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Insect Love Songs - Glow-worms (Lampyris noctiluca)
“... she must twist and turn her tail’s green fire
like bait, its little stab of brightness in the night,
and he must search with wings through troubled air
to find her pinhole lure, its single, green,
seducing star…”
(Love Poem, Lampyridae - Fiona Benson)
Part of a series of Insect Love Songs created by award-winning poet Fiona Benson and BBC radio producer Mair Bosworth as part of our 2019 Urgency Arts Commissions.
In this sound piece they visit the Ambios nature conservation farm on the Sharpham Estate in Devon, to meet conservation educator Mike Cooke who shows us where to look for glowworms - “they look like little LEDs - it’s hard to believe it’s an insect the first time you see it, it looks far too bright”.
Glow-worms are not worms at all, but beetles belonging to the family Lampyridae. In the UK, adult glow-worms are active between May and September. The females are wingless, with a light-producing organ at the end of their abdomen. The female will climb to a high point, such as a blade of grass, and turn her glowing light upwards, in the hope of attracting a flying male. Due to the importance of light to their communication and mating, light pollution is considered a factor in areas where glow-worm populations are in decline.
Poems by Fiona Benson. Field recordings and sound design by Mair Bosworth.
With additional Creative Commons music, samples and sound effects via Freesound; thank you in particular to Dobroide, DomestoPhonics, Patchen, InspectorJ, Janbezouska, Juskiddink, KamilNaidoo, Klankbeeld, MegMcDuffee, Ph4kture, Piggimon, Plagasul, Setuniman, Suonho, Tim_Kahn and Waveplay_Old.
With thanks to:
Clive Betts, Sarah Campbell, Mike Cooke, John Cooley, Lynn Faust, Naome Glanville, Lara Goodband, Will Hawkes, Gene Kritsky, Eliza Lomas, Michael Malay, David C. Marshall, James Meredith, Holly Morgenroth, Becky Nichols, Phil Rushworth, Jack Skuse, Dana Soehn, Neil Swift, Tom Tregenza, and Karl Wotton.
Image: Dom Greves/Alamy Stock Photo
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- Poetry