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Akranes at Selströnd in summer solstice 2023. Part 2

Posted in Náttúra, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 6.2.2025| Leave a Comment »

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I made the big mistake of formatting an HD disk with photos I took throughout 2023 and into the winter of 2024, but in my absolute stupidity I didn’t have a backup. So I always run into problems if I’m going to post audio from this time period here on this blog.
But I also take photos on my SLR camera which has a fairly large card so I have consciously allowed photos to be on the card precisely to save such accidents and losing photos.
I don’t actually have a lot of good audio recordings from this summer. Both because the weather was boring most of the summer and I had the flu most of the summer vacation.
But there are a few recordings that I think are interesting from this summer. Especially the ones I took in Steingrímsfjörður and around Drangsnes in western Iceland.
I had a few pictures on my SLR SD card that saved me from being able to put these recordings on the web.
This is part 2. But part 1 was recorded at midnight, before the sunlight hit the recording location. Here in part 2 the sun has risen. Just a minute before the recording started I had to move the microphones to a slightly more sheltered spot, because over the night the wind started to increase which unfortunately can still be heard in the recording.
The recording is „unprocessed“. Recorded at +50dB gain, normalized up to -7dB by adding +20dB in post, fade in and out and then converted to mp3.
The recording starts exactly at 4:00 in the morning on June 22, 2023 and ends just over half an hour later. After a high tide earlier in the night, the tide was already starting to recede. The seaweed on the shore was still wet, which makes a soft clicking and dripping sound, which can be heard differently well with different headphones. The birds are slightly quieter than earlier this night, but the soundscape is still magnificent.
There was several gull species, at last great black backed gull. arctic tern, common eider, whimbrel, European golden plover, red throated loon, common loon, arctic puffin and eurasian oystercatcher.
There you can hear me getting in and out of the car to take pictures. Including the accompanying picture. At least one truck can be heard from across the fjord. It can also be heard in small fishing boats at the beginning and end of the recording.
It is clearly a new day rising.
Quality open headphones are recommended while listening at low to mid volume.
If the media player doesn’t start to play, please reload this individual blog in a new tab or frame.

(mp3 256kbps / 64Mb)

Recorder: Sound Devices MixPre6 24/48
Mics: Lewitt LCT540s (IRT quad 90°/30cm)
Pix: Canon Eos R

Weather: Calm to 3m/sec, cloudy, about 7°C
Location: 65.692816, -21.558576

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Akranes at Selströnd in summer solstice 2023. Part 1

Posted in Náttúra, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 11.2.2024| 9 Comments »

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Last summer 2023 I went to a place I haven’t recorded much. Was it at Strandir in northwest Iceland. A friend invited me to stay in an apartment for a few days in Drangsnes, so I tried to use the time as well as I could for field recordings in the area.
It actually didn’t go very well. I had come down with a bad flu the same week as summer vacation started so I had little to no energy for many weeks. I was also facing another problem. The whole time I was in the area there was a strong wind except for maybe 1-2 hours during some nights. It was also rather cold, so nature was rather silent. Much of the material I caught these days was therefore not particularly interesting.
However, I had the opportunity one calm night to record a nice peace at the coastline. Part of it is here below. It’s very likely that I will put more of this recording on the web later, because the soundscape changed a bit during the 3-4 hours I was recording.
It is the summer solstice so it is therefore bright all day long. The recording starts at 23:45 and ends at 00:20 o´clock.
This is a typical soundscape in fjords in northern Iceland and in fact everywhere around the arctic circles.
This is a high gain recording.  Recorded at +50 db. Then add about 20dB up to -7dB peak RMS. No noise reduction in post. Just fade in and out.
Many bird species are in this recording. There was several gull species, at last great black backed gull. Arctic tern, common eider, whimbrel, European golden plover, red throated loon, Common loon, arctic puffin and Eurasian oystercatcher. Sheep were not far away and seals were lying on rocks near the beach.
Quality open headphones are recommended while listening at low to mid volume.
If the media player doesn’t start to play, please reload this individual blog in a new tab or frame.

(mp3 256kpps / 63Mb)

Recorder: Sound devices MixPre6
Mics: Lewitt LCT540s (IRT cross – 30cm/90°)
Pix: Samsung S22

Weather: Calm, cloudy, about 7°C
Location: 65.692865, -21.558621

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Flói Nature reserve, 3rd of July 2021

Posted in Náttúra, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 15.3.2022| Leave a Comment »

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It has been several years since I published a recording from Flói nature reserve. The reason is more or less because of foul weather in recent years when I have had the opportunity to record there.
It was no exception last summer from late April to mid July. It was cold, windy and wet most of the time which is actually the high season for birdsong recording.
I went there on the 3rd of July 2021 and recorded overnight. The weather was calm in the beginning but the wind increased over the night. I was also struggling with increased sea tide and therefore a surf noise from the coast line, actually at the same time when the birds were most active during the dawn.
My mics were Lewitt LCT540s in IRT cross setup. Most of the bird’s activity was in front of channel 1&2. Most „silence“ was in front of channel 2&3 and most of the surf and traffic noise was at channel 4&1.
It surprised me how much traffic was there the whole night. There was almost constant rumble in the air during the ten hours I was recording, except between four and five o’clock in the morning. This noise was much more audible than I remember in my earlier recordings. The reason could be found in different mic setup and mics. Ten years ago I used to use NT1a in NOS or AB, pointing towards the open field and keeping the nearest road and coastline behind. I have also used MKH20 in AB which is less sensitive for these details than large capsule mics.
It takes time to search in this 10 hour long recording for some nice sounding 30 minutes moments. Listening to the whole four channels it starts with heavy traffic noise in all channels, then surf noise. Then traffic noise again until the wind and the sun makes the air so unstable close to noon, both traffic noise and bird activity almost disappear in the wind noise.
But with an IRT cross rig I have many options. I can turn off the channel or channels which are disturbing for the soundscape I am looking for.
The recording below is a very good example of this. Instead of using all four channels and mixing them to stereo, I use only channel 2&3 (NOS 90°/30cm) to avoid the surf noise. The time when it starts is about 04:15 so there is almost no traffic noise, but anyway, the recording starts and ends with some engine noise in the distance.
Quality open headphones are recommended while listening at mid or low level.
If the media player doesn’t start to play, please reload this individual blog in a new tab or frame.

Recorder: Sound devices MixPre6
Mics: Lewitt LCT540s,  NOS 30cm/90°
Pix: Canon EOS R

Location: 63.900944, -21.191958
Weather: Calm to breeze, partly cloudy, ca 5-10°C

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Garðafjara

Posted in Náttúra, tagged , , , , on 19.9.2021| 1 Comment »

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Snæfellsnes peninsula has long sand and gravel beaches, especially in the south.
These beaches can easily attract everyone who traveled there. So when I was there on the 1st of July 2021 I did a hike along the beach below the Langholt guesthouse (Garðafjara).
Surf is usually not interesting recording material and there are not many „surf recordings“ in my sound blog. But this beach had a special sound that night
I thought something was disturbing my hearing, but soon I noticed it was the gravel in the surf which made this sound. Instead to be almost constant pink noise, then the noise on this beach constantly changes with every wave. From brown noise to white noise.
As usual the recording gear is never far away so I record this interesting soundscape just before midnight. 

(mp3 256Kbps / 52Mb)

Recorder: Sound Devices MixPre6
Mics: Sennheiser MKH8020/8040 Parallel AB
Pix: Canon EOS R

Weather: Calm to 2m/sec, cloudy,  about 15°C
Location: 64.809722, -23.147333

 

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Noisy anglers on the lake Holmavatn

Posted in Mannlíf, Náttúra, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 20.7.2019| 9 Comments »

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Hólmavatn is a heath lake in the interior in west of Iceland between the two valley Kjarrárdalur and Hvítársíða. It is a part of a big lake system on a heath named Arnarvatnsheiði.
I have once before record the soundscape by this lake before. That was mostly a struggle with wind all the time, so I did not get anything interesting.
But at 22nd of June 2019 the weather forecast was perfect for this area, clear sky and calm most of the night.
I arrived with my gear around 9 pm at my previous recording place. It was still windy and some anglers about 500m away east of the lake. I quickly put up my rigs knowing that a calm weather meant just lot of gnats. I decided to put a two stereo pairs close to the shore, facing out to the lake. LCT450s in NOS about 60 m east from my car and MKH20 pair 70 m in the west. Suddenly around 11pm the wind stopped to blow and I started the recording.
What glorious soundscape. All those small tiny things and all those bird species. The LCT540s sounds much cleaner and brighter than MKH20, I guess mainly because of the different location.
But there was a big problem which I did not notice with my bare ears. The anglers made so much noise it was clear they would destroy my „natural silence“ recordings this night. They were playing a radio all the time, talking, starting car engines, and even worse, soon after I started the recording two of them started a motor boat. All this noise lasted for about two or two and a half hours.
Later that night when this noisy anglers were gone, all the birdsong became calm and less active. I am not sure why, but afterwards when I listened to the recordings it seemed like the anglers on the boat were disturbing birds on their habitat.
Following recording is a part of this „anglers moment“, probably the best part because the motorboat was mostly far east on the lake most of this time.
In the beginning of the recording you can clearly hear tiny sparks. It is coming from foam which forms between stones in the shore during windy days. When the bobbles in this foam blows, they make this tiny sparking sound. During the recording the sparks get fewer and lower because the weather is calm and no waves on the lake.
But there are so many bird species I guess I will not know them all. Great Northern Diver, Read Throated Diever, Arctic Tern, Whooper Swan, Pink Footed Goose, Black Headed Gull, Golden Plower, Dunlin, Whimbrell, Common Snipe, Common Redshank, Arctic Skua, Rock Ptarmigan and probably some other which you are welcome, if you know, to name in comments below.
You will hear the fish jumping and Arctic Tern hunting on the lake surface. Other background noise other than human noise from anglers is mainly from the river Kjarrá which flows in the Kjarrárdalur valley 4Km north of the lake .
This recording got a gently noise reduction, mainly because of high gain.
It was recorded with 47dB gain. In post the gain was normalized +26dB up to -5dB
Quality open headphones are recommended while listening at low to mid level, or in speakers at medium level.

(mp3 256kbps / 68Mb)
If the media player doesn’t start to play, please reload this individual blog in new tab or frame

Recorder: Sonosax SX-R4+
Mics: Lewitt LCT540s (NOS setup)
Pix: Canon EOS M50
Location: 64.799603, -20.895132
Weather: Dry. Mostly calm up to 5m/sec

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Dawn at Klaustur

Posted in Náttúra, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 8.4.2018| Leave a Comment »

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Kirkjubæjarklaustur (Klaustur) is a village in the south of Iceland on the hringvegur (road no. 1 or Ring Road) between Vík í Mýrdal and Höfn. It is part of the municipality of Skaftárhreppur and has about 500 inhabitants.
Even before the time of the first Norse settlement in Iceland, Irish monks are thought to have lived here. Since 1186, a well known convent of Benedictine nuns, Kirkjubæjar Abbey, was located in Kirkjubæjarklaustur, until the Reformation in 1550. The names of the waterfall Systrafoss („waterfall of the sisters“) and of the lake Systravatn („water of the sisters“) on the highland above the village refer to this abbey. Folk tales illustrate the history with stories about good and sinful nuns. The Systrastapi (sister’s rock) is where two of the convent’s nuns were buried after being burned at the stake. One of the nuns was accused of selling her soul to the Devil, carrying Communion bread outside the church, and having carnal knowledge with men; the other was charged with speaking blasphemously of the Pope. After the Reformation, the second sister was vindicated, and flowers are said to bloom on her grave, but not that of the first nun. Systravatn also has a legend relating to the convent. The nuns traditionally bathed in the lake, and one day two nuns saw a hand with a gold ring extending from the water. When they tried to seize the ring, they were dragged below the water and drowned.
The village became well known in Iceland during the Lakagígar volcano eruptions in 1783. The pastor of the local church and dean of Vestur-Skaftafellssýsla, Jón Steingrímsson (is) (1728 – 1791), delivered what became known as the „Fire Sermon“ (eldmessu) on July 20, 1783. The legend says that this sermon stopped the lava flow, and the village was spared at the last moment. The current church, constructed in 1974, was built in memory of the Reverend Jón Steingrímsson.
Today, the village is an important service center for the farms in the region as well as for tourists and weekend visitors. (Wikipedia)
During summer time many bird species are nesting close to the village and the river Skaftá which flows beside the village. Arctic Terns have a big colony almost in the middle of the village, so many other migrant birds are nesting there too.
The recording was captured early morning 7th of June 2016 and is a part of 7 hours long recording
Many bird species are in this recording, Arctic tern, Red wing, Common Snipe, Whimbrel, Common Redshank, Red-necked Phalarope and probably many other species. What I love most in this recording is in the middle of the recording, is a „special song“ of Eurasian Wigeon which is not a common bird in my recordings.
Quality headphones are recommended while listening at low to mid level, or in speakers at low level. Be careful, sometimes the level goes high when birds fly by.

(mp3, 265kbps / 59Mb)

Recorder: Sound devices 788
Mics: Sennheiser MKH20
Pic: Canon EOS-M

Location: 63.787049, -18.050793
Weather: Cloudy, Calm, around 7 °C

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Kópavogur í Ófeigsfirði

Posted in Náttúra, tagged , , , , , , , on 11.2.2018| Leave a Comment »

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Hér er á ferðinni lágstemmd hljóðupptaka sem beinlínis lýsir ljóðrænni sveitasælu út við sjó. Hún er tekin upp við Kópavog fyrir neðan bæinn Ófeigsfjörð við samnefndan fjörð á Ströndum.
Ímyndaðu þér að þú liggir þar með lokuð augun á grasbala rétt ofan við fjöruna við hliðina á lækjarsprænu sem rennur þar til sjávar. Þú ert þar milli svefns og vöku, það er logn og sólin vermir skrokk og grundir. Lágstemmd en þung undiraldan lemur sandfjöruna fyrir neðan þig og þú heyrir í henni jafn vel neðan úr jörðinni sem ofan.
Nú stefnir allt í að þessi sveitasæla sé að hverfa á þessum dásamlega stað.
Það hefur væntanlega ekki farið fram hjá nokkrum manni að innlendir sem erlendir braskarar hafa gengið hart í því að fá að virkja Hvalá sem rennur í Ófeigsfjörð. Mikil andstaða er við þessi virkjanaáform. Hafa braskararnir því mútað fólki með ýmsum hætti s.s. með loforðum um innviðauppbyggingu ofl.
Ég ætla ekki það skrifa meira um þetta hér, en vísa á fréttir og blaðagreinar.

Sjá fréttaskýringu frá RUV  (1. nóvember 2017)
Sjá blaðagrein hjá Stundinni  (9. febrúar 2018)

Kópavogur in Ófeigsfjörður

There are not many places left in Iceland where it is possible to have peace from traffic or feel as you are in clean unspoiled nature. But one of this places is in the northeast Iceland named Hornstrandir and Strandir.
But now, „business“ gangsters are planing to build a power plant in the river Hvalá that flows into the fjord, Ófeigsfjörður at Strandir.

Read article about this attack on this region:

Conservationists reject plans for hydropower plants in untouched Westfjords wilderness
Plans to destroy unique waterfalls in an abandoned fjord meets stiff resistance
See the breathtaking hidden waterfalls of the remote Strandir region in beautiful video

Following recording was recorded in June 2015 below the old farm Ófeigsfjörður which will be just a typical noisy place in the future if the business gangsters are going to build the power plant just few kilometers north of the recording place.
Quality open headphones are recommended while listening at low to mid level, or in speakers at medium level.

(mp3 256kbps / 56Mb)

Recorder: Sound devices 788
Mics: Rode NT1a (NOS)
Pix: Canon EOS M
Recording location: 66.049968, -21.703009
Weather. Calm, sunny, about 14°C

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Curious sheep in Flói

Posted in Náttúra, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 10.4.2017| Leave a Comment »

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I have published many times recordings from the Nature Reserve Flói in southwest Iceland, so I will not introduce that area again.
During the years I remember couple of times when curious sheeps have disturbed the recording. This is one of them.
This peace is a 30 minutes of nine hour overnight recording. It was recorded between 7 and 8 o´clock in the morning 25th of July 2015.
The recording is not only disturbed by the sheeps, it is also highly disturbed by tourist traffic, especially in the air. Jets are arriving and leaving the country and smaller planes in sightseeing so this peaceful area is not especially quite this time.
Quality open headphones are recommended while listening at medium level.

(256kbps / 57,2Mb)

Recorder: Sound devices 788
Mics: RodeNT1 (NOS) & MKH20 (AB40) as close together as possible
Pix: Canon EOSM
Location: 63.901026, -21.192189
Weather: Calm, cloudy, around 11°C

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The bird colony at Hjalteyri

Posted in Náttúra, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 2.9.2016| 3 Comments »

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Hjalteyri is a small village on the western shores of Eyjafjörður, fjord in north of Iceland.
It all began when the Norwegians started salting herring around 1880 and the village Hjalteyri was confirmed by law as a trading post in 1897. Swedes, Scots and Germans would fish there in the following years but all foreigners had left by 1914.
The Icelandic fishing company Kveldulfur was active there from 1914 and in 1937 built the largest herring factory in Europe at Hjalteyri, which ran until 1966. The company also built many of the beautiful residential buildings that still stand in the village, such as the house of Thor Jensen, the founder of the company, and Asgardur, where the head of the factory lived.
The herring disappeared from the fishing grounds in the 1960s and Kveldulfur thus left as well. Fishing from small boats increased. Today, at Hjalteyri is a harbor and a small fishing industry, the drying of fish heads and aquaculture are the mainstay of the economy. During the summer months the buildings of the old herring factory are often used as a venue for art exhibitions. Around 40 people lives there today. There is also a pretty big Arctic Tern colony which brings also many other bird species to the area.
The following recording was captured in 8th of July 2015. It is 25 minutes of 6 hours long overnight recording.
This is one of my recording where I probably should have used another microphones because of the noise source in the surrounding. In this case a „fan noise“ from the factory. I use cardioid mics so the noise is only on the left side, instead of omni which would have brought the noise more to both sides and made the listening more pleasant in headphones.
So now I would recommend to listen to this recording in speakers in low-mid level, instead of headphones.

(256kbps / 46Mb)

Recorder: Sound devices 744
Mics: Rode NT1a in NOS setup
Pics. EOS-M
Location: 65.853976, -18.194666
Weather: Calm up to 4m N, almost clear sky, temp around 8-12°C

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Flói 2015. Part 1

Posted in Náttúra, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on 7.3.2016| 1 Comment »

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I think I don‘t need to present the nature reserve in Flói in many words. It is a wetland / moors in south of Iceland. I have already published in this blog several hours of „Flói recordings“.
Last spring was cold, wet and windy so I did not spend much time there. But in June, I stayed there for two nights while I recorded several hours of recordings during the nights.
As usual I fell in to sleep in the field during that time, so I did not know what I was recording. Last week when I was searching trough the recordings, I noticed some interesting moments.
At 14th of June the overnight weather forecast was nice and I started to record at midnight. Between 2 and 5 in the morning the wind went down so the field got „quieter“ for far distance sound waves.
I put up Rode NT1 in NOS in the same place as usual and pointed them to north. The soundscape is always spectacular in this place.
This soundscape is probably not what everyone would hear by bear ears. The recording is highly amplified. In this circumstances and Rode NT1, I normally adjust the gain on the recorder between 54-58dB. In this particular recording the gain is increased again in post about +24 dB so the peak level in one moment (at 13:16) reach 0dBf.
Many bird species are audible in this recording like Red throat Diver, Common Snipe, Golden Plover, Dunlin, Whimbrel, Gull, Arctic Tern, Northern Wheatear, Greylag Goose, Whooper Svan, Meadow Pipit and other bird species I have forgotten, or can’t name. Other audible animals like horses and sheep’s are there too.
Background noise is mostly from the Atlantic ocean’s waves along the south coast behind the mics. Then as usual, traffic noise and sometimes a party music somewhere in the county.
Quality open headphones are recommended while listening at low to mid level, or in speakers at low level.

Flói 2015. 1. Hluti

Hér er á ferðinni upptaka úr friðlandinu í Flóa frá því á laugardagskvöldi og sunnudagsmorgni 14. júní 2015. Eins og fyrri upptökur úr Flóa sem finna má hér á síðunni eru hljóðnemarnir ávallt staðsettir á sama stað við sömu tjörn norðan við fuglaskoðunarhúsið.
Í upptökunni má heyra í ýmsum fuglategundum. Má þar nefna lóm, hrossagauk, heiðlóu, lóuþræl, spóa, máfa, kríu, steindepli, grágæs, álft og þúfutitling. Þá heyrist lika í hestum og kindum.
Bakgrunnssuð er einkum brim meðfram Suðurströndinni og einkum við Ölfusárósa. Svo berst hávaði frá bílum og partítónlist einhvers staðar í sveitinni.
Mælt er með því að hlusta á upptökuna í góðum opnum heyrnartólum og á miðlungs- lágum hljóðstyrk.

Download mp3 file (256kbps / 60,7Mb)

Recorder: Sound devices 788
Mics. Rode NT1 (NOS)
Pix. Canon EOS M
Weather: clear sky, mostly calm, between -1 to 4°C
Time: 14 June 2015, between 2 and 3 o’clock
Location: 63.900933, -21.191876

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