Silent Spring. New study: Why birdsong matters more than you think, Our natural soundscapes are falling silent as bird populations decline.

Throughout my life, I’ve watched human greed destroy everything I love, most agonizing: water, trees and song birds. I’ve experienced my frac’d well water painfully burn my skin and ignite explosively with authorities helping Encana/Ovintiv get away with breaking the law dangerously contaminating my community’s drinking water supply, including AER violating my charter rights to do so.

I’ve observed native trees on the prairies die en mass from the increasing brutality of climate chaos.

I’ve watched the old Rosebud river that meanders through my land, dry up to scummy potholes because of extreme drought while more and more frac’ers intentionally permanently remove water from the hydrogeological cycle with heave ho fossil fascist delight by corrupt “law” makers.

I’ve wretchedly watched the overgrazed grasslands on the prairies lose more and more native grasses, becoming thickly infested with weeds that wildlife, horses and cattle do not eat.

Early June mornings, one of my favourite things used to be to wrap myself in my duvet, open windows wide to listen to the chorus of birdsong as I sipped my coffee. The last two decades, there is less and less birdsong, and fewer birds observed. The last five or six years there has been no bird choir, just the odd isolated bird singing desperately trying to get a response which does not come.

The spring silence that now replaces birdsong is destroying what’s left of my heart and soul ravaged by the endless rapes as a kid – covered up by everyone; Encana’s illegal frac’s – covered up by everyone; the betrayals, smears and attempts to silence me by regulators, main media, police, politicians, community members, friends, family, colleagues, judges and lawyers (including my own) to protect the bird destroying and health destroying status quo.

The hidden benefits of birdsong by Natalia Zielonka Postdoctoral Researcher, Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, and Simon Butler Professor of Applied Ecology, University of East Anglia, Dec 11, 2024, The Conversation

Disclosure statement

Natalia Zielonka received funding from The UKRI Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council Norwich Research Park Biosciences Doctoral Training Partnership (grant code BB/M011216/1).

Simon Butler receives funding from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

Imagine you’re walking across rolling hills that stretch for miles, with warm sunshine and the chirping of birds all around.

This peaceful and serene scene is an increasingly rare one in the modern world.

Our natural soundscapes are falling silent as bird populations decline. Humans are interacting less with nature, in what is sometimes referred to as an “extinction of experience”. This has been linked to deteriorating public health and wellbeing.

I miss birds and their song and grieve more and more as their numbers continue to decline, but I worry more for them and other species humans are despicably wiping out. I watch furious as humans stupidly and arrogantly install more and more massive invasive industrial LED lighting everywhere including where not needed – even knowing how harmful LED lighting and decimation of darkness is to songbirds and bees. I listen repulsed as more and more frac compressors and rigs invade rural communities with violent industrial noise that rumbles clangs and bangs 24/7 and energy regulators abuse the harmed instead of regulating the brutes causing the harms. I scream in silence as I observe frac’ers driving birds out, and climate chaos driven wildfires increase and occur earlier and earlier in the spring burning up nests and baby song birds as parents watch helplessly. I watch the dramatic cumulative harms as climate chaos driven wildfires change migratory bird pathways and starve countless birds. Many humans I try to talk to about it, don’t want to hear about it, or don’t give a shit. They brush birds off, saying change is inevitable. They say they’re more worried about their next vehicle, trip overseas, pub crawl, family reunion, meal, bigger house, more kids and more money to counter their weakening purchasing power (driven insanely by human pollution which most do not want to look at or admit)Birds are often colourful and their song provides the soundtrack to our outdoor activities. Listening to a dawn chorus should be like listening to a full orchestra, with strings, woodwind, brass and percussion impressing with their volume and complexity. But if the only ones who turn up are the bass drum and a trumpeter, the music would be underwhelming, if not boring.

Our study explores the link between birdsong and people, specifically on English vineyards, as viticulture is the UK’s fastest growing agricultural industry. It is also strongly embedded in tourism through vineyard tours and wine-tasting events.

We surveyed bird communities on 21 vineyards and measured the characteristics of their soundscapes using acoustic indices, which are metrics that capture complexity and volume of sound. Our results showed that vineyards with more bird species had louder and more complex soundscapes.

This is not surprising: a vineyard with robins, blackbirds, swifts, finches and tits is expected to sound more acoustically diverse and loud than a vineyard with just a few pigeons, crows and pheasants. Invasive doves and their monotonous song and escalating numbers are annoying and stressful to endure while observing mourning doves and their beautiful soulful song vanish Recorded sounds in an English vineyard.

But does the silencing of our soundscapes matter to us? The short answer is yes. There is growing evidence about the health benefits of spending time in nature, including reducing risks of heart disease, diabetes and anxiety. Yet while the general benefits of being outside in nature may seem intuitive, the contributions of natural sounds to this are less understood.

So as part of our research, we explored the experience of 186 wine-tour participants across three vineyards with varying soundscapes. We also enhanced some vineyard soundscapes with hidden speakers, which played the songs of five additional bird species. This was designed to see how participants’ engagement with nature would be affected by increasing the diversity of birds and songs, as well as the overall volume.

Surprising soundscapes

The results were fascinating. Paul Harrison, the manager at Saffron Grange, a vineyard in Essex, summarised:

“What was surprising was the significant impact that birdsong has on people.”

Visitors who experienced louder and more complex sounds – whether on vineyards with naturally richer soundscapes or on those we had enhanced – reported that they had enjoyed the sounds more. They also felt more connected to nature and more satisfied with their tour. With richer soundscapes, they felt more mindful and positive during the tours, reporting that they felt freer from work, routine and responsibility. They said they felt “engrossed by the sounds” and found them “appealing”.

We harness nature’s benefits subconsciously, which means, as Harrison pointed out, that it’s easy to take them for granted: “We all benefit from the soundscape of the vineyard daily and maybe when it is so frequent we don’t fully realise how that positively impacts wellbeing compared to other work settings.”

Our study is a clear demonstration of the direct effect that birdsong has on our wellbeing. It shows that bird conservation could simultaneously enhance our experience of spending time in nature and elicit positive emotions.

The world we experience today is unlike what our grandparents experienced. We are increasingly disconnected from nature, and nature’s benefits on our wellbeing are lessening as a result. What is most concerning is that these changes are accepted as the new norm, a concept termed “shifting baseline syndrome”.I wonder if this new norm is driving the MAGA-izing of humans, turning us into brain dead raping hate-filled raging violent murderous mobsters we see taking over the world with their escalating lust for lies and Fossil Fascism driving ever more suffering, silence, and death in other species.

We hope our findings lead to more people thinking like Harrison, who concluded:

It goes to show how important nature is for humanity on so many levels and hopefully a study like this supports more investment and help in retaining as well as improving our natural soundscapes.

Our study presents a strong, albeit selfish, argument for protecting natural soundscapes. We showed that even an hour’s exposure to diverse and loud birdsong can lead to feelings of optimism and relaxation. So, we hope businesses and people will be inspired to invest in conservation and promote nature engagement in creative settings, such as workplace courtyards or restaurants with outdoor seating.

Why birdsong matters more than you think, Our natural soundscapes are falling silent as bird populations decline. To improve our lives, we must invest in conservation by Natalia Zielonka and Simon Butle, Dec 12, 2024, Republished in The Guardian