Wildlife Buzz Awards

The Woodland Trust 2020

Our Brief

The team at the Smithills Estate continued to reach audiences digitally throughout the covid-19 pandemic. In Spring, they asked us to work on a live event to be delivered on zoom which would engage audiences with the wildlife on the estate, in the same way that the Bioblitz in person events traditionally do on the estate.

What We Did

Our starting point were the results of the most recent wildlife surveys on the estate which had identified a new visitor Dragonfly species as well as highlighting the relative lack of information on the noctule bat populations. We decided to create a live awards show in which a representative from each habitat on the estate was recognised for their particular skill – which they had the opportunity to showcase as part of the event. We created a noctule bat rap in which they made a bid for attention, a dragonfly exercise video and a female skylarks plaintive appeal in full 80s power ballad mode for owners to keep their dogs away from nesting sites.

The Result

We delivered the event live in the Summer of 2022 to an invited audience of young adults with learning disabilities, complete with live Q and A in which we fielded questions such as – why do you sleep upside down, what is your favourite food and do you migrate? Furthermore, elements of the event were able to be kept as separate resources and reached a wider audience on the Trust’s social media channels