Creaky trees at Rannoch Moor, Scottish Highlands, Scotland on 23rd April 2022 – by Steve Urquhart
“I recorded this at dawn, at the edge of a vast forest on the north-west bank of Loch Laidon on Rannoch Moor, on a dry and bright but blustery Spring morning. The focus of this recording is the fluctuating wind, swaying a couple of the many thousands of huge pine trees. I’m told that this forest was planted in the 1970s and 1980s, at a time when we thought we’d be needing a lot more paper and timber than we actually do now… hence why so many trees here remain unfelled, their trunks and branches swaying, teetering, threatening to collapse at any moment (many already have). The wobbly wood is the star of this show: it sounds like a succession of creaky doors and floorboards, or even a rocky voyage on the high seas… but this really is recorded entirely in a breezy forest on a dry day. We also hear a variety of birds – listen out for a blackbird almost duetting with one of the trees – and a gentle stream.”
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