WILTSHIRE LIFE Awards 2018 33
Countryside Champion of the Year
SPONSORED BY
Winner David Waters
Given their huge size and impressive appearance, it’s hardly surprising that in the past Great
Bustards were hunted as trophies and, as they became more and more scarce, had their eggs
taken by collectors. As a result, by 1832, just before Queen Victoria came to the throne, the
Great Bustard died out as a British breeding bird. For well over a century, the species remained
a very rare visitor to our shores. From time to time, people tried to breed bustards in captivity
with the intention of releasing them back into the wild, but with little or no success. Then, in
1998, David Waters set up a reintroduction scheme...the rest is history.
David Waters has seen his dream of reintroducing the Great Bustard to Salisbury Plain
become a reality. Described in one nomination as “the sort of guy who sits in the background
and gets on with the task in hand”, as director of the Great Bustard Group his determination
to bring back the world’s heaviest flying bird to Wiltshire has been nothing if not monumental.
The population of Great Bustards on Salisbury Plain is now self-sustaining.
Second place Vince Povey
Vince Povey is dedicated to the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust Blakehill reserve, where he takes
care of security, together with his wife. His dedication to remembering Blakehill as a Second
World War airfield is outstanding. In 2016 he organised a War to Wildlife Walk using pictures
and props he had hidden in the hedgerows to bring his theme alive. In 2015, Vince and his
wife donated an interpretation board that transformed Blakehill. Vince is described in one
nomination as a “general all-round brilliant human being.”
Third place Dominic Price
Dominic’s aim is to remove 50 species of plants from the edge of extinction in the UK by the
year 2050. He works hard to find sites around the UK where it may be suitable to re-establish
these plants and then sets about conserving them. He is passionate, a real ‘plant person’, and
relates his passion well through courses and educational links.
One nomination said: “Dom is one of those people who works tirelessly behind the scenes
and does not shout about his achievements.”
David has seen his
dream of reintroducing
the Great Bustard to
Salisbury Plain become
a reality and the
population is now
self-sustaining