which revealed a trade secret to ensure 100% waterproof coverage over the gear, whilst unaltering the overall sound quality. I didn’t think such a thing existed, especially after being told that the answer to the problem was, clingfilm! Turns out that clingfilm is thin enough to almost be transparent to soundwaves but thick enough that no water can penetrate. If sound quality was important then I don’t recommend this, but if you’re desperate, try it! I think you’ll be as surprised as I was.
So now is the time, peak spring migration season and on our first night of leaving the recording gear out, we have both had some really interesting passerines, with Oystercatcher, Teal, Redwing, Black Headed Gull, Mallard, Moorhen, Song Thrush and Pied Wagtail so far. I’ve had Oystercatcher following the canal before, but getting these again so soon makes me realise that they probably use the canal system annually as a way of navigating during the dark.
They might not sound great, but they appear really obvious on when looking at the spectrograph.
Oystercatcher Spectograph
My setup will likely change over time once I convince myself that it’s worth putting the more expensive gear out, but for now I’ve stuck my Zoom H6 recorder inside a plastic box, hit record, put a layer of clingfilm over the top and then just put one of my Rycote fur covers over it to eliminate raindrop sounds on the clingfilm and take off a bit of the wind noise. Any material would work so long as it’s not too thick that it muffles the sound.
Every now and again you get something that you’re unfamiliar with, as nocturnal sounds are vastly unrecorded, especially migration calls, but this recording below still has me a little unsettled as it doesn’t sound like your typical Tawny Owl to me. It goes to show what you can learn when leaving recording gear out like this and It’s exciting as you really don’t know what the night might bring. If you are self-isolating, this could be a fun little project for you to give a go, if you have children I’m sure they would enjoy listening back to the recordings to see what they might have captured. All the while, you are contributing to a little citizen science, as it’s always valuable to know migration routes.