The RSPB is launching a free birdsong radio app- RSPB Birdsong Radio.
The app is being launched to thank supporters of the charity's Let Nature Sing campaign, which saw the first ever release of a music track made from pure birdsong rank in UK music charts.
As the seasonal dawn chorus fades, the app will allow wildlife enthusiasts to continue to revel in the sound of birdsong.
Let Nature Sing was an arrangement of some of the UK’s most loved and most threatened bird songs, created to raise awareness of the cost of doing nothing to stop the disaster facing nature, which is pushing many UK birds towards extinction.
The public support was overwhelming, smashing the charity's expectations. Let Nature Sing reached No 18 in the charts, more than 23,000 people downloaded the track and the message got through.
The birdsong app is inspired by the popular former Radio Birdsong, a broadcast of layered bird calls and country sounds used as a test transmission for Classic FM and for digital radio stations during the 90s and 00s. At its peak it was thought to have 500,000 weekly listeners and its removal was met with widespread public outcry and media coverage.
RSPB’s Adrian Thomas, who recorded the main 35-minute birdsong loop you can hear on the Radio app, said: “We wanted to create a gentle, ambient background chorus of some of our most-loved and seriously endangered birds to take listeners on an uplifting walk through the countryside.
Turtle dove photo: Ben Andrew
“People take bird song for granted but our skies are slowly falling silent. Countryside ramblers would struggle to hear the songs of some of the most beautiful birds on the track now.”
Radio engineer and broadcaster Quentin Howard, who founded the original Radio Birdsong and helped develop RSPB Birdsong Radio, said there was a public outcry when Digital One decided to remove Radio Birdsong in favour of music from unsigned bands.
He said: “Listener response was always amazing and I had hundreds of letters and emails.
“When it was live the original Radio Birdsong was used in a cancer ward whilst patients received chemotherapy treatment, by prisoners who hadn’t heard birds for 25 years and in hospital and dentist waiting rooms to calm patients’ nerves.
“People used it to get their babies off to sleep.
“There was quite a backlash when Radio Birdsong ceased transmissions in 2009. Working with the RSPB on the creation of this app was a delight.”
Listeners of the RSPB Birdsong Radio app can hear a soothing soundscape of UK birdsong, featuring species suffering serious decline from all four UK countries such as the turtle dove, nightingale, snipe, greenfinch and curlew.
The app is launching today to coincide with summer solstice celebrations of nature.
A handy alarm-clock feature will allow listeners to wake up to the gentle purring of the turtle dove rather than a blaring alarm.
The app will also give users the option to hear multiple birdsong tracks including Quentin’s original Radio Birdsong audio as well as an edited version of the Let Nature Sing track that made it to number 18 in the charts.
The RSPB Birdsong Radio app will be available to download from mobile device app stores at midnight on Friday June 21.
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