Eleven years ago (yes, it was that long), Simon Emmerson (Afro Celt Sound System, Imagined Village) delivered a unique guest mix titled “Weirdy Birdy”. He stamped his love of birding through that mix like a stick of rock. We heard the twilight call of Great Northern Divers or the dry song of a Yellowhammer before being gently led away from the maddening crowd to join Swifts, Swallows and Cranes returning home along coastal paths, past childhood oaks and dream time Sky Larks.
This weekend is the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch. To celebrate, Simon has graced us with a beautiful follow-up mix – ‘Weirdy Birdy’ II on which we are transported across meadows filled with the rare sounds of turtle doves, quails and corncrakes to the Portuguese border with Spain under a starry on the River Tagus to hear red deer bellowing.
When I spoke to Simon, he explained how, as a keen birder, the Big Garden Birdwatch was like bringing it all home to your yard, and he wanted to celebrate that with this long-overdue mix. Home is always a great place to start, so why not get involved if you are new to watching wildlife and birds? You can learn more here: https://www.rspb.org.uk/get-involved/activities/birdwatch/
While interest in nature and bird watching are on the rise, so are the threats to our wildlife and habitats. The mix brings a focus to wildflower meadows, a rich habitat that has been in rapid decline since the 1930s…as you will hear, 97% of our meadows have been eradicated since the 1930s. That’s an area one-and-a-half times the size of Wales. On the Plantlife website, Dr Trevor Dines, Plantlife Botanical Specialist, said: “The steady, quiet and under-reported decline of our meadows is one of the biggest tragedies in the history of UK nature conservation; if over 97% of our woodland had been destroyed there’d be a national outcry. Without the roar of chainsaws or the sound of mighty oaks crashing to the ground, meadows with undisturbed floral histories going back generations are being ploughed up in a single afternoon.”
The likes of Dr. Mya-Rose Craig (Bird Girl), a 19-year-old prominent British-Bangladeshi ornithologist, environmentalist, diversity activist and podcasts like Get Birding are at the forefront of the changing face of Bird Watching…those days of it being perceived as a geeky pursuit are well and truly over. It was Simon that introduced me to the Get Birding podcast whose mission I found quite inspiring: “We want to break down barriers to birdwatching and believe that access to nature should be a right, not a privilege.” In their latest episode, which also looks at the Big Garden Birdwatch, they are joined by Chris Packham, Samuel West, Miranda Krestovnikoff, Dr Amir Khan, Sam Lee & Edwyn Collins – Listen here and get involved.
Weirdy Birdy Mix II
Turning to Weirdy Birdy II…the mix is thematically linked to the first one he did all those years ago, which you can listen to again here; it opens to an unreleased track from the Afro Celt Sound System titled Hawk Owl.
There are some beautiful field recordings from The Sound Approach, the first featuring pro-wildlife campaigner/podcaster Charlie Moores talking about the loss of wild meadows. In the accompanying soundscape, you can hear endangered bird species you now rarely hear, such as the turtle dove, quails and corncrakes. Simon says, “these were the types of birds I would have heard as a kid when I went out camping but have now disappeared”. Charlie makes several appearances in the mix, and there are some incredible field recordings by Magnus Robb (The Sound Approach, Northern Flyway).
Alongside Mother Natures Son, a core song on the mix is The Quiet Joys of Brotherhood, a beautiful track by The Imagined Village that played a key part in shaping the mix. It is the first track from The Imagined Village since their Bending the Dark album, and it appeared on The Electric Muse Revisited album, a Robin Denslow compilation that we reviewed here. Simon tells us that it looks hopeful that The Imagined Village will be reuniting for a few gigs this year – you heard it here first.
Along this sonic journey, we also hear Marry Waterson, Martha Tilston, a duet with a Mistle Thrush, red deer bellowing on a starry night on the Portuguese side of the River Tagus, and so much more. It’s a magical journey to lose yourself in for 50 minutes and highlights the fragile nature of the world we live in.
Playlist
00:00 Afro Celt Sound System – Hawk Owl (unreleased pre mix)
09:40 Charlie Moores and Simon Emmerson – Wild Meadows (podcast extract)
11:07 The Imagined Village – The Quiet Joys of Brotherhood
16:26 Marry Waterson – Blackbird
20:55 Simon Emmerson and Richard Evans – Mistle Thrush
26:33 Charlie Moores and Simon Emmerson – Wild Meadows (podcast extract)
27:37 Martha Tilston – Here Comes The Sun
30:32 Kristian Leontiou, Simon Emmerson, Simon ‘Palmskin’ Richmond – Mother Natures Son
34:10 Rob Gallagher, Simon Emmerson, Simon ‘Palmskin’ Richmond – Would the Warbler
37:50 Charlie Moores and Magnus Robb – Red Deer Rutting (podcast extract – music Polar Drift, Simon Emmerson and Simon ‘Palmskin Richmond)
42:11 Martha Tilston – Stags Bellow
46:13 Afro Celt Sound System – Flight
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Photo Credit: Kristine Cinate