Temple Shoot, a Marlborough shooting estate and farming enterprise, was last night announced as the winner of the coveted Gold Award in the 2013 Purdey Awards for Game and Conservation.

Estate owner Count Konrad Goess-Saurau was presented with the Purdey Awards Shield and a cheque for £5,000 at the annual awards ceremony held in Purdey’s historic Long Room in London’s Mayfair.

The award was presented to the count in recognition of his conservation work at Temple Shoot at Rockley and for building up a first rate shoot.

Since buying the farm in 1985 the Count’s long-term vision and investment has transformed the landscape of what was formerly a 2,000-acre prairie style arable farm with few habitat benefits for birds and wildlife.

Over a period of almost 30 years the Count has planted 23 miles of new hedgerows, more than a million trees, and in the past five years has constructed nine new dew ponds to help support a healthy population of roe deer.

As a result of these improvements Temple Farm was chosen in 2012 as the launch site of Natural England’s South-West Farmland and Nature Improvement Area. Temple Farm also featured on BBC One’s Big Wildlife Revival series in September.

Commenting on Temple Farm’s success, awards organiser Richard Purdey said: “This is a most impressive entry by any standard.

“Count Goess wins our gold award not only for the leading role it has played with 41 other farms involved in this Nature Improvement Area, but also for actively encouraging visits from local schools, and the Royal Agricultural College in Cirencester, to see at first hand how this exemplary estate manages its farming, conservation and shoot.”

The awards were presented by Sir Barney White-Spunner, executive chairman of the Countryside Alliance. All winners also received a bottle of Laurent Perrier champagne.