Project Blog

6 December 2022

National Lottery Project of the Year

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by Philip M.

6 December 2022

More awards news…

In addition to picking up two CIEEM awards this year, and as well as our Scottish Land and Estates ‘Helping it Happen Award’, we have just been named Scottish Project of the Year in the 2022 National Lottery Awards which celebrate the inspirational people and projects who do extraordinary things with the help of National Lottery funding.

After beating compeititon from over 1300 other organisations to reach the public voting stage, we were thrilled to come out on top. A huge thank you to everyone who voted for us.

Five years in to the project, we have translocated 25 golden eagles, bringing the south Scotland population to approaching 40; the highest number recorded in the area since the early 19th century. In addition, we have engaged over 14,000 people including stakeholders, community groups, volunteers and schools.

The South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project team; left to right; Bryan Burrows (Stakeholder Engagement Manager), Rick Taylor (Community Outreach Officer), Cat barlow (Project Manager), John Wright (Eagle Officer), Sarah Plint (Secretary to the Board) and Philip Munro (Community Outreach Officer)

Our Project Manager, Cat Barlow, said: “It is such an honour to win this prestigious award, a wonderful recognition of the fantastic support the project has received from National Lottery players, volunteers, communities, stakeholders and project partners.”

Jonathan Tuchner, from The National Lottery, added: “Golden eagles are iconic to Scotland. It's exciting to see the numbers being boosted in their natural habitat thanks to the innovative work of the South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project, supported with funding raised by National Lottery players. It’s thanks to the project’s ground-breaking achievements that they have deservedly won the public vote to be crowned the 2022 National Lottery Awards Scottish Project of the Year.”

With another year to go there will be plenty more to come, including more eagles to be translocated and released into southern skies.

We are extremely grateful to the National Lottery and lottery players who generate the funds for projects such as ours. Ineed we would like to thank all our funders for their generous contributions, making our work possible and securing the future of the golden eagle in the south of Scotland.

Image right; project mascot, Moffy the Golden Eagle

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