Stoke-by-Nayland - 31st August 2025

​It took a while to locate the position of this painting. After researching on Google Street View I initially thought it was down School Street, or from a garden on that road, but following my nose and eyes I saw a large bank on the east of the now B1087, or Church Street. It was hard to get to a position where the white cottage o the left was near enough to the church, but it may not be the building in the painting. Anyhow, the paintings are often not exactly depicting the topography. With the path and overhanging trees to the right and church at around the correct distance, and without any local knowledge, I felt it was a reasonable guess. Also, Church Street in the bottom of the frame looks to be a by pass so may not have even been in existence during the 1810’s. More research needed here. This road is now pretty busy, even on a Sunday morning.

A substantial house has also been built on Church Street since Constables time but the occupants of this provided some additional sounds on the recording.

It is September tomorrow and there is some bird activity returning to the quiet summer months. It feels as if there has been a long summer this year, starting in May with some very hot periods outweighing the grey and rainy moments. There is a dampness this morning, autumn is early as the blackberries are over already, the leaves and plums are falling, and the pears are nearly ready.

An upside to filming, which I do on my phone, means I can sit, listen, slow down, think, immerse myself more fully in being ‘here’. But not having the phone means that I can’t identify birds in real time (and have to do this during post production), identify aircraft destinations or take photographs. Having two phone would definitely be excessive. I make my movements at the same time as louder noises such as cars, so that listeners are distracted by the sounds and not by my stretching out a leg with pins and needles etc.  

Saturday drivers, cyclists powering up the hill, an easy rider on an electric bike, dog walkers, a yapping dog in a walled garden, a telescopic truck with no forks, a 20mph Zone that no one slows for, the moisture from the moss on the bench finally reaching my arse, a lady bird on the arm of the bench walking over the moss instead of around it, its existence not previously witnessed or noted, 3 out of three cars with their windows firmly to the top not letting the fresh rural morning air in, actually filled with the scent of a two stroke engine, whips featherlike streaks of cloud coming from the south, feint fluffy bals of cloud, lower, coming from the west, the ladybird flying towards them, a lady closing her balcony door, she had been letting the fresh rural morning air in, cyclists freewheeling down the hill, the sound of the wind in the trees, the sound of ash windows being opened, the smell of coal.

I’m finding it hard to zone in today. I think that will change if I up the frequency of recording trips. It is always about time, and the quality of time. Then the quantity of quality time.

​Birds identified are Magpie, Dunnock, Wren, Coal Tit, Chiffchaff, Blackbird, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Jackdaw, Long Tailed Tit, Nuthatch, Collared Dove, Blue Tit, Wood Pigeon, Robin.

The full recording is now on YouTube.