Digital Download Catalogue — Natural Soundscapes (Section 1)
— Cornish Seas and Cliffs

Classified listing

Cornish Seas and Cliffs

• Peaceful seascape by Ladies' Window, near Boscastle

  8 September 2012
  

  A hike lunch break close to the Ladies' Window, hearing little myself, while the recorder was peering over the cliff edge and hearing a lovely gentle interaction of sea with rugged cliff bases. As well as the sea, we hear a small fishing boat for a while, and twice hear a tourist speedboat. The frequent quiet and sweet-sounding bird calls are mostly or all from little flocks of linnets, which kept flitting around. — 38'

  
  Recording code: 120908_r1-01

• Boscastle Harbour blowhole, from just above

  9 January 2013
  

  The widely-known Boscastle Harbour blowhole, from pretty close. Deep subterranean boomy thuds, many of them immediately followed by a powerful usually low-angle jet of spray. Usually the jet itself is quiet, so what we hear of it is the long splashdown each time. After about 26 minutes the activity continues at a lower level; this is the first 32' of the 48-minute recording. — 32'

  
  Recording code: 130109_r1-03

• Peaceful '270-degree' hilltop sea / cliffs panorama

  9 January 2013

  From very exposed position on cliff-edge prominence near the Coastwatch lookout on the Willapark headland on SW side of mouth of Boscastle Harbour, Cornwall, UK — a peaceful distant panorama of sea action on cliff bases and rocks. — 40'

  
  Recording code: 130109_r1-07

• Gentle sea and cave rumbling booms at Beeny Cliff

  6 April 2013
  

  Peaceful and gentle, yes (please don't turn the volume up!), but commonplace, no — with an unusual and quite haunting aspect! — An updated version of this recording, at last with the truly optimal degree of stereo widening, and so with the best-possible stereo imaging.

  I made this recording on 6th April 2013 at the same spot as a previous one of mine, at a quite exposed position on Beeny Cliff, not far from Boscastle, Cornwall, UK. This is at a point where the original and very exposed section of the coast path had been abandoned and a less exposed diversion established, but here I got onto that exposed bit, where the sea is undercutting the cliffs.  — 32'

  
  Recording code: 130406_r1-01

• Majestic sea breakers hitting cliffs by Zawn Wells, near Land's End

  5 June 2013
  

  Large Atlantic waves majestically rolling in, proudly thundering and roaring as they break, and hitting the cliff with great eruptions of spray and often clearly audible lengthy splashdowns — lengthy because of the height reached by many of those eruptions. — 72'

  
  Recording code: 130605_r2-02

• Fairly chunky waves breaking in Nanjizal Cove, not far from Land's End

  5 June 2013
  

  Moderately large breaking waves in Nanjizal Cove (aka Mill Bay), a quite narrow corner at south end of a wide bay not far south of the Land's End complex, Penwith, Cornwall, UK. On this occasion it was not what I'd describe as a 'surf', because if its narrowness and lack of anything to give really satisfactory surfing. However, the waves do have an exhilarating slightly thundering up-frontness of sound as they break. As compared with the various surf recordings I've made, this has a much more intimate sound, with the breaking of each wave clearly separate, and no significant general run-out sound. — 38'

  
  Recording code: 130605_r1-04

• Seabird colonies on Short Island, near Ladies' Window, near Boscastle

  25 June 2013
  

  A rather subterranean-sounding sea, and calls from the seabird colonies on Short Island, which we're fairly closely overlooking. — Herring gull, of course, plus comical outbursts from guillemots, with razorbills joining in. High-pitched squealings are the begging calls of gull chicks on the island, while nearer at hand the occasional carrion crow or group of linnets passes by. The quite frequent fast flapping sounds on the sea surface are caused by guillemots flying that close to the surface. — 27'

  
  Recording code: 130625_r1-03

• Gentle sea, with family group of choughs near Land's End

  26 June 2013
  

  Gentle sea and birds from clifftop near Land's End, with aerobatics and zingy calls from a family group of choughs early and again later on, with rock pipits, occasional jackdaws, and, notably, the rather bizarre excruciatingly laryngitic-sounding calls of great black-backed gulls in a colony on Enys Dodnan, the island with the arch. The sea isn't heard directly, so it sounds quite subdued, allowing other details to be heard. — A peaceful sea panorama with a 'different' and distinguished atmosphere! — 63'

  
  Recording code: 130626_r1-01

• Gentle sea near Land's End, with birds — great black-backed gull, chough, rock pipit

  26 June 2013

  Gentle sea and birds from clifftop near Land's End, with the rather bizarre excruciatingly laryngitic-sounding calls of great black-backed gulls in a colony on Enys Dodnan, the island with the arch (louder and clearer than in the other concurrent recording), and aerobatics and zingy calls from a family group of choughs later on. Also the inevitable herring gulls at times, with rock pipits, occasional jackdaws. In contrast with the other concurrent recording, the sea here is heard directly, from the other side of Zawn Wells, with some nice minor impacts and splashdowns on the cliffs there, which lead to Pordenack Point. — A peaceful but also exhilarating sea panorama with 'different' and distinguished atmosphere! — 54'

  
  Recording code: 130626_r2-01

• Closely overlooking blowhole, tip of Shag Rock headland, nr Perranporth

  11 January 2014

  Powerful blowhole jets at close quarters from precarious cliff-edge position, driven by a muscular swell — greatly thrilling to be down there with all that going on! — 39'

  
  Recording code: 140111_r2-02
  

• Sea dramatics on cliffs around Zawn Wells, near Land's End (upper position)

  12 March 2014

  Majestic chunky waves ride in and hit the cliffs broadside-on, with heavy thuds and impressive splashdowns from the plumes or walls of spray that shoot up, with beautifully discreet atmospheric foghorn (actually 'whistle') tone coming into and out of focus.
  
  This is the upper of two concurrent recordings I made here this day, near Land's End, Penwith, Cornwall, UK. This one directly overlooks Zawn Wells, a quite narrow small inlet. — 68'

  
  Recording code: 140312_r1-02

• Sea dramatics on cliffs around Zawn Wells, near Land's End (lower position)

  12 March 2014

  Majestic chunky waves ride in and hit the cliffs broadside-on, with heavy thuds and impressive splashdowns from the plumes or walls of spray that shoot up, with beautifully discreet atmospheric foghorn (actually 'whistle') soundings coming into and out of focus. Impressive deep heavy rumbles from sea action on cliff base immediately below recorder.
  
  This is the lower of two concurrent recordings I made here this day, near Land's End, Penwith, Cornwall, UK. — 67'

  
  Recording code: 140312_r2-02

• Sea dramatics in reverberant sheer cliff chasm, complete with fulmars (upper position)

  12 March 2014
  

  Upper of two concurrent recordings. The waves come surging in, and booming, with sometimes big splashdowns, as they hit the end of a cleft at the back of this impressively reverberant chasm. This viewpoint is a little back from the cliff edge close to the head of the chasm, and so almost directly above the loud booms. Meanwhile once in a while we hear the excitable clucking and cackling of pairs of fulmars on exposed ledges within the chasm. — 57'

  
  Recording code: 140312_r1-01

• Sea dramatics in reverberant sheer cliff chasm, complete with fulmars (lower position)

  12 March 2014

  Lower of two concurrent recordings. The waves come surging in, and booming, with sometimes big splashdowns, as they hit the end of a cleft at the back of this impressively reverberant chasm. This viewpoint is a little back from the cliff edge further down on a rough grassy terrace on the south-east side of the chasm, with open sea sound on left and booms to right. Meanwhile once in a while we hear the excitable clucking and cackling of pairs of fulmars on exposed ledges within the chasm, but they're more distant and reverberant than in the upper recording, and consequently not noticed so much. — 54'

  
  Recording code: 140312_r2-01

• Skylarks and distant thundering surf north of Bude, Cornwall

  16 May 2014

  Skylarks singing their uplifting flight songs above a clifftop field, against a gently thundering backdrop of a modest Atlantic surf, just some 1½ miles north of Bude, Cornwall. — 61'

  
  Recording code: 140516_r1-01
  

• Jackdaw in The Funnel, Gwennap Head, near Land's End

  14 June 2014
  

  A real weird one, this! We eavesdrop into a gaping hole known as The Funnel, which is where the roof of a sea cave has collapsed, and hear a young jackdaw in there, and eventually briefly a flurry of others in there, suggesting mother come to attend to her brood. This is in the impressive granite rock formations at Gwennap Head, not far from Land's End, Penwith, Cornwall, UK.
  
  If we listen attentively we hear echoed distant sounds coming up from the cave entrance (rocky shore), including climbers on a nearby sheer cliff buttress, and a rather low-pitched 'singing' buoy a little way out at sea. Meanwhile a bumblebee comes fussing around in the foreground, enjoying the small flowers precariously perched on the edge of the sheer wall of the hole. — 34'

  
  Recording code: 140614_r1-01

• Fulmars in Zawn Rinny, Gwennap Head, near Land's End

  17 June 2014
  

  Fulmars are comical — all the more so if you're a climber and get one of those do a green stinky projectile vomit in your face! Here we eavesdrop on a lot of pairs of fulmars on rock ledges on the sheer cliff walls of this chasm in the granite cliff complex of Gwennap Head, Porthgwarra, Penwith, Cornwall, UK. Once in a while seagulls get agitated and make a commotion as a couple of climbers ascend the sheer rock in some part of this chasm. No idea whether any fulmars let them have it! Other birds we hear include wren, rock pipit, jackdaw, and rock dove or feral pigeon.
  
  The reverberant acoustics are fabulous, and we repeatedly hear the contrast between nearer fulmars that are in line of sight from the recorder, and others that are hidden away. Those latter sound reverberant, especially those further away. — 66'

  
  Recording code: 140617_r1-01

• Haunted stargazing! — Manx shearwaters in mouth of Cot Valley

  25 June 2014
  

  Bafflingly bizarre, with echoes for 'sensitive' people of tormented spirits, tortured children, demons, sorcery — whatever! — This is my first recording of these little wonders. From a high viewpoint above the mouth of the Cot Valley in the middle of the night we eavesdrop on what seems to be quite a large number of them, doing their display flights. Most are females; the males are recognisable for their thinner, higher, less wheezy and more squealy voices. — But now let's just lie back and listen to the performance weaving about down below, while we gaze again at those stars and whatever unknowns the sky holds for us… — 86'

  
  Recording code: 140625_r1-01

• Beeny Cliff — Deep rumbles and booms in cave, from alcove top

  3 September 2014
  

  On cliff edge of alcove, with the caves themselves hidden below. The very deep rumbles come and go with the waves, and are like a very slow breathing, punctuated now and again by the odd really deep booms. — 78'

  
  Recording code: 140903_r1-01

• Beeny Cliff — Deep rumbles and booms in cave, from alcove top, shielded

  3 September 2014

  Wonderfully deep cave rumbles and occasional booms in ideal sea conditions, with a 'clean' swell and relatively quiet sea action, from the top of the largest alcove of Beeny Cliff, near Boscastle, Cornwall, UK. Shielded from nearly all direct sound of the sea 'action' to maximally expose the booms and rumbles. — 29'

  
  Recording code: 140903_r1-02

•  Beeny Cliff — Deep rumbles and booms in cave, facing into cave

  3 September 2014

  Wonderfully deep cave rumbles and occasional booms in ideal sea conditions, with a 'clean' swell and relatively quiet sea action, from a bit down the south side of the largest alcove of Beeny Cliff, near Boscastle, Cornwall, UK, facing into one of the cave entrances. — 23'

  
  Recording code: 140903_r2-01

• Beeny Cliff — Deep rumbles and booms in cave, facing into cave (shielded)

  3 September 2014

  Wonderfully deep cave rumbles and occasional booms in ideal sea conditions, with a 'clean' swell and relatively quiet sea action, from a bit down the south side of the largest alcove of Beeny Cliff, near Boscastle, Cornwall, UK, facing into one of the cave entrances. This is from a position that shields it from almost all direct sea sound but it still catches that sea sound in more subdued form as echo off the cliff face. — 79'

  
  Recording code: 140903_r2-02

• Shag Rock blowhole, Perranporth, close-up — laid-back performance

  24 November 2014
  

  On the tip of the Shag Rock headland, on exposed clifftop ledge, quite close above the blowhole vents. Their activity is laid-back this time, with only a small number of more or less loud main-vent whoomphs, but the side-vents are very frequently giving a more sotto voce breathing-like sound — a quiet diffuse breathy 'roar'. A beautiful and relaxing soundscape, albeit always with that hint of menace… — 38'

  
  Recording code: 141124_r2-02

• Pandemonium time! — High dramatics in Beeny Cliff's southernmost cave

  10 March 2015
  

  Real 'wow' sea dramatics, with a deliciously dark and menacing reverberance, in the vestibule area of the southernmost cave of Beeny Cliff, near Boscastle, Cornwall, UK.
  
  Right down on the steep grassy slope from the coast path, on Beeny Cliff's most southerly headland, and very carefully down and to the right over potentially slippery bare slaty slabs, we're now looking into the southernmost cave of Beeny Cliff, as we closely witness a monstrous succession of loud sea dramatics, with larger waves thundering in from the left, causing powerful rebound waves out of the cave, which then hit further incoming waves and cause loud eruptions of spray, with impressive splashdown sounds. In the close foreground we have a very pleasant quiet trickling of, yes, a little trickle of run-off water; the tripod is standing almost in it. — 50'

  
  Recording code: 150310_r1-04

• Boscastle Harbour blowhole — close-up!

  10 March 2015
  

  Fascinating — all these subterranean deep grunts to heavy wallops, most of which are each followed by a normally low-angle jet of sea spray; you can hear it splashing down as it projects out over the Harbour.
  
  Boscastle Harbour blowhole (Cornwall, UK) is reputed to be active generally about two hours either side of low tide — but how long that activity lasts depends on both the size of the swell and what stage the tide is in. Neap tides will get the longest activity and spring tides the most transient activity. So I had to choose carefully to catch things right for a good recording. Seem to have managed it this  time! — 48'

  
  Recording code: 150310_r1-06

• Eerie vigil with Shag Rock blowhole, nr Perranporth — laid-back

  15 March 2015

  Powerful blowhole jets just below us, with a weird 'breathing' sound coming from a little cleft beside us — it sounds for all the world as though this little headland is alive and sleeping, and at some point will wake up…! — 64'

  
  Recording code: 150315_r1-03

• Clifftop in the mist with menaces — gentle rumblings and occasional breaking waves

  14 April 2015
  

  One of those very special hiking lunch-stop experiences that come 'out of the blue', or, in this case, out of the mist! The sea mist was doing a great job of 'cat and mouse' with visibility, so for a good bit of the time during this recording I couldn't see the sea below at all — just the ominous gentle rumbles and occasional crashing wave reminding me of its presence…
  
  We're on the coast path between Chapel Porth and the iconic Towanroath mining ruins, St Agnes, Cornwall, UK. The tide is high, but starting to go out, so the sea is right up against the cliff base and most of the time the quite chunky swell isn't breaking before having its little altercations with the cliff base. Just once in a while a wave comes that is large enough to break anyway, giving a sense of drama then, and gradually the waves become more inclined to break as the tide continues to go out. — 39'

  
  Recording code: 150414_r1-01

• Shag Rock blowhole, nr Perranporth — 'full-frontal', from exposed ledge

  14 April 2015

  Some powerful blowhole jets and many lesser ones heard from a very 'full-frontal' and exposed viewpoint on a narrow and exposed cliff ledge. From this perspective, the acoustics are really interesting (noticed especially if you listen with good headphones), and the whoomphs and sometimes impressive spray splashdowns have a very clear, 'present' type of sound — intimidatingly close! — 45'

  
  Recording code: 150414_r2-01
  

• Dawn chorus, from south side of Cot Valley — first recording

  24 June 2015
  

  How an annoying foreground whitethroat (or pair of them) actually improved the effect of the huge multitude of distant blackbirds, as the whole valley and the surrounding hilltop fields came to be murmuring with them!

  Dawn chorus in the Cot Valley (near Cape Cornwall, St Just, Penwith, Cornwall, UK), from the south side, on the highest track, a little way inland, fairly well down the track where it's descending inland towards the little valley-bottom road, but still well out in the open. The recorder faces across the valley, having a more or less distant but very, very expansive perspective on the valley's dawn chorus, with the sea in Porth Nanven clearly audible to the left (except that, as explained in Techie stuff below, you will hear it perversely somewhere in the middle!).

  Unusually in my experience, blackbirds started off at kick-off time, instead of waiting another half-hour before coming in. And they give us a great treat, albeit at a moderate to mostly great distance. The tentative beginning of the chorus soon expanded so that I was hearing a continuous murmuring of distant blackbirds in all directions, including not only the valley bottom and slopes but also the fields on the high ground either side of the valley — though of course the ordinary stereo recording couldn't capture even half of the detail and sheer magnificence of the blackbird chorus that I heard there. — 78'

  
  Recording code: 150624_r2-03+04

• Mussel Point, near Zennor — boats, seals, seagulls and curlews

  18 August 2015
  

  A vibrant, joyful gentle sea soundscape on the expanse of 'cliff apron' rocks  near the so-called 'Seal Island' and popular for the tourist mini-cruises from St Ives that plague it during the summer holiday season. We hear the excitement of the seagulls and the odd seals as the occasional boat passes by, bringing in its little bow-wave disturbances and presumably exposing fish. — 75'

  
  Recording code: 150818_r2-02

• Intensive blowhole activity beside Droskyn Point, Perranporth

  25 October 2015
  

  Sea pandemonium with frequent blowhole whoomphs and splashdowns in rugged cliff alcove just south-west of Droskyn Point, Perranporth, Cornwall, UK. Multiple caves open into that narrow space, and waves tend to get concentrated and thus amplified in power as they come in there. There may be more than one blowhole there — at least I've heard booms and thuds coming from different points in that confusion of sea activity in there, but that could all be just normal hammering action of the waves violently surging into clefts within the caves. — 40'

  
  Recording code: 151025_r1-02+03

• Dramatic-sounding breaking waves by Towanroath mining ruin

  15 March 2016
  

  Between Chapel Porth and the iconic Towanroath engine house ruin (St Agnes, Cornwall, UK), a little nearer the ruin than the 14 April 2015 recording here, I enjoy an extended lunch break while enjoying the sea's performance. This is high up, the coast path contouring the very steep slope and leading on towards St Agnes Head. Again the sea is up against the cliff base, but the tide is going out.
  
  For about the first 20 minutes, only a limited number of waves break, doing so near the cliff base so that instead of a hissy run-out sound you get a wonderful deep rumble as each wave goes out of direct earshot (because of the slope continuing down and then falling away as more or less vertical cliff), and has fairly violent altercations with the cliff. Beyond the first 20 minutes, the breaking of waves becomes more frequent, progressively commencing a little further and further out, thus with increasing tendency to the hissy standard run-out sound of standard surf on a beach. — 59'

  
  Recording code: 160315_r1-01

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