Basking in 30 degree heat borrowed from July, it's a still September day. This forest, set in the Hertfordshire countryside, is at its calmest. As it is so quiet, it may take a little time for your ears to adjust. It is late on a Monday morning, there's nobody else around to hear the woodland alive with the buzzing of insects and scattered bird calls of rooks, robins and wood pigeons.
This forest, first established in 1767, is bisected by a railway line linking Hertford North station with London. Regular passenger services reverberate the cavernous space beneath the trees as they slide through. There's a heavy freighter at 40 minutes pulling smooth wagons that scythe the steel rails, and at 63 minutes another, a single locomotive with squeaky suspension. The noise of the passing trains seems to accentuate the sense of space in this wood and to intensify the silence in between. It's a silence sparsely punctuated by flocks of jackdaws as they forage the surrounding fields, and at 54 minutes a buzzard, a drooping whistling call as it circles high above the tree canopy.
This recording highlights just what an unusually peaceful place this is. It is a rare spot in the south of England where there is no road noise. The airspace above has layers of slow rumbling, high altitude jet planes, then lower down their tuneful cousins the propeller planes, banking and wheeling over the landscape. These are in themselves calming sounds. This non-stop spatial audio recording, made from the trunk of a tree just next to the public footpath, runs for 73 minutes. Its length shares the extraordinary qualities of the Clinton-Baker Pinetum as a long-form listening experience. Lastly, because it is so easily missed, hear at 32 minutes far off over the fields the bell striking 12, this is St Mary's Church Bayford, built by William Robert Baker.
Listen to other episodes from this special place.
106 In time the wren will come - Murmurs of the Kerry Ridgeway
105 Boy dog beach fossils
104 While away in winter woodland (a clear mind special)
103 Tidal breakers winter beach - in HD sound
102 Mild valley in June at the Cheshire / Derbyshire border (source of natural white noise)
101 At Benfleet Creek
100 Suffolk Wood (part 11) - a new day
99 High in the hills amongst snow laden trees - Christmas special
98 A ship that passes in the night - sleep safe
97 Through the trees, distant weir (source of natural white noise - 3D with ear/headphones)
96 A blustery day begins on inland tidal water (headphones)
95 Suffolk Wood (part 10) - a voyage from dawn to day - spacious and subtle - best with headphones
94 The trees that wait for the chalk stream to flow (natural source of white noise)
93 Rain garden after dark (sleep safe)
92 Up in the April hills of mid Wales
91 When woods go weird
90 Wind on water, night curlews, rain later (sleep safe)
89 The birds of the leafy ravine - a tonic for tired minds (best with headphones)
88 An afternoon at Wrabness (part 2)
87 Sky landing - when the wind bends the trees
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