Silence of the birds

Tom Streeter, chairman of SongBird Survival, talks to Kate Green about his charity’s ambition to halt the decline of the delightful small birds that provide the countryside’s musical backdrop

- Kate Green

SCHACK, schack, schak!’ ‘Si-si-sisi-suu!’ ‘Tett-ett-ett!’ Such imperious calls—here those of the fieldfare, yellowhammer and meadow pipit— are among the vital signs that there’s life on Earth. Garden, woodland and farmland birds, members of the passerine family, are the natural environment’s canaries in the mine, but their melodies are being heard less and less frequently. It’s a silence that speaks volumes about the deteriorating state of British biodiversity.

SongBird Survival (SBS), a small, but valiant charity started by landowners in 2001 with the strapline ‘Saving songbirds with science’, is trying, through research, education and practical measures, to halt the decline of this country’s songbirds, which stands at about 56% since 1970.

‘My 10-year-old daughter said: “Daddy, you’ve got to save songbirds” and my eldest daughter is very keen on conservation, so that swung it,’ acknowledges Tom Streeter, chairman of the board of SBS trustees, on being persuaded by vice-chairman the Earl of Leicester to take on the role in 2017.

Fostering enthusiasm for birdwatching in primary schools is one of the SBS’s priorities. ‘If you can engage five, six, seven-year-olds with feeding birds, it will stay with them for life,’ maintains Mr Streeter. ‘Someone asked “why do we need songbirds and the dawn chorus” and my daughter answered: “It’s Nature’s voice.” If there’s an audible noise, then all is well. If it’s not there, something’s wrong.’