A few months ago I saw a story in The Guardian which answered a question I had wondered about for a while - when did we start using technology to identify wildlife through their calls? I’m an avid user of the Merlin Bird ID App, which records bird songs and attempts to identify them. Before this, I relied on the ears of others - usually experienced naturalists who had spent years honing their hearing before passing on their knowledge to others. But, what came before this?
The Guardian story that caught my eye discussed a short film that had recently been released - Alarm Notes - which was about a guy called Ludwig Koch, who is believed to have made the very first recordings of birds back in the late 1800s. This accolade is only part of Ludwig’s life story, and the further I read into it, the more astounding it got. As a jewish family living in Germany at the dawn of the second world war, Ludwig and his wife had to leave their home and escape to the UK. They also unknowingly hosted a Bulgarian communist who may or may not have burned down the Reichstag building in their home, putting them at even more risk from the incoming Nazi regime. The Bulgarian man managed to get away with the crime however, then later went onto become the first prime minister of Bulgaria, so things turned out ok for him!
The technology used in the early 1900s to record birds in zoos and in the wild would make modern day sound techs run for the hills - think miles of wires held up on stilts over bodies of water, tracing between microphones and a huge recording van. The technological advances that happened over the course of Ludwig’s life were truly remarkable.
Ludwig continued his bird recording work in the UK, becoming one of the very first natural history celebrities. He recorded song books - vinyl that came with a book about the birds that were featured - but also recorded the soundscapes of places, including parts of London and Paris, transporting the listener from their home to places they may have never visited before. He also featured on BBC radio, becoming a familiar voice and even the subject of comedy routines.
I wanted to speak to the makers of the film, Anthea Kennedy and Ian Wiblin about the story and the filmmaking process. I was also interested to hear about Andrea’s personal connection with the subject of the film, as she is Ludwig’s great granddaughter.
To find out more about the film, or any of the other films that Anthea and Ian have made about her family’s remarkable stories, head to their website.
The sound recordings used in this episode were digitalised by the British Library from Ludwig Koch’s archive. The music used in today’s episode is from Blue Dot Sessions.
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