Dave Paynter awarded British Empire Medal

WWT Slimbridge's Reserve Manager, Dave Paynter, has made the King's Birthday Honours List!

We're very excited and proud to announce Dave Paynter has been awarded a BEM (British Empire Medal), for his outstanding contributions to wildlife conservation.

This prestigious recognition is truly well-deserved. 2022 marked Dave's 40^th year anniversary of working for Slimbridge and his contribution has been immense - he’s never stopped thinking how the reserve can be improved.

Dave started his career at WWT as a Research Assistant, studying how wildfowl are affected by disturbance. Now Dave’s primary focus is on the reserves management. Dave manages and improves the wildlife interests of the site, and aims to get as many people to enjoy it and have memorable experiences.

One of his greatest achievements at Slimbridge was designing and overseeing the construction of the South Lake. Today it’s one of the best birding spots in the UK as it gives people close-up views of large numbers of birds, including the odd rarity.

More recently, Dave helped develop the 100-acre reedbed, resulting in habitat used by species such as bittern, marsh harrier, garganey and rare dragonflies.

Dave is a wetlands and wildlife hero, join us in congratulating him on this remarkable achievement.

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