Langton Farms, near Malton, is one of four farms that have won through to the national final of the prestigious 1998 Broadoak Farming Silver Lapwing Award.

Now celebrating its 20th year, this is the United Kingdom's pre-eminent award for farm conservation, organised by the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAG). It is presented annually to the farmer who has done the most to support wildlife and landscape conservation alongside successful commercial activity.

From hundreds of entries throughout the UK, Langton Farms was one of 22 local winners put forward to the next round by their county FWAG. Now it has been selected by FWAG nationally as one of the four farms to compete in the final for the coveted award.

"This farm provides an excellent example of how commercial farming, imaginatively and sensitively managed, can go hand in hand with protecting our environment and enhancing the richness of our countryside," said Peter Johnson, of Broadoak Farming.

The winner will be announced in September, and presented with the Silver Lapwing trophy and prize of £1,000 at the award ceremony in London on November 24.

The 2,000 acre Langton Estate has been owned by Richard Howard-Vyse's family for more than 350 years. Langton Farms comprise about 1,000 acres of mixed arable, sheep and cattle farming.

Richard Howard-Vyse said: "We have been given the countryside to farm and to look after, and we as farmers have a responsibility towards it".

Over the years three new woods have been planted which include oak, larch, sycamore, beech and spruce. A triangular ride around the wood was planted with wild flowers which have now spread into the wood itself. Some 7,500 metres of hedge are being rehabilitated over a five-year period with two-metre grass margins on each side, which should provide good habitat and corridors for wildlife. This is under a Countryside Stewardship Scheme.

The commercial ewe flock uses the 57 acres of permanent limestone grassland of which 22 acres form another Stewardship Scheme.

Management is achieved without fertiliser or herbicide. This adjoins a Site of Special Scientific Interest on prehistoric ridges from which sheep are excluded in summer to encourage seeding of flora; here there is a wonderful mixture of wild flowers. The owner has extended this site by adding strips to each side, into which wild flowers are spreading.

On the arable land several 21- metre strips of set-aside have been planted to form a wildlife matrix and encourage ground nesting birds. One has been planted with a colourful grass and wild flower mix, currently full of bees; this is adjacent to linseed, a spring crop, which has encouraged lapwings and skylarks to nest. Other strips have been planted with a mixture of crops, such as kale, to provide food and cover for birds over the winter, especially finches and buntings. A series of five ponds has been created in one naturally boggy field, and this is now attracting sandpipers, curlews and snipe to nest. Hedgerows are being gapped up on an annual basis with a selection of species typical to the area, and existing hedges are only trimmed every two or three years on alternate sides to support bird life and insects.

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