The sounds of summer - good and bad

Frogs may be harmless, but Philip doesn't want a noisy one outside his bedroom window at night. Photo / BoP Times

I was lying in bed this morning trying to enjoy a sleep in when a flock of birds started squawking right outside my bedroom window.

What's one person's lullaby is another person's squawking nightmare. As I lay there wishing for a gust of wind to blow them out of the tree it got me thinking about the sounds that the weather and mother nature make that can be absolutely beautiful or absolutely horrible.

I'm not a very good sleeper...I need conditions to be perfect to fall asleep and so I find what's happening with the weather is a huge help. The full moon lately has not been helping... while it's a beautiful sight it certainly lights my room up into a glowing box which I find difficult to sleep in.

I also enjoy sleeping with the curtains open in one part of my room, allowing me to look up at the stars from bed. Of course at 4am I suddenly wake up to what looks like a car headlight in my face as the moon slowly passes by.

Obviously the moon has no sound but it definitely affects the way some of us sleep - and I'm sure those annoying birds this morning right outside my bedroom window were woken up earlier than usual too by its bright light.

So here are my top 10 favourite and my 10 ten worst sounds of mother nature.

Top 10 Favourite

1) Rain on the bedroom windows
2) Rain on the roof
3) Thunder
4) Small waves lapping a beach
5) Wind in a large tree
6) Strong wind coming through a closed window
7) Hail on a tin roof
8) Dead silence (something you experience out in the open plains)
9) Seagulls (in the DISTANCE!)
10) Not quite a mother nature sound but the sound of shoes walking in fresh snow.

Top 10 Worst

1) Birds squawking outside my bedroom window!
2) Cicadas
3) Crickets at night
4) Frogs
5) Huge waves at night when I'm camping near a beach
6) A distant cow mooing
7) Dogs barking
8) Ice creaking or breaking (glaciers make this noise. To me it's nature's equivalent of fingers down a black board)
9) Rain dripping slowly from a gutter
10) Possums

Some of them are pretty random I know.

So what are your favourite and worst sounds of mother nature? Maybe you have the same list as mine, or perhaps the complete opposite. Post your comments below and share them with other Herald readers.

Now that I'm wide awake those birds squawking sound more like birds chirping. Funny how love and hate can be as simple as a mind set. It's the same mind set that ensure some of us love thunder and others hate it.

Speaking of mind sets - check out our new poll that we're running. How will you say 2010? "20-10" or "2000 and 10". Click here to vote.