I was 21 and a recent graduate in ecology studies when I landed a job in public access. It wasn’t exactly what I had in mind when I was studying, but it was outdoors so I was happy. I was working in Norfolk where the fields are vast, and the landscape is dominated by arable farming. Coming from the patchwork countryside of Devon I was fascinated by the enormity of the landscape and the endless skies.
One day as I was walking through the middle of a sugar beet field, idly kicking out any crop that was encroaching on the footpath, I stopped, suddenly uncomfortable.
I found myself far enough away from the hedgerow not to be able to hear the breeze in the leaves and standing here in the middle of the field I realised I couldn’t hear anything. It was completely silent. Despite it being a
