This is a recording of a Woodpigeon, a common sound on the farm. Woodpigeons appear to have had a very successful year this year. The other morning I must have heard about ten pigeons coo-ing away happily to themselves. This particular subject has taken up permanent residence in a laburnum tree in the drive. There is a nest there, an untidy pile of sticks on a branch where at least one brood have hatched and fledged.

The bird was an ideal subject for close microphone placement. It's a rather tame bird and after hearing it's call I was able to move close enough to the tree to see where he/she usually sits. I waited for the bird to move to another song post before setting up a mike. It appeared to have at least three of these; the tree; the drive gate and a taller tree above the stable.

I clipped a single DPA4060 omnidirectional microphone on a twig a few centimetres from where the pigeon had been sitting and ran a long XLR back to the house to a MixPre-D and from there via "Tape Out" to an Olympus LS5 recorder. Upon it's return the pigeon immediately began to call directly into the microphone capsule.