Friday 28 June 2013

Donside estate wins new moorland management award

We have teamed up with the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust to present The Golden Plover Award for Moorland Management, a new award which recognises progressive, innovative and environmentally sensitive moorland management.  The award will be presented to Edinglassie Estate, Donside at the Scottish Game Fair on Saturday, 6 July.  Edinglassie Estate wins this award in recognition of its consistent performance in all areas we considered and its continuing awareness of best practice and innovation. 

Artist, Colin Woolf, has kindly donated a framed special edition print with original pencil remarques to be presented to Edinglassie. The picture is an extract from this print of a commissioned watercolour portrait of a Golden Plover, which will be on display at the Scottish Game Fair.

The press release has quoted me as saying: 
“The aim is for a winner that is an example for others to follow. In making our choice, consideration was given to sporting and farming interests, the key traditional land uses, but critically included management for a range of other purposes, such as conservation and improvement of ecosystem services. A wide range of entrants were considered but Edinglassie rose to the top.” 

Adam Smith, Director Scotland, GWCT commented: 
“The concept of this award is to bring to the fore all the superb work being done to effectively and economically manage our heather moorland so it is a healthy and sustainable environment. Edinglassie is an ideal recipient and has long been regarded as a consistent and high achiever in moorland management. We hope this award will instil a healthy competition amongst Scotland’s moor owners.” 

The intention is that this becomes an annual award that will be open to land owners, estates, land managers, farmers, gamekeepers, sporting tenants, syndicates and any other individual or group with an interest in high quality moorland management and aims to encourage and promote good practice.