Soundtrack to timelapse photography around Sharpham Estate

Episode 2,  8pm GMT , Thursday 11^th November 2010

Soundart Radio 102.5fm South Devon or streamed internationally on www.soundartradio.org

Alternatively the series is archived here:

http://www.archive.org/details/SharphamSounds
Welcome to a season of 30min Sharpham Sounds programmes broadcast on Soundart Radio 102.fm community radio throughout Autumn/Winter 2010

Sharpham Sounds documents the audible exploits of a community engaged wildlife conservation project run from Sharpham estate near tones in South Devon UK.

The project is overseen by the Igomango Trust, a charity who provide support for volunteers working locally with environmental organisations on an international basis.

The Sounds you will hear comprise of a variety of situations around Sharpham and other local projects, including ambient environmental soundscapes, interviews with NGOs and practical wildlife conservation tasks.

Further information about the Sharpham Sounds project along with a free archive of the material, can be accessed at http://sharphamsounds.wordpress.com/

www.igomango.com
www.soundartradio.org
sharphamsounds.wordpress.com

Zala County Chorus on Soundart Radio 102.5fm and www.soundartradio.org.uk.

EPISODES 1-6 AND A ONE OFF 45min SELECTION NOW AVAILABLE FREE ONLINE:

Follow the link: http://www.archive.org/details/ZalaCountyChorus

Simply listen to an episode online or download by right-clicking and choosing ‘save-as’ on the MP3s in the column at the bottom of the page.

Zala county chorus was a 6 part radio programme broadcast through Soundart Radio in Devon from May to July 2010. It documented the sounds from a wildlife conservation project, with 3 British volunteers working with the Barn Owl Foundation of the Zala region of rural western Hungary

The programme was developed through a similar project called Sharpham Sounds which captured the audio of an innovative environmental project called Igomango, run from the Sharpham estate in south Devon.

Zala County Chorus was a fortnightly pre-recorded broadcast sent via the internet from Hungary to Britain and was designed to compare the wildlife and cultural experiences of volunteers in both countries.

An ongoing volunteer project between the two countries is funded by the Leonardo da Vinci European Mobility scheme and is made possible by the involvement of Ambios Ltd Uk , Gyöngybagolyvédelmi Alapítvány (The Hungarian Barn Owl Foundation) and the Barn Owl Trust of Devon.

Why not get involved? To make a response or reply, add to or criticise an episode, log on to http://sharphamsounds.worpress.com and post your comments online.

The entire series, including a 45 min selection, is now available to listen to online or download for free.

A big thank you to everyone involved in the project.

&

Happy Listening.

Useful links:

www.ambios.net/volunteering_europe_hungary.html

www.gyongybagoly.hu/

sharphamsounds.wordpress.com/

www.igomango.com/

www.barnowltrust.org.uk/

www.soundartradio.org.uk.

The Salt Marshes on the Sharpham estate, as well as a host of wildlife, are home to some incredible geological and geographical things. One of these occurrences is a strange and vigorous up-welling of gas that erupts in fountains of bubbles along the banks of the marsh, exclusively at high tide.

A hydrophone is a microphone that works underwater, and using this delicate piece of equipment Sharpham Sounds has been able to capture the sounds of the these bubbles as they rush through the liquid above them.

Please follow the link below and play through the files on the  page that opens:

http://www.archive.org/details/HydrophoneSaltMarshExercise

Hydrophone Wikipedia article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrophone

The IgoMANGO project at Sharpham invites groups of volunteers from local communities to experience environmental and wildlife conservation through educational workshops. One of these groups is The Prince’s Trust, who provide an important service for out of work 16-25 year olds who volunteer on a weekly basis.

In mid April 2010, Sharpham Sounds delivered a workshop in Bird Call identification, using a hand held sound recorder to go out a record and identify the sounds of birds along a woodland pathway.  The event was a great success and owed a lot of thanks to Nick, who lent his expert ear to help identify the calls.

Please follow the link below and play through the 10 sound files from this event:

http://www.archive.org/details/BirdCallIdentificationRecordingWorkshop

A Mink Raft is a floating device that is used to determine the presence of mink in a certain area.

Click the link below to hear a short, informal interview with one of the Sharpham Volunteers who has been successfully using the raft to prove this existence of aquatic  mammals along the estuary of the river Dart:

http://www.archive.org/details/MinkRaftOnTheRiverDart

Otter spraint has since been discovered on top of this raft which instantly and excitingly proves their existence on the Sharpham estate.

This is important volunteer- led research that can lead to more comprehensive conservation projects in the future

Some further Reading:

Mink:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mink

Eurasian Otter:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otter#Eurasian_otter

Late at night on the Sharpham Estate these shrill shrieks are heard between the dark and menacing trees:

http://www.archive.org/details/SuspectedTawnyOwl

-Click play after following the link.

By recording these calls and comparing to a pre-recorded archive it was determined as the  call of the adult female Tawny Owl. If you listen to this noisy recording very carefully you can just about here another female, and the classic  ‘t-wit t-woo’ of the male i nthe background .

Check out the Wikipedia article on Tawny Owls for some further reading:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tawny_owl

An important job for IgoMANGO is to offer support to and facilitate communication between Non-Governmental- Organisations (N.G.O.s). One of these ventures operates between The Barn Owl Trust of Devon, U.K and The Barn Owl Foundation of Zalá County, Hungary. There are several crucial differences between the British and Continental sub species of Barn Owl which are being analysed with simultaneous studies between these two organisations. Interestingly, the Hungarian Barn Owl is actually referred to as a Church Owl because it likes to roost higher up in church towers.

This exciting collaboration is one of many funded by the Leonardo Mobility Scheme which provides full support to working and volunteering placements between European countries.

Due to the success of this exchange, a major Hungarian television station has decided to make a programme about the differing Barn Owl Conservation strategies between the countries and began filming in Devon in March.

Via the link below are several soundbites from the inter-cultural exchanges during the making of this documentary.

Follow this link to listen:

http://www.archive.org/details/TheHungarianFilmCrew

Some External Link that may be helpful:

Barn Owl Wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barn_owl

Pellet Wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pellet_%28ornithology%29

Barn Owl Trust UK:                              

http://www.barnowltrust.org.uk/

Barn Owl Foundation, Hungary:

http://www.gyongybagoly.hu/

In February the IgoMANGO project form Sharpham estate were invited to contribute to the weekly ‘Wellbeing and Transition’ show at Phonic FM in Exeter. This weekly broadcast examines environmental and sustainability issues through experimental sound and debate.

As well as some important publicity for the IgoMANGO project there was an opportunity for Sharpham Sounds which compiled a sonorous synopsis of the ‘The Story So Far’. This can be heard by clicking the link below and hitting play on the archive.org page that follows:

http://www.archive.org/details/IgomangoTheStorySoFar

The salt marshes along the river Dart estuary are an important habitat for wildlife and a uniquely interesting area of tidal influence. The inter-tidal reed beds of the Sharpham estate support many birds and animals including rarer species such as reed warblers and European otters to name but a few.

The area has recently become even more important due to a habitat mitigation project that is due start in the near future. The idea is to offset the environmental impact of the development of a marina further down stream by funding a comprehensive conservation project of the marshes on the Sharpham Estate.

These marshes also provide a richly diverse soundscape, especially around dusk time. A Mid-March field recording of which can be heard by following the link below and listening to the 90second recording:

http://www.archive.org/details/SharphamSaltMarshSoundscape