Sounding Wild is all about the sounds of the natural world, and a reminder that they are always there. They are always 'playing' – it's just a matter of us tuning in and noticing them. The Sounding Wild mission is to bring those sounds to everyone's attention, regardless of location, age or culture.

Respect and sharing are at the essential core of this brand, which keeps shaping over time. It all started because I wanted to provide wildlife sounds to natural history documentaries; it has now brought me to live pretty much full-time in my 4x4 truck to stay connected to nature as much as possible.

Sounds Across Continents (SAC) is the follow-up to Wings Across Continents (WAC), an overland expedition along the west coasts of Europe and Africa on a quest to find migratory birds, record their sounds, capture them on camera, and share their stories with local communities – all while living full time in 4x4 vehicles.

The essence of the projects is to create cultural links between people from faraway lands, with migratory birds as the connection. WAC (2023–2024) started with my brother Ario, a photographer, graphic designer and filmmaker, where we used Virtual Reality and immersive audio to share with local communities the importance of migratory birds.

It was a way for us to share the same quality of work anywhere we would go, using technologies to attract people's attention towards our story – many people were not even interested in birds – but the aim was for our experience to spark some interest in local birds, local for that moment in time, as the same birds are migratory and would leave for another continent at any time.

Above: European Bee-eater

Above: See Axel’s route leaving the UK, covering Europe and heading into North Africa, where he crossed the Sahara.

Europe to Northern Africa: epic journeys

SAC (2024–2025) took a different approach, as this time I was on my own, focusing more on the sounds of migratory birds rather than visuals. While in Europe, I learnt about bird vocal dialects, some being very local, some more regional or nation-wide, and some intercontinental.

What sparked this was spending some time in Catalonia (north-west Spain) and listening to Common Nightingales, which are as common as House Sparrows in certain areas. These Nightingales were doing something unique: mimicking the call of the Eurasian Scops Owl, a bird that can be found only in southern Europe. I had also recorded extensively Nightingales in the UK, but those obviously wouldn't be able to mimic that same owl as it doesn't come so far north.

The realisation is that both British and Catalan birds migrate to sub-Saharan Africa. Would those birds, possibly, mimic other birds while there? Would they bring sounds from Europe to Africa, and would these maybe bring African sounds to Europe? That was my question, which has many answers based on papers and books, but I wanted to hear it for myself. But overall yes, it is possible.

Learn more about UK migrant species in our webinar.

SAC is all about sounds, so while on a quest to find a group of seven species I selected before departing, I decided to create something special for the local communities – a sound documentary telling them the story of these migratory birds, where they come from, how they sound, what they go through, which other wildlife they may encounter on their way, and also stories of local birds which the migratory birds may meet.

You may think that local stories of birds are known by everyone; well, unfortunately, folk stories are slowly disappearing with the desire to leave smaller communities for the big, busy cities.

Above: See Axel’s route continued from Sierra Leone into the west of Africa.

The west coast of Africa: the nightingale sings

Travelling by car, combined with prolonged stays at each location, means witnessing the changes of habitat, wildlife, and culture within and between countries. I had many moments which are precious to me, meeting incredible people along the way who are as obsessed with nature as I am, working tirelessly to protect environments and respect their own people.

I will always remember when I was with my friend Ramadam Ba, a conservationist who works on the Panverus Project, based at the Outamba Kilimi National Park, northern Sierra Leone. We were chilling at the swamps midday, in the middle of March 2023, the hottest time of the year, where temperatures reach over 40 degrees, humid, the body overheats, together with any sort of technology.

Middays in the field are about finding cool places in the shade, as it's essential not just for our own comfort and survival in the intense heat, but also to prevent equipment from overheating and malfunctioning. I just dipped myself in the 10cm-high cool water, I had to do it slowly, as if you move too fast you bring up all the mud, making it a nightmare to clean up and ruining the pool for the next person who needs to dip.

I just got out of the water, managed not to move too much mud, and while drying myself surrounded by tall palm trees and thick scrub, I heard a familiar bird song. At first, I thought it was a Common Bulbul being quite creative, but five seconds more and I realised I had just encountered my first ever Common Nightingale on African soil.

The only recording device with me was my iPhone, which I promptly grabbed and started recording with the voice recorder, telling Ramadam and the other guys to shut up. I was quite severe, but they knew me by now – if I react this way, it means there is something important I need to record and it will be good for all of us.

I still feel the buzz of that moment, listening to this broken song, fast-paced, rushed but with all the characteristics of a Common Nightingale song. I will cherish that moment forever, witnessing a fellow traveller possibly passing by on his way north, no idea where he would go.

I must say, I feel emotional every time I encounter a migratory bird. It feels surreal, I ask them, "What are you doing here? What have you seen? How was the trip?" What these birds must have gone through is out of this world for us.

We are learning more about bird migration, but we will never be able to actually be a bird to feel exactly what they feel. Even though my research is science-based, sometimes I like to dream and think of these birds, trying to imagine the level of achievement they could feel when seeing the first patches of green when reaching sub-Saharan Africa after the Sahara Desert. I would love to feel that, doing the whole crossing with your own wings, without vehicle support, tech GPS or anything like that. We were once able to.

Benin: finding the mimics

As mentioned, my dream is to record a migratory bird which mimics a bird from another continent, to have clear proof of these birds being overlanding travellers.

There are some Palearctic species which have been studied and proved they include African bird calls in their songs, such as the Marsh Warbler or the Common Whitethroat. These warblers are known to mimic, and it's my own dream to record and prove it to myself.

I am currently sitting on my makeshift table in the Kikele village, central Benin. It's March 2025 and it's so hot my laptop can't be touched if left alone for too long, I could fry some eggs on the sides of the trackpad.

Yesterday I may have recorded my dream bird, which is not a UK breeding bird, but it's still coming from the European continent, a Melodious Warbler. They are also known to mimic, and when I heard it while scouting the farmland close to the village with my friend and colleague Alassane, the excitement was high.

I spent around three hours following it around its patch, trying to get as close as possible, but it clearly did not want to be near humans, which is strange as migratory birds have been quite approachable when wintering so far.

I have a lot of recordings of it, I started going through them but I haven't managed to get the proof of mimic yet, or maybe my ears are used to African sounds and I can't remember all the European bird calls, I've been in Africa for more than five months.

My quest keeps going, as these birds keep some secrets I know are worth finding, they have a knowledge I will never be able to gain, and I hope they will show me more ways to connect my culture to other cultures.

Bird sounds in human culture

Understanding this movement is key as it can help us understand more not only in this culture-artistical way, but also we need to remember birds are indicators.

Here birds tell the locals when it's time to stop farming and go home, like the Great Blue Turaco in Sierra Leone, when it's time to harvest the corn like the African Grey Hornbill in Ghana, or it reminds you to check you closed your house properly before leaving the house like the Common Bulbul in Liberia.

Above: Common Bulbul in Ghana.

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These are stories shared between people. These bird calls are understood literally – their meanings passed on and shared within the community. The Common Bulbul in Liberia literally tells you 'king of the property, king of the property, is it alright?' asking you if you checked your property.

In Benin it's even more common, the African Grey Hornbill here tells you to work harder and stay focused 'work it, work it work it, plough, plough, plough'. I don't have proof, but a specific local music in Benin from a famous local artist called Gbeze uses a flute (listen here), which I'm personally learning, on top of all the marvellous percussion, which has many sounds reminding me of the Common Bulbul.

In the same way, migratory birds' movements could hold information related to the environment: when the rains come to specific parts of West Africa, how much habitat for specific species is available in Europe or knowing when spring starts.

Their calls bring so much more than a lovely song, they hold crucial information about the state of not only our continent but neighbouring ones, too.

These birds represent community, peace and freedom like no other animals. I am astonished by the existence of these birds and their behaviour, they make me feel humble and compassionate.

The final mission of this project is to make people notice their wildlife, and if you notice you have a migratory bird in your garden, it may speak your language while with you, but a few months afterwards it will be thousands of miles away speaking Nagot to the villagers of Kikele in Benin.

The full WAC documentaries will be available on Sounding Wild's YouTube channel in Summer 2025, and the official preview of the SAC documentaries will happen this July at the Global Birdfair 2025. You can preview the WAC 360 experience for EVOA, Lisbon, Portugal as well as the SAC immersive audio-only experience from Mole National Park, Ghana.

To stay up to date with Axel's travels and expeditions, he's active on social media as @soundingwild and he's running a bi-weekly podcast called Sonic Migrations, sharing insights from his travels and sounds he finds on the journey, available on all streaming platforms.

Photos: Rudmer Zwerver (Alamy Stock Photo); Ben Andrew (rspb-images.com)
Videos: Ario Drioli, Bamie Samuel Konika Audio: Axel Drioli