In July last year we went on a family holiday to Arnside in Cumbria. Every night for a week I went out and recorded the sounds of the water, the birds, the wind in the trees and the activity around the estuary.
On the very last night the wind dropped completely and the tiny pops and crackles as gas escaped from the wet mud became evident. Placing a pair of hydrophones in the still, shallow edge of the river this breathing mud created its own distinctly alien soundworld.
These recordings were merged into a single 17 minute track which has been released by IMPULSIVE HABITAT. Its free to download, as are all IH releases.
Estuary
CHRIS WHITEHEAD
IHab021
Arnside stands where the estuary of the River Kent opens out into the vast, featureless expanse of sand that is Morcambe Bay. Classified as an area of outstanding natural beauty, this desolate landscape of mudflats and tidal channels is sliced through by the Arnside Viaduct, a 477m long railway bridge over the estuary built in 1857.
Some of the trains carry a cargo of nuclear waste, often from other countries, to be processed at Sellafield Nuclear Reprocessing Plant further up the coast. The reinforced containers used to transport the waste are known as coffins.
Download Estuary
IMPULSIVE HABITAT
