A wonderful moonlit batwalk  in Handsworth Park last night, led by Lucy from the RSPB. Below is a recording of of some of the bats we heard, using  bat locators – the bats use echo location to hunt their pray, emiting high pitched sounds which bounce back off the moths and midges, enabling the bats to hear (rather than see) what they are hunting. The bat sounds, too high to be heard by the human ear, are made lower by the bat locator, which is what you can hear below:

Creative interventions in Handsworth Park last Sunday were a success, with a multi speaker sound installation in the bandstand by Bobby Bird , plus an inspired talk about trees by park ranger Jim Harris.

Listening

Chilling

Family group 1

Family group 2

Chilling x 2

Family group 3

Bobby Bird

The pastoral / urban soundscapes recorded in & around Handsworth Park included the dawn chorus,  a train, rowing on the lake, a cricket match, wind in the reeds, cycling, children in the playground, a pair of parakeets & an excerpt of ranger Jim’s previous talk.

Some of these, like the dawn chorus, emanated from all 8 speakers simultaneously, like being surrounded by birds in a wood, others, as with the recordings of bicycles,  moved around in a slow circle from speaker to speaker so that standing in the centre of the bandstand felt like being encircled by an invisible cyclist – while a train (recorded using two microphones placed widely apart) intermittently clattered by in super stereo, to startling effect.

Children were particularly captivated, running from speaker to speaker, ‘chasing’ after a sound, or listening to hear if different sounds came from different speakers, as well as enjoying guessing which parts of the park the recordings were made in.

Sounds on the day combined with those previously recorded –  children laughing in the playground weeks ago, mixing in with the sound of children laughing in & around the bandstand , which together with cyclists passing, birds singing, conversations being had, distant traffic etc,  all helped to make this a most evocative piece to experience,  conjuring a real sense of past & present, time & space.

Then came another facinating walk around the park lead by ranger Jim Harrison, whose knowledge about trees & ecology was delivered in an unbroken flow for over two hours.

From left to right : large cherry tree, a native oak and Jim’s personal favourite, the Indian Bean tree. Here is a short excerpt of one of Jim’s talks:

Update! – The postponed Mosaic-ing of a sunflower will now take place on Sat 16th June between 12-4.00. Unfortunately Sophie cant be with us, but has lent us all her tools,  & we have gathered lots of materials between us, so come along to help create a community sunflower mosaic which will be displayed on the plinth throughout August , Some ideas connected to sunflowers include:

• Seeking out positivity and strength, as the bloom turns to face the sun
• Nourishing yourself and others, since the sunflower produces an abundance of edible seeds
• Brightening your mood, through the vibrancy of the yellow or orange petals

First experiment with making a sun catcher with some of the dried flowers which I ‘ve been picking in Handsworth Park and pressing throughout the spring. A kitchen table collaboration by Scylla Magda & Claudette Holmes, as part of ‘Handsworth Revolutions -Celebrating the Cycle of the Seasons’.