The RSPB has reached number 11 in the UK midweek charts and is hoping to break into the top 10 later today after releasing a track featuring endangered birds.
Let Nature Sing was released last Friday. It is three minutes long and features various threatened and endangered birds to raise awareness of the challenges facing nature.
When it asked YouGov to conduct a poll it found that 82 per cent of people said bird song makes them feel positive but that only 15 per cent realised that the “nature is in crisis”.
The song is part of the charity’s Let Nature Sing campaign, which seeks to engage the public in conversation issues and put pressure on the government to take steps to protect the environment.
Speaking to Civil Society News ahead of the launch of the campaign, Rebecca Munro, director of fundraising and communications at RSPB, said the charity was shifting its focus to “mobilise a mass movement”.
While the idea to move towards a mass movement approach is not specifically in response to Brexit, Munro said that the political climate has encouraged RSPB to be “bolder and braver”.
“It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity,” she said, “so if we can’t make nature laws strong now we are not going to get another opportunity for a very long time”.
‘We need to start talking about this’
RSPB is particularly hoping to reach out to younger people. Its YouGov polling showed that one in three said that had no idea that the UK had lost over 40 million birds in the last 50 years, but upon hearing this, over a third (40 per cent) said they want to do something to save nature.
Martin Harper, the RSPB’s director of conservation, said: “The signs are all around us that something is not right, that nature is falling silent and you only need to stop and listen to find the beautiful bird song that should be the background music to our life is absent.
"But no one is talking about the crisis facing wildlife and nature in the UK. We all need to start talking about this, and the Let Nature Sing track is a good starting point as it perfectly highlights the music we risk losing.”
The charity worked with Sam Lee, a folk musician and Mercury Prize nominee, to edit the single. He said: “Birdsong has been one of the biggest influences of our 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.”
This week’s top 40 will be announced this afternoon on Radio 1.
Let Nature Sing is available on most major streaming platforms and as download or CD.
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