Wild Bannockburn is a grassroots community action group to connect and take action for our local wildlife and nature spaces. Join for more updates on this project and our events such as the Bannockburn BioBlitz!
How did Wild Bannockburn begin?
Wild Bannockburn and The Bannockburn BioBlitz was thought up by Natalie Sinclair as she walked the Bannockburn Heritage Trail on her daily walk during the first COVID 19 lockdown. Natalie was born in Stirling and raised in Bannockburn, growing up playing by (or in) the burn.
Her love of animals and the environment saw her go off to university to study biology with a focus on wildlife biology. She researched how freshwater birds changed their calls in different habitats, how seals used oxygen when they were resting on the shore, and how seabirds attended colonies during winter in Shetland and Orkney. All of this interesting research earned her 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.
After about a decade living elsewhere in Scotland, the pandemic saw Natalie come back to Bannockburn and she realised the importance of home. She remembered how beautiful the Bannock Burn is, and she also realised how lucky she is to study animals and the environment as a job. That’s when she decided she wanted to do something for her 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. With that boost, she can’t wait to get started with the Bannockburn BioBlitz on the 25th of September!
Wild Bannockburn 