Canadian wildlife: notes from the field

The British Library wildlife and environmental sounds archive was established in 1969 by the ornithologist Patrick Seller and the BBC radio producer Jeffrey Boswell, with the endeavour to create a national collection that can document, preserve and share the sounds of nature for future generations to study and enjoy. Since then we have amassed over 6.5 million recordings and are now one of the most comprehensive collections in the world, used by scientists and amateur naturalists alike.

A huge proportion of the archive is still in analogue format. In 2017 a large-scale and ambitious project called Unlocking Our Sound Heritage was launched, aimed at digitally preserving rare and at risk recordings, and making them accessible to the public. Among those preserved collections is one about Canadian wildlife. The audio recordings are also accompanied by a meticulous set of notes that hold a wealth of information about the recording, habitat and local species. Rarely does a collection come into our hands with such detailed and useful field notes as this one has. They illustrate the immense time, knowledge and skill that goes into making the recordings before they reach the archive.

The British Library and the Unlocking Our Sound Heritage project need your help to convert this collection of wildlife field notes into a digital format that can be shared with the public, and assist scientists and nature enthusiasts worldwide.