Stuart Bowditch Podcasts

It’s 10pm and I’m in the graveyard of St. Mary’s amongst the stones, I’ve tried to position myself near the image location but also not on any graves, it’s so quiet that even my notepad paper sounds loud as I write on it, the very distant A12 drone off to the north, a distant jet above, everything here is quiet which is letting sounds from further away be heard, the occasional passing car, no bird...

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Magpies call and respond, Moorhen, Mallards sleeping on the paving slabs, someone in the cafe already to set up for the day, no cars or jets, only tinnitus, I stay very still to encourage a Magpie to get closer which it does for a while but then flies over to Lock Island, one of the Mallards flies away, the Magpie comes back, a Squirrel comes by very close on the ground, inquisitive, and for milli...

Thanks to Old Hall’s Dave Hodgson for making possible the chance to have an event in the Chapel and to be able to make a recording in the grounds. Three men tasked with chopping the firewood, the threat of rain was hollow, and the sun has come out, a man driving the tractor, a Massey Ferguson 675, the wind gentler than last week but still bit gusty, children playing on the trampoline, the man on t...

The forecast was for rain all day but after a period of a few hours with none I headed to Flatford. The clouds are great today and much more Constablesque with a wide variety of greys and shapes. As I was setting up there was some great interaction between some Song Thrushes, and some juvenile Moorhens on the water. Some sightseers taking their photo with the Mill in the background, a Song Thrush...

As part of the Constable Ambisonic project I want to understand how we perceive the landscape, and what did Constable and his contemporaries bring to our understanding of the natural world, and who else has contributed to the language used and ideals we hold in regard to perception of landscape. Here I talk to painter Simon Carter at his studio in Frinton-on-Sea in Essex. We discuss a variety of t...

It’s 26º and a half term which of course I could never have predicted when I put this date in the calendar in January, the leisure class are out in full effect, a carousel and a Thomas train ride for the kids, a man setting up deck chairs for hire, a couple having a heavy conversation, gulls, a man having a loud conversation on his phone ‘Yeah, I had a good nights sleep!’, a woman in sandals walki...

I was flying to Guernsey with a guy called Steve to do some work for a furniture company but arrived at Gatwick just as the flight was taking off. We had to phone the boss to say that we'd missed the flight. He was livid but organised to get us on to the next available flight which was in 8 hours time. He had to wait in Guernsey with a van full of £3000 wardrobes and angry customers, whilst we wai...

Myself and Matt Shenton headed down to Flatford in the pitch black at 4am to set up fr the annual Reveil Dawn Chorus Global Stream, light came quickly and stealthily once it started, as did the birds, many birds were heard and seen including a Kingfisher, the Merlin bird app detected a Curlew but we were so sure about that, and then came colour, and then the coffee and croissants, I was woefully u...

The two benches that I was planning on using were taken but further along was an empty one, which was closer to a slight ledge on the hill that was actually in a great place as I wasn’t in danger of filming any members of the public at close proximity, like that boy on a bicycle last time, there was also man having a loud aggressive phone call. A Chiffchaff competes with the traffic, wide tyres on...

The Glebe Farm - 6th April 2026 The Langham estate gate was closed so I had to drive around a bit to suss out a suitable access point. The large gate at East Lodge on Gun Hill looked closed so I drove over the county border and in to Stratford St. Mary, as I remembered there is a foot path that heads over the river bridge and towards Langham across the fields. It was a gorgeous 15 minute walk in t...

*Please excuse the distortion at some points during the windy gusts. Storm Dave proved a little too much for the Rycote windshield. It's new kit so I'm still discovering its limitations.* The sun, giver, but awkward to look in to, warmth, from plasma, that outside influence, fundamental, touching all, one way or another, influential, not circumstantial, two Mallards on the wing, we cannot comprehe...

Dedham Vale, near the Stour, laying in the grass, spring is returning and so are the tourists, and field recordists, warmth and aircraft, the familiar tropes of getting out and getting away, dog walkers are taking over the lanes, skylarks are taking over the airwaves. Is there any subcultures organising in the fields, events or gatherings of the natural, of the humankind, slow dancing on the paths...

There is some smoke rising from near to Dedham Church, the village is about a mile away, visible through the mist, the clomp of two pairs of wellies, the sky a blanket of grey as it was yesterday, a skylark somewhere up in the gloom, a flotilla of gulls navigating the space occupied by a circling buzzard but leaving it well alone, trial bikes tear-arsing around somewhere nearby, a distant train, t...

I wasn’t early enough, by 10 minutes, as the bellringers started about 9:40, the intel from Dennis was slightly wrong. A lady walking through the graveyard shouted ‘Happy Recording!’ before I was actually recording, the headphones disconnected (wireless) after 5 minutes so I was unable to monitor the sound, the bells clipped a bit at the beginning of the recording as they were so loud even at abou...

As part of the Constable Ambisonic project I want to understand how we perceive the landscape, and what did Constable and his contemporaries bring to our understanding of the natural world, and who else has contributed to the language used and ideals we hold in regard to perception of landscape. Here I talk to artist and artist and broadcaster Wendy Bailey to discuss the project more broadly.

Idling ships upon the bay, moving windsurfers upon the bay, my travelling companion and good friend Al laying in the grass making some art and chatting to the walkers on the path, restarting the recording as there was a hum, a hiking couple, hiking man craning his neck to have a look from 200m away, I’m suddenly self conscious about my choice of bright jumper in an overcast scene, must buy green,...

As part of the Constable Ambisonic project I want to understand how we perceive the landscape, and what did Constable and his contemporaries bring to our understanding of the natural world, and who else has contributed to the language used and ideals we hold in regard to perception of landscape. Here I talk to artist and photographer Alan Hockett whilst sitting in a car after having been to the si...

Diners with trays of food and drinks from the cafe, the air con unit drone, this year is a ‘mast year’ for local trees which can be evidenced by the abundance of acorns on the ground, mast years are possibly a way that trees work together to create more fruit/seeds in one year that can possibly be eaten by seed eating animals and increasing the likely hood of seedlings growing next year, peduncle,...

A landscape, at noon. A man jogging with his dog, and man and woman chatting on the bench next to the Field Studies Centre, the mill pond has been cleared of weed and algae, and most of the vegetation has been trimmed making it easier to see the path of the water between the trees, spider threads drifting and glinting in the sun, Moorhens running on the water, the chatting pair heading back, about...

It’s been a long trek on public transport to get here, and a bit stressful on the Tube with all of the tripods and kit bag, that has put in to perspective a few things. It would have taken Constable, everyone, a lot longer to get around. For instance Constable used to walk from East Bergholt to Stratford St. Mary to catch the Stagecoach, which would then take 9-12 hours, conditions permitting, to...

Yesterday a storm front blew in and passed over head. In front of it the warm summer air and behind it the cooler air of autumn. I didn’t realise until it had passed but the difference was clear and defining. Today the wind is feisty, autumnal, and its effects on the trees dominates the sonic space. Imagine being a tree, or a nomad, constantly at the mercy of the elements. No wonder the leaves are...

Sunday morning in town, its a bit breezy, people making the shortcut through the graveyard, a flock of pigeons or Rock Doves as they used to be called, air con units, aircraft heading away from London, a lady whose perfume I detected before I saw her, I feel like I have to behave differently in this urban environment as I can’t blend in to being a tourist, I’m more on guard, a man asking if he was...

Tourists taking photos, a woman coming from the Mill Residencies, a man singing, a chat about exam results, a man getting his photo taken with a baby, I’m featuring in people’s photographs, or influencing their decision not to take one, being in ‘the’ spot means that others also gravitate there, pause to get ‘the’ shot, then leave, voices of sports players drift on the wind, bicycles on the gravel...

As part of the Constable Ambisonic project I want to understand how we perceive the landscape, and what did Constable and his contemporaries bring to our understanding of the natural world, and who else has contributed to the language used and ideals we hold in regard to perception of landscape. Here I talk to my mum, Terri Bowditch to try to understand how we came to live in the semi-rural town E...