We all know that as each year passes there are fewer birds around in our world - here is something quite striking. Listen to the recording in this article:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jul/03/dawn-chorus-uk-birdsong-50-years-audio-landscape
You will hear Britain’s dawn chorus of 1976 demonstrating the dramatic loss of birdsong in 50 years. The Guardian recreated audio landscape of the past filled by the loud morning symphony before 73m wild birds were lost.
In the last 50 years, Britain has lost an astonishing 73 million wild birds from its landscape, according to the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO). Other countries are experiencing just the same.
“What we have is a shifting baseline,” said Dr Rob Robinson, a senior scientist at the BTO who researches wild bird populations. “People engaging in nature today are going to think the numbers they are seeing are normal, particularly children. But if you go back 50 years, they would have been able to experience a much richer environment.”
I am old enough to remember the old dawn chorus - it really is frightening what we have got used to (shifting baseline syndrome) and accepted. The recording in this article takes us back from a typical morning chorus today to what it once was. The difference is frightening.
We need a sad or scared button, as well as a ”like” button….
Time to haul out the old Simon and Garfunkel 'Sounds of Silence' to remind people what we are losing, get them motivated to do more to protect habitat, feed responsibly, work with government on protection of migratory species where international cooperation is needed.