A project to save the wildcat from extinction in the Highlands has won a coveted award.
The Cairngorms Wildcat Project was launched in 2009 to protect the species in the Cairngorms National Park and raise awareness of its plight.
There are thought to be fewer than 400 wildcats left in the countryside and the species is threatened by hybridisation with domestic cats.
The initiative, which concluded last year, worked with gamekeepers to help them to identify wildcats in the field and ensure their predator control was wildcat-friendly.
Cameras were also set up to capture the elusive creature on film, and work was carried out with local vets to encourage responsible cat ownership and neuter feral felines.
Their work has now been recognised at the RSPB’s Nature of Scotland awards. The wildcat team took the innovation award at the ceremony in Edinburgh. Will Boyd-Wallis, the Cairngorms National Park Authority’s head of land management and conservation and chairman of the wildcat project, said: “We’re delighted to have received this recognition and it is particularly special to win it in the park’s 10th anniversary year.
“When we began the Cairngorms Wildcat Project we always knew it had to be the start of something bigger if we are to save the Scottish wildcat from extinction.
“The lessons learned from the project were both invaluable and influential in shaping the new national Conservation Action Plan for the species.
“The award is further proof that there is broad support for saving this fascinating species.
“Through the fantastic support of the estates, gamekeepers, farmers, vets and cat welfare volunteers in the national park, as well as the joint effort of all the project partners, we have achieved a great deal.
“The future of the wildcat is still far from certain, but the award demonstrates this is a model conservation project that could be applied to wildcat conservation in other parts of Scotland and beyond.”