In 2015 I was in Egypt for a few weeks for a survey job. To be honest it was a rather unfortunate trip. The political situation was very difficult, the people seemed to be somehow nervous and anxious. Beside the actual work being able to move freely, e.g. for sound recordings, was only possible very limited. That's why I only made very few sound recordings, actually I have seen and heard only little of the area we were operating in. But, the few recordings that I have trigger quite strong memories and feelings. This happens regularly when I take my time and listen through my collection, but it is rarely so intensely. Interestingly enough, I've only recently noticed this transforming effect, since then I have been trying to take more time for it and that's why I started to share some special recordings here. European Mole Cricket Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa African Common Toad Amietophrynus gutturalis

On expeditions in unfamiliar areas, it might happen that the sheer number of interesting sounds overwhelms you. Especially when no man made noise pollutes the soundscape. In such a situation, I either prefer not to make any sound recordings at all or to quickly decide what to focus on. In a valley in central Mongolia, I was looking/hearing for Godlewski's Buntings. In the very moment I found a singing male, two shepherd boys with more than 100 horses came up the slope - straight towards me. Immediately it was clear that a clean recording of the bunting would never succeed under these circumstances. On the other hand, the chance to record such a large herd of horses would not be that easy anymore - especially since they were still far enough to bring my recording rig well into position... Bird species in background: Common Rosefinch, Ortolan Bunting, Eastern Black Redstart, Eurasian Cuckoo

Normally I do not deploy autonomous recording units, except for scientific monitoring. Why? For me, the best part of sound recording is listening during the recording process (actually, of course, a recording would not have to be done at all to do so). I was in a marsh area in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern to do a certain job (sound recordings of Whiskered Tern flight calls for my bird ID website birds-in-flight). In the afternoon, I noticed that a thunderstorm came up. Occasions to get thunderstorms recordings without made-noise are rare. So I deployed a second recording kit and continued to do my job. Thus, this is a rather improvised sound recording of the thunderstorm, including some typical bird sounds of a Brandenburg marshland: White-tailed Eagle, Greylag Goose, Common Tern, Whiskered Tern, Grey Heron, Great Cormorant, Savi's Warbler, Mallard, Eurasian Coot, Gadwall, Black-headed Gull...

As someone who has been socialised in a quasi-socialist state, it is very important to me that there is an awareness that one's own success is also based on the work and knowledge of others. Likewise, it is natural for me to share knowledge and experience and not to cultivate competitiveness. In addition to this very fundamental attitude, I believe that it can be advantageous for anyone, to approach their own work with the help of non-specialist people, to gain a new perspective on it - even if it may seem more of a disadvantage at first. This sound recording was taken in such a moment. Even this is not really a decent recording (screaming people in the background, quite some noise, my audible breath), it is something special for me, since I would not have walked to this place alone. Thank you!

In the north of Berlin, just beyond the city boundary is a beautiful wetland called Tegeler Fließ. Here the naturalist Alexander von Humboldt spent his childhood. Today, this area is not only scenic impressive, it also home to a good number of bird species. Since it is only 45 minutes away from my home, I often go there - during the post-breeding season especially to make recordings of grasshoppers and aquatic insects. Here is a short excerpt from one of those underwater sound recording.

Sometimes Wildlife Sound recording is just straightforward. A few weeks ago, a Feral Pigeon Columbia livia domestica started breeding on the windowsill of our bathroom window. Now, the juveniles are almost ready to leave the nest. The adult bird feeds the young birds very often at the moment.

Calls and long calls of a bird in a colony.

The naturalist's year is more or less structured by the life cycles of the natural world. Living in a life cycle mostly alienated from nature, it brings with it that only partial insights into the former are possible. At least once a year, I usually visit a former military training area south of Berlin in order to enjoy the nocturnal behaviour of the peculiar Eurasian Nightjar and the sandy landscape and seclusion it lives in. This year, however, it was very unusual: the entire forest and the entire lower aufwuchs was burnt. The extreme heat resulted in a forest fire that affected an area of 700 hectares. The consequences of climate change were shockingly plastic and concrete. Had I been able to make fantastic sound recordings in the forest two years ago, now the walk was fairly surreal. Only individual birds were present and the general soundscape was just silence. Here is a sound recording I made back in 2017.