RSPB accolade for a 'hero' of the land

Catherine Thompson, of Holme-on-Spalding Moor, has been named by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds as one of 10 UK farmers who have been done exceptional work to provide habitats for wildlife on their land.

Otters, great-crested newts, grey partridges and four species of owl are among the animals for whom Ms Thompson's farm is now home.

The accolade from the RSPB is the latest in a long line that Ms Thompson has garnered for her environmental work, having been a past winner of the prestigious Tye Trophy, awarded by the Yorkshire Agricultural Society.

Ms Thompson told the Yorkshire Post: "We have some marginal farmland here some of which is now very good and prone to flooding. Therefore we decided to make the most of what we have got.

"Agri-environment schemes are quite good at providing money year in year out to so it provides a semi-important source of income.

"Aside from that we live here and like to do something which makes the land better. I think what we have done here shows that you can run a very reasonable commercial farm and still work to benefit wildlife."

Ms Thompson has been involved in the running of her parents' 400-hectare mixed use farm for more than two decades.

Modestly she ascribes much of the environmental success to the natural conditions and geography of the farm.

However she has done much work through the agri-environment schemes, including the Countryside Stewardship Scheme, including the use of grass margins to protect water courses, water scrapes and bird seed mixtures.

More than 57,000 farms covering 66 per cent of the English farmed land are now entered into the agri environment schemes.

And while Ms Thompson acknowledged some farmers remain sceptical of agri-environmental schemes, she said that any misgivings they may have can be overcome by the benefits it can bring.

"In my experience I have found a lot of people who are worried about the paperwork but there are people who can help you out with this.

"Others understandably have the attitude that they don't want people telling them what to do on their farm but to a certain extent they already do.

"You cannot spray crops close to water courses but if you put in a margin along that side then it is no longer a problem."

Ms Thompson was awarded her accolade at this week's Oxford Farming Conference.

Darren Moorcroft, the RSPB's head of farmland advice, said that Ms Thompson and her fellow award winners "represented the army of the farmers we are working with out there who are helping to tackle the historic decline in farmland birds".