Osprey centre gets lottery boost
A wildlife centre which has led the way in protecting and reintroducing the majestic Osprey has received more than half a million pounds from the National Lottery.
The Dyfi Wildlife Centre, run by Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust, has received £525,000 to improve the visitor experience at the popular nature reserve.
It is one of five projects, all of which aim to protect Wales’s nature, wildlife and landscapes, to have benefitted from National Lottery awards of over £4 million.
A new wildlife centre will be created at the Cors Dyfi nature reserve, at Machynlleth in mid Wales, improving the overall visitor experience for osprey enthusiasts who visit the popular site to marvel at the breeding pair of these once extinct birds of prey nest as they bring up their young.
Emyr Evans from the Dyfi Wildlife Centre said: “We have worked incredibly hard since setting up the Dyfi Osprey Project and are proud to call ourselves home to these beautiful birds. We’re always looking for ways to improve the experience for visitors and this National Lottery money will enable us to do just that by creating a flagship wildlife centre.
“The new building will pull all our current facilities together under one roof, giving a far richer and immersive experience for visitors and showcasing the reserve’s rich biodiversity - of which our famous ospreys are just one part.”
Delighted
Having recently been re-appointed by the Prime Minister as Chair of the National Lottery Heritage Fund in Wales, Baroness Kay Andrews said: “We are delighted to be announcing these awards, which add up to £10 million for projects across Wales. They show how diverse and rich our heritage is, and how much people care about every aspect of it. They are the first awards that have been granted in Wales since our new strategic funding framework came into effect earlier this year.
“None of this would be possible without those who play the National Lottery. A huge thanks to each and every one of you for enabling us to invest in these brilliant projects and in our communities in every part of Wales. Thanks to you, we can bring stories as well as buildings back to life and we can protect our wildlife and our landscapes so that they will be there for the future. Those priorities are reflected in these recent awards.
“This is why I am so delighted to have been reappointed the chair of the Committee of the National Lottery Heritage Fund for Wales for a second term and I look forward to working with communities around Wales to make the best of all our heritage and our future.”
