Wildlife group’s link to climate film
Bannockburn support behind Tolbooth screening
A powerful and dramatic film of a concert filmed during COP26 is to be screened in Stirling’s Tolbooth on Friday thanks to the efforts of a local environmental group.
The power of music, combined with dramatic footage from NASA and National Geographic, brings the impact of climate change to the forefront of the powerful concert filmed at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall.
‘Vital Signs of the Planet’ will be premiering for free on this year’s Earth Day, Friday April 22, including at the Stirling venue at 2pm and 6.30pm.
Supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies and delivered in partnership with Global Climate Uprising Festival, the audience can watch as a 100-strong symphony orchestra of RCS students, conducted by the internationally renowned Emil de Cou, create a 60-minute live symphonic spectacular.
The local screening has been organised with help from Wild Bannockburn, a group led by Natalie Sinclair as a grassroots community action group to connect and take action for local wildlife and nature spaces.
Natalie said: “The connection between Wild Bannockburn and the Vital Signs of the Planet Concert screening is that I was invited as a young global leader and National Geographic Explorer to deliver a speech at the concert alongside other global leaders from across the world (Panama, Kenya and Ghana).
“I was asked partly due to my leadership in my community with Wild Bannockburn and I mention Wild Bannockburn in my speech alongside information about whale song (my area of PHD research) and my message for the climate.”
The screening has been arranged between Wild Bannockburn and the Tolbooth with permission from RCS and is completely free to attend.
Before the screening of the concert, there will also be a screening of the ‘Bannockburn Bioblitz’ 2021 film, filmed and produced by Huw James.
The Bannockburn Bioblitz - an opportunity to explore the local heritage trail, engage outdoors with the community, meet likeminded people, and chat about all things wildlife - was in set up in collaboration with Buglife, Froglife, Tranceform Therapies and Nikki’s Supply store and the next one is set to take place on Saturday June 18.
“The Bannockburn Bioblitz was supported by National Geographic and the British Ecological Society,” said Natalie. “A Bioblitz is an exciting community event which focuses on finding and identifying as many species as possible in a particular area and within a specific timeframe.”
Natalie, who was born in Stirling and raised in Bannockburn, said: “The Bioblitz was thought up as I walked the Bannockburn Heritage Trail on my daily walk during the first Covid 19 lockdown.”
Natalie’s love of animals and the environment saw her go off to university to study biology with a focus on wildlife biology. She earned a first-class Masters in Science degree in marine and freshwater biology in 2016 which made her competitive for the Carnegie PHD Scholarship. She is now in the final year of that PHD in biology at the University of St Andrews.
Natalie is now researching animal communication and animal cultures with a special emphasis on humpback whale songs.
As a National Geographic Explorer she has been to the other side of the world to tiny islands in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean to collect recordings of whales singing.
But after around a decade living elsewhere in Scotland, the pandemic saw her come back to Bannockburn.
“I remembered how beautiful the Bannockburn is, and also realised how lucky I am to study animals and the environment as a job. That’s when I decided I wanted to do something for my community, for Bannockburn’s wildlife and to show the young people growing up in Bannockburn today that they can be anything they put their mind to.
“As fate would have it, National Geographic advertised small community engagement grants in partnership with inaturalist.
“Wild Bannockburn has also carried out litter picks along the burn in collaboration with Froglife, to combat the plastic problem.”
More information can be found at www.wildbannockburn. com