The RSPB is releasing a specially-created track of birdsong titled ‘Let Nature Sing’ to highlight the loss of over 40 million wild birds from the UK in the past 50 years.
The single is a compilation of sound recordings of birds with powerful conservation stories, including the Cuckoo, Curlew, Nightingale, Crane and Turtle Dove.
The charity is calling on the public to download, stream and share the single and help get birdsong into the charts for the first time, spreading the word that people across the UK are passionate about nature’s recovery.
Directed by Sam Lee, award-winning singer and musician, and produced by Bill Barclay, musical Director at the Globe Theatre; the single uses entirely new sound recordings by a RSPB birdsong expert, recorded on nature reserves and other places around the UK.
The single will be available to pre-order on all major platforms from 5 April and on general release 26 April, reaching a crescendo for International Dawn Chorus Day on 5 May. More information can be found and the track can be downloaded at www.rspb.org.uk/letnaturesing
Nightingale singing, Oxfordshire, May, by Craig Churchill (rspb-images.com)
Martin Harper, RSPB Director of Conservation said: “Nature is falling silent; over the last 50 years we’ve lost a quarter of the birds that used to sing and soar in our skies. We’re losing our connection with nature and so we’re using music to put it back on the agenda by releasing a track of pure uninterrupted birdsong.
“Children today are growing up with much less birdsong in the soundtrack to their lives. We’re asking people to show their support and concern for nature by downloading the single and enjoying the benefits that birdsong brings into our lives, but also helping to get nature noticed.”
Sam Lee, who helped edit the single, said: “Birdsong has been one of the biggest influences of English song, poetry and literature. The loss of it should concern us all, because it is a signal that all is not well in the world. We should see birdsong as a barometer for the health of this planet, and hence of ourselves.”
Although the track is not designed to raise funds, and the download price is the minimum permitted under chart rules; any proceeds raised will go to help the charity’s 200 nature reserves around the UK, where a home for the birds featured on the single is created and protected for future generations to enjoy.
Top image: Curlew in flight at RSPB reserve in Norfolk by Kevin Sawford (rspb-images.com)
