Stornoway tour operator Hebridean Adventures up for top nature prize

The awards celebrate excellence, innovation and outstanding achievement in nature conservation.

Hebridean Adventures – the popular whale, dolphin and wildlife-watching tour operator – is delighted to have been shortlisted for the NatureScot Business Award.

Its nomination is for its project involving marine conservation partnerships, aiding research into threatened species.

It’s one of six projects from around Scotland in the running for the award.

Hebridean Adventures’ director David Lambie said: “I am delighted we have been shortlisted for this prestigious conservation award.

“We take great pride in working closely with our local Hebridean Whale & Dolphin Trust, plus Whale and Dolphin Conservation UK and the SeaWatch Foundation.

“We ensure that all our cetacean observation data is logged online, and that any photographs that will help with identifying individual whales and dolphins via scars and marks on their fins or bodies are shared with the appropriate researchers, who we also enjoy hosting on board our boat MV Monadhliath from time to time to further their work.

“We also enjoy recruiting our guests on-board our cruises as citizen scientists, teaching them how to capture this information themselves so they then have the knowledge for future trips to the coast or at sea, where they might spot some cetacean activity that they can then log and share to increase the data pool.”

This year’s awards attracted a record number of nominations, with RSPB Scotland to have so many high-quality, inspirational people, projects and organisations going through to the next stage.

There are nine categories in the 2020 RSPB Nature of Scotland Awards, and the winners are due to be announced in a virtual awards ceremony hosted online by TV celebrities Steve Backshall and Euan McIlwraith on November 25.