The Nature of Scotland Awards celebrate and recognise the best of conservation in Scotland.
Hosted by ecologist, natural history presenter and writer Mike Dilger and BBC Scotland TV and radio presenter and wildlife expert Euan McIlwraith, the winners of the sixth annual Nature of Scotland Awards were celebrated at a prestigious presentation dinner held in November.
In a year with record numbers of nominations, the inspirational people, projects and organisations were celebrated and the winners announced across nine award categories at a prestigious black tie presentation dinner, organised by RSPB Scotland, at the Sheraton Grand Hotel in Edinburgh in November.
And, 2017’s marine conservation award winner was The Great Nurdle Hunt – a project run by the Scottish charity Fidra.
The Great Nurdle Hunt aims to end further industrial plastic pellet or ‘nurdle’ pollution into Scottish seas. An important part of this is the data collected by any interested citizen scientist from their local beaches – this enables the extent and location of nurdle pollution to be mapped and analysed.
So far, hundreds of thousands of nurdles have been documented and collected across the UK and parts of Europe. The Great Nurdle Hunt also works with industry to tackle the issue at source and to raise awareness of the issue and possible solutions.
Fidra, a Scottish environmental charity based in North Berwick, also work on issues such as cotton bud pollution and microplastic waste. They seek to find ways to engage local concerns over current and emerging environmental issues, and use this to contribute to wider dialogue at national and international levels.
Once concerns have been identified, Fidra use scientific evidence and research best practice to establish how best to influence positive environmental change.
Fidra were crowned the winner in this competitive category, with a shortlist of dynamic conservation programmes including Seasearch and the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Research Programme.
To find out more visit the Nature of Scotland Awards page and The Great Nurdle Hunt website.