The sound of birdsong in Fishpool Street was replayed to the nation on BBC Radio 3’s Sunday morning Breakfast show, thanks to a recording sent in by resident Stuart Macer.
Stuart, picture here, who lives at number 84, used a special app on his iPad to record the dawn chorus in his back garden at 5:15am on St Patrick’s Day.
Presenter Martin Hanley played the recording four times in a 20-minute period on the Radio 3 programme’s Sounds of the Earth feature and read out the letter from Stuart that accompanied the recording:
“I live close to St Albans Abbey, in a very old historic street called Fishpool Street. Some of the houses go back to Tudor times. It used to have many inns for pilgrims visiting the abbey in memory of St Alban, the Christian Martyr,” Stuart wrote.
“I made the recording at the rear of my Victorian terrace property, where there are many sheltered gardens and old backyards. I have a cherry tree and an ash tree in my garden, where many birds roost overnight. We get migratory species that pass through.
“You’ll be hearing mostly Blackbirds, but also Robins and Great Tits. My garden is on the north side of Fishpool Street. On the south side is the delightful Verulamium Park, full of Herons, Egrets, Canada Geese, Kingfishers, Nuthatches, Treecreepers, and the occasional Parakeet.
“The River Ver flows through the park. It’s a beautiful chalk stream. The park has the old Roman city walls of Verulamium and a hypocaust, the site of an old Roman villa.”
Stuart recorded the dawn chorus in his north-facing back garden, he told the Fishpool Street website later.
“The central character is a Blackbird making a mating and territorial statement common between March and July, but you can also hear a Robin and Great Tits. My aim was to show the beautiful natural environment that we enjoy in Fishpool Street, so close to London.”
Listen to Stuart’s birdsong recording here.
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