273 Sunset fields and oak trees - spring in Shropshire

Radio Lento podcast

Oak trees have a very particular sound this time of year. It's to do with the leaves. Their texture, shape and contours. How they catch and filter the breeze. On a warm spring day, like this one the Lento box captured last month in rural Shropshire, you can hear the softness of the moving air sonified by banks of oak leaves.

The scene around the microphone box, tied to the trunk of a relatively young oak tree, is endlessly rural. Ahead, over a bank thick with tangled shrubs, a wide field, vibrant green, is dotted with sheep and lambs. Song birds sing out from around the small nature reserve. A place called Poles Coppice. A point on the landscape with many neatly hidden well occupied perches. Birds are like nothing else. Their songs illuminate dusky shadows between the trees. And carry far. Over fields, bathed in late afternoon sun. And sheep, dutifully grazing

* Poles Coppice nature reserve is quite remote and has a lovely sound-feel, thanks to its resident birds and oak trees. the country road that can sometimes be heard mid-left of scene (far distant) leads to a small town called Minsterley. When that day last month we set out to capture the spring sound of Shropshire we auditioned various locations before eventually stumbling upon this particularly peaceful little place. Thank you to the guardians of Poles Coppice who created this nature reserve. We are so glad to be able to share its natural sound.