Recording of the week: Ganapati, mythology and Koh-i-Noors: a poetry reading by Debjani Chatterjee

This week’s selection comes from Catherine Smith, Audio Project Cataloguer for Unlocking our Sound Heritage. To celebrate the first official South Asian Heritage Month in the U.K., running from July 18th to August 17th, we are sharing the beautiful poetry of Debjani Chatterjee (1952-), an Indian-born British award-winning poet, children’s…




Recording of the week: Do you know what a paternoster is?

This week’s recording of the week comes from Holly Gilbert, Cataloguer of Digital Multimedia Collections. Sharon and Jonathan are colleagues who work together in the Finance department of the British Library, based in Boston Spa in Yorkshire. Sharon has been employed by the library for 42 years whereas Jonathan is…




In celebration of owls

Today marks International Owl Awareness Day, an annual celebration created to raise awareness and spread knowledge about these fascinating birds of prey. There are around 200 species of owl living today. Some, such as the Elf Owl, can fit into the palm of your hand while others, such as Blakiston’s…




Recording of the week: Evening by Lake Siemianówka

This week’s selection comes from Cheryl Tipp, Curator of Wildlife & Environmental Sounds. Lake Siemianówka is one of the largest artificial lakes in Poland. Created by human hands in the upper stream of the Narew River, this body of water is now home to a wealth of wildlife that live…




Recording of the week: The secret song of the skylark

This week’s selection comes from Cheryl Tipp, Wildlife and Environmental Sounds Curator. Birds are much like people when it comes to using sound to express themselves. Some are measured and mellow while others go at it hammer and tongs. The Eurasian Skylark (Alauda arvensis) is a songster that firmly believes…