Listen to the landscape

 Welcome to the first of our creative activities that will help you to use your imagination and observation skills to explore nature in the urban landscape of Wandsworth. 

Right from the moment you step out of your house, if you look and listen carefully, you'll spot more wildlife than ever in the streets around you. In this activity, you can get an idea of what life is like for one of your neighbourhood street trees.

What you'll need

Scrap paper

Pen or pencil

Something to lean on

A timer or friend to take turns with counting

Let's get started!

• First of all, you'll need a scrap of paper, and a pen or pencil. It doesn't matter if you use the back of an envelope or a lovely drawing pad - either will work for this activity! Just remember, we aren't trying to make a beautiful drawing today, so it doesn't matter what the paper looks like when you've finished. This activity is all about taking the time to listen carefully, and having a piece of paper will help record what we hear.
• You'll also need something you can lean on - like a book that's about the same size at your paper. Last of all you need a timer. This can be on a phone, a watch or an egg timer, or you can take turns with someone else who's happy to count for you.
• Got all you need? Next, it's time to head outside! Once you've left your house, walk along your road and keep your eyes peeled for a tree that's growing out of the pavement. These are called street trees. Not every street has trees like this, but lots do in Wandsworth. These trees don't belong to a house or garden. They are part of the public landscape and they are maintained by the local council. Some of London's street trees have been around for hundreds of years!
• Find a tree you like. I chose this tree because of the way the tree base is wide near the ground and makes a perfect little seat!

• Find a spot where you can sit or stand comfortably next to your tree and write on your paper. A tree growing near a brick wall is good, as you can use the wall to lean on.
• Set your timer for 1 minute, or if you're teaming up with a human timer, ask them to be ready to count to 60 in their head.
• Right in the middle of your paper, draw a dot that represents where you are right now.

• Start your timer or give your friend a thumbs up to start counting.
• Close your eyes and listen carefully. What can you hear on your left? Open your eyes so you are only looking down at your paper. If you can hear a car approaching on your left, make a mark on the paper that shows the sound of the car coming towards you, the tiny dot. If it's a whooshing sound, it should be a whooshing kind of mark! If it's moving from left to right on the paper, show the whooshing coming from left to right.
• Listen again. What about on your right? Can you hear bees buzzing in the hedge? What kind of marks could you make on the paper for bees buzzing? Where will you make them to show how close to you they are?
• Keep your eyes on the paper and use your ears to notice what's around you instead. What about in front of you, behind, above or below you? Can you hear sounds in the distance or inside houses in the street? Can you hear people's voices talking, or laughing, or a dog barking, or birds singing? Make marks on the paper to show all of these sounds. Use shapes or lines to help you remember what they are - remember, you only have 60 seconds!
• When your time is up you might want to label the sounds you marked all around you on the paper, to help you remember what they were. Imagine you were the tree next to you. What might you hear going on on this street in a whole day? What might it sound like when it's pouring with rain? Or in the middle of the night?

• Now have another go, and do it for longer this time. You'll be surprised how much happens in even 5 minutes of tree life!
• The map above shows the sounds heard in just one 5-minute sitting! Listen to a recording of it below too. Have a listen here, if you like: