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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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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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Attack in Ófeigsfjöður

Posted in Náttúra, tagged , , , , , , , , on 9.8.2015| Leave a Comment »

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The Ófeigsfjarðarflói is divided into three fiords, furthest east is Ingólfsfjörður, in the middle is Ófeigsfiörður, and furthest west is Eyvindarfiörður. Those fiords were named after three brothers, the sons of the Norwegian Herraudur White Cloud (Herraauður Hvítaský) , who settled there. According to the land registry of 1706 the farm in Ófeigsfiörður was abandoned, but soon afterwards it was re-inhabited. The register also states, that the most important advantages of the property were seal hunting, driftwood collecting and processing, eiderdown and the winter grazing on the shoreline. The greatest disadvantages were the long and hard winters and the long and dangerous way to the nearest church. The farm was abandoned in the sixties, but the driftwood and the eider colonies are exploited every summer.
The eiderdown is mainly collected on the islet Hrútey, just off the headland Hrúteyjarnesmúli, and also around the farmhouses. Sustenance fisheries were also practiced during the centuries and the shark fishing was an important enterprise until 1915.
During Catholic times a prayer chapel stood in Ófeigsfiörður. Some geothermal activity was spotted in two places on the property.
Nowadays travellers use the nice camping grounds in Ófeigsfiörður. Hikers in the northern Strandir area use them in the beginning or at the end of their hiking tours. The closest you get to Ófeigsfiörður by car is Eyri in Ingólfsfiörður, but a 4wd track continues all the way.
Following recording was recorded nearby the camping side.
In the recording an Arctic tern is constantly attacking the fury microphones. But the battle last for only twenty minutes so the recording ends in a peaceful sonic experience.
Quality open headphones are recommended while listening at mid-level

Árás í Ófeigsfirði

Hér er á ferðinni upptaka sem tekin var upp við tjaldsvæðið í Ófeigsfirði, síðdegis þann 25. júní 2015.
Kría gerir ótal árásir á óboðinn gest við hreiðurstæð sitt. Árásirnar standa yfir í u.þ.b. 20 mínútur en eftir það fellur allt í dúnalogn og við tekur hljóðmynd sem er hljóðlát og draumkennd.
Mælt er með því að hlusta á upptökuna í góðum opnum heyrnartólum og á miðlungs hljóðstyrk.

Download mp3 file (224kbps / 30Mb)

Recorder: Sound devises 744/302
Mics: Sennheiser MKH8020/8040 (Parallel ORTF)
Pix: Canon EOS M
Recording location: 66.049999, -21.702376
Weather: Around 12°C , Calm, dry and sunny.

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