Major names to headline Otley Wildlife Arts Festival from nature writer Amy-Jane Beer to wildlife presenter Dr George McGavin

Tomorrow is to see the start of the third Otley Wildlife Arts Festival, as the only one of its kind in the country. And with major names to headline, from nature writer Amy-Jane Beer to wildlife presenter Dr George McGavin, the festival is drawing acclaim.

Andrew McKeon, a trustee of Wildlife Friendly Otley, is one of the organisers. This is a celebration of nature through all mediums, he said, from art to poetry and music, talks, ideas and exhibitions.

"Celebrating nature, appreciating and valuing it, is one way we can share it more and encourage people to be more wildlife friendly," he said. “If we learn to love something then we want to protect it. That is what we have found, and over the last few years there has been a growing interest in nature.

"In lockdown people discovered that all they had to do was go for a walk in the countryside, to hear the birds sing. It's opened our eyes and our minds to the joys of nature."

The festival is organised by Wildlife Friendly Otley, which campaigns to become Britain’s first wildlife friendly town. There are programmes with schools, with habitat restoration and walks, and now with the festival which launches tomorrow and runs until Sunday.

Chumbawamba's Boff Whalley with Daniel Bye are to open the event with a special performance of These Hills Are Ours on Friday evening.

Amy-Jane Beer, president of Friends of the Dales, is a best-selling naturalist and writer whose book The Flow: Rivers, Water and Wildness has just won the Wainwright prize. She is to headline on Saturday, discussing this latest book as well as ways in which we can reconnect with nature - and her campaigning work with Right to Roam.

And on Sunday evening the charity's new patron, wildlife presenter and leading entomologist Dr George McGavin, will host a talk entitled What have insects ever done for us?, as he explores this delicate balance.

Tickets for each headline event are £10 each, while there will also be free exhibitions at the Courthouse on Saturday, with wildlife art and photography, stalls and children's activities. The festival also features a programme of free talks, on topics such as Learning to Love Dandelions and Stinging Nettles, local fungi and the Yorkshire Rewilding Network.

Then children's art workshops in the library, linocut printing workshops with artist Kim Coley at the Art Works, and poetry workshops as well as music from nature's song.

The festival, with funding from Otley Town Council's Community Development Fund, is supported by local business Sinclair's Products with music workshops by Leeds Inspired.​​​​​​​