Chris Watson's Audio Postcards

If you like listening to immersive soundscapes while you're painting, you'll enjoy the BBC podcasts by Chris Watson. He's a wildlife sound recordist who takes his sensitive equipment all over the world. His 15-minute programs punctuate the environmental captures with his voice identifying what you're hearing.

Sample episodes:
Midnight at the Oasis—The sounds of the Kalahari Desert, from dusk to dawn, including interesting audio perspectives from the microphone beneath the sand dunes and under the bark of trees.

St James Park—Tracking wildlife in urban environments near his home in Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, he starts with the weekend revelers and sports fans discarding food and litter. Then we hear the sound of rats and mice eating up the scraps, followed by the urban predators, such as tawny owls and foxes.

Glacial Melt — The sounds of calving glaciers in Antarctica, together with the birds, seals, and whales as heard from above and below the water. Watson combines a rich imagination to the informed awareness of a naturalist.

The Ghost Roost — Various sound perspectives tell the story of a giant flock of starlings that arrives to occupy an abandoned pier at West Brighton.
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More Chris Watson sound programs
He has contributed audio to the BBC The Life of Birds video documentaries.
Watson talks with David Attenborough about their lives in sound (28 minutes)