Listen To The Sound Of Pond Life

Who knew pond life was noisy? I just love ponds and can happily spend hours sitting by ours watching the extraordinary drama played out by a vast cast of often bizarre looking animals. It had never occurred to me that under the water these characters were making the most extraordinary racket. I stumbled across this recording from hydrophones dropped into a little Welsh pond last summer. It is absolutely astonishing. I would love to know what was making which noise - it's all very mysterious. Among the cacophany are apparently oxygenating plants, newts and all manner of invertebrates. Who knows? Fantastic. Forget the Big Blue - listen to the little one! There are other fascinating underwater recordings from the British Library in this programme - do listen. They're mainly not from exotic locations - they're from the UK. This is exactly the sort of thing we need to engage people in the mysteries of our own natural world, just beyond their back doorsteps.