Gormire lake is located at the foot of Sutton Bank, 5 miles to the east of Thirsk.
On previous visits to Gormire, an almost uncanny silence was noticed around the lake when there was no one else about. The enclosing low ridge and high cliff face seems to shield the lake from external noise, while the still body of water perhaps absorbs or deadens any sound.
A visit to Gormire on a cold day in January 2023 found the lake totally frozen over, and we seemed to be the only ones who had ventured down to the lake on that chilly morning. So it was rather startling when the silence was broken by a loud 'Twing-Twang-Twang-Twang' noise echoing across the lake. The sound was so bizarre and out of place that we immediately looked up and around for some explanation, but there was nothing. Utterly puzzled by the noise we walked on, then a few minutes later the sound came again, but this time we could see a young guy further around the lake skimming stones across the frozen surface. Some how this created the strange noise as the stone skipped across the ice, with the sound seemingly greatly amplified by the massive frozen sheet.
You can hear the sound on the video below, and on the day it was louder at
different points around the lake, so there definately seems to be some
acoustic effects at Gormire.
After note
later on, while sat by the lake, the same sound could be heard occasionally,
but much fainter. As there was definately no one throwing stones this time, we
wondered if this was caused by rising air bubbles hitting the underside of the
frozen surface?
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