Rick Blything introduces the field recording project which sees him uploading a wealth of nature sounds to YouTube.

I’ve been recording nature sounds since 2011 when I first got my hands on a Roland R-09 hand-held recorder and perched it in a tree at my mum’s house to capture the complex chatter of Starlings. Soon after I had a chance encounter with wildlife sound recordist maestro Chris Watson and my passion was well and truly kick-started. At this time my career as a sound designer for film/TV also began.

Over the last 16 years, my sound recordings have made appearances in films, radio, games and kindly been curated by the British Library. But many of these are sitting on hard drives without finding a real home. After much deliberation, I’ve started sharing them on YouTube to make them accessible to everyone. I’m hoping they might reach the ears of people who are less able to explore the outside world as I am privileged to do, as well as encouraging those who can to go outside and listen.

The project has also been nourished by a key collaboration with wildlife camera person Ewan Dryburgh whose keen eyes and ears will feature throughout the work — creating films of adventures in the field recording wildlife sounds.

One of the most wonderful things about this project is that it’s given me a renewed energy to spend as much time outside collaborating with nature as possible, recording sounds and highlighting the incredible species we have here in the UK (and sometimes further afield) and sharing these sounds and stories.

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Watch (and more importantly, listen to!) Rick’s videos — including his most recent uploads capturing Stonechats, Nightingales, and the process of recording a Great Spotted Woodpecker nest with Ewan Dryburgh — on the If a Tree Falls YouTube Channel.