Wytham Woods: the sound of environmental research

A sound close to home for Cities and Memory today, to dispel the wintery blues. Have a listen to summer birdsong in full flush, in Wytham Woods, one of the most beautiful spaces in Oxfordshire, England.

There’s more to Wytham Woods, though: a Site of Special Scientific Interest, the woods were bequeathed to Oxford University in 1942, and as well as being preserved for public use, they’re a hotbed of scientific and environmental research.

They are, in fact, one of the most researched areas of woodland in the world – and any organisation can apply for a research permit.

This sense of exploratory scientific research informs the memory version, with waves of synth sounds and sounds derived from samples of glass (as in test tubes and other scientific equipment) filling the air.

Here, as we walk around Wytham Woods, through these sounds we become aware of the intense amounts of research going on around us, even though most of it is invisible to the average visitor at first glance.

City version:

Memory version: