“Listen to the Voices of the Fen” launched on 18th July 2024 for World Listening Day and extends to autumn 2025, and is created in partnership with Wicken Fen National Trust Nature Reserve and Babylon Arts. Supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

Listen to the Voices of the Fen invites you to actively listen to the voices of many different species at Wicken Fen. Activities and installations will reveal hidden soundworlds we may not usually notice, from underwater, underground and inside trees. Listen from a new perspective by joining us for a listening walk, take part in a workshop, or wander at your own pace to explore sound installations, all focussed on the intriguing and captivating soundworlds at Wicken Fen.

During spring and summer 2025, a participatory workshops series will invite local communities to explore actively listening together and instrument-making, leading towards a series of installations and a co-created performance at Wicken Fen. From Friday 18 July, World Listening Day, until Sunday 28 September, a new sculptural sound trail will welcome audiences into this ancient landscape.

Compositions created from the field recordings and instruments crafted from locally-sourced natural materials will weave a network of delicate soundscapes, to be listened to through overhead dome-shaped speakers. Kinetic sound sculptures will respond to shifting water levels, emphasising water’s vital role in preserving the peatlands. Wind-powered aeolian instruments will resonate with the ever-present breezes that sweep across the landscape and a playful section of the installation will feature kinetic sound sculptures that echo some of Wicken Fen’s natural voices and include interactive elements.

The opening of the Listen to the Voices of the Fen trail will be further celebrated on Sunday 20 July with a live performance by local participants on hand-made overtone flutes crafted from local willow branches. The choir of flutes will create evocative and captivating soundscapes in response to specific locations and soundworlds of Wicken Fen, and woven into the sculptural sound trail. The performance will be by local workshop participants following a series of co-creation workshops with Jan Hendrickse and Kathy Hinde. Sound artist and flute maker, Jan Hendrickse, who is been collaborating with Kathy, will lead on this unique element. 

Artist and Sound Designer, Oliver Payne and multi-disciplinary creative, Amy Wyllie, joined the creative team in early 2025 to lead on co-creation workshops with local schools and community groups which will also form an integral part of the project.

Find out more on the project website HERE where you can also tune in live to an underwater microphone submerged in a watery ditch running alongside Sedge Fen at Wicken Fen. This underwater soundscape is also being live-streamed as part of ‘locus-sonus’ soundmap, streaming soundscapes from all over the world to explore the ever-evolving relationship between sound and place.

SUMMER 2024

During summer 2024, Sound Pools installation was created specially for the boardwalk at Wicken Fen, launched on World Listening Day (18 July) and was available to experience until the end of September. Many visitors to the fen enjoyed Sound Pools, which was a taster for a larger show for summer 2025, including multiple installations and a performative launch event on World Listening day 2025. Participatory workshops will take place in the lead up to this event.

Sounds from underwater and underground are elevated into a series of overhead speakers, inviting people to step in and out of different soundworlds, to become immersed in the chirping sounds of underwater invertebrates, crackling sounds of fish and to spark curiousity about the sounds hidden deep inside the peat where carbon and time are held.

Deep Listening Walks

Deep Listening Walks are taking place at Wicken Fen throughout the project, providing opportunities to tune in to more of the natural world, and immerse yourself in the sounds you can’t usually hear. Check the Wicken Fen ‘events‘ page to find out about Listening Walks, and other ways to get involved in the project and visit the reserve.

FIND OUT MORE on the project website HERE.