Chelsea

I’d like you all to meet Chelsea who has just entered the world. She’s called Chelsea because she will accompany FantasyWire at the RHS Chelsea flower show.

 

The sound track to the video was recorded by me at 3:45am.

I’m sure you have all heard of the dawn chorus, but have you physically heard a dawn chorus?

I live in the middle of a nature reserve where the dawn chorus must be one of the true wonders of the natural world. In spring the birds start singing around 3:30am, just as the light lifts a fraction. First one bird will sing and gets a few verses out on its own. Then another starts and another and within a few minutes the whole woods erupt with the sound of what seems like every bird competing to out sing all the rest.

No recording will ever do it justice. It’s an experience that can never be captured and has to be experienced live in situ to be fully appreciated. Any recorded sound can only be experienced from the number of directions and distances that you have speakers. The true dawn chorus is to experience every single bird song independently coming from a different distance and a different direction, spread over maybe two square miles. The depth of sound experience is a miracle to take in. It’s so loud and overwhelming it’s like being in a different reality. It doesn’t last long, maybe 10-15 minutes. It’s as if they all compete until they’ve woken themselves up, had a stretch and then, they simply cut off as if to say “time to get on with the day” and it fades as quickly as it started.

The moral being: the very best things in this life can never be faked!