Reveil starts in Rotherhithe near the Greenwich Meridian and travels west from one open microphone to the next, following the wave of sound that loops the earth with the rising sun, picking up audio feeds from forest cams, very low frequency receivers, deep ocean hydrophones, space radio stations, and a network of soundcamps and streamers, in a sequence lasting one earth day.

Tony, who works for the RSPB's South West England team, is especially hoping to capture the dawn song of Dartington's robins.  "Back in the 1930s, Dartington was where the pioneering ornithologist David Lack studied robin behaviour," he said, "his work became one of the first species monographs and I love the idea that I'll be recording birds who may well be descended from the ones he studied."

The Dartington broadcast will be part of a listening event called a SoundCamp - one of several being held around the world to mark International Dawn Chorus Day.  SoundCamps in the UK will be at Stave Hill Ecological Park, London; Piel View House, Furness Peninsula, Cumbria; Dartington Hall, Totnes, Devon and the Ulster Museum, Belfast.  There will be others in New York, Chicago, Toronto, Italy, Slovenia, Estonia and Greece.  Tony will also be leading listening walks, continuing a long Dartington tradition of outdoor listening, recording and sonic art.

Today is Earth Day 2015, and Radio 3 has been tweeting its suggestions for suitable music.  Last Year's Earth Day was marked by a special performance of what the New York Times described as "the ultimate environmental piece" - Inuksuit by John Luther Adams.

Written for " between nine and ninety-nine percussionists" it is a piece for playing in the outdoors, and adapted for the environment in which it is to be heard.

At the other end of the scale, John Luther Adams's ethereal homage to the humble canyon wren (pictured) is featured in this Saturday's Hear and Now. Birdwatcher, guitarist and broadcaster Tom McKinney will be reviewing the latest CDs on BBC Radio 3's flagship contemporary music programme.

Click the button for programme details and, from Sunday for 30 days, to hear it again.

Outdoors, rather than focusing our attention inward, we are challenged to expand our awareness  .... to receive messages not only from the composer and the performers, but also from the larger world around us.

Fans of Adams will be able to experience a new outdoor work at this year's East Neuk Festival in June, along with a programme of literary events celebrating our profound connections with nature, landscape and seascape. See our What's On page for details.

Like NATURAL LIGHT, Tom McKinney's excellent blog also explores the connections between birds and music.

Sibelius’s Fifth Symphony underwent the longest, most difficult gestation of all his works. He began composing it during the late summer of 1914 but made slow progress, writing in his diary, “It is as if God had thrown down mosaic pieces from heaven’s floor and asked me to put them back as they were.”

By April 1915 he was struggling with the finale, searching in vain for the theme that would bring the great work to a fitting conclusion.  The problem was solved on the morning of 21st when inspiration finally came with the spring arrival of Finland’s national bird, the whooper swan.

Click the button to hear Stephen Johnson on Sibelius's 5th Symphony in BBC's Discovering Music series.

As part of celebrations for its 25th anniversary, Plantlife has launched a poll to find the nation’s favourite wild flower.

One in five of Britain’s wild flowers is under threat and the vote is an opportunity to highlight their plight.  As with the concurrent election for Britain’s national bird, I have had no hesitation which gets my vote. 

The bluebell has previously been voted Britain’s favourite flower, and it’s mine, too.  But tactical voters should also vote bluebell.  While you can find them in neighbouring countries, the classic bluebell wood is almost uniquely a British sight.  Between a quarter and a half of all the world’s bluebells are found in Britain and Ireland.

However, during my recently-completed two year secondment in North Norfolk, I found a significant acreage of bluebells in the Snettisham area that was contaminated through hybridisation with the rampant Spanish bluebell.  It is a problem reported from most parts of Britain.  The Spanish species is a garden favourite which readily escapes into the wild.  It is more invasive and more vigorous than our native species, and hybrids even more so.

I have found that whereas the common bluebell takes around three years to flower from seed, a Spanish bluebell plant will flower in its first year, so the rate at which the native plants can be genetically swamped is frightening.  Whatever your views on non-native plants’ “right” to grow wild, the fact is, the common bluebell is more beautiful, more scented, and more part of our cherished woodland landscape than its paler, more rugged-looking cousin.

Ospreys have returned to the proposed site of T in the Park festival at Strathallan Castle, and police are monitoring the nest site for fear of disturbance to this highly protected species.  Campaigners opposed to the festival taking place so close to the traditional nesting site of Scotland's conservation icon, have obtained video evidence that shows they have returned from their African wintering grounds.

The festival, which is due to feature acts such as The Prodigy, Kasabian, and Noel Gallagher, has been dogged by controversy since its proposed move there was announced last year. Hundreds of letters of objection and support have been sent to Perth and Kinross Council.  Tickets have been sold despite a decision on planning permission not being due until next month.

The RSPB and other conservation campaigners have criticised DF Concerts for being poorly organised and unprepared for the ospreys' return.  The organisation's tactic of erecting a crane by the nest site to scare the birds away from this site while an alternative site was constructed, has also been controversial.  As long as the birds were away in Africa, the nest site was not considered "active", the organisers argued, claiming that the move was therefore not against the law.

Now video obtained yesterday shows the birds' attachment to their usual nest site is too strong, and they appear to have returned.  If so, the concert organisers, and potentially concert-goers themselves, may face up to 6 months in prison and/or a £5000 fine.  DF Concerts have announced that the festival will still go ahead, but have not yet explained how they will achieve this within the law.  Experts have called for a 750 metre buffer zone around the nest.


RSPB Scotland said they “will continue to work with all parties to see if any contingencies might be available to allow the event to proceed and for the birds to be given the required space and freedom they require so they will enjoy a successful breeding season.”

A spokesperson for T in the Park said: “We can confirm that Osprey have returned to Strathallan.” They pledged to “liaise with the relevant organisations to ensure the protection of the birds,” and added: “we’d also like to assure fans that the festival will go ahead. The decision on our planning application will still be made in May and we remain confident that the event will take place at Strathallan.”

Vanessa Reid is a political ecologist focusing on food sovereignty, food waste and organic agriculture in the South West of England, proposing the need for radical systemic change within our current food and farming system: one which is becoming increasingly unsustainable, and unhealthy, for both planet and people. Based in Bristol, she is Co-Director of This is Rubbish, a community-interest company, aiming to communicate the preventable scale of food wasted in the UK, through policy research, community and arts led public events.

Vanessa will be working with farmers from the Cerne valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Dorset.  She is currently designing and creating an exhibition and research project on the future of milk in the UK as Cape Farewell’s 2015 Rural Artist in Residence.  Her blog will follow the progress of the project.