Audio Snapshots

Environmental Recordings by Haworth Hodgkinson

During 2020, circumstances meant that I had to travel back and forth between Aberdeenshire and Lancashire several times, and I collected samples of environmental sounds in both areas. My intention is that I will make these into a composition for release in 2021, but in the mean time I will post some of the audio snapshots here as a kind of diary in sound.

Latest additions: Thunderstorm in Central Buchan and Sheep near Oldmeldrum.

26 January 2020: Aberdour Bay, Aberdeenshire

At the beginning of the year I had plans to make recordings of the pebble beach at Aberdour, also known as the Drostan Shore, every month for the whole year. By late January I still hadn't made the first recording, and I was called away urgently to Lancashire, so my only option was to make the recording that night before travelling south the following morning.

13 March 2020: Morecambe, Lancashire

Just before lockdown, I was in Morecambe, Lancashire, visiting the Time and Tide Bell, one of a series of bells that are sounded by the sea at high tide, installed at various locations around the coast of Britain.

15 March 2020: Irwell Vale, Lancashire

The last train for Rawtenstall leaves Irwell Vale station on the preserved East Lancashire Railway.

11 July 2020: Cruden Bay, Aberdeenshire

I spent lockdown in Aberdeenshire, and one thing I missed was having access to the sea. After travel restrictions were eased I visited Port Erroll Harbour in Cruden Bay, my closest point of contact with the sea.

2 August 2020: Central Buchan, Aberdeenshire

The transition from a still afternoon, through the first thunderclap and the disturbance of the birds to the onset of torrential rain.

13 August 2020: Peterhead, Aberdeenshire

A late summer afternoon in Peterhead town centre.

24 August 2020: Oldmeldrum, Aberdeenshire

Sheep on the Hill of Barra, Oldmeldrum, accompanied by passing traffic on the B9170.

21 September 2020: Haddo Country Park, Aberdeenshire

The Upper Lake at Haddo Country Park is a popular visitor attraction, and is home to many geese, ducks, swans and other birds.

1 October 2020: Ox Hey Clough, Lancashire / Greater Manchester

On a walk along Moor Road from Holcombe to Helmshore I stopped to record the stream that marks the county boundary between Greater Manchester and Lancashire.

15 October 2020: Kintore, Aberdeenshire

The first day of operation for the new railway station at Kintore.

1 November 2020: Loudon Wood Stone Circle, Aberdeenshire

During Storm Aiden I took a walk to Loudon Wood Stone Circle, where it was surprisingly sheltered. Nevertheless, the wind can be heard whistling in the surrounding trees.

5 November 2020: Hell's Lum, Aberdeenshire

Hell's Lum is a huge chasm in a hillside, with the sea slopping around at the bottom. Subterranean cavities boom and resound with the incoming waves.

© Haworth Hodgkinson 2020