Today is International Dawn Chorus Day – a celebration of bird song in Spring.
As Natural England Chair Tony Juniper pointed out recently, the dawn chorus is one of nature’s most special phenomena.
Whether it’s local robins, blackcaps, wrens and chiff chaffs will depend on where you are in the country…but wherever that is it’s worth the extra effort to wake up around 530 for a morning or two and just listen.
There’s also evidence that just listening to nature in a concentrated way is good for your health.
- Listening in a mindful way can increase awareness of what is going on for us internally.
- You will be activating your vagus nerve – the ‘love nerve’. This has a wide range of effects including openness to others, positive emotion and reduced blood pressure and heart rate
Have a listen to this recording from Annie Mahtani in a Birmingham woodland.