This is the bit of recording that includes the swans flying through the abbey.
While I was sitting silently with the recorder running a pair of swans flew the length of the abbey, through the windows at either end and about 10 to 12 feet up, over my head. It was bright morning sun and a blue sky and all very beautiful.
The recording was made in the tower of the abbey ruin with the microphone pointed into the rear wall to maximise the impact of the building on the ambient sound around it. Sounds are coming through the entrance, from above and through the stone walls, so it is intentionally a bit muffled and echoey.
8.00am on Sunday 17 October at Fountains Abbey, Ripon, North Yorkshire.