Hello! As you may have gathered, our broadband definitely isn’t sorted out yet – in fact, Tom received a somewhat concerning text message from our provider reassuring us that our switchover was now scheduled to be completed “before June.” The currently patchy connection is certainly somewhat frustrating, but in the larger scheme of things, it is really nothing to worry or grumble about. . . . and look! I’ve even managed to upload a video and recording of a walk I took yesterday! Press play and pop your sound on. . . .
This is a 3 minute timelapse of a short walk up and down the hill from my door to Auchengillan, taking me and the dogs around 30 minutes. As well as wearing a gopro camera, I thought I’d try to use Tom’s audio recorder (you can see me waving the microphone about) and we’ve been able to overlay some of the sounds of my walk on top of the timelapse. Among the birds you can hear on this recording are goldfinch, chaffinch, cuckoo, curlew, and the “pinking” call of what I assume to be a great tit (though a more experienced birder may be able to set me right). You’ll also hear baaing sheep, a very large bumblebee, and the characteristic snuffling of the even larger black labrador.
I am quite pleased with this simple multimedia experiment, and if I can record a longer walk for you down the strath next week, I’ll hopefully be able to capture more pippits, chats and warblers – especially the amazing grasshopper warblers – who have been in full voice here in recent days.
I’d like to close by saying a big happy May birthday to my mum, to whom we were happily able to pass on some brief and acceptably socially distant celebratory greetings yesterday. I snapped this photo from below their balcony with my phone: Dad is brandishing a wooden paddle, a gift from his neighbour, Jake, who found it on the beach (and which will soon be incorporated into one of Dad’s driftwood garden sculptures) while Ma is gesturing towards (and quite possibly imitating the sounds of) the eider ducks, who have been gathering in their appealingly vocal groups on the sea loch beside their house. Happy birthday, Ma!
Whatever you’ve been up to this weekend, I hope you’ve had a good one.
KDD & Co 
That landscape is gorgeous, beaming sun makes it very relaxing to observe.
Thanks for sharing 😄
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I thoroughly enjoyed your walk! Thank you for sharing. The sound worked quite will with the sped-up video. My only request for future videos of this type would be to spend a bit longer on your scenery panning. The ones in this video were too quick for us to really enjoy what was off to your left and right.
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Wow, that made me ridiculously home sick. The picture was so clear I swear I could smell it! Looking forward to the next one.
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Thank you for bringing me some sounds of Scotland – I was due to be there on holiday this week! I especially love the cuckoo, a rare sound in my part of Yorkshire. I think the ‘pinking’ might be a chaffinch – worth checking out. I’m looking forward to the grasshopper warblers, courtesy of KDD.
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Kate, thanks so much for this little snippet of Scotland and especially the cuckoo, which I haven’t heard this year, except through you. I wonder if your ‘pinking’ sound is in fact a chaffinch. I’m looking forward to grasshopper warblers, courtesy of KDD!
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What a fantastic walk! Loved hearing the curlew, my absolute favourite bird. And the cuckoo, on the way up and down!
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Talk about speed walking! This was wonderful. It was so fun to compare it to my own rural walks, and see and hear the differences between our locales. I don’t have any sheep along my walks (there are some nearby, but nothing like what one encounters in the UK). And the perambulation of your pups were most amusing.
And the EIDERS!! One of my most favorite birds, and I am so envious that you can see them regularly. That stunning pale green S-curve along their necks during the mating season is exquisite.
If you (or Tom) are interested, there is a wonderful resource for nature sound recording to be found here: https://blb.osu.edu/ I spent a week in Maine several years ago studying the ‘science’ of birding, and one of the people leading it is a specialist from Ohio State who taught us all about sound recording of birds.
I look forward to more virtual walks!
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oo! thankyou for this link!
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I am so very jealous. I live in the heart of Vienna, and of course we have many parks here, but it’s just not the same. I only like walking in the city during night, in the daytime, there is too much going on, too many people being noisy.
I’d really like having a place not far from home where I could take my knitting to and spend the day in the sun.
I hope for more wonderful videos from you, subscribed to your vimeo channel. The carding and weaving was fascinating, despite being very short!
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thanks! I’m hoping to develop the Vimeo channel a bit
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Oh my, thanks for this Kate. I’m stuck in Glasgow and really miss my almost weekly trips out to the Campsies and fellow hills. Nearest I get in lockdown is to cycle up an urban hill so that I can wave to Dumgoyne. The recording is genius. I’ll play it again later while I finish crocheting a Covid-19 (couldn’t resist)
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waving back to you from beneath Dumgoyne, Pauline
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Hello Kate, Is it my computer or is the speed intentionally very fast of the dogs and the camera visuals. It seems to be a high speed chase!! Lovely to have your Mum and Dad close by. Jocelyn.
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yes – its a time lapse – one photograph taken every 10 seconds, then stitched together
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That was nice… I particularly enjoyed the sound of the dogs’ happy panting..!
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Thank you so much for these posts and for this lovely dog walk! If it is any consolation, we live right in the middle of Winnipeg (a city) and have been struggling with online access, too. The slightest wind seems to jostle things. Even my kids are ready to say “Oh, Mom, somebody is downloading a movie again!” We spent time scootering and listening to Harry Potter on cassette tape instead! Legos, knitting and cooking are very low tech!
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Very fun, thanks for letting us tag along. Love the audio too, and not just the nature sounds — the dog breathing noises and the crunching of sounds of footsteps are strangely soothing — maybe because of social distancing.
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Last year we had a chaffinch in our back yard who always sang to me when I took a nap outside. I swear he always ended his line with ‘Shakespeare’, so I finally wrote a short story about it which was accepted into an anthology. This year it must be a different one because it sounds more like ‘Özdemir’ who is a prominent member of the German Green party. That would have made a totally different story.
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I love your cultural chaffinch!
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So much going on! The birdsounds, the nature sounds, the dogs weaving their web of footprints all around you (I assume BOB is out in front…)- the achingly clear and beautiful sky, the hills, the crunch of your feet on the path, the shadows cast by a brilliant sun, It’s all gorgeous and a very, very welcome visual/aural experience. Thank you!
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Thank you for sharing this video of your lovely walk. It’s been a glorious weekend down here in Portpatrick so lots more outside painting. So glad that you got to see your Mum on her birthday.
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hope you are enjoying your painting in this fine weather, Maggie – and more to come, I hope
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Lovely and I heard my favourite, the curlew. I’m missing hearing them at the mo as we’d normally be on an estuary in Wales. A sound that makes my heart sing.
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Kate, this walk totally made my day! I walk in the woods here every day, so I’m not nature starved like so many poor souls. But I am definitely NOVELTY starved these days. I don’t ever see sheep flocks noodling about on my walks, or gaze at long vistas of heather/heath/moor (what is the right British-ism for your fields?), or thread myself through those clever geometric gated passages between fields, or hear cuckoos. My black lab is as pantingly joyful as your companions, but even that part was fun–two to my one!
If you do this again, I’d be happier with a much slower version. My brain found it a little frustrating to be interrupted too soon each time I tried to make sense of an image.
Overall, though, it still transported me in positive and wonderful ways. Thank you for taking the trouble to hold up the microphone and wear the GoPro!
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Beautiful — thanks so much!
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This is great! (:
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Great video and sound, thank you! It reminded me of a recent BBC 2 series called Yorkshire Walks – a lovely peaceful half hour’s viewing.
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Thank you for sharing your beautiful walk!! Beautiful views and sounds!!
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Kate! That was just great, we lost our dog a year ago and wanted to go travelling so have not got another one yet ( funnily all the plans are now on hold!), but I miss her dreadfully, and the dog snuffling noises were so reminiscent. The scenery was wonderful. Another one soon please! Even found myself on cocker spaniel websites after that………………
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Lovely! I particularly liked watching the dogs’ behaviour – never a straight line, always zig-zagging! Are they ever tempted to investigate the sheep?
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happily, they aren’t interested in the sheep at all.
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What a delightful video! I understand you had to speed it up. but it would have been lovely to “do” the 30 minute stroll as well. Such different birds than we have in Arizona.
Thank you, a real delight.
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How I miss Scotland. The most beautiful country.
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Thank you. Beautiful walk with the sounds
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Lovely! As a Brit who has lived in California for the past 40 years, those are sights & sounds that I still miss. Thank you so much for sharing.
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Lovely film, thank you. I think I could feel the sun on my face….
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Kate, What a lovely idea to share with others. This was just what I needed today, the sound of birds and the sheep, the beautiful landscape what a lovely thought. Thank you for sharing.
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Really nostalgic views of the country! I was very impressed!
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I know you are not in Constable country but how evocative of “country” this video is! Just great! Thank you!
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Great point, it makes me feel like I’m there 🤔
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