Prince Charles endorses Red Squirrel Volunteer of the Year Awards 2012
The charity Red Squirrel Survival Trust has announced the winners of its volunteer awards for 2012…
The awards will be presented by the Duke of Northumberland in June at Alnwick Castle, and have been endorsed by Prince Charles.
Launched last year, the awards are designed to honour hard working volunteers in the world of red squirrel conservation…
The awards celebrate the work of volunteers working around the UK to preserve native red squirrels, and this year includes conservationist and red squirrel expert, David Stapleford from Norfolk.
Mr Stapleford receives a Lifetime Achievement award from the national conservation charity.
Mr Stapleford runs a breeding and conservation programme for the red squirrel, an at risk species in the UK... He also co-founded the East Anglian Red Squirrel Breeding Programme and is an adviser to the Countryside Restoration Trust (CRT) amongst other societies...
Other volunteer awards are going to: Elizabeth Bamford, Berwick upon Tweed; Helen Butler, Isle of Wight; Jackie Foott, Cumbria; Sally Hardy, Northumberland; Jerry, Sarah and Hagen Moss, Cumbria; Julie Bailey, Cumbria; Gillian Hill, Lancashire and James Sim from Argyll.
Elizabeth Bamford from Berwick upon Tweed has been recognised in the role of Unsung Hero, working as she does as a lead volunteer for the Berwick upon Tweed Save Our Squirrels group, covering the lower Tweed Valley along the Northumberland and Scots border.
The work involves getting landowners, gamekeepers and volunteers working together to support the squirrels that are under serious threat of extinction. Red squirrels are largely under threat due to competition from the more dominant greys, who carry the squirrelpox virus and take the red's food, as well as other factors such as loss of native habitat…
Awards will be presented at a special Red Squirrel Survival Trust event this summer at Alnwick Castle in Northumberland on June 27, 2012.
Prince Charles speaking on behalf of the charity explains: "I am enormously encouraged that we are beginning to see evidence that with practical action existing populations of reds can be stabilised and can even grow and move into new areas.
"Our red squirrels are facing a battle for survival. It seems almost incomprehensible for me that we have allowed this situation to happen."
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