If we tune our subconscious to the sounds of nature, it’s easy to keep tabs on our fellow creatures

even our supposedly feeble and fixed ears can surprise us at any time with what they can do.

TRAINING YOUR EARS

You can train your ears the same way you train your eyes – hearing and sight are inextricably entwined. All you need to do is keep your ears open and eavesdrop on nature. For example, I enjoy hearing the call of the black woodpecker, a German native like myself. Perhaps that’s because I know it relies on ancient beeches with wide trunks for its nesting cavities and it has become rarer for lack of suitable trees. Or maybe it’s because of the bird’s impressive size and its bright-red feather cap. Whatever the reason, it makes me happy every time I hear its cheery croo-croo-croo. I feel the same thrill when I hear the crock-crock-crock of the raven or the unmistakable call of cranes.

Because these are among my favourite sounds, I hear them even when, for most other people, they get lost in ambient noise. I register crane calls, for example, despite triple glazing, insulated walls and the nightly hum of the television. I jump up and run to the front door so I can enjoy the sound at full volume.

It shouldn’t be a problem for most of us to hear nature more clearly. Think of other everyday sounds that, over time, you’ve learned to pick out. The ring of a mobile phone, for example, or the sound when a message comes through. I’m always amused when fellow travellers in trains or waiting at the station give an involuntary twitch when they hear those sounds from somewhere in their vicinity, even when the volume is turned right down. As many people (including me) haven’t customised their ringtones, mobile phones of the same make all sound similar. Maybe that important call is for you.

If we tune our subconscious to the sounds of nature instead, it’s easy to keep acoustic tabs on many of our fellow creatures. Our hearing might be better than we think.

EXTRACTED FROM The Heartbeat of Trees: Embracing Our Ancient Bond with Forests and Nature by Peter Wohlleben (Greystone Books, £16.99).