THE Scottish Seabird Centre has been awarded nearly £250,000 to improve its operations.

The marine conservation and education charity, based in North Berwick, was awarded £249,865 by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The money will help the charity improve the resilience and sustainability of its operations, develop business partnerships and grow its membership base.

The funding will also support the appointment of three new members to the charity's core team.

Florence Gygax will be the corporate partnership development manager, Jasper Rea will be the sustainability and assets officer, and Carrie Bevan will be the membership development officer.

All three roles are funded for 18 months.

The new project team will work together to increase audience diversity and promote greater inclusion, create more effective partnerships, and improve the overall sustainability of the charity's operations, including new renewable energy installations.

Susan Davies, chief executive officer of the Scottish Seabird Centre, said: “We are delighted to have received this significant support thanks to National Lottery players.

"The project will help our charity to continue to support the restoration of nature and to offer more people opportunities to learn about and take action for nature.

"It also enables us to take further steps to invest in and improve the overall sustainability of our visitor attraction."

Caroline Clark, director for Scotland at the National Lottery Heritage Fund, said: “We would like to extend a warm welcome to Florence, Carrie and Jasper as they join and strengthen the team at the Scottish Seabird Centre.

"Last year, we launched our new 10-year strategy: Heritage 2033.

"Included in the key priorities of Heritage 2033 are protecting the environment; inclusion, access and participation; and organisational sustainability.

"Those are all goals shared by the Scottish Seabird Centre with this project."

The Seabird Centre was established with support from the Millennium Commission and will celebrate its 25th birthday next year.

An award-winning visitor attraction, it aims to help people learn more about Scotland's marine wildlife and habitats.

All activities aim to inspire people to take action for nature and help protect and restore it for future generations.