Bat Lullaby is composed from sonar readings taken in the field with Stars of the Night Bat Conservation at a Lesser Horseshoe Bat Roost in the Gower. Lyrics are based on conversations with bat conservation volunteers. Members of Hemiola Choir began learning the lullaby, led by Delyth Holland. Next, the lullaby was recorded at Cheryl’s studio and lastly, choir members were filmed on location by drone pilot Jarro Media at Penllergare Valley Woods.

Guardians of the Fen is a lament for the savages of floral colonialism, still practiced today. Shifting from orchid hunters to guardians, the music is composed by mapping the vein patterns of a fen orchid growing in the wild. Members of Hemiola Choir learnt the piece, recorded it at Cheryl’s studio and were filmed at Penllergare.

Adder portraits is a creative writing, photography and sound art piece with Swansea MIND, deconstructing negative stereotypes through haiku and the composition of sound art taken from the patterns of an adder at the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust. We commissioned Cariad Glass to make a camera lens from a shed adder slough, empowering the group to take self-portraits through the snake skin to accompany spoken word.

About:

Cheryl Beer is an internationally acclaimed Environmental Sound Artist, composing from visual cues within nature to raise awareness of fragile environments and our vulnerability as part of them. Since the advent of sudden hearing loss, chronic tinnitus and hyperacusis, she has developed innovative creative practices, exploring a visceral sense of place, where nature’s voice sits centre stage. 

Her symphony Cân y Coed/Song of the Trees, based in the Rainforests of Wales, represented the UK at the Garden of Great in Qatar, where she was also part of the Welsh Cultural Squad for the World Cup. Her work was gifted to international dignitaries at the Commonwealth Games and exhibited in the Houses of Parliament. In 2025, ‘Climate Crescendo’, her commission based on temperature readings from the Amazonian Rainforests, exhibited for a month at the Cultura Inglesa Festival, Brazil. She has recently completed an 18-month Future Wales Fellowship with the Arts Council of Wales, based as Artist in Residence at the National Botanic Garden of Wales, exploring ways in which the Arts can deepen emotional connections with the natural world. She has subsequently embedded her research findings into Natur am Byth, engaging the communities of Swansea Bay with rare and at risk species.

Cheryl is honoured as one of the Top 100 Inspirational Women of Wales by WEN & Welsh Gov.t for her contribution to Arts & Health and was the first artist in Wales to be awarded a National Gold Award for her research into Environmental Arts, Life Story & Dementia.