This piece was recorded on the 1st of May at 5am. I wanted to record the dawn chorus at a riparian woodland near Rooskey. It was a dull and rainy start to the day. As the piece opens, raindrops can be heard falling from a nearby barn. At the woodland other various birds can be heard, including thrushes, blackbirds, finches and local cockerel. Bovine life can be also heard from a farm over the hill. The track closes with the sound of the cuckoo – a sound I had never heard in Dublin.

The cuckoo does not have a good reputation as they lay their eggs in the nests of other bird species. The cuckoo chicks when they hatch are instinctually drawn to eject the host eggs out of the nest. But I find the sound of the cuckoo somewhat mesmerising. Themes of biophilia and topophilia are in this simple piece. To have an affection for the sound of an unliked bird is characteristic of my love of the sonic life of the woodland area. One of the blackbird sounds is from a bird the frequently visits a nearby tree. I love his distinctive sound. Then the love of this place and its sounds inspired the early start to capture as much of the sound before human activity also competes in the sonic landscape.