Location: Village Green, Woodcote, Oxfordshire, UK
Date: 9th May 2020
Time: 09:00 – 09:15
Weather: Sunny with a light breeze
Temperature: 18oC
Average Sound Level: 40.8dBSPL (LAeq)
On arriving, the absence of vehicles on the Goring and Reading roads affords a short-lived silence that foregrounds the tides of my breath. Gazing across the green, I imagine the sound of the bunting decorating the hedgerow of the house opposite me, beating in the breeze. My visual ear listens to the padding feet of joggers as they slowly inch across the far side of the green. The trees behind the pub, shift their weight from side to side, leaves animated, their foley sound: a slowly modulated waterfall. The only silent movements are the three red kites gliding on the thermals at the top of the hill and a solitary cabbage white butterfly quivering frantically in front of me. What a short life it has. It’s at times like these you realise how little you know about an environment and, equally, how little you understand yourself.