Scientific Wildlife Acoustic Network

Near-live bird activity from listening stations across the network.

Project S.W.A.N. uses passive acoustic monitoring to identify likely bird calls and make local wildlife activity easier to explore. Follow recent detections, learn about species and see how activity changes over time.

1

Stations

1

Live now

43

Species listed

Observations

Rock Pigeon
Latest detection

Sir Archdale Road - Swaffham

Rock Pigeon

Columba livia

Detection details

Confidence

71%

Last heard

1h ago

Listening station

Sir Archdale Road - Swaffham

Swaffham

Detections are likely observations. Confidence, repetition, weather, background noise and similar species all matter.

Why it exists

A monitoring network, not just a bird website.

Listening stations collect repeated observations throughout the day. The website presents those records with confidence values, station context and clear cautions so visitors can understand both the value and limits of the data.

01

Listen

Listening stations record short sections of the local soundscape without attracting or handling wildlife.

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Classify

Acoustic recognition software suggests likely species matches and assigns a confidence value.

03

Validate

Privacy checks and clear quality notes help visitors interpret each observation responsibly.

04

Explore

Visitors can explore stations, species, field notes and longer-term patterns across the network.

S.W.A.N. Missions

Live challenges for schools and communities.

Missions turn the network into shared goals: migration arrivals, biodiversity counts, night sounds and station leaderboards.

Open missions →

Across the network

Every station adds another view of local wildlife.

Each public station shows its latest likely detections, recent activity and broad location context. Together, those stations build a growing record of when and where birds are being heard.

Built for different audiences

Wildlife data should be useful to everyone.

S.W.A.N. presents the same underlying observations in different ways: detailed tools for approved research users, practical resources for schools, and straightforward maps and stories for the wider public.

For researchers

Careful filtering, station context and responsible data access.

For schools

Clear explanations, bird profiles and resources linked to real observations.

For public visitors

A live map, recent detections and accessible local wildlife stories.

Acoustic network

Explore stations, recent detections and local wildlife stories.

Start with the live map, open a station to see what has been heard, or use the bird guide to learn more about the species appearing across the network.