Insect asides

A couple of insect related items caught my ear recently, courtesy of BBC radio.  The first concerned bees and one Huw Evans, an electronic engineer turned bee-keeper.  He has been recording the sound inside his hives and analysing it in an attempt to predict swarming.  He can also monitor the health of his bees in a non-invasive manner.  Looking inside the hives to check on the bees just upsets them, unsurprisingly, and has a negative effect on honey yield.  The full article, with audio clip, is at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16114890

The piece of news was the recreation of the sound made by crickets 165 million years ago in the Jurassic period.  The radio piece gave us a few chirps but the on-line article at http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/16878292 is silent.   The researchers recreated the sound by examining a fossilised cricket. What is particularly interesting is that they believe they can use the sounds to make further assumptions about the other sounds in the forest.  This is because the insects would have to make their sound cut through the rest of the jungle noise to reach their prospective mate.

The wind changes

Spring is about here in Norfolk and the soundscape in which I live is about to change. Already my neighbour, who thoughtfully placed a water feature outside by bedroom window two years ago or more, has activated his fountain. Maybe it's a matter of taste, or perhaps I'm just a Philistine, but one man's bucolic fantasy is another man's plumbing nightmare. To be fair, it doesn't really bother me in the day but at night it's like staying in a cheap hotel and getting the room next to the toilet.


And last weekend I heard my first electric lawnmower of the year. In case you have ever wondered, 'Flymo' has nothing to do with hovering, or flight of any kind, unless you include those nasty winged insects with the annoying buzz. Peaceful Sunday afternoons in the garden? Don't get your hopes up.

Seriously though, and human noise aside, the sound of the wind is about to change here in England. It is made by the action of air on solid matter and for some months now this matter has mostly consisted of denuded trees and man-made structures. In a week or two, depending on the weather, millions of new leaves will be added to the mix. Softer, warmer, richer? Less lonesome? I'm not even going to try to describe it. Much better just to keep my ears attuned and enjoy the transition.

Ant music

Well, not really, but did anyone else hear the article on BBC Radio 4 yesterday about naturalists who had managed to insert microphones and a tiny speaker into an ants' nest? Apparently it has been known for some time that these insects make sounds when they are under threat and of course any disturbance of their nest will be seen as hostile. On this occasion the researchers succeeded in recording sounds of 'happy' ants. Different ants make different sounds, depending on their function in the colony, in order to communicate with their fellows. The sounds were played back to them and their behaviour observed.

This was all done in order to learn how some insects manage to live as aliens inside ant colonies by tricking their hosts into believing they are neither aggressors nor food. I have searched the BBC for more about this and drawn a blank. I must assume I have received a lesson in the importance of attentive listening but it is something I will try to follow up.