A FESTIVAL is set to explore biodiversity in action when it goes ahead across Clacks and the Forth Valley this month.

The University of Stirling, in conjunction with Scotland’s International Environment Centre (SIEC), will be hosting the first-ever Festival of Biodiversity over the weekend of September 16-18.

Events, including an activity in Alva, will be held across the area and at the nearby university campus over the course of three days.

The festival will invite the public to take part in nature walks, sessions with experts, interactive workshops and film screenings to explore biodiversity in action across the planet and closer to home.

Professor Alistair Jump, dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences, said: “Broadly speaking, ‘biodiversity’ refers to every living thing in the world - including plants, fungi, bacteria, animals, and humans – and the ecosystems that support life.

“Humans depend on healthy ecosystems to stabilise the climate, purify the air, protect our coastlines, and provide us with sufficient food, clean water and raw materials to survive.

“The festival will celebrate biodiversity, across themes including mountain woodland restoration, discovering biodiversity beneath the ground, the re-beavering of Scotland's rivers and how the food we eat affects biodiversity.

“We want everyone to be as excited as we are about biodiversity, and to join the fight against its decline.”

On the Saturday of the festival, there will be a “forest bathing” event in Alva and participants will be guided “through a series of invitations aimed at opening your senses and reconnecting you with yourself and the environment around you”.

Also on the same day, a talk titled The Story of the Argaty Beaver will go ahead at Forth Valley College's Alloa campus from 3.30pm.

On the Sunday, the university's Pathfoot building will house indoor events, talks, workshops and stalls from a range of environmental organisations while serving as a meeting point for walks and similar.

There will also be a chance to meet the scientists and see the lab at the university on the Friday of the festival.

All events are free and everyone is welcome to head along with booking advised.

Visit festivalofbiodiversity.stir.ac.ukfor the full line up.