The pioneering conservation scheme which brought the Golden eagle back to the south of Scotland, has won a top national award.

The South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project was named Scottish Project of The Year in the 2022 National Lottery Awards.

Through a series of ground-breaking translocations, the project started out with three breading pairs in 2018, and had brought the total population to 39, the highest number recorded in 300 years in the area.

It beat off stiff competition from more than 1300 organisations to reach the public voting stage in this year’s National Lottery Awards, which celebrate the inspirational people and projects who do extraordinary things with the help of National Lottery funding.

Delighted to be voted by the public, Michael Clarke, chair of the South of project's board said: “Public support is vital in our work to protect golden eagles in the south of Scotland, so we are absolutely thrilled that they have voted for The South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project to win The National Lottery Scotland Project of the Year.

Read more: Highland Estates sending golden eagle chicks south

"The project’s success to date is testament to the hard work of our pioneering team and the mutual trust and positive support they have built among a wide range of partners – including funders like the National Lottery Heritage Fund, ecologists, raptor experts, vets, gamekeepers, landowners, land managers and 14,000-plus community participants.

“From taking the local population of golden eagles to the highest number recorded here since the early 19th century and building a growing appreciation of the importance of golden eagles to sustainable rural conservation management, to creating the UK’s first Golden Eagle Town and Festival, in Moffat ,and opening the first mainland Eagle Information Point in Philiphaugh, the work of the project team really is exemplary. And we’re incredibly grateful to the players of the National Lottery and all our funders for making all of this possible.”

Project manager, Cat Barlow, added: “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.”

Earlier this year, the project reached a new milestone when six more chicks were relocated to southern Scotland. These were transported from the Scottish Highlands, in September, to a secret location near Moffat.

Project partners the Southern Uplands Partnership, RSPB Scotland, Scottish Land and Estates, Scottish Forestry and NatureScot worked on the project together for more than 11 years before releasing the first eagle chicks in 2018. Funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, project partners and the Scottish Government, the initiative is a key project under ‘Scotland’s biodiversity – a route map to 2020’, supporting the Government’s ‘2020 Challenge for Scotland’s Biodiversity’.