Moments In Sound

Sitting in a lakeside summer cottage one evening, I suddenly heard bright bird song outside. I quietly snuck out onto the verandah to place the sound recorder by the window and from inside the cottage I could see there were a bunch of white wagtail birds in the tree right outside. At the very end they all flew off together.

Laugarvatn is a small, lakeside town on the Golden Circle route in Iceland. Most people drive through on their way to see famous sites such as Geysir or Gullfoss. If you happen to stop by, you can take a walk on the hill and get a beautiful view of the lake. There is a trail that starts right by the side of the main road.

Sitting by the lake on the quietest, still evening, with not even a breeze. All I could hear was the gentle lapping sounds of the water as the ripples met the rocks on the shore. I was surprised by the arrival of a group of 8 ducks, who swam past 10 metres away, kicking up the water in what seemed a method to stun the fish they were hunting. This episode is very quiet, because that's how it actually was. Don't adjust your volume.

Þorlákshöfn is an unassuming little town on the south west coast of Iceland. One sunny day we stopped by the coast simply to eat our picnic lunch. Despite the wind, we enjoyed a clear sunny sky, a view of the calm sea and the sound of birds flying back and forth. It seemed that the birds were catching food for their young babies and hurrying back over our heads to find them. Their chirping made a magical soundtrack to our lunch.

Sólheimar Eco Village is an internationally reknowned sustainable community founded in 1930 in the South West of Iceland. On a recent visit, I went for a walk through the forest and encountered a waterwheel, with water coming straight from a geothermal hot spring. I followed the trail alongside the stream which takes you through a beautiful forest and meadow.

Krýsuvík is a volcanic system located in south west Iceland. At Seltún, visitors can walk along the wooden pathway to see the geothermal hot springs. It is an extremely colourful and vivid landscape, rich with the smell of sulfur, which is typical of geothermal sites in Iceland. As you walk along the path the sound changes from boiling mud, to hot steam, to a warm, gentle bubbling stream.

In this introductory episode, we are taken to the beautiful Indonesian island of Gili Trawangan, as we hear the sounds from the garden on a rainy day.

Length: 8 minutes 44 seconds.