As part of the BBC's Soundscapes for Wellbeing project, Radio 3's Controller Alan Davey reflects on the powerful impact sounds from the natural world can have, and on how the radio station is exploring them – and on the particular importance of doing so at a time when not everyone has easy access to the nature.

Why do we love classical music? Among the many ways that people could answer this – whatever particular area of music that leaps to mind - I am sure words like inspiration, solace, escapism, comfort, variety, complexity, stimulation, insight, joy and wonder would crop up. Much research has proved that listening to it can have many measurable benefits including simple aesthetic pleasures. The sounds of nature can elicit many of the same feelings and there is no doubt that the familiar or surprising sounds of that natural world have a power we have yet to fully understand.

The inherent aural interest of sounds of the natural world is something Radio 3 has always treasured and sought to connect listeners with in many ways, from our Slow Radio strand – including Lighting the Beacon and our Sunrise Sound Walks – to combining music and nature together in distinct and new  ways. As part of the BBC’s Soundscapes for Wellbeing project, which is bringing virtual soundscapes of music and nature directly to audiences, we are exploring the connections more closely and bringing more sounds of nature to audiences. Perhaps this is something we need now more than ever.

As part of this, all this week Radio 3’s Breakfast show has been broadcasting sound effects from the newly-interactive BBC Sound Effects archive which are connected to classical pieces of music, such the atmospheric and mind-expanding ‘Unst Boat Song’ by the Danish String Quartet, which you can listen back to on BBC Sounds here. In tomorrow morning’s Breakfast, every work played will have a link to nature, landscapes and wildlife – from Moeran’s In the Mountain Country to Rossini’s Thieving Magpie as well as the theme to BBC Two’s Winterwatch, which has been arranged by Steve Pycroft and recorded by Kaleidoscope Orchestra especially for Thursday’s episode (now available on iPlayer). Both Saturday Sounds on Breakfast this weekend will be taken from the BBC Sound Effects Library, while on Music Matters, Kate Molleson looks at how natural and musical soundscapes can affect mental health and talks us through Soundscapes for Wellbeing’s ground-breaking experiment with the University of Exeter - The Virtual Nature Experiment.

The BBC Sound Effects archive – a free and interactive resource for audio lovers to get lost in – is the source of inspiration for the New Music Show with a new mix by Oram award-winning artist Una Lee: her brilliant soundscape is created with sounds from the archive, all gathered specifically in Antarctica. It is also explored on Sunday’s Slow Radio special, Take Me To Your Happy Place with Winterwatch presenter and natural historian Gillian Burke who has sourced music and natural sounds that encourage her own personal wellbeing. Gillian creates a rich and idyllic sound wall for Radio 3 – combining the gentle lapping of waves, the sound of wind rustling the leaves of ash trees in a wood, and the calls of doves and nocturnal crickets which remind her of her childhood in Kenya. 

We know that not everyone has easy access to the natural world right now, and for them we hope Radio 3 can bring some of the riches of nature, alongside the transformative powers of classical music, directly to their homes, giving them consolation, stimulation and time to reflect when they need it most.

Alan Davey is the Controller of BBC Radio 3