Golden Plover Award 2015

The Heather Trust and The Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (Scotland)  will be presenting the Golden Plover Award for Moorland Management for a third time after an extremely successful year in 2014. For a second year, Savills will be the lead sponsor.

The Golden Plover Award was launched in 2013 to celebrate the very best in sustainable and progressive moorland management which balances a number of different enterprises. The inaugural winner was Edinglassie in Strathdon, an estate which has supported some of the most advanced and groundbreaking research into grouse production during the past twenty years.

In 2014, Finzean Estate on Deeside was presented with the Award at the Scottish Game Fair at Scone after a close fought struggle with two other runners up from Angus and Sutherland. Finzean Estate impressed the judges with a wide spread of balanced, sustainable enterprises spanning a range of interests from grouse shooting and capercaillie conservation to a successful farm shop and a thriving forestry concern.

Heather Trust Director Simon Thorp said that working with the GWCT to run the Award was an opportunity to showcase the very best that moorland management has to offer in Scotland. “The Golden Plover Award celebrates balanced and integrated management in which a number of goals are achieved by the careful, sensitive use of our uplands. The award in 2015 will have a particular focus on peat and peatland conservation, and this is a great opportunity to highlight some of the best land management devoted to what is increasingly seen as a crucially important habitat”.

Adam Smith, the GWCT’s Director for Scotland, welcomed the collaboration with The Heather Trust that brought two independent organisations together who are both working to improve the standards of moorland and upland management throughout Scotland. “The Award will highlight the role that applied research has in improving the quality of moorland management in Scotland. This allows the best management practices to be identified and transferred to other land managers.”

Applications for the 2015 award will be are welcomed from any owner or manager of land in any part of Scotland who can demonstrate a real commitment to sustainable moorland or upland management. Applications from the remoter parts of Scotland are encouraged, as are applications from individuals; this is not just an award for estates.

More information is available on the Golden Plover Award page, and application forms are available by request. Applications close on 27th February 2015, and the Award will be presented at the Scottish Game Fair on 3^rd July 2015.