Michaela Strachan hands award to Peak District bee project

Pollinating the Peak was set up in 2015 to protect the Bilberry bumblebee

A project to increase bee numbers across the Peak District has been handed a National Lottery award by presenter Michaela Strachan.

Pollinating the Peak was set up in 2015 to protect and save local species - the Bilberry bumblebee.

They beat 16 other finalists and picked up 4,000 votes from the public to win the Project of the Year trophy.

The Autumnwatch host said projects like this made it easy for people to get involved and make a difference.

The Bumblebee Conservation Trust, which set up the project, has ran workshops and events in Derbyshire educating people about the Bilberry bee and other species, and how to care for them.

The project has received nearly £1m in National Lottery funding

Gill Perkins, CEO of the trust, said: "We wanted to make people aware of what they could do to help reverse the declines in that bumblebee.

"Years on, we've got an education programme, second to none, and all people now throughout Derbyshire are talking about this bee and the conservation trust."

She said since its launch, the project had engaged with more than 20,000 people across the Peak District area and created a "What's That Bumblebee" app to help identify species.

Michaela Strachan added: "There's so many massive problems with conservation, the environment, sustainability, that we feel so helpless about, but bees is something we can do [something] about. We can help and that makes us feel empowered.

"People that have a conscience and care want to do something and this is an easy thing that people can do... and you will be making a difference."