Versions of animal—human - Animal Spaces, Beastly Places - page 131

[Example]' ( Woman's Hour 1959). The distance in radio here reinforces the sense
that this is a creature not to be disturbed, but given space in which to resound. If
there is little hope of seeing a bittern, here is a chance to hear the bird in situ; the
bird in its reedy nest, the human in its domestic armchair. Koch's Memoirs describe
the first recording of the bird. Invited by Anthony Buxton, Koch brought heavy
gear up from London by train: 'It would of course be a great achievement to record
the boom of the bittern for posterity and to give millions of people a chance of
hearing a sound which they have never heard before' (Koch 1954:74). An account
of the expedition was published in The Times . Koch and Crees punted around
Horsey Mere for several days and evenings with a floating studio, sometimes hearing
the bird's call and not being near enough to record it, sometimes disturbed by aircraft
drowning out the boom. Koch worked out that booming was preceded by four very
low clicks, 'a sort of prelude', followed by an intake of air and three to six booms. At
last he got his noise: 'To get ten to fifteen seconds of booming we had had to be on
the alert for about a hundred hours and have discs running for about 130 minutes
altogether' (Koch 1954:77-78). The strangeness of the sound, 'very uncanny when
one is alone in the dark', and the effort of getting it, gave it' a place of honour in my
collection of nature sounds' (Koch 1954:78).
Such recording efforts helped to cement the bittern as a regional symbol in an age
of radio nature. On a Home Service programme in April 1959 on 'The Naturalist' in
East Anglia, chaired by Ellis, naturalist R.P. Bagnall-Oakeley introduced the bird to
the listeners: '[T]he obvious one to begin with is the bittern—the one which the
locals call the “bog-bumper”—and the one which has had this delightful North
American name introduced—the thunder pumper'; a twelve-second recording
followed. Just as the bird flies in and out of the region, so nomenclature migrates:'
Well, there it was “bog-bumping” or “thunder-pumping”, have it how you like'
( 'The Naturalist' in East Anglia 1959). Broadcasting from Hickling on the Midland
Home Service in 1947, Buxton described the sound:
[T]hree noises, clicks,…intake of air, a sort of gasp, and expulsion of air
which makes the boom. The boom can be heard on a still day inside my
house with all the windows closed, and the nearest booming place is 700
yards away. And yet it is not a very loud sound even at 10 yards.
( Hickling Broad 1947; also Buxton 1946:151)
After six seconds of bittern noise on a Saturday Review programme of 29 November
1952, presenter Doreen Pownall interjected: 'Don't be alarmed—it isn't your radio
set that's gone wrong—that's the booming of a bittern.'