Holly bush in winter landscape near Llandrindod Wells, Wales
In a lecture given around ten years ago, sound recordist Gordon Hempton described how, on reading John Muir's eloquent phrase, "snow melting into music", he asked himself the question, "When have I ever truly listened to snow melt?" So, on an impulse, he went up to nearby Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park (WA, USA) and did just that.
Listening to the lecture, I was thinking to myself, have I ever listened to snow melt? I've definitely heard snow melt, but have I actually listened? The climate is quite mild here in mid Wales, not dissimilar to that in Olympic NP, but alas we have no 2000m peaks with snow cover throughout the year! So I had to wait a while for a remedy. That came a few days ago with an unseasonally heavy fall of snow. After freezing hard overnight, the next morning was clear and bright & predictably the snow began to melt.
Behind my house is a large holly bush. As I walked past on this bright winter morning, I heard soft clicking sounds. I stopped. Then I began to listen; really listen... As the sun warmed the dark green leaves, and gusts of wind swept by, small clumps of snow were melting and falling onto the lower leaves and ground below. I rushed in to get my sound recording equipment, and this is the result.
Also heard here is the sighing of spruce trees close by, and the calls of Red Kites, Crows and Ravens circling overhead.
The crunching of my footsteps in the snow at the beginning and end are evocative sounds which I've left in place to add context.
Download full length recording:
28 min, 71MB, .ogg format
Recorded: 2024-11-20 @ 1200 LT
Approximate location: 52.2, -3.34
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