A new online radio platform broadcasting natural sounds has been launched by the University of Sussex. Wilding Radio is broadcasting 24 hours a day from the Knepp Estate in West Sussex.
The station has been developed by Dr Alice Eldridge, an expert in soundscape ecology, which is the practice of using sound to understand ecosystems and changes in biodiversity. The sounds of the Knepp Estate include nightingales and turtle doves, recently attracted back to the land, as well as more familiar cows, pigs, frogs and deer. The team intend it to be the ultimate ‘slow radio’ to help people reconnect to nature. Dr Eldridge said “We have come to believe we are separate from ‘nature’, but as we listen we realise we are just one of many species trying to get on with our lives." Isabella Tree, author and co-owner of the Knepp Estate said “We may hear the odd crow, blackbird or pigeon but, across Britain the number of wild birds has fallen by 73 million since 1970. We’ve lost the wall of sound they used to generate. We hope listeners will find it both relaxing, reassuring and hopeful."
Wilding Radio uses solar powered high quality audio equipment – with one pair of microphones in the canopy of a tree and another pair underwater in a shallow brook. Listeners can mix between the soundscape of the trees and the water.
Tune in anytime: https://wilding.radio
