Stuart Bowditch Podcasts

I was in Bournemouth on an assignment but arrived early to have a mooch about the town. I hadn't visited since 1999 and that was under the cover of darkness as we were going raving at an all nighter, although I forget which club it was we went to. What I do remember is that it was the first time I heard the Ferry Corsten remix of William Orbit's version of Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings. Anyway, I digress. Today it was calm and the sea had large gentle swells with non-boarded paddle boarders bobbing about. I loitered about under the zip line that goes from a tower at the end of the pier to the beach and after a few minutes some excited peoples zipped overhead.

Myself and good friend Matt Shenton went on a well overdue trudge around the edge of Old Hall Marshes near Tollesbury. It's an RSPB site, so we were looking forward to hearing, seeing, recording, some birds, but as the car park is closed on weekends (doh!) we had a extra mile or so walk to get to the site. it was windy and fresh, but with a hint of warmth. Was good to take in heady lung fulls of muddy salt marsh air. Once we got there Matt recorded a fence with his contact mics and I sat quietly near the borrowdyke listening to a plethora of birds. There was however a lot of aircraft activity, which when looking at the Flight Radar app there was a light airplane doing a lot of small loops around Copford, and an Airbus 330 flying from Frankfurt to Cancun, amongst others. You can however revel in the delightful sounds of Sedge Warblers, Whitethroat, Wren, Chiffchaff, Swallow, Reed Bunting, Goldfinch, Blackcap, Greenfinch, Yellow Wagtail, Pheasant and Robin.

To follow up on my recording of the Nightingales at Middlewick from last year (yes, I know it takes me a long time to do things) I wanted to record the skylarks as there are several nesting pairs on the site. Frazer Merrick (artist and runner) commented that he'd just heard them on Middlewick and Michael Padmore (from the 'Save Middlewick' campaign) tipped me off of some more locations. So I got up before dawn and headed out to hide amongst the gorse and broom. Even at 6:30 you can hear that there is a lot of traffic noise that the birds have to compete with. The skylarks were very actively singing, but I couldn't observe them flying with their distinctive up and down trajectories. Also in this recording are Chiffchaff, Great Tit, Linnet, Blackbird, Crow and Song Thrush. Just at the end of this recording (edited off) I got bowled into by an out of control dog called Rocky, which knocked me off of my seat and onto the floor, covering me with wet footprints and slobbery tongue. Imagine what it would do to the skylarks if it had found them nesting on the ground.

In preparation for my upcoming project Constable Ambisonic (more on that soon), I was in Manningtree Station car park for 5am to meet my friend photographer Simon Rogers. It was damp but mild and we walked the paths of the Stour Valley as far as Flatford and back, simply to get back in to the swing of being up early, in the field, listening and recording. In this, the third recording of the morning, one can hear two Great Spotted Woodpeckers working on different trees, Chiffchaff, Robin, Wren, Moorhen, Coal Tit, Pheasant, Wood Pigeon and Dunnock, as well as a flock of Graylag and Canada Geese in the distance. A wheezing pug and her owner also put in an appearance.

It had been a while since I'd done any recording so it was great to get up early and head out to one of my favourite spots, Arger Fen. I made two recordings, this one in the woods, and another in more open scrubland. Since it was before dawn there was plenty of bird action including tawny owl, pheasant, song thrush, robin, blackbird, mistle thrush, wren, chaffinch, crow, coal tit, dunnock and green woodpecker. Although I know quite a few species now I'm ever reliant on the Cornell University Merlin bird app for identification, which is fantastic and I really recommend it if you want to become a bird nerd.

On the 19th September 2013 I had a phone call from a friend who only phones when he needs something. He's cool so usually it's a pretty good shout. He was in a spot of bother and needed a package full of art taken to a gallery for him as the package sent via courier had gone missing. Only problem was that it needed to be there tomorrow, and the gallery was in Århus, Denmark. So, with only 3 hours sleep I got the airport bus at 3am, was on an 8am flight from London Stansted, took a bus from the airport, got picked up by someone in a car at the rendezvous point, was driven to the gallery and delivered the important package of art. There was a lot of applause and cheering. Everyone was happy. I got to spend the rest of the day meeting artists and exploring the city. The recording documents walking a full revolution of the Your Rainbow Panorama, designed by architects at Studio Olafur Eliasson.

Whilst collecting sounds for my Modern Tendring Vernacular project in February 2024 I went to record the tide bell at Harwich, which I had never seen or heard before. There was a strong wind and rain but I'd timed the tide right to capture the bell, and was meeting a chap called Geoff soon, so only had one shot at recording it.

Between 2008 and 2010 I lived in Hackney and on a cold Wednesday morning I went for a walk down Ridley Road Market in Dalston. I remember there being lots of meat, piles of pigs trotters and some strange vegetables. I loved the mixture of cultures, food, voices, accents, and music, but not so much the intensity of some of the smells. I recorded this whilst walking along so it's not a static recording but one that evolves as I move along the street.

In the years around 2013 I would go on regular walks with my good friend and artist Alan Hockett, exploring the darker, more mysterious corners of Essex. On this particular day we walked from Burnham-on-Crouch, along the sea wall, to the North Sea (previously called The German Ocean). Not long after setting of we came across a gorgeous but old crab that was being used to lift a small yacht out of the river and on to dry land. Here is the sound of it in action.

During a research and development trip for the project Fabric: Silk Road (with Ruth Philo) I recorded two women working with silk on a large hand operated loom at the Museum of Silk Manufacture in Nanjing, China. Although I couldn't understand their commentary it was fascinating to watch them work together on this complicated and beautiful machine. Ruth continues the project which you can follow at http://www.fabricsilkroad.co.uk and on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/fabricsilkroad

By a strange set of circumstances I found my self sitting, quite near to the village lock-up and stocks, outside Canewdon Church on a sunny Sunday morning. The bells were ringing for quite some time but just as I was relaxing in to reverie, a couple of things happened. A light aircraft was passing over head, and whilst that's nothing new in that area, the drone of the aircraft slightly descended to match the key of a new peal. The peal also sounded more mechanical and drone-like in itself and less like it was played by the campanologists inside. Lasting not quite one and half minutes it was quite possibly the most unique bell peal I have ever heard. I was quite amazed by it and also by the in-tune aircraft. After a pause, the bell ringers started again and whilst less interesting I have included a portion of it here as the recording features my first ever kestrel at about 7m50s. What a lovely morning and at a church reputed to be one of the most haunted places in Essex with an association with 'witches and devilry'. There is even a local legend, that I remember as a child, that if you run around the church anti-clockwise on Halloween, the Devil himself will appear.

Over a number of years my good friend Graham and I took regular road trips out to very uncool places, for a change of scenery, to chew the fat, to talk crap and experience underwhelming facets of life. The story of this trip is fraught with danger but one of the highlights of our trip was playing Mr G's bingo in Leysdown-on-Sea on the Isle of Sheppey. Unfortunately we didn't win the packet of fish fingers but Graham did win the Kenneth Williams mug.

Whilst staying with some friends in their forest retreat in Gelse, Hungary, a clap of thunder woke me up at around 5am so I recorded the storm pass over. The recorder (Sony D100) was placed just inside my door that connected to the outside terrace area.

I was on my way back from my Uncle's surprise 80th birthday party and I took a detour around the Circle Line on the London Underground, just for fun. I spent a couple of hours sitting on different platforms listening, absorbing, thinking.

In 2007 in was collecting sounds for a sound installation (called AWSoM) I was making with artist Damien Robinson for the Sutton-with-Shopland Music Festival. On Tabor Farm, where the music festival was to be held, is Sutton Hall Railway, a narrow gauge railway run by enthusiasts. This is a recording of my ride on one of the trains pulled by a steam locomotive.

In early May 2024 I went on a public walk around Middlewick Ranges as part of Jane's Walk Colchester 2024. The overriding theme of the walk was to raise awareness of the flora, fauna and diversity of habitats in this area, which is currently under threat of sale by the MoD and subsequent development of housing. So to aid the campaign of the good folk at Save The Middlewick Ranges, I got up early to get a pre-dawn recording of the nightingales, of which there is a significant national population, and other birds in the area. I located myself in a spot well know by the group to be amongst nightingale territories and captured 20 minutes (10 minutes here) of the glorious dawn chorus. Enjoy X

MODERN TENDRING VERNACULAR i Lone Pub ii Amusements iii St. Nicholas Rollercoaster iv Maltings Beep v Brenda’s Portal vi Old Batteries vii Redoubt viii The Naze ix Jaywick Bubbles All tracks are composed from donated, found and archival sounds from the Borough of Tendring in Essex. The work was performed in The Commons Cafe at The Minories on 7th March 2024. The project was funded by Creative Colchester as part of their First Thursdays Festival celebrating the city’s vibrant and diverse cultural scene. Many thanks to Emma Howe and Emma Barrow at The Minories, Marley and all at The Commons Cafe, Cameron Abbott-Betts, Matt Shenton, there are no birds here, Geoff Pearson and all of the people that donated and suggested sounds. CD and download available at https://hybernation.bandcamp.com/album/modern-tendring-vernacular

In 2009 I joined my friend, artist and activist Nicola Field on a March for Palestine through the streets of London to the Israeli embassy. Occupation persists and grows. Marches persist and grow. Hope persists and grows. Ceasefire now! X

In 2016 I was recording a variety of locations for the Essex Record Office Sound and Video Archive 'You Are Hear' project https://www.essexsounds.org.uk . One of the threads of interest were 'Quiet Places' so I headed out to the sea wall at Paglesham, near the final resting place of The Beagle (Darwin's Ship), next to the abandoned oyster beds, overlooking Potton Island across the River Roach. As I lay on the sea wall soaking up the warmth of the sun, 10 minutes or so in to the sounds of swaying grasses and foraging bees, my reverie is broken by the sound of a PA system being plugged in some distance away. Sound checking ensued and the moment of peace was gone. So I walked back to the Plough and Sail public house which was heaving with people so I followed the sound of the crowd. In the car park a Barn Dance had been set up and in the middle of it all was a man that I knew, Keith Baxter. He's a lovely guy, great musician and a member of the Famous Potatoes https://famouspotatoes.co.uk , and as it turns out a fantastic Barn Dance host.

A week before lockdown came in to force in the UK I recorded an interview with artist Terry Flower for the series of podcasts I did for Visit Stour Valley (available on Soundcloud and other platforms). He directed me to a lovely spot across the fields in some woods beside Belchamp Brook. I sat there for half an hour soaking up the atmosphere and contemplating the impending doom. There is plenty of spring bird activity including Chaffinch, Blackbird, Green Woodpecker, Great Tit, Pheasant, Jackdaw, Robin, Linnet, Blue Tit and Wren, plus a field full of sheep and some bird scarer explosions.