The Christmas Heron

It’s Christmas Eve and the perfect time for a canal-side story. Have you ever heard of the Christmas Heron? No? Well, there’s probably a very good reason for that, but I will tell it to you anyway. So, curl up in your special armchair by the stove and I will tell you all about the Christmas Heron.

Journal entry:                       

24th December, Saturday (Christmas Eve).

“Christmas Eve dawns with a silvered light.
 The canal is mirror calm.

A choir of rook song.
 A lone swan flying south.
 The cormorant, cruciform, ornaments the ash.

Tinsel ribbons of memories stream away into
 the distant Christmases of my childhood.”

 Episode Information:

In this episode I sample the following recordings:

‘Harsh cries by one Grey Heron’ recorded by ‘Dobroide’ near Caño de Guadiamar, Doñana National Park (Spain): https://freesound.org/people/dobroide/sounds/65264/ 

Swans in flight recorded by ‘Dibko’: https://freesound.org/people/dibko/

For more information about Nighttime on Still Waters

You can find more information and photographs about the podcasts and life aboard the Erica on our website at noswpod.com. It will also allow you to become more a part of the podcast and you can leave comments, offer suggestions, and reviews. You can even, if you want, leave me a voice mail by clicking on the microphone icon. 

General Details

In the intro and the outro, Saint-Saen's The Swan is performed by Karr and Bernstein (1961) and available on CC at archive.org.

Two-stroke narrowboat engine recorded by 'James2nd' on the River Weaver, Cheshire. Uploaded to Freesound.org on 23rd June 2018. Creative Commons Licence. 

Piano and keyboard interludes composed and performed by Helen Ingram.

All other audio recorded on site. 

Contact
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Contact
For pictures of Erica and images related to the podcasts or to contact me, follow me on:

I would love to hear from you. You can email me at [email protected] or drop me a line by going to the nowspod website and using either the contact form or, if you prefer, record your message by clicking on the microphone icon.

For more information about Nighttime on Still Waters

You can find more information and photographs about the podcasts and life aboard the Erica on our website at noswpod.com.